INDIA: Hindu monks, gathered at a conclave in India's northeastern Assam state, pledged yesterday to fight the barbaric ritual of human sacrifice wherever the gruesome practice clandestinely continued in temples and backward regions across the country, writes Rahul Bedi New Delhi.
"A minuscule cult still believes it necessary to sacrifice a child to achieve supernatural powers," Biswajit Giri, one of around 50,000 Hindu holy men gathered at the Kamakhya Temple near Assam's capital Guwahati, some 900 miles north-east New Delhi said. The 45-year old monk said the practice of human sacrifice had not 'completely' died down and was being conducted in 'select temples' secretly.
Last week, a Hindu mendicant dressed in saffron robes and bead necklaces and with vermillion caste marks streaking his forehead almost sacrificed his 18-month-old daughter at the Kamakhya temple, which is the highest seat of Tantra, a kind of Hindu black magic.
Police said Amritlal Mazumdar was slicing his daughter's neck with a razor when her screams alerted devotees who rescued the child. "We have deployed special volunteers at the temple to prevent any such bad things from happening," temple official Tara Nath Sharma said.
According to local records, human sacrifice to appease the Kamakhya temple's reigning deity, Mother Goddess Shakti - who embodies power and strength - was revived 75 years ago, but discontinued soon after. The temple daily attracts around 10,000 devotees, but certain aspects of its ancient ceremonies - including sacrifices - have been kept a closely-guarded secret for centuries. In the absence of human volunteers and animals - whose killing had been banned following protests by animal rights activists - devotees today 'sacrifice' six-foot effigies made of flour in a symbolic gesture to appease the goddess.
Tantric priests, meanwhile, like many presently assembled at the temple's annual four-day festival that began at the weekend, secretly favour human sacrifices, especially of children.
They claim these give them supernatural powers to make the dead come back to life, help a barren woman conceive and to cast an evil spell on people. Some Tantric priests at the Guwahati assembly belong to the Aghora sect who frequent cremation grounds, and are believed to practice necrophilia and to eat human flesh.
Many monks admit human sacrifices continue in many places, but are steeped in secrecy. "They [ human sacrifices] are an essential ingredient to appease the goddess and then get her divine blessing," a monk said.
Police claim to have recorded at least 12 cases of ritual killings last year across India. Earlier this year, police arrested a village priest in central Madhya Pradesh state for allegedly sacrificing a low caste Hindu to please the village goddess in the hope to recovering treasure which locals believed was buried in the area.