Debate: Animal sacrifice is barbaric and should be stopped says Satyagrahi Kalparnab Gupta; A ritual as per Vedic scriptures, counters Purohit 

Animal sacrifice sacred or crime, ritual or a brutality, worship or an insult to species. It is a debate that has been going on since a very long time. The pundits throw Vedic scriptures to defend the ritual but fail to explain the exceptions. The animal activists shout their lungs out during Pujas in front of temples but order chicken Biriyani or mutton kosha for dinner. In Barak Valley too, Bali or No Bali, sacrifice or no sacrifice is a debate that has spurred up particularly because of a National Institute of Technology student who sat in front of Kachakanti Temple in Udharbond protesting Animal sacrifice, and today, he intends to stretch his Satyagraha to Samananda Ashram in Public School Road, Silchar. Today is Maha Nabami, one of the most sacred days for Bengali Hindus in their calendar.

Barak Bulletin spoke to Kalparnab Gupta to understand his stand and spoke to a couple of other religious intellectuals, who have immense knowledge about Ved and shastra to have a counter-argument.

Satyagrahi as he calls himself, states that the idea to protest during Durga Puja has been alarming him since last few months. No book or speech nor any alliance with any NGO or organisations provoked him to take this stand, he clarifies. “I decided to do this during Durga Puja because, as we all are aware, huge number of animal sacrifices (Bali) are conducted during this period. An animal sacrifice is a barbaric act on the name of God. In order to meet self-esteem and self-desires, we sacrifice an animal which should not be tolerated at any cost,” he says, adding, “I want this to be completely banned. Saptami, I demonstrated in front of Kachakanti Temple, today I will be outside Shyamananda Ashram, where Buffalo is sacrificed in the name of God.”

Our correspondent countered questioned him, “Since the idea has been alarming you since months, did you demonstrate during Eid-ul-Zoha (Bakrid) too,” “No I did not” Gupta replies, adding, “Religious reforms is only possible when people come out against their own religion. Followers of Islam can only bring reform in Islam, I cannot. Also Islam is a faith-based religion, Hinduism is not.” Gupta says he has faced no protest from any individual or organisation yet and in case he does, he will knock the door of administration. However, he has not informed the administration about his “Campaign”.

We then spoke to a teacher who also is one of the Purohits in Shyamananda Ashram. He assures that Mahish Bali, (Buffalo sacrifice) will be followed ceremoniously on the auspicious occasion of Mahanabami, “I just returned after reciting Chandi, there too, it’s written to sacrifice (bali). It is a ritual for Hindus as per Shastra,” says the Purohit. He adds, “While there are many Vedic scriptures, those can be complex. Let us take an easy and simple reference, we Hindus on auspicious occasion devote edible items to God and then eat it as Prasadam, it can be Payash or it can be meat. Now if activists can ban slaughter of Animals everywhere and successfully manage to turn the entire world into vegetarians, then the argument against bali stands a chance, otherwise, it is just a publicity stunt.” He cautions, “Shyamanda Ashram is a private property, it is Shyamanda Baba’s residence, where the doors are always opened for all. There is no restriction on bali in someone’s residence yet.”

A former student of NIT Silchar who is currently employed at Indian Railways too supports this movement. He is an avid reader of vedic scriptures and he too thinks Animal Sacrifice needs to be stopped immediately.  He says it has distorted the meaning of sacrifice. “In vedic times, since the economy was pastoral, if one had to reduce their wealth they just used to give up (sacrifice). Godhan was a unit of currency. The cow was a unit of wealth and power. There used to be many tribal traditions where animal sacrifice was a part of their folk tribal religion. Point is that, when one had to reduce their ego or reason for being strong, they just had to give up some of their wealth i.e animals,” he asserts, adding, “Once the concept of ‘Shakti‘ was evoked to integrate such practices into the ambit of Hindusim, the killing of animals got legitimacy even more. There were even human sacrifices prevalent in several places. This sacrifice was an egalitarian practice of giving up wealth. Kind of redistribution. It was a positive thing. But then Hindus gradually started integrating tribal cult within its fold and sacrifice got distorted and became superstitious. There were instances of human sacrifice too. Best-known place where human sacrifice was indoctrinated into Hindu traditions because of tribal influence is Nartiang Durga Temple in Meghalaya.”