In a dark corner of the sprawling courtyard, I noticed a lone buffalo tethered to a rope staring at the ongoing gala celebrations. Devotees dressed in their best attire thronged before the effigy of the Goddess of shakti (power), Devi Durga, and prayed for their long life and prosperity.
Next day during the auspicious hours of ‘sandhi puja’ (the last 24 hours of Mahashtami and first 24 hours of Mahanavami of Durga Puja), the buffalo will be sacrificed before the Goddess amidst the loud beating of drums and the curious glances of onlookers.
In the 21st century world, Hindu sacrifice rituals still survives. It is one of the most questionable religious practices in the world and yet faith in this ritual has kept it alive over the centuries.
Origin of Animal Sacrifice in Hinduism
Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma (the eternal law) is the world’s oldest religion. Hinduism is often perceived as an amalgamation of various Indian cultures and traditions with diverse roots and no single founder. The ability to evolve is a distinct feature of this great religion which has helped Hinduism survive over the centuries against all odds. Today, Hinduism claims over 950 million followers and the figure is still growing.
Hinduism is based on some eternal laws or dharma. According to Manusmriti (the laws of Manu, regarded as the foundational work of Hindu law), dharma is defined as :
धृतिः क्षमा शमोऽस्तेयं शौचमिन्द्रियनिग्रहः।
धीर्विद्या सत्यमक्रोधो दशकं धर्मलक्षणम् ॥.......Manusmriti 6.92
Steadfastness or determination (धृतिः), patience (क्षमा), control of the mind (शमः), non-stealing (अस्तेयं), purity of mind, body and speech (शौचं), control of the senses (इन्द्रियनिग्रहः), an inquiring intellect (धीः), knowledge which leads to liberation (विद्या), truth in thought, word and deed (सत्यं) and controlling anger (अक्रोधः) – these ten are the marks of dharma’
If an individual abides by the above laws and principles he/she is believed to be a true Hindu.
In the above definition of dharma, we do not find the mention of any ritualistic practice as part of the ten principles/laws. So, what is the real origin of a debatable practice such as animal sacrifice in Hinduism?
The Vedas and Samhitas are the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism. The Vedic hymns were initially the perceptions of the great sages during states of Samadhi (intense, final state of meditation). According to Vedic scholars, the spiritual wisdom of the Vedas was recorded in a manner that was comprehensible to the common man. In this manner, the Vedas have both an esoteric and exoteric meaning. The proponents of animal sacrifice, however, mention certain verses in the Vedas as ones enlightening on the concept of animal sacrifice. For example, the hymns RV 1.162-163 (which are themselves known as asvamedha) of the Rigveda are assumed to describe the ritual of horse sacrifice or asvamedha.
A respected monk from one of India's leading monastic organizations says, “The Vedas must not be interpreted literally. Vedas are full of symbolism and allegory. It is the literal interpretation of Vedas that gives rise to rituals such as animal sacrifice. However, every verse in the Vedas has an inner meaning which needs to be understood properly.”
As per the article ‘Animal Sacrifice and Sanatana Dharma’, by Samskriti Foundation, the true meaning of the Vedas was lost with the Sayana Bhashya. Sayana, recognized as a great scholar of the 14th century AD wrote the Bhashya which concentrated exhaustively on the ritualistic aspects of the Vedas and thus practices such as Hindu sacrifice rituals crept into Hinduism. Sayana was well-known for his excellent knowledge of grammar. However, this helped only in the literal interpretation of the Vedas and the inner spiritual knowledge remained undiscovered.
Another important set of Hindu scriptures, the Upanishads, especially the Aitareya and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishads, in spirit, are opposed to the ritualistic interpretation of the Vedas. For example, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad explains the allegory of ashvamedha (horse sacrifice). It states that a horse sacrifice can help one acquire the supreme power. The horse here symbolises the cosmos. Only upon renouncing the cosmos can one obtain spiritual autonomy. The Chāndogya Upanishad compares those who indulge in the acts of sacrifice by comparing them with a procession of dogs chanting Om! Let's eat. Om! Let's drink The Mundaka Upanishad describes how the common man has been misled and scared to perform rituals such as animal sacrifice for personal benefits.
In the holy text of the Hindus, the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Parmatma Lord Krishna says that every living being has a spiritual soul – ‘sarva yonishu kaunteya’ (BG 14.4). The Bhagavad Gita also mentions the Lord’s classification of human beings into the ‘divine’ and the ‘demonic’ forms. The ‘divine’ forms are said to be endowed with the qualities of ‘ahimsa’ (non-violence), ‘daya bhuteshu’ (compassion for all living beings), ‘aloluptvam’ (freedom from desire), ‘mardvam’ (a sense of shame) and ‘adroham’ (freedom from hatred).
The Garuda Purana, one of the eighteen Puranas (ancient Hindu texts) puts down a list of punishments to be suffered by the sinners in hell after death. The Rakshogana punishment states that those who perform naramedha and eat non-vegetarian dishes and torture soft animals will be tortured in turn in hell by the same victims that they had harmed during their time on earth.
In spite of the above spiritual explanations of the Vedas and other allied texts, the ritualistic mode of worship thrived in the post-Vedic age. The Mimasaka school of Hinduism which propagated the Brahmanic explanation of the Vedas took precedence over the other schools. It was when ritualism was at its peak and a section of the Hindu society presided and dominated the rest, that Jainism and Buddhism gradually found their way into the mainstream Hindu society.
Both Jainism and Buddhism preached ahimsa as one of the major tenets of these religions and ritualistic animal sacrifice was completely condemned by the preachers of these religions. Buddhism was even perceived to be influenced by the philosophy of the Upanishads.
Although the orthodox Hindus regarded Buddhists and Jains as nastiks (non-believers of Vedic principles and God), some ancient Hindu texts consider Rishabha (according to Jains, their first tirthankara) as the eighth avatar and Buddha as the ninth avatar of Vishnu.
In the Dasavatara Stotra section of Gita Govinda, the influential Vaishnava poet Jayadeva (13th century) includes the Buddha amongst the ten principal avatars of Vishnu and writes a prayer regarding him as follows:
“O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of Buddha! All glories to You! O Buddha of compassionate heart, you decry the slaughtering of poor animals performed according to the rules of Vedic sacrifice”.
The Vaishnava sect of Hinduism holds this viewpoint regarding Lord Buddha to this date.
Various stories are associated with the Jain and Buddhist influences on the practice of animal sacrifice in Hinduism.
For example, ‘Devi Chamunda’ is believed to be the fiercest avatar (form) of Devi Durga. In this avatar the Devi (female Goddess) is believed to have killed the demons Chanda and Munda. Human sacrifices were performed in ancient India as part of her worship and the practice is now limited to animals only. Strangely, Goddess Chamunda is also worshipped by the Jains. Jains who are strict vegetarians were at first dismissive of Devi Chamunda worship but with the intervention of the Jain Acharya Ratnaprabhasuri Devi Chamunda started accepting vegetarian offerings. According to legend, Acharya Ratnaprabhasuri was deeply pained at the sight of buffalo sacrifices during navratri (nine-night ten days festival in India worshipping the Devi in nine forms) in the Chamunda temple at Upkeshpur, Rajasthan and stopped the ritual. The angry Goddess punished him with unbearable pain in the eye. However, he did not complain and that melted Devi Chamunda’s heart and rendered her sorry for her act. She decided not to accept any more blood sacrifice. She was then renamed Sachhi Mata (True Mother) by Acharyaji and worshipped as the kuladevi (clan-Goddess) of the Jain Oswal dynasty.
There is also a very interesting story related to Lord Buddha and animal sacrifice. Once Lord Buddha witnessed a flock of sheep, including a young lamb wobbling on its feet, being taken to the sacrificial house of the great King Bimbisara. Our of pity, Buddha picked up the lamb and held it close to his bosom. He then explained to the king that blood split from sacrifice does not purify a human nor satiates Gods. If one cannot give life, one has no right to take it away. From that day, King Bimbisara abolished animal sacrifice in his kingdom.
Even though Lord Buddha loved all animals, a section of the Buddhists are still meat-eaters. For example, Buddhists in Leh consume meat slaughtered by Muslims and in Changthang where there are no Muslims, animals are strangulated and killed to avoid the Buddhist ideal of not shedding blood.
Animal sacrifice in other religions
Along with Hinduism, animal sacrifice has appeared in almost all other major religions of the world such as Judaism, Islam, Christianity and traditional African and Afro-American religions and continues to be practiced in some of the above religions to this date. Goats, camels, cows, and lambs are sacrificed during the various festivals and pilgrimages of Islam. References to animal sacrifice are considered to be present in the New Testament in Christianity and a few scattered Christian churches still sacrifice lambs or roosters during certain occasions.
However, unlike other religions, Hinduism forbids the killing of female animals for any purpose. This is associated with the respect for motherhood. For the same reason, the cow is worshipped in Hinduism.
Animal Sacrifice: Shaktism and Tantrism
Modern day ritualistic animal sacrifice in Hinduism is primarily based on the tantric ritualism. While a large population of the Hindus in India follows the Hindu principles of ahimsa (non-violence) and vegetarianism, the popularity of blood sacrifice in a few states of India is explained by shaktism (worship of power) prevailing as the dominant doctrine of Hinduism there. Shaktism preaches worship of the ‘Devi’ (female divine mother) as the ultimate Godhead. The two largest schools of shaktism are the Srikula (popular in South India) and Kalikula (popular in Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Orissa). Tantrism, often associated with shaktism and bali in Bengal is popularised by the tantric texts.
The ‘Kalika Purana’, ‘Mahanirvana Tantra’ and ‘Mundamala Tantra’ are tantric texts describing rituals and laws guiding the bali pratha. The texts mention the animals, birds, fish, vegetables and sweets appropriate for slaughter and the methods to execute the process. One would be amazed to know that a well-known passage from the famous tantric text ‘Kalika purana’ clearly states that the Goddess Kali is most satisfied when offered human flesh and blood. However, in today’s world human sacrifice appears outlandish. Nothing more than an evil superstition that amounts to culpable murder. However, its animal substitute is still very much relevant.
Two variants of the ritual of animal sacrifice are batsarik bali and manasik bali. The bali to Goddess Durga during Durga Puja represents the batsarik bali (yearly sacrifice) system where it is mandatory to perform bali as part of an ongoing ritual commitment irrespective of individual circumstances.
Tradition and Animal Sacrifice
Many traditional Durga Pujas in Bengal support the bali pratha (ritualistic sacrifice) such as the Surul Rajbari Durgotsav, Choto Rajbari of Seoraphully, Maa Singhabahini Mullicks in Kolkata, Bhattacharya Bari in Jhikira, Pal Bari in Jagatballavpur and others.
The members of these traditional households argue in favour of animal sacrifice. According to the eldest member of one such household – “The 300 year long saga of buffalo sacrifice during our family Durga Puja will continue as long as the Goddess wishes”. He informed that facing the wrath of animal activists, the buffalo sacrifice was almost ended a few years ago when a buffalo itself walked into the courtyard where the Goddess is worshipped – a divine message in support of bali (according to the supporters of this ritual).
However, over the years, many Durga Pujas with a long tradition of animal sacrifice have done away with this ritual. For example, the Tehatta Bhattacharya family with a 405 year old Durga Puja stopped animal sacrifice 200 years ago when, according to legend, milk flowed instead of blood during buffalo sacrifice. The family inferred that the Goddess did not approve of bali. The very famous Chatu Babu Latu Babu Durgotsav of North Kolkata started in 1770 by Ishwar Ram Dulal Deb stopped animal sacrifice just two years since its inception. It is said that a frightened goat set up for sacrifice ran and took shelter at the feet of Ram Dulal Deb himself. Moved by pity he immediately put a ban on animal sacrifice during the puja. In 2007, the Royal family of Nabadwip put an end to the animal sacrifice ritual during their family Durga Puja in response to the campaign against the practice by People for Animals, an organization protecting animal rights headed by Srimati Maneka Gandhi.
Animal Sacrifice and Hindu Monastic Organizations
Surprisingly, the most revered Hindu monastic organization in Bengal, the Ramakrishna Mission, celebrates Durga Puja with banana sacrifice instead of pashu bali (animal sacrifice) during their Durga Puja. In 1901, when Swami Vivekananda first initiated the execution of Durga Puja at Belur Math he gave his nod to the ritual of animal sacrifice. It was then that Divine Mother Sarada Devi intervened and expressed her disapproval of this ritual. Complying to her wishes, the Belur Math Durga Puja never involves blood sacrifice.
Even the Durga Puja organized by another famous Hindu monastic organization - the Bharat Sevashram Sangha does not involve animal sacrifice as part of the ritual. Animal sacrifice has no place in the organization's worship of the Goddess Durga or Goddess Kali. They even do not use any replacement of the pashu bali such as vegetables or fruits in their means of worship. The organization promotes ahimsa and vegetarianism.”
Batsarik and Manasik Balis
In contrast to the batsarik bali which happens only on special occasions, manasik bali is, however, performed by devotees as a thanking ritual for a boon received from the Goddess or in anticipation of one. This happens throughout the year in temples allowing this practice.
The pilgrimage hotspots of Bengal the Kalighat Kali Temple of Kolkata and the Tarapith Temple of Maa Tara in Birbhum are popular for manasik balis throughout the year.
In the Kalighat Kali temple hundreds of goats are sacrificed during Kali Puja and many more throughout the year. In the Gobarjana temple in Araidanga of Bengal (dedicated to the famous female dacoit Devi Chowdhurani) the blood of over five thousand goats floods the courtyard during Kali Puja. The incessant animal sacrifice at the Kamakhya temple in Assam is also widely known.
Samir Chakravorty, whose family for generations have served as sevaits at the Kalighat temple of Kolkata says “Animal sacrifice is a must at our temple. It is based on the tantric mode. The British tried to put an end to this practice. However, an iron goat was built and sacrificed with one blow of the dagger. After that, the British stopped interfering”.
He also went on to say “Maa Kali at Kalighat is offered vegetarian food. She is adorned with the vaishnav tilak. However, the meat from the sacrifice is meant for the dakini and joginis (demonic spirits) and ourselves. People who tried to stop this practice have suffered from disease and death and hence the ritual of animal sacrifice in Kalighat must go on.”
Again, the Dakshineshwar Kali temple an equally popular temple of Goddess Kali in Kolkata does not support animal sacrifice anymore. According to one of the trustees of the temple, Kushal Chowdhury – “The puja at the temple is performed not only for the welfare of people but also innocent animals”.
Fators patronising animal sacrifice
So from the above we can claim that some of the factors patronising animal sacrifice are age-old family traditions, tantric scriptures, literal interpretation of Vedas and temple preachings. However, another important factor cannot be undermined.
The economy generated from animal sacrifice is huge. This is one of the main obstacles faced by anti-sacrifice lobbies. Animal sellers, butchers, temple pandas (temple priests) and local administration are all involved in an extensive network that economically benefits from the ritualistic slaughter. Any attempt to stop this practice is thus met with instant uprage on the part of the beneficiary.
During an attempt by the People For Animals in 2000 to uproot the system of bali in Kalighat temple a massive counter protest was mediated by the sevaits (care-takers) of the temple. Their fear of losing their livelihood stemmed this outrage. Similarly when Indira Goswami published the Sahitya Academy and Jnanpith award winning novel ‘The Man from Chinnamasta’ exhorting her readers to stand up against the practice of animal sacrifice in the Kamakhya temple of Assam, she was physically threatened by priests of the temple whose livelihood based on bali came under peril.
Another factor keeping ritualistic animal sacrifice alive over the years is political interest. More often than not, when animal rights crusaders have progressed towards the attempt to stop bali at Hindu temples, the beneficiaries of the practice have stated that the ban on animal sacrifice must apply uniformly to the Muslim ritual of qurbani (sacrifice). Political leaders fearing loss of votes have thus not interfered into such sensitive issues leading to the suppression of voices of protest.
In spite of the above supporting factors, a number of states within India have banned ritualistic animal sacrifice such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Even though it has not been possible to eradicate the practice completely in these states, the ritual has sharply declined over the years. The most recent ban was by the High Court of Himachal Pradesh which ruled the practice of animal sacrifice as a cruel and barbaric tradition and enforced law officers in the state to stop such practices.
Similar to the situation in India, Nepal also hosts Hindu sacrifice rituals on a massive scale. The world’s largest ritual slaughter takes place in the Gadhimai temple of Bariyarpur in Nepal once in every five years. Many Hindu devotees from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal states of India visit Nepal during this period and take part in the event. A massive figure of 200,000 animals including buffaloes, goats, pigeons, other birds and mice were slaughtered in 2014 to satiate the Gadhimai Goddess. This figure is actually a smaller one compared to previous records and is credited to the Indian Government’s ban on smuggling of animals for sacrifice across the Indo-Nepal border by Hindu devotees from India.
Risk to Threatened Species
Even though buffaloes and goats are the most common animals used for animal sacrifice, some less heard forms of Hindu sacrifice rituals involves the owl and the turtle as the sacrificial animal.
India is home to 32 species of owl. Unfortunately, most of them fall in the IUCN red list of threatened species status while one, the forest owlet, is critically endangered. This ill fate of the owl is further aggravated by ‘tantriks who sacrifice this animal in masses during the period of Diwali. The festival of lights is deadly for these nocturnal creatures. According to a sting operation run by the Sunday Guardian, an independent newspaper published from New Delhi, India, the illegal trade of owls was found to be a flourishing business. In 2010, the former minister of environment and forests, Sri Jairam Ramesh, expressed his concern over the ritualistic owl sacrifice when confronted by the reports from TRAFFIC and World Wildlife Fund for animals. Owls are purchased at costs as high as Rs. 30,000.
Another group of animals, the turtles, are also victims of the Hindu sacrifice ritual. According to reports in 2011, Hindus in Bangladesh sacrificed over 100,000 turtles in honor of Goddess Kali during the Kali puja celebrations. The critically endangered river terrapin and the black soft-shell turtle were also not spared.
Animal sacrifice in Hinduism : What India’s greatest social reformers have to say?
Animal sacrifice represents one of its most controversial sides. Hinduism is not incomplete without animal sacrifice. For the follower of Hinduism, it is a matter of choice whether one wants to believe in the principles of ahimsa or worship with blood sacrifice.
Time and again, great personalities of India have spoken out against the practice of animal sacrifice.
The admired Hindu religious leader and founder of Arya Samaj, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, in one of his famous lectures in Poona, clearly stated that killing of animals was wrong. He also appealed to the followers of this ritual like Maharaja Sajansingh of Udaipur to stop the practice altogether. He also re-explained the Vedas and ancient Hindu scriptures as ones which condemned the slaughter of animals.
Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of our Nation was deeply pained when he witnessed sheep lined up for sacrifice in the Kalighat Kali temple of Kolkata. Mahatma Gandhi believed “To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body.” Another famous saying by Gandhi quotes “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured by the way in which its animals are treated."
The great poet and nobel laureate of Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore through one of his most celebrated dramas ‘Visarjan’ exhibited his disapproval of animal sacrifice.
The great Indian reformer whose efforts helped abolish sati, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, also spoke up against animal sacrifice.
The Future of Hinduism
The future of Hinduism lies in the hands of young Hindus and it will be their decision that will influence rituals and traditions defining Hinduism. This is what young Hindus believe today :
12-year-old Prasad, the son of a panda of the Kalighat Kali temple when found witnessing the goat sacrifice in the Kalighat temple says “Maa Kali wants bali. It will never stop here. I like watching the animal sacrificed”.
Prakriti, a young life science researcher in Kolkata says “I refrain myself from visiting temples performing bali. Peace of mind is lost here and am in no mood to pray. How can one stand the sight of blood spilling and an animal writhing in pain and still pray in peace before God?”.
Kalpana, a housewife from the royal family of Surul says “Goats are sacrificed every year during our traditional Durga festivities. We do not mind. It must continue”
Says Pooja, a software engineer from Kolkata and a devout Hindu from a traditional family of Bengal “It gives me a mournful shock to see the sorry eyes of an animal to be sacrificed. As a society we have progressed beyond the days when we would sacrifice humans and that progress should extend to animals as well. Devotion is spiritual and in my opinion it certainly does not require any colluded alliance of animal sacrifice”.
Debadri, a young doctor from Kolkata replies “It angers me when they use the name of God as an excuse to eat meat. Temples are not the place for bloodshed”
Our world today is ridden with a multitude of problems. Violence thrives around us. Amid the chaos and confusion of our daily lives, our soul seeks peace at the doorsteps of God. We visit temples to find respite from the worldly problems and attain spiritual freedom.
Under these circumstances, the practice of animal sacrifice for religious purposes will always remain questionable. The believers of this ritual consider animal sacrifice as a way to plead the Gods to attain their favour and fear the wrath of God if they discontinue the practice while the anti-sacrifice lobby finds it difficult to face bloodshed and pain of the animal sacrificed in a place where one seeks peace and happiness.
In the 21st century, Hinduism, the world’s most ancient religion, needs to continue to evolve like it has been doing for centuries. A more dynamic and tolerant form of Hinduism needs to develop to gain wider acceptance. Controversial practices like animal sacrifice had earlier formed the root cause of divergence of Hindus into Buddhism, Jainism, Bhramo Samaj and other offshoots.
In today’s modern world ridden by many difficulties, Hinduism needs to propagate itself as a religion that helps one attain inner peace, a religion that gives solace to the mind and soul of the devotee.
Practices like animal sacrifice will always stand in the midst of controversies. In this context, the practice of animal sacrifice in Hinduism is brought to question by a quote by Ron Patterson -
“Could a being create the fifty billion galaxies
each with two hundred billion stars
then rejoice in the smell of burning goat flesh?”
A Small Hindu Shrine in the Region
Tourism in this park is at its peak in the months between April and October. Dehradun is the head of railways and airport. From the park, the nearest airport is 220 km, while the nearest railway station is 210 km. We have Harsii as the nearest town from the park (30km) where tourists can go shop for essential items and accommodations. Visiting Gangotri won’t be complete, if tourists have not explored everything, including the Gangotri shrine. For visitors to easily get to the shrine without getting lost, they have to take the road headed to Bhaironghati, 23 kilometers from the park’s valley. Gangotri shrine is just some 8 kilometers behind Bhaironghati.
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