Animals bear brunt of peace in Nepal :
World News > Kathmandu, Oct 22 : Although the guns have fallen silent in Nepal with Maoist insurgents calling a nine-day ceasefire, the axe continues to fall, making birds and beasts bear the brunt.
According to Nepal Anubrat Samiti, a Kathmandu-based organisation campaigning against animal sacrifices, over a million goats, buffaloes, chickens and other birds are sacrificed during the Dashain (Dussehra) festivities that last for nearly a fortnight.
On the days of Mahashtami and Mahanavami - celebrated Thursday and Friday this year - animal sacrifices reach the peak since devotees worship the Hindu goddess Kali, a manifestation of Shakti or divine power who is said to be appeased only with blood.
Some of the temples present a gory sight after the sacrifices, with pools of blood in the courtyards and near the chopping block and the doors decorated with the entrails of the sacrificed animals.
Animal sacrifices are included in the worship offered by the royal family of Nepal as well as the army. King Gyanendra, the present monarch, triggered protests from animal activists in India when he offered animal sacrifices there during his visit.
This month, over 50 Hindu organisations, headed by Nepal Anubrat Samiti, have been campaigning for an end to animal slaughter during Dashain, saying as long as there is violence against dumb beasts, there will be no lasting peace in Nepal, a country racked by a dragging insurgency that has claimed over 10,000 human lives.
The group has taken the unprecedented step of sending a petition to the palace, urging King Gyanendra to help stop animal sacrifices.
It is headed by a leading Nepalese industrialist, Hulaschand Golcha, who last week made an impassioned appeal on radio against cruelty to animals.
According to Golcha, the tradition originated from a symbolic rite to axe negative elements in human nature such as anger, greed and violence. However, today people have forgotten the significance of the rite and turned it into an orgy of violence.
Hindu sects that preach non-violence "sacrifice" vegetables like pumpkins to retain the rite without causing suffering to animals. So far, the Samiti has not met with much success.
Its secretary, Pram Chand Lashkari, says tradition and superstition are so much a part of the Nepalese psyche that drastic measures are needed to put an end to animal sacrifices.
"People here set great store by astrological predictions," he said. "If an astrologer says it would be inauspicious to offer animal sacrifices, they would stop immediately."
--Indo-Asian News Service