Karnataka is the not the only state where camels are taken for being sacrificed for Bakri Eid. They are walked out of Rajasthan and Gujarat (the desert regions from where they hail) to far flung places in India. There are objections from West Bengal too. And, BWC supported the PIL by People for Cattle in India.

In 2014 after Rajasthan granted state heritage status to the camel, their sacrifice for Bakri Eid automatically stopped within the state. For example, the Tonk royal family discontinued the 150 year tradition.

BWC supported People for Cattle in India’s PIL resulting in the Chennai High Court passing an interim order banning camel slaughter for religious purposes in Tamil Nadu. This was in September 2016 before Bakri Eid. As per media reports no camels were killed in Chennai in 2016; and, in response to an RTI query by PFCI, the Madurai Police said one camel had been sacrificed for which an FIR had been filed and investigations were underway. The previous year about 100 camels had been sacrificed in TN. But in 2017 not a single camel was brought into the state or sacrificed for Bakri Eid.

More than a month before Bakri Eid 2019, BWC approached over 55 persons including the Prime Minister, Chief Minister UP, District Magistrates, Bureaucrats, Police, AWBI and many others to stop the slaughter of camels that occur two days after Bakri Eid in Uttar Pradesh, particularly in Varanasi and Mau. We informed them that as per the Madras High Court judgement it was illegal to slaughter of camels, FSSAI did not allow camels to be killed for meat, moreover, since there was a shortage of camels for the BSF, Rajasthan had banned camels going out of the state for slaughter. We pointed out that due to these important reasons, no permission should be granted for camels to be sacrificed any where in UP, particularly in Varanasi and Mau as had happened earlier. It was incredibly true that a day earlier on getting to know that 5 camels had been kept hidden for sacrifice in Varanasi, the Police located them with the help of drones and they were saved. Another 2 camels were rescued from Jaunpur. And, these 7 were taken over by PETA. Earlier on clear cut directions from the DGP UP the Police rescued 22 camels (including one that was surrendered) via camera drones locating them being traded in Meerut and arranged to also send them back to Rajasthan.

Not a single camel was slaughtered in India for Bakri Eid 2020. BWC wrote to the Prime Minister, and Chief Ministers with copies to all District Magistrates and Police of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala, because in the past camels had either being killed or appeals had been made for their sacrifice in these states. We sent them the landmark Judgement of the Madras High Court and requested them to stop entry, sale and slaughter of camels. Meanwhile, Rajasthan assured us they would stop camels being smuggled out. Since the Border Security Force was short of camels, in 2014 the state had passed laws for their protection. BWC also approached the Animal Welfare Board of India following which a circular was issued by the Secretary to all states’ Chief Secretaries, Director Generals of Police and Animal Husbandry Directors.

During the month prior to the scheduled Ekvira Mata Jatra of 2008, BWC teams visited Karla and several villages from which people would be participating but it was difficult to convince the fisher-folk to donate their own blood instead of sacrificing animals. Nevertheless, on the day we asked the Inlacks & Budhrani Hospital from Pune to set up a blood donation camp at the site. BWC was the first to think of and hold such a blood collection drive in India. (Since then few animal activists and organisations have managed to convince some devotees in different parts of India to donate their blood instead of shedding the blood of innocent animals.) A common excuse for not donating blood was that they were under the influence of alcohol. Very few people therefore availed of this facility and donated blood. Thousands of animals were killed that night in the presence of each other, and in the presence of children who were in fact helping the butchers. On seeing goats being killed outside the authorised area, and the Police expressing inability to take action, BWC lodged a complaint at the Lonavala police station.

However, during the 2012 jatra, Beauty Without Cruelty and the Sarva Jeeva Mangal Pratishthan (SJMP) managed to successfully convince many Ekvira Devi devotees with the help of Marathi pamphlets and corner-meetings, not to buy and kill animals, as a result of which about 70% of animals remained unsold. Simultaneously, the police ensured that the ban on animal slaughter on the hill was implemented to a great extent. Therefore, at the end of the three day jatra it was estimated that 7000 to 8000 chickens and goats must have been saved.

In April 2013 for the jatra, SJMP and BWC campaigned together again. Weeks in advance letters were sent to numerous politicians asking them for support. The Police were contacted. Huge hoardings were put up and thousands of pamphlets in Marathi were distributed at the site and inserted in local newspapers. At the meeting of the organisers of the jatra which was attended by the trustees and head priest of the Ekvira Devi temple, our representatives were able to considerably convince the persons who mattered. The result of our efforts bore fruit with policemen checking each and every vehicle and not allowing liquor and animals to be taken up the hill. However, as we couldn’t get the authorities to close the butcher shops at the foothill, killing of some chickens and goats did unfortunately take place. Eight major Marathi and Hindi newspapers covered our campaign and praised what we had achieved saying it was unprecedented success because no animal was taken up to the temple and sacrificed there.

The highlight of our 2014 campaign to end animal sacrifice at Ekvira Devi jatra was the chief pujari of the temple saying he dreamt the Devi did not want animals to be sacrificed but this amazing development did not eliminate sacrifices totally. Nevertheless, year-on-year since 2008, our efforts have lessened the number of animals sacrificed. Many more animals would be saved if the butcher shops were to be closed on the days of the jatra and no goats and chickens are sold on and around the hill area. But to achieve this, we need much more understanding and support from the temple authorities and government functionaries. SJMP and BWC therefore continue to try to make them see our point of view.

On the first day of the 2015 Ekvira Devi jatra, representatives of BWC and SJMP, visited Karla, and while distributing 4,000 leaflets appealed to people not to sacrifice animals. Again this year, the police had been vigilant and did not allow people to take animals and alcohol up to the temple, but 4 chickens and 1 goat were seen being taken up and brought down alive. However, the 3 butcher shops at the foot of the hill were selling to and killing chickens and goats for devotees. Again we hope we will be able to successfully convince the authorities not to allow the butcher shops to operate next year.

Again in April 2016 Beauty Without Cruelty and Sarva Jeeva Mangal Pratishthan tried to stop animal sacrifice during the Ekvira Devi Jatra at Karla. We displayed hoardings, our volunteers distributed 5,000 pamphlets, and the Marathi publications covered our efforts. For the first time during the public function to honour the palkis, it was announced by the Temple’s Managing Trustee that no killing of animals would be permitted on the hill. But, on that day about ten devotees were seen individually taking chickens and one goat up to the temple and bringing them down alive. They were then presumably killed. We therefore wish the butcher shops would not be allowed to operate at the foot of the hill. Nevertheless, due to our awareness campaigns the number of animals killed lessens each year.

Every year we kept writing to the authorities but the butcher shops were not closed. We wrote in 2020 also but soon after due to the spread of Corona Virus the government stopped the annual Jatra from being held at Karla.

Shree Yedumata temple

Bonalu Festival and other Animal Sacrifices

BWC was shocked to know from Earth Quotient South India that for Telangana’s Bonalu Festival (an annual event) which began in 2021 on 11 July and is celebrated on every Sunday of Telegu Ashada masam in various cities and villages of the state, including Hyderabad and Secunderabad, under the pretext of religion it is unfortunate that sheep, goats, fowl and their young are literally bitten to death by humans.

BWC therefore wrote to the Chief Minister, Telangana with copy to the Director General of Police saying that the poor creature is held aloft and passed from man to man who bites off a bit of its flesh which is not only absolutely barbaric, but illegal. We therefore requested that orders be issued across the state to ensure that no animals or birds are thus made to suffer or be killed.

Earth Quotient South India also sent BWC videos of other events involving animal barbaric sacrifices in Telangana, like a man dancing with a live goat in his mouth in Madhapur, Hyderabad city. The men dress a Potharaju with a typical garb and a whip. They tear out strips of flesh from the goat’s throat until the animal dies. They are professional goat murderers who are hired for festivals all over Telangana. The events take place with mandatory police permission and under police supervision. They refuse to file FIRs. The Jagital police have even seized phones and beat up activists. When forced they file bogus FIRs so that they can be closed at their convenience.

Buffalo sacrifices are also common. Some times 30 to 40 buffalos are sacrificed on the same day in front of hundreds of villagers. The feet and heads are buried at the sacrifice site as part of the ritual.

Villages in Telangana have their own bi or tri annual calendars for burying bulls and male buffaloes alive which is another form of animal sacrifice.

Vadakkampatti Muniyandi temple in Thirumangalam, Tamil Nadu

Over 200 goats and 120 cocks were slaughtered for the Thirumangalam biryani festival held in connection with the festival of the diety of the Vadakkampatti Muniyandi temple in Thirumangalam. It seems to be an annual event with the involvement of the non-vegetarian Muniyandi Vilas hotel and about 10,000 persons consuming the biryani.

On being informed about the event, in January 2021 BWC wrote to the District Collector Madurai stating that it was illegal for animals to be killed for food any where other than in abattoirs and requested that action be taken against the organisers.

In 2015 the 150-year old Jivdani Goddess temple atop a hill in Virar ensured that no animals and birds would be sacrificed during Navratri. Having failed to totally discourage animal sacrifice for the past few years, the temple authorities installed 93 closed circuit television cameras along the temple route.

However, in view of goats being slaughtered at very many temples in Maharashtra just before the month of Shravan began, and the meat being distributed as prasad, in 2017 a letter from the Animal Welfare Board of India got the Pune Police to agree to stop animal sacrifice at temples.

In 2020, the Odisha High Court had ordered a ban on animal sacrifice during Chatar Yatra. (Unfortunately the Supreme Court stayed the HC order which meant there was no legal restriction on anima sacrifice.) The HC had observed “God is the creator of the universe. He has created the human beings, animals, birds and all the species on this earth. The animals and birds breathe like us. They have also a right to live in harmony with human beings and the nature. Like the parents cannot tolerate to see the blood of their children, deity cannot be pleased by sacrificing the animals.” Since 13 platoons of police were deployed in Kalahandi and prohibitory orders imposed to avoid assembling of devotees (in the wake of COVID-19) for Chatar festival in the Kalahandi district, the killing animals and birds in propitiating Goddess Manikeswari passed off without much bloodshed in October 2020. Every year the idol of Goddess Manikeswari is taken to Jena Khal on the outskirts of the town and after performance of secret rituals, the deity returns to her abode. The return journey is Chatar Yatra in which lakhs of devotees from Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal participate with every family sacrificing an animal or bird.

Buffaloes were also not sacrificed at the 2012 Kherling Mahadev Mela at Mundneshwar temple in Kaljikhal block, about 45 kms from Pauri Garhwal (Uttarakhand). Although one and two were kept for sacrifice at Guthinda village and Chhota Kherling Mahadev at Barkot they were handed over live to the administration. (Some goats may have been slaughtered but not on the temple premises.) It is commendable that the administration motivated the people of Aswalsuen, Patwalsuen and Maniyarsuen patties against animal sacrifice which resulted in no bloodshed. Apart from their efforts the high cost of buffaloes (Rs 40,000) and cost of rituals spanning a fortnight prior to sacrifice (Rs 25-30,000) played an important role resulting in no animal being sacrificed.

In 2019, 350 residents of two villages in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand decided to give up animal sacrifice and also abstain from eating meat for a year after the local deity ordained them to do so. Earlier the High Court had banned animal sacrifice in the open but the practise was going on.

PAWS informed BWC that there was a good chance if organisations working for animals brought pressure upon the Trustees of the Bhargavram Parshuram temple at Chiplun (a hamlet off the Mumbai-Goa highway, in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra) not to allow goats to be sacrificed Dussera 2012 onwards. Like before, Beauty Without Cruelty joined forces with Sarva Jeeva Mangal Pratishthan and appealed in person to the Trustees, including the Collector who was the Chairman of the Trust and was expected to kill the first goat. Our representative visited on Dussera, confirming that no sacrifices took place.

In September 2014, in response to petitions filed by animal activists from PFA, the Himachal Pradesh High Court passed an order prohibiting animal sacrifices during religious ceremonies and festivals both in temples and in buildings adjoining places of worship. Thus no animal sacrifice took place during the week-long Dussera festival in Kullu. The two-judge bench stated “No person shall perform or offer to perform or serve, assist or participate or offer to serve any sacrifice of animal in any place of religious worship, ceremony, yagnas… including all land and buildings near places of religious worship forthwith. Sacrifice causes immense pain and suffering to innocent animals.”

Soon after, a group of Jains managed to halt via a stay order of the High Court, the proposed slaughter of 12,000 bullocks in Mumbai’s Deonar abattoir for three days around Bakri Eid. Similarly, animal activists forcefully objected to permissions granted for setting up temporary slaughter sites.

For 5 years the Vishwa Prani Kalyan Mandal (VPKM) had being trying to save as many thousands of sheep, goats and hens being sacrificed during the Bhagwan Ranganathaswamy Chikka Jatra at B R Hills and the Siddhappaji Jatra at Chikkalur. They were successful in January 2016 because in response to a writ petition filed by Dayanand Swamiji, President of VPKM, the Karnataka High court order stated “the respondents are directed to adhere to the provisions of the Karnataka Prevention of animal Sacrifice Act, 1959. It shall be the duty of the State Government to secure compliance of the provisions of the said Act strictly.” Significantly, a 26 member team of VPKM supported by many institutions and individuals, worked tireless in different areas of Chamrajanagar, Mandya and Mysuru districts to create awareness among people through the Ahimsa Prani Daya Sandesh Yatra.

In May 2023 the Kerala High Court held that appropriate action under the Kerala Animals and Birds Sacrifices Prohibition Act ought to be taken and stated “unhealthy, unscientific & deleterious practices to be prevented, even if done in name of religion”. This was in response to a petition filed about illegal animal sacrifice carried out by a person conducting poojas and rituals in his building throughout the day, accompanied by the ringing of bells, blowing of conch, and the shrieks and cries of animals and birds that were being slaughtered – the animals’ blood flew on to the road and carcasses were strewn all over the place.

The Durajpalli Jatra which occurs every lternate year at the Linganamantalu Swamy temple of the Durajpalli village in Andhra Pradesh is essentially a social event when people come for two days and a night to have a good time. Unfortunately, part of the festivities includes a mass sacrifice of animals followed by selling of hides collected from the carcasses.

In August 2022 after a 2-year Covid-induced hiatus, around 200 animals including 100 goats, were sacrificed to please the goddess of Ma Jagulei temple in Kendrapada’s Garadapur village in Odisha. The animals are taken to the temple, vermillion applied to their foreheads and garlanded, before wedging their necks between wooden poles and being beheaded on a sacrificial altar.

The mithun is important to every one in Arunachal Pradesh because the number of mithuns owned by a man determines his wealth and prestige and they continue to be used as currency in some villages. The Adi tribesmen sacrifice them on their major festivals, Solung, Mopun and Aran. Upon death, the skulls of all the mithuns sacrificed during a man’s life time, are buried with him.

At the tribal idol Baba Dongar at Ranapur in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh every day around 500 animals are illegally slaughtered by the priests. People promise deities that they will sacrifice a goat, chicken or give a bottle of liquor if their wishes (be they good or bad it doesn’t matter) miraculously come true, and that’s the reason for the unfortunate sacrifices.

Just before Bakri Eid 2014, a number of advertisements hawking goats appeared on the OLX website. Bookings were taken against their photos, termed “commodities”. Prices ranged from Rs 4000/- to Rs 1,50,000/- per animal.

Animal Sacrifices in the Indian Army

2010 onwards Beauty Without Cruelty has periodically written to various Defence authorities appealing to put an end to animal sacrifices that occur in the Indian Army.

Animal sacrifice is routinely practiced in some regiments and is strangely linked to the morale and valour of fighting soldiers. While discussing this aspect with some retired soldiers, BWC had learnt that the tradition is borrowed from customs and rituals followed by troops in their native villages and that the officers did not want to meddle with the beliefs of soldiers who thought that animal sacrifices would please their deities and would bring good luck to the unit and regiment.

BWC pointed out that the Indian Army was a nationalist force and derived its authenticity from an Act of Indian Parliament and the Constitution of India. The mindset and practices in the Indian Army should therefore be in sync with the national ethos and current social and cultural values. The Constitution of India in its preamble itself suggests that we should move toward a more humane society and it specifically states that cruelty to animals should be checked. Animal sacrifice is a despicable and retrograde ritual belonging to the dark ages and it does not behove a modern and progressive national Army of India to indulge in it almost officially.

In some regiments like Gorkha, Garhwal and Kumaon the ritual of mass animal massacre is organized with great pomp and show where even women and children of the units are ceremonially seated to watch the mass gruesome killing of hapless and defenceless innocent animals. Blood letting men are let loose on “safely” tied animals and that there are rewards for the “bravest” men who slit maximum number of throats of poor, bleating goats and innocent buffaloes. The man who kills the most is in fact feted and is a termed a hero. In such ceremonies, the animals are beheaded, cut open, skinned and cut to pieces in public view and the warm raw flesh of such animals which were living few minutes before is offered as prasad.

BWC also got to know that there is stream of thought in the Army that this practice of killing animals is required to inculcate bravery in battle. Nothing could be further from truth. Killing defenceless animals does not inculcate bravery, but inculcates cruelty which a modern soldier can surely do without. Animal sacrifices are a barbaric custom as it involves taking the lives of poor creatures which can cause no harm to the killers. Bravery means offering one’s life while fighting against a superior enemy. So cruelty, which a soldier inculcates by killing a small goat has absolutely no relation to the bravery required from a soldier who has to face and hold ground against ten bayonets of cold steel charging at him.

If killing animals could make great and brave soldiers, all butchers would have had a lien on recruitment in the defence forces. We all know that this is not the case, and being a soldier who is ready to sacrifice his life for the nation has nothing in common with a man who gleefully raises a sword in front of a cheering crowd and beheads a terrified goat, all the while sure that the goat can do no harm to him or even run away since it is tethered.

Coming to the religious significance of such sacrifices, they are officially banned in most states of India and are considered socially retrograde. Instead of educating our Jawans on modern lines and inculcating a liberal mindset, the Indian Army officers are unfortunately taking advantage of the blatantly questionable belief of simple soldiers.

Why would a Goddess who is said to give life to all creatures on earth be pleased and want the killing of a small kid at Her altar? Even the Jawans would understand this simple logic of reverence for innocent lives if explained to them.

BWC hopes the Indian Army will get rid of dark medieval and retrograde practice of animal sacrifice which shows it in a bad light. Stopping such practices will only bring good luck to the Indian Army and the Goddess of mercy will shower her blessings upon the nation. Our soldiers will become braver and humane – killing animals does not make anyone brave. The soldiers of 3 JAT who killed more than three hundred meat-eating Pathans of the Baluch Regiment in one night and captured Dograi in 1965 had never ever killed a fly and were pure vegetarians.

In 2015 Maneka Gandhi (Union Minister and animal rights activist) strongly spoke up against animal sacrifice in the Indian Army and demanded it be stopped. She stated that Uttarakhand had banned animal sacrifice even for the Army and the regiments stationed there had stopped the practice, so why not elsewhere? She added, the Gurkha brigade in the British Army, a throwback to its Indian days, ended the practice of sacrificing male buffaloes in all its units stationed in Hong Kong and Brunei way back in 1973; and the Gurkha brigade of Nepal allowed sacrifice of only one animal for all its men. She also sought an end to another cruel practice called “meat on hoof” which she termed barbaric. It involved airdropping (from choppers) live animals (with parachutes strapped on them) for regiments posted in so-called inaccessible areas to provide them fresh meat.

BWC was therefore hopeful that both these cruelties would be abandoned soon. However, it was not till just before Dassera 2018 that the Defence Ministry again asked the Indian Army to put an end to ritual animal slaughter in all their units. BWC therefore hopes that the beheading of buffaloes and goats by the Gorkha, Garhwal, Kumaon and other regiments has completely stopped.

The Gadhimai Mela (fair) is held every five years in Bariyarpur, Bara District, South Nepal. It has been reported that 2 to 5 lakh animals, mainly young buffaloes, goats, ducks, roosters, pigeons, and rats are sacrificed. Slaughterers, equipped with swords are employed to slay the animals. Seventy per cent of the visitors to the fair are Madheshi (people of Nepalese origin) living in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

That’s the reason why in 2009 Beauty Without Cruelty approached the Union Minister of Home Affairs to stop movement of animals across the Indo-Nepali border.

BWC had suggested that the number of border police officials should be increased before and during the Mela, and that they should monitor the movement of people and animals. Thus the additional 4,500 Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) officials deployed were alert at outposts and an extra vigil was maintained. Transportation of animals and birds from India to Nepal was considerably stopped and stern action taken against offenders.

According to a senior SSB officer the number of animals sacrificed from India in 2009 reduced by 75%. But in view of only a few hundred being seized and may be as many apprehended from crossing over, BWC felt it was an over-estimation, and therefore thought our efforts with the help extended by the Government of India had curtailed and saved 50% of the animals scheduled to be beheaded.

Beauty Without Cruelty and Animal Welfare Network Nepal worked together and both approached top officials in the Nepali Government, however, they did not budge from their plans for mass slaughter. People were made to believe that animals were to be sacrificed to appease Goddess Gadhimai.

Prior to its commencement, the organizing committee declared that at least 500,000 creatures would be sacrificed, and despite international protests and appeals they didn’t even try to reduce the killing. On the contrary, they provided Rs 4.5 million funds for the fair which turned out to be a money-spinner for Nepal’s priests, organizers, suppliers and contractors. Moreover, the organizers planned to raise Rs 140 million – with the local village development committees contributing 1,000 animals each so that they could have a slice of the profit.

Although buffalo meat is given away free, the organisers earn by selling hides to contractors. The Indian meat and leather industries are said to be hand-in-glove with the fair organisers.

On the main day at mid-night people gather round a small idol of Goddess Gadhimai placed below a pipal tree while the chief priest begins chanting and anoints the idol with kumkum and flowers. Since this is not enough to awaken the Goddess, a person offers blood from five parts of his body which is said to quicken the process of awakening the Goddess.

For the rest of the night every one is tense, frequently looking into a big earthen jar, awaiting a light to spontaneously appear in it because it indicates that the Goddess has been awakened. Possessed by the spirit of the Goddess, a priestess then begins to shudder and shake.

Men pick up their swords and walk towards the adjoining field where literally thousands of innocent animals, particularly young male buffalo calves, are imprisoned. 48 hours of gruesome and bloody beheading follows.

This bloodthirsty event is said to date back 260 years or so (not more) when Bhagwan Chaudhary, a feudal landlord who was imprisoned in Makwanpur Fort, dreamt that his problems would be solved if he made a blood sacrifice to Goddess Gadhimai. Upon his release, he approached a village healer whose descendant, Dukha Kachadiya started the ritual with drops of his own blood from five parts of his body. Apparently a light appeared in an earthen jar. But, did the mass animal sacrifice as is now carried out every five years, follow?

Interestingly, in comparison to animal sacrifices very many more coconuts are broken open on a big stone originally installed for this purpose at the Gadhimai temple.

Soon after the 2009 Gadhimai Mela got over, animal activists began creating awareness about the next one scheduled to be held on 28 & 29 November 2014.

BWC vowed to do all it can to lessen the carnage. We first requested the Government of India to bring up the subject with the Nepal Government. We also wrote to them (like we had in 2009) about stopping the movement of animals across the porous border. Before which we had sent RTI applications to the Home Affairs and External Affairs Ministries asking for the numbers of animals, people and vehicles that crossed from India into Nepal between 21 and 27 November 2009. One of the replies dated 11 March 2014 stated “the Bureau of Immigration is exempted from providing any information/details on the subject.” Whereas the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Central Public Information Officer wrote on 12 March 2014 “data regarding number of people, animals, etc. crossing Indo-Nepal border is not complied by Department of Border Management, and accordingly is not available.”

Meanwhile, PFA filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court stating that under India’s Import Export Policy and the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 live cattle and buffaloes were not allowed to be exported, but for the Gadhimai festival in November 2014, lakhs of animals would be illegally transported into Nepal since 70% of the animals sacrificed came from India.

The Court immediately issued a notice to the Union of India and the four border states of Bihar, UP, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. At the next hearing the Bench passed an interim order directing the Union of India to check the illegal movement of animals into Nepal. In compliance with the Supreme Court order, the Sashastra Seema Bal issued directions to ensure that movement of cattle for sacrifice during the Gadhimai Mela is halted.

This was followed by Uttarakhand issuing an order giving instructions to the state’s Police of the areas bordering Nepal, to strictly implement the ban on illegal transportation of animals for sacrifice at the Gadhimai Festival.

As a result of border checks in October-November, Bihar reported 47 arrests and 271 animals seized. Police were deployed round-the-clock at 9 check-posts in East Champaran district to stop animals and birds from crossing in to Nepal, as a result of which 622 buffaloes, goats and other animals in 9 trucks were seized and 37 smugglers were arrested.

Not only have animal activists from India, but also from Nepal, been continuously creating awareness and working in different ways, including interception of animals from crossing over, so that the carnage would not take place, or at least lessen. A PIL was also filed in the Supreme Court of Nepal calling for a national ban on animal sacrifice.

Earlier, in January 2014, BWC began appealing for contacts likely to help eliminate or at least lessen the number of animals sacrificed at the year-end Gadhimai mela in Nepal.

Our meticulous investigations about the Gadhimai animal sacrifice threw up some significant information. It was only after 28 & 29 November 2014 that we got to know we were not the only ones to have realised the 2009 figures had been highly exaggerated. Moreover, the number of animals planned to be sacrificed at the forthcoming mela had kept rising – began at 25,000, jumped to 200,000 and then 500,000.

The sacrificial area measures 2 Nepalese bighas – 13,546 square metres or 3.35 acres. One buffalo calf thrown on its side would cover a minimum of 1.30 square metres. Adult buffaloes would take up more space. Many photographs show vacant spaces between carcasses. The carcasses are not piled one upon another and none are taken out of the field when the killing is going on. Therefore, no more than 10,000 buffaloes can ever be sacrificed within the walled area.

We had not challenged or refuted claims made by others because we felt it could have harmed the cause and even a few hundred animals might not be saved. Now that the 2014 sacrifice is over, we are disclosing our findings.

The Gadhimai temple of Bariyarpur in Bara district in Nepal is situated 26 kilometres from the border town of Raxaul in Bihar. Almost every one who attends the Gadhimai mela is from India. It is not essential for those who visit to sacrifice an animal – and most of them don’t. Although bananas, white pumpkins, and sugarcane sticks are not “sacrificed” there, devotees do break coconuts as an offering to the deity.

Some Nepalese did not even know where or what Gadhimai was, leave alone it being synonymous with buffalo sacrifices! (The Embassy in Kolkata said it could be the way in which they and we pronounce Gadhimai.) Any way, there is no doubt the place is insignificant except when it comes to life – to kill – every few years – not necessarily every five years so the event may not take place in 2019 as expected. However, the Gadhimai mela is organised on the saptami and asthami tithi (seventh and eighth day) of the Margshish month of the Hindu lunar calendar.

To some extent it was a relief to know for sure that the number of animals sacrificed did not run into lakhs although sacrifice of smaller animals like goats, chickens and pigeons is said to be permitted within a radius of 3 or 5 kilometres of the temple. The number of devotees who visit Gadhimai for the mela are not as many either. Only a couple of thousand animals are beheaded at the site, but this, in itself is no doubt, mass slaughter. Repeated close scrutiny of scores of photographs and videos revealed that almost all the buffaloes were male calves – obviously unwanted animals from the dairies of the region.

Knowing the number of animals killed is lesser than thought does not make it any the less barbaric, cruel, or gruesome. Every animal is an individual and each life is precious and counts. This is evident from how we all react on viewing the internet videos of the buffaloes being sacrificed.

BWC came to this factual conclusion after making extensive inquiries over a year. We located and spoke to a great number of people like auto rickshaw drivers of Bihar (not one of them had sacrificed an animal there), travel operators of Gorakhpur, journalists and many others who had themselves visited Gadhimai mela.

BWC now realises that it is just not feasible for “approximately 90,000 buffaloes” as stated in the letters written by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 25 September 2014 to the State Governments, to be bought, brought and beheaded by scores of slayers swinging khukuris, machetes and scimitars operating round the clock for a day or two.

Persistent inquiries revealed that the temple authorities take money from devotees for the animals promising to arrange for the sacrifice – in the open field away from the temple. A high wall has been erected around this slaughter-field and those who want to see what is going on need to scale the wall.

And guess what? Two days later there was no trace whatsoever of the massacre. The heads were buried whereas the rest of the carcasses’ flesh may, or may not have been distributed (meat spoils fast) and skin sold off.

For an animal to be sacrificed, a devotee may give Rs 1,000 or less, whereas another Rs 3,000, and yet another Rs 5,000. Thus the temple records show scores more than are actually sacrificed. People who wish to sacrifice may not even see the animal and they do not want the meat. Once they have paid they think their reverence to the Goddess is over.

Following the 2014 Supreme Court’s order (mentioned above) directing the Government of India and states such as Bihar to check the illegal movement of an estimated 90,000 animals into Nepal, not only did the SSB confiscate buffaloes and arrest people, but the animal activists who went to the area also helped to apprehend smugglers. Since hundreds of animals were again seized, the killing must have been lesser than in 2009.

To sum up, the number of buffaloes sacrificed at Gadhimai in 2009 never ran into more than a few thousands, and in 2014 the number was lesser. The number of animals saved from being sacrificed in November last, was again no more than a few hundred. So, about 50% buffaloes, goats and chickens from India that were scheduled to be killed must have been saved.

Nevertheless in July 2015, it was a victory for animal rights activists when under pressure of a Supreme Court of Nepal injunction won on 24 November 2014 by the Nepal Animal Welfare & Research Center, the Secretary of the Gadhimai Temple Trust declared “We have decided to completely stop the practice of animal sacrifice.”

Animal Sacrifices on Asthami and Navami before Vijaya Dashami

On 15 & 16 October 2023 from 8 pm of Asthami to 4 am of Navami during the 10-day Dashain festival, 15,251 goats were killed by devotees of Nepal’s Rajdevi Temple, 50% of them being brought by Indians. The sacrifice was arranged by the local Mahavir Youth Committee who charged Rs 200/- per animal that they supplied.

At Balurghat Sree Sree Bolla Raksha Kali Temple (West Bengal) thousands of goats are also sacrificed.

Animal Sacrifices cause Earthquakes

Etiology of Earthquakes: A New Approach contains scientific research (mid-1990s) by Madan Mohan Bajaj, S M Ibrahim and Vijay Raj Singh. The book states earthquakes are related to the collective slaughter of animals dying in misery. Every time living beings are killed, their tormented bodies and cries emit Einstein Pain Waves (EPW) or nociception waves that cause acoustic anisotropy in the atmosphere. Acoustic anisotropy leads to a very strong anisotropic stress on rocks. This stress builds up, putting immense pressure on the tectonic plates and creating havoc beneath the earth’s surface which in turn results in earthquakes.

In simple words, the EPW (a result of mass slaughter) affect or interact with the earth’s natural vibrations and are powerful enough to cause cracks or earthquakes.

Based on this theory and proof that there is a history of mass animal butchering in or near high risk seismic zones where earthquakes occur, can there be any doubt that Gadhimai was the cause of Nepal’s May 2015 earthquakes?

Sri Lanka: Ritual sacrifices – banned

In August 2013 a Sri Lankan court stopped the ritual of animal sacrifices at Hindu temples throughout the island following a petition by a Buddhist monk group called the Jathika Bhikku Federation. Any one who wanted to perform animal sacrifice would be required to obtain a butcher’s licence.

But unlike other Kali temples, animals are not allowed to be sacrificed at the Dakshineshwar temple, near Kolkata. It is well known that Thakur Ramakrishna Paramahasa, Sarada Devi and Rani Rashmoni (the founder of the temple) did not like animals being sacrificed. A short documentary film entitled No More Blood Shed promoting the idea that one did not need to kill to prove ones devotion to the deity was made at Dakshineshwar in 2018 with the commentary effectively narrated by no other than a descendant of Rani Rashmoni who holds the post of trustee of the temple.

No More Blood Shed can be viewed on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6mb7b--lIk

In 2023, the 209-year-old Hangseswari Kali Puja in Hoogly’s Bansberia temple (the most visited Kali temple of West Bengal) decided to do away with animal sacrifice following a unanimous decision by the family.

On Mahashtami Day goats, lambs and cocks were sacrificed at a Durga temple in Sirlo, Odisha. However, it is understood that since 1985 animal sacrifices have been stopped at the Kataka Chandi temple and at the Sarala temple in the area.

Another Durga Temple managed by the Maa Durga Temple Pushpalata Ghosh Charitable Trust abolished the 700-year old tradition of animal sacrifice during Navratri 2022. Usually about 10,000 animals are sacrificed at the Begusarai Durga Temple in Lakhanpur, Bhagwanpur block in Bihar every year after the devotees’ wishes are granted. Instead of animals, devotees sacrificed vegetables and fruits like pumpkin and sugarcane for goddess Vaishnavi.

In response to 2 PILs filed against mass animal sacrifice and illegal slaughter by the Akhil Bharat Go Seva Sangh, in November 2024 the historic Bolla Kali Mata Temple in South Dinajpur committee informed the Calcutta High Court that henceforth the public mass sacrifice of animals would stop, but animal sacrifice would take place in a designated room and for which a licence had been obtained; and no animal would be slaughtered in front of another.

Reforms beginning in the 15th and 16th centuries have evolved into symbolic sacrifices but only in some temples of the country: rice, til, coconuts, betel nuts, bananas, sugarcane and white pumpkins have become substitutes for lambs, goats, bulls, and chickens.

Human Sacrifices

Since time immemorial human sacrifices have been practiced around the world. But when it happens in this century when people are trying to abolish animal sacrifices, it is more shocking. For example in 2022 two women were sacrificed in Kerala.

BWC feels that condoning animal sacrifices might lead to human sacrifice because basic reverence for life is missing.