Worshippers traveled long distances, many coming from neighboring India, to attend the two-day Gadhimai festival – held every five years in southern Nepal – to appease the Hindu goddess of power by sacrificing thousands of animals to her.
“I slaughtered 20 buffalos in 2004. This time I managed to behead 70,” Rana recalled Tuesday’s event, where 250 sword-wielding butchers slaughtered some 20,000 buffalos.
“You need a lot of courage to kill the animals. It’s a privilege to be part of the culture that has continued for centuries, and it would be immoral to go against the tradition,” said Rana who works as a manager at a local bank in Birgunj town.
“It’s not an easy task to kill the animals. But once I enter the slaughtering field with my sword, I feel I’m blessed with some kind of divine power and that keeps me going,” he said. “I wish the sacrifice hadn’t ended.”
On Wednesday – the final day of the mass ritual sacrifice – hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the village to worship Goddess Gadhimai and offered animals to appease the deity of power.
Chief priest of the temple Mangal Chaudhary Tharu said at least 150,000 goats, roosters, ducks and pigeons were also sacrificed at the temple premises on Wednesday alone.
In addition, thousands of goats and fowls were slaughtered in the fields by devotees who couldn’t make it to the temple, organizers said.
“We’re overwhelmed by the number of devotees and sacrifices made to the goddess despite criticisms from animal rights campaigners. We’re happy that the tradition has been continued,” the priest said.
Animal rights activists, who have waged a vocal campaign to have the festival stopped, say they believe their message that sacrifice is cruel is beginning to be heard in the deeply conservative, majority-Hindu Nepal.
Their cause is supported by the well-known Indian animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi and by the French film star turned campaigner Brigitte Bardot, who this month wrote to both the President and Prime Minister of Nepal urging them to ban the practice.
Nepal Government provided Rs 4.5 million (US$60,000) as funds for the festival. The event itself is lucrative for organizers, who sell the animals’ hide to contractors after the slaughter.
Munna Bahadur Khadgi, 40, who slaughtered 200 buffaloes, said he “enjoyed” the sacrifice because he was giving the goddess “something in return.”
“Goddess Gadhimai has been kind to me with a good life, and I take this slaughter as a way of saying ‘Thank you’ to her,” said Khadgi who claimed to have slaughtered 600 buffalos in 2004.
“I make money by killing animals and selling meat. But at the festival, I did it for my spiritual satisfaction. It was the least that I could do for the goddess, and I didn’t want to miss this opportunity.”
For Abhimanyu Rana, 31, slaughtering is a way to keep up with his family’s religious beliefs and practices.
“When I was young, I had seen my grandpa and dad slaughter animals. I’m proud that I’m continuing the family tradition,” said Rana, who owns a restaurant. “I’m not scared because I know I’m doing it for Gadhimai. I don’t feel guilty because I know I’m making the goddess happy.”
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