.mal lovers and activists from across India have started raising their voices against the world’s largest .mal sacrifice festival in Nepal in which thousands of .mals, including goats and buffaloes, are sacrificed every five years. .mal lovers from across the country have urged the Gadhimai Temple Trust in Bara district of southern Nepal to spare the .mals head of the sacrificial part of the ongoing festival. The sacrifice is proposed to be done from December 7 to 9.
Every five years, Gadhimai Temple in Nepal’s Bara district celebrates a month-long festival which hosts a month-long folk fair. This festival ends with a ritual of .mal sacrifice to appease Goddess Gadhimai, who is believed to be an aspect of Goddess Kali. Many people from India also participate in this festival along with .mals, which are sacrificed in belief that the goddess will fulfil their wish.
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Nepal’s Bara district celebrates a month-long festival which hosts a month-long folk fair. | Kuni Takahashi, AP For HSI
Nepal’s Bara district celebrates a month-long festival which hosts a month-long folk fair. | Kuni Takahashi
Nepal’s Bara district celebrates a month-long festival which hosts a month-long folk fair. | Kuni Takahashi
According to Humane Society International, an org.sation working for .mal welfare in 50 countries, around 5 Lakh .mals, including buffaloes, goats, rats, chickens, pigs and pigeons, were slaughtered at the festival in 2009. However, the org.sation claimed that the figure dropped down to 30,000 .mals in 2014 and furthermore in 2019. .mals are brutally beheaded by sharp knives and kukris.
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This festival ends with a ritual of .mal sacrifice to appease Goddess Gadhimai | Niranjan Shrestha
The org.sation also claimed that around 70% of the .mals sacrificed at the Gadhimai Festival are imported across the border from India, after enduring days of suffering without adequate food, water or shelter during transport. A large number of these .mals are reportedly transported from Bihar, which shares border with Nepal.
In 2015, the Gadhimai Temple Trust had reportedly declared a complete ban on buffalo sacrifice at future festivals, following strong opposition. However, the 2019 festival saw sacrifice of around 3,500 buffaloes, according to HSI. In 2019, the Supreme Court of Nepal had directed government agencies to create an action plan to end .mal sacrifice at the festival.
.mal lovers and activists from India and across the world have been opposing .mal sacrifice at this festival. World .mal Protection called the Gadhimai Festival as “The Bloodiest Festival” and said, “The goddess never asked to sacrifice the .mal. We all are children of God. The Almighty wants to keep every child happy, including .mals.”
People For .mal and the Indian branch of Humane Society International and People For .mal, jointly addressed a press conference last week in Patna and urged devotees to refrain from sacrificing .mals during the festival. Representatives from both the org.zations also met the Chief Secretary of Bihar and request a directive to the police and law enforcement officials to ensure no illegal transport of .mals. Following this the Bihar Government released directives to the police to be more vigilant on the Indo-Nepal border to check for illegal transport of .mals.
Former Member of Parliament and a known .mal activist Maneka Gandhi has written to the Bihar government urging preventive action against transport of .mals. “Protecting .mals is not just about preventing suffering, it’s about fostering a society that values compassion and respect for all living beings. We must challenge outdated traditions and create new ways to celebrate festivals that honour life and not take it away,” said Gandhi.
Another .mal rights org.sation has also started a mass campaign where it is helping people write emails to the relevant authorities appealing to seal the Indo-Nepal border till December 9. The emails are being sent to the police and administrative officials in Bihar and Delhi urging prevention of illegal trafficking of .mals for the Gadhimai Festival.
HSI-India and PFA will deploy strategic border checkpoints to assist the border police in inspecting vehicles crossing the border, registering cases and confiscating .mals ahead of this year’s festival. Stray .mal Foundation India has also org.sed a Peace Rally against the .mal sacrifice at the festival.
Acharya Prashant, author and spiritual teacher, also spoke about the issue and asked the devotees to celebrate the festival with compassion and to honour traditions without harming .mals. “Devotion should inspire compassion, not cruelty. Slaughtering .mals in the name of the divine diminishes the spirit of worship. Let us honour the Goddess by upholding the sanctity of all life during Gadhimai,” he said.
