NEPAL-ANIMAL SACRIFICE Thousands of Hindu devotees, sacrificial animals converge at Nepal temple for festival

Record ID: 859396

  • Title: NEPAL-ANIMAL SACRIFICE Thousands of Hindu devotees, sacrificial animals converge at Nepal temple for festival
  • Date: 29th November 2014
  • Summary: BARIYAPUR, GADHIMAI BARA DISTRICT, NEPAL(NOVEMBER 28, 2014)(REUTERS) HINDU DEVOTEES MILLING AROUND GADHIMAI TEMPLE WOMEN WALKING TOWARDS TEMPLE FEET OF THE WOMEN GOING TO THE TEMPLE PEOPLE MAKING THEIR WAY TO THE TEMPLE MAN WITH WATER BUFFALO (SOUNDBITE)(Madehsi) UNIDENTIFIED HINDU DEVOTEE SAYING: "I am praying and making an offering for the welfare of all people and their children." WATER BUFFALOES PEOPLE RUNNING BUTCHERS HOLDING UP LARGE KNIVES AND SWORDS (SOUNDBITE)(Nepali) UNIDENTIFIED HINDU DEVOTEE SAYING: "We have come here with the intention of solving a domestic issue. After explaining the problem (to the priest) we have been told it's an economical problem" WATER BUFFALOES MEN HOLDING KNIVES MORE WATER BUFFALOES
  • Embargoed: 14th December 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nepal
  • City:
  • Country: Nepal
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA11W8PVOZ6DR4QV6OC6579BBV1
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Hindu devotees gathered at a temple in Nepal on Friday (November 28) for a festival in which thousands of animals are due to be sacrificed to honour the goddess Gadhimai.
    The festival takes place every five years.
    On Friday morning, devotees with big knives and swords began slaughtering thousands of water buffaloes, cows and other animals.
    "I am praying and making an offering for the welfare of all people and their children," said an unidentified man, who brought a water buffalo offering.
    Animal rights groups have condemned the festival saying the animals suffer at the hands of untrained butchers and the piles of carcasses are unhygienic.
    But that has not stopped the roughly one million people who have come to the temple from all over Nepal as well as India, this year.
    Earlier in the year, India's Supreme Court ordered the government to make sure live cattle or water buffalo were not exported to Nepal without a license and border police were ordered to stop the illegal movement livestock across the border.
    In 2009, local media put the number of animals sacrificed at 250,000, but this year, organizers said there were only around 5,000. The offering of an animal to the Hindu goddess of power is believed to bring prosperity, while eating the meat will protect devotees from evil. Some hope the goddess will help solve their problems.
    "We have come here with the intention of solving a domestic issue. After explaining the problem (to the priest) we have been told it's an economical problem," said another unidentified Hindu devotee.
    The slaughtering only takes place on Friday and Saturday (November 29) but the festival, which takes place at the temple 100 km south of Kathmandu, runs for weeks.
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