நேபாளத்தில் 5000 எருமைகளை கொன்று மத வழிபாடு:
நேபாளத்தில் சுமார் 5 ஆயிரம் எருமைகளைக் கொன்று மத வழிபாடுகளில் அந்நாட்டு மக்கள் பிரிவினர் ஈடுபட்டுள்ளனர்.
இந்த விசித்திரமான மதச் சடங்கு நேற்று வெள்ளிக்கிழமை நேபாளத்தின் பரியர்பூர் பிராந்தியத்தில் இடம்பெற்றுள்ளது.
இந்திய எல்லையை அண்மித்துள்ள இப்பகுதியில் ஐந்து ஆண்டுகளுக்கு ஒரு முறை இவ்வாறான மதச் சடங்குகள் இடம்பெறுகின்றன.
இந்த வழிபாடுகளின்போது பல்லாயிரக்கணக்கான எருமைகள் பலியிடப்படுவது வழமையாகும். இவ்வாண்டு சுமார் 5 ஆயிரம் முதல் 6 ஆயிரம் வரையிலான எருமைகள் கொல்லப்பட்டுள்ளதாக சர்வதேச செய்திச் சேவைகள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன.
கடந்த 2009 ஆம் ஆண்டு இடம்பெற்ற வழிபாட்டின்போது சுமார் 2 இலட்சத்து 50 ஆயிரம் மிருகங்கள் பலிகொடுக்கப்பட்டதாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகிறது.
A festival believed to be the largest animal sacrifice ritual in the world began Friday in southern Nepal, where devotees believe the sacrifices bring good luck and a Hindu goddess will grant their wishes.
In the fields outside a temple before dawn, a priest dropped five drops of his own blood and sacrificed a rat, chicken, pigeon, goat, and pig to start the festival. More than 5,000 buffaloes were ritually killed during the day.
Many other animals will be killed during the two-day festival at Gadhimai temple in the jungles of Bara district about 160 kilometres south of Katmandu.
Organizers and the authorities defend the festival held every five years as a generations-old tradition, though animal rights activists says it is barbaric. During the 2009 festival, an estimated 200,000 animals and birds were sacrificed.
A Hindu devotee holds up a dove before releasing it during the Gadhimai festival at the main temple in the village of Bariyarpur on Thursday.
Animal activists have decried the event, which attracts thousands of devotees from Nepal as well as close-by regions of India. Gadhimai is the Hindu goddess of power, and it is believed sacrificing an animal in her honour will bring prosperity. Many of the animals — most of which are babies — are brought illegally over the border from India.
Last month, India’s Supreme Court ordered the government to ensure that no live cattle or buffalo were exported out of India and into Nepal without licence, and its Ministry of Home Affairs directed its border patrol to ensure that “the movement of cattle for sacrifice during Gadhimai Mela [Fair] be stopped.”
A young woman stands after ringing copper bells inside the temple during the celebration of the Gadhimai Festival on Thursday in Bariyarpur, Nepal.
So far, activists said, more than 2,000 animals have been seized along the India and Nepal border, and 100 people arrested.
“It’s madness, it’s really madness,” said N.G. Jayasimha, director of the Humane Society International of India, who is at the temple site this week.
“There are no roads, no infrastructure, not a single public bus, no sanitation and no drinking water. There are human feces everywhere. A number of people have come, and everybody is carrying an animal to be sacrificed.”
Warning: Contains graphic images
ayasimha said that activists think there has been a drop in attendance in the festival this year over five years ago, when an estimated 5 million people attended. Jayasimha said he thought border control efforts and public awareness campaigns in Nepal and India may have been having some effect. Yet the festival remains a public health concern.
Hindu devotees attending celebrations of the Gadhimai festival watch butchers brandish khukris (traditional Nepalese knives) from a tree, in an effort to get a better view of the first sacrifices, in the village of Bariyapur on Thursday.
A butcher raises his blade over a buffalo calf before killing it during a mass slaughter of buffaloes for the Gadhimai festival inside a walled enclosure in the village of Bariyapur on Friday.
A devotee stands holding a traditional kukri knife after sacrificing several goats outside the temple area during the celebration of the Gadhimai festival on Friday in Bariyarpur, Nepal.
A group of devotees elevate as a blessing their traditional kukri knifes before the beginning of the animal sacrifices during the celebration of the Gadhimai festival on Friday in Bariyarpur, Nepal.
A butcher stands beside slaughtered buffaloes during a mass sacrifice ceremony at Gadhimai temple in the jungles of Bara district Friday.
Butchers stand by hundreds of slaughtered buffaloes during a mass sacrifice ceremony at Gadhimai temple in the jungles of Bara district Friday.
Hindu devotees look from behind a fence as they try to get a look at priests getting ready to perform an animal sacrifice during the Gadhimai festival in the village of Bariyarpur on Friday.
A butcher slaughters a buffalo during a mass sacrifice ceremony at Gadhimai temple in the jungles of Bara district, Friday.
A butcher wields his kukri, a traditional Nepalese knife, over a buffalo calf right before severing its head during a mass slaughter of buffaloes for the Gadhimai festival inside a walled enclosure in the village of Bariyapur on Friday.
A devotee slaughters a water buffalo during the celebration of the Gadhimai festival on Friday in Bariyarpur, Nepal.
A Hindu devotee carries a goat as he and his family walk toward the village of Barayarpur where millions gathered to celebrate the Gadhimai festival on Thursday.
Hindu devotees sleep under a tree overnight in the village of Baryarpur while attending the Gadhimai festival on Thursday
A severely injured water buffalo awaits its slaughter as a devotee prepares to cut off the animal’s head in front of watching crowds
Millions of Hindus flock to the ceremony, which is held every five years at the temple of Gadhimai, the goddess of power, in Bariyarpur, Nepal
A devotee holds his traditional kukri knife before the beginning of the animal sacrifices
