At long last: From now on, no more animal sacrifice at Nepal’s Gadhimai festival
AFP, Kathmandu | HINDUSTANI TIMES
Unquestioned traditions, appalling ignorance, and attachment to dominionistic religious dogmas facilitated the death of millions of animals in a brutal ritual over the centuries. Rivers of pain in the altar not of Ghadi Mai, but of human superstition.
A herder stands inside an enclosure for buffalos awaiting sacrifice on the eve of the sacrificial ceremony for the “Gadhimai Mela” festival in Bariyapur. (Reuters File Photo)
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n a victory for animal rights activists, Nepalese temple authorities said on Tuesday they would end a centuries-old Hindu tradition of mass animal slaughter during Gadhimai festival that attracts hundreds of thousands of worshippers.
The festival, held once every five years, sees hordes of devotees from Nepal and India flock to a temple in the Himalayan nation’s southern plains to sacrifice thousands of animals in the hope of appeasing the Hindu goddess of power, Gadhimai.
“We have decided to completely stop the practice of animal sacrifice,” said Motilal Prasad, secretary of the Gadhimai Temple Trust, which organises the celebrations.
“I realised that animals are so much like us — they have the same organs as us… and feel the same pain we do,” Prasad told AFP.
The practice of ritual sacrifice has a long history in Nepal, with devotees offering goats and buffaloes to gods during major festivals in the hope of finding health and happiness.
Some 2.5 million worshippers sacrificed an estimated 200,000 animals during the most recent instalment of the Gadhimai festival held last November in the village of Bariyapur near the Indian border.
“It won’t be easy to end a 400-year-old custom… but we have four years to convince people that they don’t need to sacrifice animals to please the goddess,” Prasad said.
Animal rights activists applauded the decision, which came after years spent lobbying temple authorities and the Nepal government in a campaign that attracted support from celebrities including British actress Joanna Lumley and French movie legend Brigitte Bardot.
Cultural deformities: The senseless killing fields of Gadimai
It bears repeating. These horrors should have been stopped and denounced—broadly— long ago, but lack of media coverage and the constant political disorder in the world, the venality of politicians across the globe, and the sheer weight of ignorance and religious traditions kept the massacres going. Let this be a lesson for other crimes against animals still being committed under different pretexts and in all latitudes. —Editor
ALSO STRONGLY RECOMMENDED:
Beastly Instincts: Nepal’s Gadhimai festival is the world’s biggest ritual slaughter of innocent animals
FACT TO REMEMBER:
IF THE WESTERN MEDIA HAD ITS PRIORITIES IN ORDER AND ACTUALLY INFORMED, EDUCATED AND UPLIFTED THE MASSES INSTEAD OF SHILLING FOR A GLOBAL EMPIRE OF ENDLESS WARS, OUTRAGEOUS ECONOMIC INEQUALITY, AND DEEPENING DEVASTATION OF NATURE AND THE ANIMAL WORLD, HORRORS LIKE THESE WOULD HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED MANY YEARS, PERHAPS DECADES AGO. EVERY SINGLE DAY SOCIAL BACKWARDNESS COLLECTS ITS OWN INNUMERABLE VICTIMS.
[printfriendly]
REBLOGGERS NEEDED. APPLY HERE!
Get back at the lying, criminal mainstream media and its masters by reposting the truth about world events. If you like what you read on The Greanville Post help us extend its circulation by reposting this or any other article on a Facebook page or group page you belong to. Send a mail to Margo Stiles, letting her know what pages or sites you intend to cover. We MUST rely on each other to get the word out!
And remember: All captions and pullquotes are furnished by the editors, NOT the author(s).
What is $5 a month to support one of the greatest publications on the Left?
