A GRUESOME SACRIFICE

 

She was decorated… She wore ornaments… She had variety of foods kept before her to munch from… She was overwhelmed… But she never knew this would be the last moment in her life.

In the Hindu folklore, killing animals in the name of fallacy is common. Deep interior in the state of Karnataka lies Sandur known for its rich iron and manganese ore mines in the district of Bellary. During a visit to report on mining, I had a good rapport with the villagers around. I learnt a lot about their lifestyle, food habits, the main occupation and their major source of income.

It was a Sunday morning when I remembered to attend a grand temple function that evening as invited by the villagers. I always love to cover religious and cultural beats. The village was lit with festive mood. People from nearby districts were also there to pay their respects to 'Muniamma’ who was the presiding deity there. She was worshipped as goddess of security, safety and prosperity. The huge idol of the goddess was given due respects, decorated with garlands and people offered food, fruits, milk and sweets which will later be distributed to others as prasaad.

I stood in a corner closely observing their culture when hundreds of villagers ran to welcome the village head who had a huge sickle in one hand and was pulling a cow by a rope on the other. Within seconds, the respects turned to the cow. She had huge varieties of food to choose from. Drums rolling and ladies screaming, the pooja started. The cow was taken inside a hut and moments later, the head of the village came out of the hut. Something was bizarre. For a second, I did not realize what it was. He had the same sickle in one hand but was dipped in blood and drops flowing down from the sharp edge of it.

On the other hand was the cow. This time it was not pulled by the rope. It was just the head of the cow and the body of her came behind carried by another man. Blood gushing from the cow’s head, the village leader kept the head of the cow in front of the deity and shouted his prayers offering the meat to the goddess. Stunned by their culture and superstitions, I quietly moved away from that place.

On my way back were a herd of cows grazing not far from where the sacrifice happened. I was helpless to see the state of these cows who are so called the goddess of prosperity ‘Gomatha’ in Hindu mythology, living a life, fearing of when they will be slaughtered by these people in the name of god’s prasaad.