Editing Animal sacrifice (section)

==Hinduism==
{{Further|Ashvamedha|Animal sacrifice in Hinduism}}

Practices of [[Hinduism|Hindu]] animal sacrifice are mostly associated with [[Shaktism]], [[Shaiva Agamas]] and in currents of [[folk Hinduism]] called [[Kulamārga|Kulamarga]] strongly rooted in local tribal traditions. Animal sacrifices were carried out in ancient times in India. Most [[Purana]]s and other scriptures forbid animal sacrifice<ref>{{cite book|author=Preece|first=Rod|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GCcwJtu_qQQC&pg=PA202|title=Animals and Nature: Cultural Myths, Cultural Realities|publisher=UBC Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0774807241|pages=202|language=en|author-link=Rod Preece}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Kemmerer|first1=Lisa|last2=Nocella|first2=Anthony J.|title=Call to Compassion: Reflections on Animal Advocacy from the World's Religions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lq70lgRwlRQC&pg=PA260|year=2011|publisher=Lantern Books|isbn=978-1590562819|pages=60}}</ref><ref name="For the Sake of Humanity">{{cite book|last1=Stephens|first1=Alan Andrew|last2=Walden|first2=Raphael Walden |title=For the Sake of Humanity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Cgo85WlfmgC&pg=PA69|year=2006|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9004141251|pages=69}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=David Whitten|last2=Bur|first2=Elizabeth Geraldine |title=Understanding World Religions: A Road Map for Justice and Peace|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OHs386EZkRwC&pg=PA13|date=January 2007|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0742550551|pages=13}}</ref> though the [[upapurana]], [[Kalika Purana]], describes it in detail.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

=== Shaktism traditions ===
[[File:Immolation Sacrifice, Mouh Boli, Durga Puja.jpg|thumb|A male buffalo calf about to be sacrificed by a priest in the Durga Puja festival. The buffalo sacrifice practice, however, is rare in contemporary India.<ref>{{cite book|author=Christopher John Fuller|author-link=Chris Fuller (academic)|title=The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=To6XSeBUW3oC |year=2004|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-12048-X|page=141}}</ref>]]
Animal sacrifices are performed mainly at temples following the [[Shakti]] school of [[Hinduism]] where the female nature of [[Brahman]] is worshipped in the form of [[Kali]] and [[Durga]]. These traditions are followed in parts of eastern states of India at [[Hindu temple]]s in [[Assam]] and [[West Bengal]] India and [[Nepal]] where [[goat]]s, [[chicken]]s and sometimes [[water buffalo]]s are sacrificed.

Animal sacrifice is a part of Durga puja celebrations during the Navratri in eastern states of India. The goddess is offered sacrificial animal in this ritual in the belief that it stimulates her violent vengeance against the buffalo demon.<ref name="fuller83">{{cite book|author=Christopher John Fuller|author-link=Chris Fuller (academic)|title=The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=To6XSeBUW3oC |year=2004|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-12048-X|pages=46, 83–85}}</ref> According to [[Chris Fuller (academic)|Christopher Fuller]], the animal sacrifice practice is rare among Hindus during Navratri, or at other times, outside the [[Shaktism]] tradition found in the eastern Indian states of West Bengal, Odisha<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hardenberg|first1=Roland|title=Visnu's Sleep, Mahisa's Attack, Durga's Victory: Concepts of Royalty in a Sacrificial Drama|journal=Journal of Social Science|year=2000|volume=4|issue= 4 |page= 267 |url= http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/JSS/JSS-04-0-000-000-2000-Web/JSS-04-04-227-2000-Abst-PDF/JSS-04-04-261-276-2000.pdf|access-date=29 September 2015}}</ref> and Assam. Further, even in these states, the festival season is one where significant animal sacrifices are observed.<ref name="fuller83" /> In some Shakta Hindu communities, the slaying of buffalo demon and victory of Durga is observed with a symbolic sacrifice instead of animal sacrifice.{{sfn|Hillary Rodrigues|2003|pp=277–78}}{{sfn|June McDaniel|2004|pp=204–05}}{{refn|group=note|In these cases, Shaktism devotees consider animal sacrifice distasteful, practice alternate means of expressing devotion while respecting the views of others in their tradition.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Ira Katznelson|author2=Gareth Stedman Jones|title=Religion and the Political Imagination|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pWYXdLW00UsC |year=2010 |publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-49317-8|page=343}}</ref> A statue of ''[[asura]]'' demon made of flour, or equivalent, is immolated and smeared with vermilion to remember the blood that had necessarily been spilled during the war.{{sfn|Hillary Rodrigues |2003|pp=277–78}}{{sfn|June McDaniel|2004|pp= 204–05}} Other substitutes include a vegetal or sweet dish considered equivalent to the animal.<ref>{{cite book|author=Rachel Fell McDermott|title=Revelry, Rivalry, and Longing for the Goddesses of Bengal: The Fortunes of Hindu Festivals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ggBeH_lmUu8C |year=2011|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn= 978-0-231-12919-0 |pages=204–05}}</ref>}}

Animal sacrifice ''en masse'' occurs during the three-day-long [[Gadhimai festival]] in Nepal. In 2009 it was speculated that more than 250,000 animals were killed<ref>{{cite news |author=Olivia Lang in Bariyapur |date=2009-11-24 |title=Hindu sacrifice of 250,000 animals begins |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/24/hindu-sacrifice-gadhimai-festival-nepal |access-date=2012-08-13}}</ref> while 5 million devotees attended the festival.<ref>{{cite news |date=2009-11-24 |title=Ritual animal slaughter begins in Nepal |publisher=CNN |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/11/24/nepal.animal.sacrifice/index.html |access-date=2012-08-13}}</ref> However, this practise was later banned in 2015.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ram Chandra |first1=Shah |title=Gadhimai Temple Trust Chairman, Mr Ram Chandra Shah, on the decision to stop holding animal sacrifices during the Gadhimai festival. Later the trust denied the decision, as per trust such decision was obtained forcefully by animal right. Trust said it is not in our hand to stop the sacrifice it is up to people, as trust or priest never ask devotee to offer sacrifice. It is their sole and self decision . |url=http://www.hsi.org/assets/pdfs/gadhimai-temple-trust-statement-ram-chandra-shah.pdf |access-date=29 July 2015 |website=Humane Society International}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Meredith |first1=Charlotte |date=29 July 2015 |title=Thousands of Animals Have Been Saved in Nepal as Mass Slaughter Is Cancelled |work=[[Vice News]] |agency=[[Vice Media, Inc.]] |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/thousands-of-animals-have-been-saved-in-nepal-as-mass-slaughter-is-cancelled/ |access-date=29 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Kumar Yadav |first1=Praveen |last2=Tripathi |first2=Ritesh |date=29 July 2015 |title=Gadhimai Trust dismisses reports on animal sacrifice ban |url=http://admin.myrepublica.com/feature-article/item/25385-gadhimai-trust-dismisses-reports-on-animal-sacrifice-ban.html#sthash.giaWaoIt.gbpl |url-status=dead |access-date=26 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627230640/http://admin.myrepublica.com/feature-article/item/25385-gadhimai-trust-dismisses-reports-on-animal-sacrifice-ban.html#sthash.giaWaoIt.gbpl |archive-date=27 June 2018}}</ref>

=== Rajput traditions ===
The [[Rajput]]s of [[Rajasthan]] worship their weapons and horses on [[Navaratri]], and formerly offered a sacrifice of a goat to a goddess revered as [[Kuladevata|kuladevi]] – a practice that continues in some places.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harlan|first1=Lindsey|title=The goddesses' henchmen gender in Indian hero worship|date=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford [u.a.]|isbn=978-0195154269|pages=45 with footnote 55, 58–59| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7HLrPYOe38gC |access-date=14 October 2016}}</ref><ref name="Goat sacrifice to Shilamata">{{cite book|last1=Hiltebeitel|first1=Alf|author-link1=Alf Hiltebeitel|last2=Erndl|first2=Kathleen M.|title=Is the Goddess a Feminist?: the Politics of South Asian Goddesses|date=2000|publisher=Sheffield Academic Press|location=Sheffield, England|isbn=978-0814736197|page=77|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQJzTr4c-g4C}}</ref> The ritual requires slaying of the animal with a single stroke. In the past this ritual was considered a rite of passage into manhood and readiness as a warrior.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harlan|first1=Lindsey|title=Religion and Rajput Women|year=1992|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley, California|isbn=0-520-07339-8|pages=61, 88|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7HLrPYOe38gC  }}</ref> The kuladevi among these Rajput communities is a warrior-[[pativrata]] guardian goddess, with local legends tracing reverence for her during Rajput-Muslim wars.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harlan|first1=Lindsey|title=Religion and Rajput Women|year=1992|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley, CA|isbn=0-520-07339-8|pages=107–08|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7HLrPYOe38gC }}</ref>

The tradition of animal sacrifice is being substituted with vegetarian offerings to the goddess in temples and households around  [[Varanasi]] in Northern India.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rodrigues|first1=Hillary|title=Ritual Worship of the Great Goddess: The Liturgy of the Durga Puja with interpretation|date=2003|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany, NY|isbn=07914-5399-5|page=215|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=onyaEhwhJBUC |access-date=26 October 2015}}</ref>

=== Folk traditions ===
In some [[sacred groves of India]], particularly in western [[Maharashtra]], animal sacrifice is practiced to pacify female deities that are supposed to rule the groves.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gadgil|first=M|author2=VD Vartak|title=Sacred Groves of India|journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History|year=1975|volume=72|issue=2|page=314|url=http://repository.ias.ac.in/64199/1/14-pub.pdf}}</ref>

In India, ritual of animal sacrifice is practised in many villages before local deities or certain powerful and terrifying forms of the [[Devi]]. In this form of worship, animals, usually goats, are decapitated and the blood is offered to deity often by smearing some of it on a post outside the temple.<ref>{{cite book|author= James G. Lochtefeld|title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A–M|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5kl0DYIjUPgC&q=animal+sacrifice+in+hinduism&pg=PA41|publisher= [[Rosen Publishing|The Rosen Publishing Group]]|page= 41|year= 2002|isbn= 978-0823931798}}</ref> For instance, ''Kandhen Budhi'' is the reigning deity of Kantamal in Boudh district of Orissa, India. Every year, animals like goat and fowl are sacrificed before the deity on the occasion of her annual ''Yatra''/''Jatra'' (festival) held in the month of ''Aswina'' (September–October). The main attraction of ''Kandhen Budhi Yatra'' is ''Ghusuri Puja''. ''Ghusuri'' means a child pig, which is sacrificed to the goddess every three years. Kandhen Budhi is also worshipped at Lather village under Mohangiri GP in Kalahandi district of Orissa, India.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://orissa.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2009/September/engpdf/20-24.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-02-18 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318073208/http://orissa.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2009/September/engpdf/20-24.pdf |archive-date=2012-03-18 }}</ref> (Pasayat, 2009:20–24).{{full citation needed|date= January 2015}}

The religious belief of ''Tabuh Rah'', a form of animal sacrifice of [[Balinese Hinduism]] includes a religious [[cockfight]] where a rooster is used in religious custom by allowing him to fight against another rooster in a religious and spiritual cockfight, a spiritual appeasement exercise of ''Tabuh Rah''.<ref>Bali Today: Love and social life By Jean Couteau, Jean Couteau, et al. p.129 {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xn2ljrOw0IwC&dq=Tabuh+Rah&pg=PA129 |title = Bali Today: Love and social life|isbn = 9789799101150|last1 = Couteau|first1 = Jean|year = 2008| publisher=Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia }}</ref> The spilling of blood is necessary as purification to appease the evil spirits, and ritual fights follow an ancient and complex ritual as set out in the sacred ''lontar'' manuscripts.<ref>{{cite book|title = Indonesia |first1= Joshua|last1= Eliot|first2= Liz|last2= Capaldi|first3= Jane |last3= Bickersteth|publisher =Footprint Handbooks|date = 2001 |page= 450 |isbn = 1900949512}}</ref>

=== Tantrik traditions ===
Human sacrifice is also mentioned in Hinduism in the [[Kalika Purana]].<ref name="Quint_DoesGoddessDemand">{{cite news
 | last = Bhattacharya
 | first = Aritra 
 | title = Does Goddess Kali Really Demand Human Sacrifice to Slay Demons?
 | newspaper = The Quint
 | location =
 | pages =
 | language =
 | date = 6 November 2018
 | url = https://www.thequint.com/news/india/goddess-kali-worship-does-not-need-human-sacrifice
 | access-date = 24 May 2021}}</ref> Chapters 67 through 78 of the text constitute the Rudhiradhyaya, which discusses bali (animal sacrifice) and of Vamacara Tantrism. The Rudhiradhyaya section is notable for its uncommon discussion of [[human sacrifice]]. The text states that a human sacrifice may be performed to please the goddess, but only with the consent of prince before a war or cases of imminent danger.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}} However, it was not until 2014 that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) started collecting data on human sacrifice. According to the bureau, there were 51 cases of human sacrifice spread across 14 states between 2014 and 2016.<ref name="Quint_DoesGoddessDemand"/> An alleged case of human sacrifice was recorded as late as 2020.<ref>{{cite news
 | last = Rajaram
 | first = R
 | title =  Murder gets human sacrifice colour 
 | newspaper = The Hindu
 | location = Pudukottai
 | pages =
 | language =
 | publisher = Kasturi & Sons
 | date = 3 June 2020
 | url = https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/murder-gets-human-sacrifice-colour/article31734868.ece
 | access-date = 24 May 2021}}</ref>