Every five years, the world’s largest animal sacrifice takes place at the Gadhimai Temple in the Bara district of Nepal, about 200 km south of the capital, Kathmandu. Following a month-long celebration or “mela,” the festival culminates in the ritual slaughter of tens of thousands of animals. At its height in 2009, around 500,000 buffalo, goats, pigeons and other animals were slaughtered,
The world’s bloodiest festival continues to be frowned upon by animal activists campaigning vigorously for decades, but it couldn’t stop more than two crore people flocking to Gadhimai Mahotsav this year. This is a Hindu Festival held once every five years in Gadhimai Temple of Bariyarpur in Bara district of Madhesh Province of Nepal near the Indo-Nepal border. This year, the festival started from December 2 and continued till Shukla Purnima on Sunday.
The festival witnesses the world’s largest animal sacrifice that takes place on Saptami, Ashtami and Navami of the Lunar Calendar. Devotees sacrifice Water buffalo, goats, cocks and ducks and fly off doves in the Gadhimai premise when their wishes are accomplished by divine intervention.
This quinquennial festival saw lakhs of visitors coming to the fair not only from Nepal but from various states of India. Animal sacrifice starts only when a shaman as per rituals sacrifices his blood and five animals from forests like rat, duck, cock, dove and boar. A priest said that a lamp illuminates automatically after shamanic sacrifice signaling that the Goddess is ready to accept sacrifices from the devotees. In general devotees offer buffaloes, cock, goat and ducks to please the goddess. In the patriarchal setup in the Terai and Gangetic belt, devotees seek sons when blessed with a boy, the animal is sacrificed to please the goddess.
Several NGOs from around the world, India and Nepal like Human Society International, Sneha;s Care and vegetarianism supporting civil society have been campaigning during Gadhimai Mahotsav to prevent controversial mass animal sacrifice. During the 2009 festival, more than five lakh animals were slaughtered. Locals claim that this ritual is being practised for more than 600 years and is an untouchable cornerstone of faith. There is a lack of political will as no party wants to offend religious sentiments.
In 2024, the Supreme court of India ordered the state government to restrict exporting and transporting animals for sacrifice. The Supreme Court of Nepal ordered an end to the animal sacrifice in 2019, but the order widely remains ignored. Now, sacrifices happen inside four walls to prevent onlookers from witnessing the slaughter. Only the devotees with animals are allowed to enter the sacrificial campus. The animal’s head is offered to the Goddess, which is accepted by the temple priest. Head is buried under ground and the body is auctioned to buyers who export meat to the meat industry in China and other countries.
Locals claim that they have witnessed 2.5 crore footfall during the 14 days of Gadhimai festival which is fair with options of entertainment, sports, food stalls and adventure activities. This boosts tourism in the region and allows locals to earn the most during this festivity. The huge revenue from this festival to the region is a major factor which prevents political willingness to stop animal sacrifice rituals , and even civil societies find it difficult to prevent the slaughter tampering with religious faith. AIR…