Animal sacrifice in Hinduism

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A goat being sacrificed in a Temple festival in Tamil Nadu

Practices of Hindu animal sacrifice are mostly associated with Shaktism, and in currents of folk Hinduism strongly rooted in local tribal traditions.^[1] It is not practiced in contemporary Vedantic or Brahminical Hinduism.^[2][3][4]

Terminology

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A Sanskrit term used for animal sacrifice is bali, in origin meaning "tribute, offering or oblation" generically (“vegetable oblations [... and] animal oblations,”).^[5] Bali among other things "refers to the blood of an animal"^[5] and is sometimes known as Jhatka Bali^[6] in Hinduism.

The Kalika Purana distinguishes bali (sacrifice), mahabali (great sacrifice), for the ritual killing of goats, elephants, and humans, respectively, though the reference to humans in Shakti theology is symbolic and done in effigy in modern times.^[7] for instance, Sir John Woodroffe published a commentary on the Karpuradistotram where he writes that the sacrificial animals listed in verse 19 are merely symbols for the six enemies, with "man" representing pride.^[8]

The Vedic term for "sacrificial victim, animal sacrifice" is medha (c.f. Ashvamedha).

Practice

During the Vedic period, animal sacrifice was a "ubiquitous and extremely frequent occurrence which preceded almost any endeavor for which the outcome was uncertain."^[9] Animal Sacrifice is practiced by majority of Hindu Castes in Southern state of Tamil Nadu. It is most notably done in front of Local Deities or Clan Deities. Animal sacrifice is practiced in some Eastern states of India and Nepal.^[10] It is also practiced by some Hindus on the Indonesian island of Bali.^[11] Kshatriyas^[12][13] practice this too.

It is a ritual that is practised today and is mentioned in Medieval Hinduism too.^[14] Adherents of the Sakta sect off Hinduism hold this to be a central tenet of their belief.^[15]

Ritual

The ritual slaughter normally forms part of a festival to honor a Hindu God. For example, in Nepal the Hindu goddess Gadhimai,^[16] is honoured every 5 years with the slaughter of 250,000 animals. Bali sacrifice today is common at the Sakta shrines of the Goddess Kali.^[17] Sunil Sehgal says that "this rite is almost the sole survival of animal sacrifice in modern brahminical Hinduism".^[4]

Ritual animal sacrifice also includes the religious belief of Tabuh Rah, a religious cockfight where a rooster is used in religious custom by allowing him to fight against another rooster in the religious and spiritual cockfight of the Balinese Hinduism spiritual appeasement exercise of Tabuh Rah, a form of animal sacrifice. The spilling of blood is necessary as purification to appease the evil spirits. Ritual fights usually take place outside the temple proper and follow an ancient and complex ritual as set out in the sacred lontar manuscripts.^[18] Likewise a popular Hindu ritual form of worship of North Malabar in Kerala, India is the Tabuh Rah blood offering to Theyyam gods, despite being forbidden in the Vedic philosophy of sattvic Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, Theyyam deities are propitiated through the cock sacrifice where the religious cockfight is a religious exercise of offering blood to the Theyyam gods.

Method of Sacrifice

Methods for sacrificing range from decapitation, strangulation, to a spike being driven into the heart of the animal.

Jhatka is the prescribed method for Hindu ritual slaughter, however other methods such as strangulation and the use of a wooden spile (sphya) driven into the heart is used.^[19] The reason for this is priests see an animal making a noise as a bad omen. The Jhatka method requires the instant killing of the animal in a single decapitating blow with an axe or sword. Those Hindus who do eat meat prescribe meat killed by the Jhatka method.

Notes

References

• Nripendr Kumar Dutt (4 November 2008). Origin and Growth of Caste in India (C. B.C. 2000-300). Unknown. ISBN 1-4437-3590-6. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Origin-Growth-Caste-India-2000-300/dp/1443735906/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280148341&sr=1-1. Retrieved 26 July 2010. 
• Hastings, James (2003). Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Part 24. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishings. 
• Masih, Y. (2000). A Comparative Study of Religions. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. 
• Ryder, Richard D. Animal revolution: changing attitudes toward speciesism. Oxford: Berg Publishers. 2000. 
• Sehgal, Sunil (1999). Encyclopaedia of Hinduism. Delhi: Sarup & Sons.. 

Further reading

• Vesci, Uma Marina (1 January 1992). Heat and sacrifice in the Vedas. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. pp. 103–. ISBN 978-81-208-0841-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZYWFdFUfBf8C&pg=PA103. Retrieved 14 August 2010. 
• Fuller, Christopher John (26 July 2004). The camphor flame: popular Hinduism and society in India. Princeton University Press. pp. 88–. ISBN 978-0-691-12048-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=To6XSeBUW3oC&pg=PA88. Retrieved 14 August 2010. 

External links

• Rodrigues, Hillary; Sumaiya Rizvi (10 June 2010). "Blood Sacrifice in Hinduism". Mahavidya. p. 1. Archived from the original on 17 August 2010. http://www.mahavidya.ca/. Retrieved 17 August 2010.