<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdc119c7e80680e0802f9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4096" height="2730"/><figcaption>Photos: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>A market at Bhaktapur was doing brisk business on Saturday as <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dasain-crowds-disregard-covid-19-warnings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">people ignored physical distancing rules</a> and flocked to buy fowls for the Dasain ritual sacrifice.There were ducks, chicken, even turkeys for sale and buyers took them away in bamboo baskets, carrying them in their hands, or hanging them by their legs.Nearby stalls were selling mountain goats, but customers there were not as many as in previous years. This could be the result of people's incomes being hit by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/declare-a-health-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Covid-19 crisis</a>, and people turning from expensive four-legged animals to cheaper feathered ones.There was one stall selling coconuts. Vegetarians, or those who do not believe in animal sacrifice, break open a coconut to appease the Dasain deities.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdc159c7e80680e0802fajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4096" height="2730"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdc189c7e80680e0802fbjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4096" height="2730"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdc1d9c7e80680e0802fcjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2261" height="1508"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdc219c7e80680e0802fdjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4096" height="2730"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdc249c7e80680e0802fejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4096" height="2730"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdc289c7e80680e0802ffjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3863" height="2575"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171156/636bdc2b9c7e80680e080300jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4096" height="2730"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>All photos: Monika Deupala

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Crying fowl at Dasain

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151116/636a64fa9c7e80680e059907jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>KILLING FIELDS: Animal rights advocate Sneha Shrestha (above) feeding buffaloes the night before the slaughter. Activists tried unsuccessfully to stop the mass killings on 3-4 December in Bara. Photo: LAXMI PRASAD NGAKHUSI</figcaption></figure>Rambhu Paswan was among 100 men hired by the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/activists-against-animal-cruelty-at-nepal-temple/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gadimai</a> Temple this week to kill animals on behalf of at least 2 million devotees from India and Nepal who thronged to the shrine in Bara district to give thanks for wishes fulfilled. At least 10,000 buffaloes, goats and fowl were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/when-in-gadimai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slaughtered on 3-4 December</a>. Paswan himself decapitated at least 40 buffaloes, receiving Rs6,000 per day to kill the corralled animals one by one.“It was hard to breathe in the beginning, and I could not hold my weapon. I drank some water and told myself the job has to be done,” said the farmer from Bara.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/activists-against-animal-cruelty-at-nepal-temple/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Activists decry animal slaughter at Nepal temple</a>, Sewa Bhattarai<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-sacrifice-of-animal-sacrifices/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The sacrifice of animal sacrifices</a>, Aashish MishraRam Narayan Ram was also at first unable to start killing. “I was sweating, and chanted prayers to the goddess to continue,” said Ram, who felled 30 buffaloes on the first day, not all of them with one blow. He killed another 100 or so goats and chickens the next day.Both Paswan and Ram have performed the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Overkill-in-Gadhimai,1794" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ritual slaughter at Gadimai</a> before, and use earnings to support their families.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4YTxDqg2lA&amp;t=13sThe killings went ahead this year despite outrage and outcry in Nepal and worldwide. Nepal’s Supreme Court had in 2016 directed authorities not to allow the slaughter. India’s apex court also ruled in 2014 against transporting animals across the border to be killed <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16522#.Xejj5ZMzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at Gadimai</a>.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Overkill-in-Gadhimai,1794" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Overkill in Gadimai</a>, Lucia de Vries and Deepak AdhikariThe court decisions and strong lobbying by activists on both sides of the border reduced the number of sacrifices this year. Volunteers from <a href="https://www.snehacare.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Friends of Animal Welfare Nepal</a> (FAWN) patrolled the Nepal-India border in the weeks before the festival, and activists met district officials to ask them to heed the Supreme Court ruling.“Despite our effort to make this festival bloodless, the sacrifices went ahead with blind faith in the tradition,” said FAWN’s Sneha Shrestha, whose team <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/night-before-the-slaughter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was feeding and tending to the animals</a> till the end. “We did everything to save the innocent lives. The temple committee and the CDO did not keep their promise.”Bara’s Chief District Officer Phanindra Mani Pokhrel said last week his administration was trying its best to discourage the killings. Temple head priest Mangal Chaudhary told Nepali Times: “You can just sacrifice a coconut, or offer flowers and sweets to the goddess.”But neither the government nor the temple appeared willing, or able, to stand up to public pressure for the mass killings. Unlike religious sacrifice, the animals at Gadimai are not slaughtered to be eaten later, but left to rot.

Cruelty and compassion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4YTxDqg2lA&amp;feature=youtu.beDespite national and international outrage and a Supreme Court ruling against the cruel ritual, Nepal’s Gadimai Mela, the world’s largest mass sacrifice of animals went ahead as scheduled.Indian and Nepali pilgrims who had their wishes fulfilled in the last five years slaughtered thousands of water buffalos, goats, pigs, ducks and chicken in gratitude. The killings will continue on Wednesday.Videos and photos from Bariyapur village in Bara district show tens of thousands of people from India and Nepal in attendance with their families and choice of sacrificial animals. But while attendees enjoyed the carnival the night before in anticipation of the sacrifice, the ritual site in the aftermath was a Killing field.Photos and videos by Manish Paudel.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a64469c7e80680e0598ccjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"/><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a64499c7e80680e0598cdjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a644c9c7e80680e0598cejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="667"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a644f9c7e80680e0598cfjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a64519c7e80680e0598d0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a64559c7e80680e0598d1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a64589c7e80680e0598d2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="667"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a645b9c7e80680e0598d3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a645e9c7e80680e0598d4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a64619c7e80680e0598d5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a64649c7e80680e0598d6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="667"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a64679c7e80680e0598d7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1001" height="1500"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a646a9c7e80680e0598d8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a646c9c7e80680e0598d9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="667">Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/sharpening-the-knives/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sharpening the knives</a>, Manish Paudel<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/night-before-the-slaughter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Night before the slaughter</a><a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/activists-against-animal-cruelty-at-nepal-temple/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Activists decry animal slaughter at Nepal temple</a>, Sewa Bhattarai

Killing field

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a641e9c7e80680e0598bejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1001" height="1500"/><figcaption>All photos: MANISH PAUDEL</figcaption></figure>Gadimai mela is going ahead on Tuesday as scheduled in the village of Bariyapur in Bara district of Nepal.Monday night saw locals bask in the carnival, full of life and lights. Ironically, devotees on the other hand were sharpening the knives for the world's largest mass sacrifice of animals.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a64219c7e80680e0598bfjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a64249c7e80680e0598c0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a64289c7e80680e0598c1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a642b9c7e80680e0598c2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a642e9c7e80680e0598c3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a64319c7e80680e0598c4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1001" height="1500">Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/night-before-the-slaughter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Night before the slaughter </a><a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/activists-against-animal-cruelty-at-nepal-temple/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Activists decry animal slaughter in Nepal temple</a>, Sewa Bhattarai

Sharpening the knives

<figure><img width="960" height="670" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63b99c7e80680e059896jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photos: SNEHA SHRESTHA</figcaption></figure>The village of Bariyapur in Nepal’s plains is getting ready for the Gadimai Mela despite national and international outrage against the mass slaughter of animals during the weeklong event.Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from India and Nepal who have had their wishes fulfilled congregate every five years to offer mass animal sacrifice in gratitude.Thousands of water buffaloes, goats and fowls have already been brought to the town for the sacrifice starting Tuesday. Animal rights activists are doing all they can to feed and care for the animals before they are sacrificed.  Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/activists-against-animal-cruelty-at-nepal-temple/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Activists decry animal slaughter at Nepal Temple</a>, Sewa Bhattarai<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Overkill-in-Gadhimai,1794" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Overkill in Gadimai</a>, Lucia de vries and Deepak Adhikari <img width="640" height="459" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63bc9c7e80680e059897jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="427" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63bf9c7e80680e059898jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="396" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63c19c7e80680e059899jpeg.jpg" alt="">Animal rights activists have filed a contempt of court case against Gadhimai Temple Committee and the government at the Supreme Court for disavowing  the Apex Court’s historic judgment passed in 2015 that directs the authorities concerned to phase out brutality against innocent animals during Gadhimai festival.The Court first gave its decision on bloodless killing in 2014 and the full script of the judgment came out in July 2016 in which a strict mandamus order was issued whereby the Court directed the government to come up with a strategic action plan by formulating a task force, which in turn would set a timeline for ultimate phasing out and ending of the practice of animal sacrifice.“We strongly believe that there has been complete disregard, disobedience and non-compliance of the Court’s verdict by the government and its agencies since the past five years despite persistent efforts by animal welfare organisations and activists,” the plaintiffs said.The festival, held every five years, has gained criticism over the recent past for being the world’s largest animal sacrifice event. The temple trust had announced in 2015 that the 250-year-old practice of sacrificing animals shall be discontinued from the next Gadhimai festival in 2019.The trust also urged devotees attending the festival to not bring animals. The Gadhimai festival drew wide attention in 2009 when over 500,000 buffaloes, goats, chicken and other animals were estimated to have been sacrificed. When activists called for a ban on the event, the number of animal sacrifices reportedly halved in 2014. India’s Supreme Court, too, in an interim order in 2014, prohibited the transportation of animals from India to Nepal before the 2014 festival, bringing the numbers down drastically. Recently, it directed states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Uttrakhand, which share borders with Nepal, to set up mechanisms to prevent the transportation of animals to Gadhimai and to increase awareness against animal sacrifice. <img width="640" height="360" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63c49c7e80680e05989ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63c69c7e80680e05989bjpeg.jpg" alt=""> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbGj1EcxIRw&amp;feature=youtu.be <img width="1498" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63c89c7e80680e05989cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1498" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63cc9c7e80680e05989djpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1480" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63cf9c7e80680e05989ejpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="667" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63d29c7e80680e05989fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1000" height="667" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63d49c7e80680e0598a0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1000" height="667" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63d69c7e80680e0598a1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1000" height="667" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63d99c7e80680e0598a2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1000" height="667" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63db9c7e80680e0598a3jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="667" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63de9c7e80680e0598a4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1000" height="668" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63e09c7e80680e0598a5jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1000" height="668" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63e39c7e80680e0598a6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1000" height="668" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63e59c7e80680e0598a7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1001" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63e89c7e80680e0598a8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1000" height="668" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63eb9c7e80680e0598a9jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1000" height="667" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63ee9c7e80680e0598aajpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1000" height="668" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63f09c7e80680e0598abjpeg.jpg" alt="">Read also: <a href="https://time.com/3609356/the-worlds-largest-animal-slaughter-festival-has-begun-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The World’s Largest Animal Slaughter Festival Has Begun in Nepal</a>

Night before the slaughter

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171116/63692f929c7e80680e03c0b1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1070"/><figcaption>Photo: Kunda Dixit</figcaption></figure>Dasain is here again, a festival of shopping, family reunions, feasting – and controversies. Fierce debates again rage online and offline about whether <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/dasain-goes-global,3950" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dasain </a>is indigenous or not, if there should be so many days off. But the loudest arguments in recent years are about the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/ode-to-goat,3321" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cult of animal sacrifice</a>.Going by previous trends, almost a million goats, sheep, buffalos and poultry will be killed during the fortnight of festivities. Not all are ritually sacrificed, some are slaughtered by butchers to meet the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/The-goat-rush,3320" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increased Dasain demand for meat</a>.Maya Thapa and her husband sell goats, sheep, chicken and ducks at the animal market in Kalanki. She says: “Dasain sees a peak in sales. During other times of year, we mostly supply animals to slaughterhouses, but in Dasain the animals are sold for household sacrifices.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=14800&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Octoberfest</a>, EditorialMost Hindu sacrifices do not involve animals at all, but <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/vegetables-and-famous-veggie-dishes-this-Dasain,3951" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vegetables </a>or dairy products. But in Nepal, the Kali cult manifests itself in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16522#.W782MXszaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">animal sacrifices</a> which are not just killing for the sake of killing, but hold a larger symbolism. By sacrificing goats and buffalos, devotees believe they are killing self-centredness and malice – humans are removing the animal instincts present in themselves.Cultural historian Madan Mohan Mishra explains that sacrifices are a sign of respect to the Goddess Durga (in her various forms such as Kali, Bhawani, Mai) to confront and defeat the Mahisasur buffalo demon. His killing is represented by sacrificing multiple buffalos in front of Durga temples around Nepal at Dasain.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/ode-to-goat,3321" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ode to goat</a>, Ketan DulalPriestess Mohan Maiya Jha of the Char Narayan and Bhai Dega temples in Patan adds: “Human sacrifice used to represent the ultimate sacrifice – there was nothing to hold one back from attaining true liberation (moksha). But human life is much too precious to be left to religious symbolism which is why the practice was replaced with animal sacrifice. As social consciousness evolves and the times change, the practice of animal sacrifice may also die out.”But she is opposed to the protests against sacrificing animals and the ruling of the Supreme Court to ban animal sacrifice at the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Overkill-in-Gadhimai,1794" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gadhimai festival</a>. “There should be no interference in religious traditions. Protests and the courts cannot start or end a custom. Such matters, good or bad, must be left to society.”However, the cult of animal sacrifice goes beyond religious customs. Webb Keane, Professor of Anthropology at University of Michigan, makes the case that sacrificing animals came about after humans evolved as natural hunters and possessed predatory instincts.Read also: <a style="font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.15px; background-color: #ffffff;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16522#.W782MXszaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Animal fights</a>, Rabi ThapaBut as societies evolved and institutionalised religions developed, such taking of life for food came to be regarded as morally wrong as humans were capable of producing food through agriculture without the need for violence. Early civilisations therefore developed ritualistic sacrifices to the Gods to justify the killing of animals for meat.The hunter instinct is deeply rooted in humans to this day, and most religions, tribal and mainstream, possess one form of sacrifice or the other – in Islam it is Qurbani, in Christianity the sacrificial lamb, and in Hinduism the Bali.“Animal sacrifices are not unique to any one religion – it is a universal theme driven by our innate animal instinct,” says Keane.Read also: <a style="letter-spacing: 0.15px; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: bold;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14100#.W782NnszaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scapegoats</a>, Tirtha B ShresthIn response to international activism against animal sacrifices, the Nepal government has outlawed the mass slaughter of animals in Gadhimai. Individual sacrifices at home in Dasain are also being gradually replaced by buying meat from supermarkets or the neighbourhood butcher.Says animal rights activist Sujan Shrestha: “Beheading animals at home makes children impervious to violence, they get used to the sight of blood-letting. You do not have to be a psychologist to know that this risks normalising violence in the minds of youngsters.”The usual justification for <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14100#.W782NnszaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">animal sacrifices</a> is that they appease the gods and replace human bloodshed. But given the massacres and wars in Nepal’s history, that argument does not seem to hold. More than 90 nobles were killed in the Bhandarkhal Massacre of 1806 that brought Bhimsen Thapa to power, 55 were killed by Jang Bahadur in the Kot in 1846, and the 2001 massacre nearly wiped out Nepal’s royal family.Today, the Kot Massacre is still marked at Dasain not by non-violent rituals, but by the mass slaughter of hundreds of buffalos, goats and birds.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/vegetables-and-famous-veggie-dishes-this-Dasain,3951" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This Dasain, vegetate</a>, Sonia Awale<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Overkill-in-Gadhimai,1794" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Overkill in Gadhimai</a>, Lucia de Vries and Deepak Adhikari

The sacrifice of animal sacrifices

<figure><img width="1000" height="1333" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171116/63692f4a9c7e80680e03c09bjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Diwakar Chettri</figcaption></figure>Like all festivals in whichever religion, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/september-fest-editorial,3948" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dasain</a> probably has its origins in pre-historic harvest rituals. The rains are over, the sky is blue again, the terrace farms sway with the gold of ripening paddy. Our animist ancestors worshipped the sky, rivers and mountains and revered the passing of seasons. The myths of the triumph of good over evil and the killing of the water buffalo as an epitome of evil were added on later by insitutionalised religion.This Dasain, it has got harder than ever before to differentiate between good and evil. There is so much <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/in-nepal-beware-of-fake-news,2556" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fake news</a> flying about that the lines between right and wrong are being blurred. Nothing is what it seems. The murder rape of Nirmala Panta has forced the government to act, but it acted by suspending two police officers for destroying evidence. But on whose orders were those two junior cops tampering with the crime scene?Comrade Bamdev Gautam lost his Bardiya parliamentary seat in last year’s elections. But electoral defeat never deterred anyone in Nepal to remain in power. So, with a little bit of help from fellow-Communists in the ruling party he tried to convince MPs in Humla and Piuthan to give up their seat, but after they balked Gautam’s desperation began to show.Finally, he got his party co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal to convince the MP from Kathmandu 7, Rambir Manandhar, to resign. If the resignation is approved by the party (Prime Minister Oli is said to be against it) by-elections for that seat will be held next month. Manandhar is not unhappy, though. He actually appears victorious because he says he has been promised a seat in the Upper House, a ministerial post and entry into the party’s central committee.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=14900&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Festivals of sisterhood</a>, Sewa Bhattarai and Sabina DevkotaWe have come to expect such shenanigans from Nepal’s so-called Communists. There is precedent: when Dahal lost from his Kirtipur constituency in 2103, and was headed for sure <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2013/11/16/decision-at-the-polling-booth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defeat in Siraha</a>, the powers across party lines reportedly leaned on the winning UML candidate to look the other way while the Election Commission changed the score card.The way they justified it was that if the Supreme Commander of the Revolution lost, he may be so ticked off he may go back to war and there would be no new Constitution. For the sake of preserving the peace, they had to cheat.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=14876&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Go easy on the booze this holiday season</a>, Sonia AwaleLast Dasain, unbeknownst to many, Oli and Dahal were deep in secret negotiations to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/10/03/art-of-the-impossible/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forge an electoral alliance</a> in parliamentary elections in November 2017. The two parties needed each other: the Maoists to launder their war crimes, and the UML to ensure that a weak coalition would not be toppled again by India. The plan worked brilliantly, and the alliance won a thumping majority. The two parties went on to merge a few months later after Oli and Dahal agreed to be co-chairs and take turns being PM.Among the chief architects of the merger was none other than Bamdev Gautam. This Dasain, Gautam is back in the news, and trying to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. The united Communists are factionalised, and coalescing around Oli, Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal. A monolithic party with a historic majority has squandered most of its public support through feckless indecisiveness, threatening talk, unparalleled corruption and a debilitating inability to deliver.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=14883&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The sacrifice of animal sacrifices</a>, Aashish MishraThis Dasain, we have to try to temporarily forget ugly truths like these that have kept this country back. We will press the pause button and contemplate all that is good in Nepali society, and remind ourselves about the things we can be proud of as a nation: the fortitude and strength of our people who are tolerant to a fault, the value we place on our hardwon freedoms, and that despite everything we have notched major progress in public health, environmental protection, and an empowered citizenry.At a time when more than 15% of Nepal’s 29 million people live and work abroad, Dasain becomes <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/dasain-goes-global,3950" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an important time for the diaspora</a>. Together with our shared history and the Nepali language, Dasain is what binds Nepal together. This is not just a Hindu festival, it is a Nepali one. Wherever in the world they are, whatever their creed or nationality, Nepalis come together at Dasain. The festival has transcended its religious antecedent to become a time for families and for the nation itself to unite in common celebration, and revive our collective hope for the future.We have traditionally asked Pashupatinath, the patron deity, to set things right in this country. Maybe it is time to not leave everything to the Protector of Animals, but for all three levels of government, the opposition, federal Parliament, bureaucracy and all citizens to make a serious effort themselves.Update on 12 October: Bamdev Gautam has decided not to contest the by-election from Kathmandu7.