'WORLD'S BIGGEST ANIMAL SACRIFICE' BEGINS
By Deepesh Shrestha
AFP
November 24, 2009
Original Link
Up to a million Hindu devotees have gathered in a village in Nepal to witness the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of animals in a mass sacrifice that has drawn widespread criticism.
Worshippers travelled long distances, many coming from India, to attend the two-day Gadhimai festival, which honours the Hindu goddess of power and takes place once every five years in southern Nepal.
A huge cry of "Long Live Gadhimai!" went up after the village temple's head priest launched the event with the ritual sacrifice of two wild rats, two pigeons, a rooster, a lamb and a pig.
The crowd then rushed to a nearby field where 250 sword-wielding butchers were waiting to begin the mass slaughter of about 20,000 buffalo, brought by devotees to be sacrificed near the holy temple.
"This is a very special day for Hindu devotees," head priest Mangal Chaudhary Tharu told AFP as the Gadhimai festival began.
"All the people who came here to worship Gadhimai have been waiting a long time for this day. I am very proud to be part of this event," added Tharu, the fourth generation of his family to serve as a priest at the temple.
An AFP reporter at the scene said up to a million devotees were crammed into the area for the festival. Many were from India, where some states have banned animal slaughter for religious purposes.
Mahesh Yadav, a Nepalese farmer who arrived at the site with a black goat tethered to the back of his bicycle, said he wanted to thank the goddess for giving him a son.
"I had seven daughters in a row so I promised the goddess I would sacrifice a goat if she gave me a son," he told AFP.
"Eight years ago the goddess listened and my son was born."
Nepal's government has refused to put a stop to what it says is a centuries-old religious tradition, despite a vocal opposition campaign from local animal rights activists who say the slaughter is needless cruelty.
Their cause is supported by the well-known Indian animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi and by the French film star turned campaigner Brigitte Bardot, who this month wrote to Nepal's president urging him to put a stop to the festival.
Armed police have been deployed around the temple grounds and there were fears of clashes between animal rights activists and festival-goers.
But the campaigners appeared to have stayed away after making a last-ditch appeal to the government to stop the event over the weekend.
The buffalo slaughter took place in a huge field surrounded by three-metre wall, and will be followed on Tuesday by the ritual sacrifice of around 300,000 goats, sheep and birds.
Many festival-goers scaled the wall to get a better view of the killings, carried out by volunteers using specially-built bamboo cages to prevent the animals from escaping.
Jaya Lal Thakur, a 34-year-old local barber, said he paid 210 rupees ($4.90) for a licence to work at the festival and had already slaughtered dozens of buffalo.
"This is the second time I've slaughtered buffalo at the Gadhimai festival. I don't get paid to do it but I believe it will bring me salvation," he told AFP.
"This is a rare opportunity and I'm very happy to be a part of it."
At one point police used batons to disperse the crowds and prevent a stampede, an AFP reporter witnessed, but there were no casualties and the event appeared mainly peaceful.
Nepal's government has provided 4.5 million rupees ($105,510) in funding for the festival, a lucrative event for organisers, who sell the hides to contractors after the slaughter.
The meat is distributed among local people, some of whom set up stalls selling sweets and drinks.
Authorities have banned the sale and consumption of alcohol in the area, but reports said five people including one Indian national died at the weekend after drinking home-brewed alcohol.