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Showing posts from November 25, 2009


Animal Sacrifice by Hindus at Gadhimai Fair in Nepal – Thoughts and Reactions

Gadhimai Fair in Nepal is dedicated to Goddess Gadhimai, a local deity, an incarnation of Goddess Shakti. The fair, notorious for the sacrifice of large number of animals, is held once in five years in the Bara District of Nepal and is mainly attended by people from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in India. This year the Gadhimai festival has garnered lot of international media attention - the number of animal sacrificed is estimated to be more than 100,000. Animal sacrifice is cruel and it has no place in the teachings of Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism). But Hinduism is not based on strict written codes or rules. Therefore each individual is given the freedom to express his/her faith. Some individuals try to appease deities through animal sacrifice which is part of tantric worship. Quite often an individual performs animal sacrifice out of ignorance thinking that the deity will be pleased with the sacrifice. This is the result of the lack of proper understanding of the tea