Hinduism opposes animal sacrifice

By Thulasi MUTTULINGAM

The road that leads to the Bathrakali Amman Temple Muneshwaram had a festive, carnival air about it on Wednesday, August 25. Stalls selling everything from pots and pans to footwear, clothes, pictures and idols of various deities as well as ice-cream vans are to be found dotting both sides of the road.

The Bathrakali Amman Muneshwaram Kovil

Goats to be slaughtered

The side lane leading to the temple is filled with stalls selling various snacks as well as pictures of deities. Crowds throng the lane as well as the temple inside. A carnival atmosphere pervades the place with young children running about laughing and people seated on blankets, seemingly having a good time.

The only thing that mars the picture is the spectacle every so often of fowls being brought in (often upended and swung by the legs) or goats being led in. From big billy goats to small kid goats, the animals and chicken being brought in is a regular spectacle - it is the last day of the month long festival at the temple and the grand culmination will be with the mass slaughter of animals to be shared amongst all the temple-goers.

The Bathrakali Amman Temple is one of the few remaining Hindu temples in Sri Lanka to practise animal sacrifice. It is by no means a facet of the mainstream religion as it is practised in the country today. Many Hindus today are vegetarians and those who do eat meat, generally abstain from going to temples on those days due to the belief that they've committed a sin and that they would defile the temple if they were to enter it. Unlike in other religions, there is no hard and fast rules for fasting in Hinduism; the one concrete rule stipulates that the diet, if any should be hundred percent lacto vegetarian. Dairy products are allowed but eggs, fish and meat are not.

Evolution

As an ancient religion whose roots are lost in obscurity, Hinduism did once practise animal sacrifice and meat eating extensively but it has been many centuries since it evolved away from it and took up the precept of Ahimsa or non-violence towards all living beings.

According to the Director of the Department of Hindu Religious and Cultural Affairs, Shanthi Navukarasan, they are ardently opposed to these types of sacrifices in Hindu Kovils in the name of Hinduism but are unable to do anything because there is no specific law prohibiting it.

"We had several meetings with the priests of the Bathrakali Amman Temple, but they insisted that it is an age-old custom that they have to continue. We are still engaged in talks with them to at least stop the sacrifices for the next year, that is the best we can do for the moment," she said.

The clergy and the laity protest against the practice

The protestors

Animal Rights activists however insist that there is already a law in place to prohibit such slaughter of animals in public places. According to Dr. Chamith Nannayakara of the Association of Veterinarians for the Humane Management of Animal Population, the temple authorities not only violated the law by killing animals but also went against other facets of it which stipulated that slaughter houses were required to have veterinary surgeons as well as Public Health Inspectors on stand by, before, during and after the slaughter.

"The law requires that a veterinary surgeon should do both an ante mortem and a post mortem on the animal to ensure both its health and its humane slaughter and a public health inspector should be on stand by to certify the process. The temple authorities violated this rule as well," he said.

Dr. Nanayakkara was part of a group of animal rights activists who protested the mass slaughter of the goats and chickens at the temple premises. However, the protest was not allowed to take off. The Buddhist monks who were supposed to lead the protests were prevented from entering the temple premises. Though police personnel on the premises had initially said photography was allowed, the situation quickly became tense and those identified as protestors were told not to take pictures and to leave. Not even the media was allowed to cover the event.

The protest was to be a peaceful one and the protestors had already registered with the local police, notifying them that a protest would take place on the stipulated day. However, the temple authorities had obtained a court order from the local magistrate, prohibiting all such demonstrations in the temple precincts. And so the monks who were to lead the protests were prevented from entering the temple. They had to contend with staging their protest a few feet away from the temple gates.

This particular temple has long been famous for animal sacrifices but for some time in the previous years, the slaughter had not been carried out because of the agreement between a Buddhist monk of the neighbouring pansala and the temple priest.

Apparently, the monk had done a personal favour to the priest by appearing as his witness over a court case he was facing over land issues for the temple.

In return the monk asked for the cessation of the annual animal sacrifice which the priest agreed to. However, the monk passed away a couple of years ago and soon after, the priest did too. The new priest has now reinstated the custom as of last year. He has gone on record as saying that it is an age-old custom that he as well as the local people believe in and they have seen the benefits of it; they therefore see no need to discontinue it.

It is not only the local Tamil Hindu population that patronise the temple and take part in its sacrificial rituals, the Sinhalese, and elements of the catholic population do so too.

Belief

The belief is that the Kali amman can be appeased with one life in place of another and so if the astrologer says someone is in mortal danger, the way to get out of it is to offer a goat or chicken to the goddess instead. People also use the sacrifice to persuade the goddess to avenge them against those who have done some harm to them or to rid themselves of what they believe to be black magic or possession.

A local Sinhala catholic man, married to a Tamil Hindu woman says he doesn't think the sacrifice is a good thing but adds "You know, during President Premadasa's time, they stopped it for a brief while but then a lot of accidents happened around here." According to him, the person slaughtering the goats is paid Rs. 1000 per goat but nevertheless slaughters the animals quite a few inches below the neck line.

"The policy" he says, "is to give the meat to the family that brought it and throw away the heads. By severing the neck thus, the man ensures he has some meat of his own to sell. It's a pity really. For days afterwards, this place will stink of blood."

Three Tamil men who have travelled from Colombo are of a different opinion. "This is something that happens regularly after all," they shrug. "Isn't human life more important than animal life? If the astrologer was to tell you that your child would die soon unless you sacrificed a goat, wouldn't you rather do that?"

Pressed if this is what they believe to be in keeping with Hinduism, they smile sheepishly. "You are right, it is a pity to kill so many animals but then ask the Goddess why! Let her come down herself and tell us to stop, that she doesn't want sacrifices anymore. That's the only way this will stop."

The mainstream Hindu religions community however, distanced themselves from these happenings or openly condemn them. According to the president of the All Ceylon Hindu Congress, V. Kailasapillai, his organization not only opposed the sacrifices but had done all it could to stop it.

"We held a press conference along with the buddhist clergy to bring about awareness of this issue and even asked the local IGP to stop the sacrifice, but it was of no avail," he said.