However, animal and bird sacrifices continue in India — and not only among tribals. Religion ought to be a force guiding people away from inflicting pain on living creatures, making them sensitive, caring individuals; it is, instead, a justification for killing animals.
The Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Puducherry governments have laws against the sacrifice of animals and birds.
A 2002 news item said the late Shri Vinod Chandra Pande, the then Bihar and Jharkhand Governor, had directed their governments to ban animal sacrifices in temples, punishable under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
Animal Sacrifice
Animal Sacrifices by Muslims, Hindus and Christians
The ritual slaying of a goat on the occasion of Bakri Eid is a socially imposed custom on every Muslim family. Some pay lakhs of rupees for particular goats like the chand ka bakra ones which have white shaped markings resembling the moon. In addition to specially fed and fattened goats, camels also get sacrificed. However after 2007, in accordance to an order passed by the district administration, kurbani (sacrifice) is not allowed in Musahra, Uttar Pradesh’s Sant Kabir Nagar. Here all the village goats are seized and returned three days after Bakri Eid. But, for Muslim marriage celebrations, many goats get sacrificed in this village. Not far from there, the year-round ban on meat is lifted at Ayodhya and animal sacrifice is allowed on Bakri Eid.
In 2015 the High Court in Mumbai declined to grant a three-day stay on the beef ban for Bakri Eid saying a “drastic interim relief” cannot be granted because the amended law (20 March 2015) contains no provision allowing for such temporary relaxations.
In 2018 the Deonar slaughter house, Mumbai, began issuing licences online to kill animals for Bakri Eid. To prove how ridiculous the system was a couple of advocates obtained licences in fictitious names with place of slaughter as the Mumbai High Court. A case was registered by an NGO against the faulty system and permission being given for killing animals outside a slaughterhouse.
In 2019 in response to a notice of motion filed by the Jiv Maitri Trust against the BMC’s policy of allocating temporary licences to people to kill animals at areas near societies during festivals, just before Bakri Eid the Bombay High Court banned animal slaughter at homes and colonies and the BMC permits issued became invalid. Implementation was however questionable. In 2023 the Jiv Maitri Trust approached the Bombay HC again because the policy on issuing NOCs was being revised and modified from time to time by the BMC. The HC ordered the BMC to set up grievance forums to deal with complaints on illegal animal slaughter during festivals including the upcoming Bakri Eid. A toll free helpline number and dedicated email id should ensure that a specific task force would be available to address issues reported on a 24/7 basis. Meanwhile, just before 2023 Bakri Eid, the Bombay High Court was approached and a special hearing was conducted to prevent animal slaughtering in a residential society of Mumbai. The officers of the BMC with the aid of the Police personnel were directed by the special bench of Justices to take immediate appropriate action to prevent animal sacrifice in the residential complex.
Another organisation asked people to cut cakes with goat caricatures to celebrate Bakri Eid but unfortunately it triggered a row in UP.
Some NGOs in Gujarat have been purchasing goats and keeping in shelters so that they are not sacrificed on Bakri Eid. However, we need to think (more so if bought a couple of months before the sacrifice is due to occur) whether this is the right thing to do because money given to the breeder will obviously be used to expand his trade which means that more animals will be specially bred to be killed.
In 2024 a group of Jains in Delhi dressed up as Muslims and went out to different mandis and bought 124 goats just before Bakri Eid. They were “saved” for an average of Rs 10,000/- each. BWC feels the money earned by the seller must have unfortunately been utilised to buy more goats for sale, so wonders how many were actually saved for sacrifice.
Those who use leather items need to be made aware that these products could very well have been made from skins of animals that were sacrificed for Bakri Eid. It is customary for the skins of all sacrificed animals like goats, sheep, calves, etc. to be donated to madrassas which sell them to leather traders in order to generate money for running their institutions. It has been estimated that 3 crore sheep and goats are sacrificed across India so a very big percentage of leather is from animals thus slaughtered. (Interestingly, just before Bakri Eid 2019, certain prominent Muslim scholars and leaders of some Jamaats appealed to the community to destroy the skins of sacrificed animals and not give them to the madrassas. It was in order to protest against the deliberate move by leather traders to artificially suppress the price of hide a fortnight before the festival. Since 2014 every year the price paid to the madrassas for the skins had been consistently brought down having by then fallen to 10% of the true value.)
In January 2026 the Madras High Court ordered the Sikandar Badusha Dargah atop Thiruparankundram hill in Madurai district to celebrate only Santhanakoodu Urus festival – there should be no animal sacrifice or cooking of meat on January 6, 2026. The Tamil Nadu government had submitted that just as in 2023 the festival was only for Santhanakoodu Urus. Therefore, permission was only granted for Kandhoori Mahautsav and the earlier order of the HC strictly followed with no animal sacrifice, carrying meat, cooking of and carrying any non-vegetarian food anywhere from the basement to the top of the Thiruparankundram hill.
It is a common practice for animals like sheep, goats and male buffaloes to be beheaded ritually on auspicious days in and around temples all over India. The temples of the goddess Kali are the slaughter grounds for, again, goats.
BWC strongly objects to any killing of animals in the name of any religion. It feels that we exhibit hypocrisy by demanding human rights for ourselves but denying the elementary right of life to our fellow creatures. Taking the life of a defenceless innocent animal and calling it a sacrifice is surely a demonstration of much undeveloped moral values. Do people really think that the kind and compassionate God is pleased when we take life in His name and feast upon the flesh of the killed animal? (If hundreds of animals have been slaughtered and there is an excess of flesh it is thrown away.)
It matters little if camels, goats or cows are killed for Bakri Eid, or if goats, chicken and buffalo calves are sacrificed in Hindu temples to appease deities such as Samantdada, Manju Bhog, goddesses Hadimba Mata, Ekvira, Kamakhya, Mahalaxmi and Kali, at festivals like the Biroba Jatra, or the captured wild fox, sheep and goat sacrifices take place at Makara Sankranti.
It was not till January 2020 on the commencement of the Karnataka Prevention & Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices & Black Magic Act, 2017 that “forcing any person to carry on evil practices such as killing of an animal by biting its neck (gavu)…” became illegal.
A relevant quote from the book “Untouchability in Rural India” by Ghanshyam Shah, Harsh Mander, Sukhadeo Thorat, Satish Deshpande Aita Baviskar: “In Andhra Pradesh, animal sacrifice is a polluting task entrusted to Dalits. A humiliating custom, observed in 12% of the surveyed villages in the state, is Gavu Pattadam. In this ghoulish ritual, Dalits are forced to bite the neck of the animal to kill it. The blood of the animal is then mixed with rice and sprinkled all over the village to keep evil spirits at bay.”
Political Sanctions and Reasons
Despite protests from animal activists, in 2002 Nepal’s former King Gyanendra offered a number of animals to be sacrificed at Kamakhya temple in Guwahati and then at the Kalighat temple along with traditional Hindu pujas. If the visiting head of a neighbouring state perpetuates this barbaric custom, does it mean that we have to accept it?
Earlier in 2000, the Compassionate Crusaders Trust had sought legal steps against the practice of animal sacrifice at the Kalighat temple which resulted in the 2006 Calcutta High Court verdict that killing should not be conducted in open public view. In effect, sacrifice continued.
When in 2008 the UPA Government won the trust vote in Parliament, 242 goats and 4 buffaloes were “offered for sacrifice” (read “murdered”) at the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati. The victory resulted in so many innocent animals losing their lives.
Camels
In November 2005 some BWC members in Kochi found that two camels had been brought to Kochi for feasting on camel meat during Ramzaan Eid. On receiving their complaint the Kochi Corporation banned their slaughter. The owner of the camels approached the Kerala High Court but before the case could conclude one of the camels died due to poor living conditions and an improper diet. The judgement pronounced that the other camel could not be slaughtered on the grounds that there was no provision for slaughtering camels within the corporation limits, no qualified vet to certify its fitness for slaughter or suitability of its meat for human consumption, and no one licensed to slaughter or sell camel meat.
Karnataka is the not the only state where camels are taken for being sacrificed for Bakri Eid. They are walked out of Rajasthan and Gujarat (the desert regions from where they hail) to far flung places in India. There are objections from West Bengal too. And, BWC supported the PIL by People for Cattle in India.
In 2014 after Rajasthan granted state heritage status to the camel, their sacrifice for Bakri Eid automatically stopped within the state. For example, the Tonk royal family discontinued the 150 year tradition.
BWC supported People for Cattle in India’s PIL resulting in the Chennai High Court passing an interim order banning camel slaughter for religious purposes in Tamil Nadu. This was in September 2016 before Bakri Eid. As per media reports no camels were killed in Chennai in 2016; and, in response to an RTI query by PFCI, the Madurai Police said one camel had been sacrificed for which an FIR had been filed and investigations were underway. The previous year about 100 camels had been sacrificed in TN. But in 2017 not a single camel was brought into the state or sacrificed for Bakri Eid.
Not a single camel was slaughtered in India for Bakri Eid 2020. BWC wrote to the Prime Minister, and Chief Ministers with copies to all District Magistrates and Police of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala, because in the past camels had either being killed or appeals had been made for their sacrifice in these states. We sent them the landmark Judgement of the Madras High Court and requested them to stop entry, sale and slaughter of camels. Meanwhile, Rajasthan assured us they would stop camels being smuggled out. Since the Border Security Force was short of camels, in 2014 the state had passed laws for their protection. BWC also approached the Animal Welfare Board of India following which a circular was issued by the Secretary to all states’ Chief Secretaries, Director Generals of Police and Animal Husbandry Directors.
Tourists Hate Witnessing Gory Killing
Two examples of temples cited in our appeals to the Government (mentioned above) and where BWC has put in efforts to try to stop animal sacrifice are the Hadimba Mata temple and Ekvira Mata Mandir.
Hadimba Mata Temple
Situated in the picturesque bills of Manali, quite close to the centre of town, is the Hadimba Park frequented by scores of tourists who come there to enjoy the greenery. This park, besides having gardens of trees and flower beds to walk through also has a temple dedicated to the deity Hadimba Mata, the wife of the well-known Mahabharata character Bheem.
Sadly, this temple has the disrepute of being a site of animal sacrifice. It has a balivedi (the sacrificial altar, the stone on which the animal is placed to be killed) in a prominent location outside the temple, and its portals are decorated with bones and skulls of animals which, one presumes, are the victims of earlier sacrifices. People come there carrying beheaded hens, blood dripping from their necks, which is smeared over the sacrificial alter. Children watch with fear-filled eyes as bloodied animal bodies are brought there and taken out as prasad after the altar is anointed. There are others who do the actual killing at the altar. Enquiries revealed that hens, goats, and sheep are the animals commonly sacrificed.
Ekvira Mata Mandir
All tourists to the Buddhist caves of Karla, near the popular resort of Lonavala in Maharashtra, have to pass through the Ekvira Mata Mandir built right outside the doorway of the caves. But first, as the visitor leaves the highway to go to the temple, s/he has to pass a row of bloody butcher shops which is obviously undesirable. In the name of Goddess Ekvira, people bring animals and get them butchered in the mutton shops of Vehergaon. Some of the mutton shops are properly constructed, some are open thatched sheds. Most of the animals brought are young kids or lambs. The sight of butchers slitting the throats of such innocent animals in full view of each other and leaving them to die in pools of blood, legs kicking and headless bodies giving involuntary jerks as life ebbs from them, is heart-rending to say the least. The visitor is shocked, left horrified at the insensitivity of devotees and the barbarism of the situation.
This practice shoots up on Sundays and peaks during the Saptami jatra held on the saptami of the Chaitra month. Open slaughter of hundreds of animals takes place at this jatra. The ceremonial sacrifices (“maan”) are given in the presence of the administration’s representative, the Tehsildar (or in his absence, the invited chief guest) at 4 am. The participation of the administration in the jatra sacrifices is especially objectionable: instead of stopping such barbaric – and illegal – practices the administration is found to openly encourage it.
During the month prior to the scheduled Ekvira Mata Jatra of 2008, BWC teams visited Karla and several villages from which people would be participating but it was difficult to convince the fisher-folk to donate their own blood instead of sacrificing animals. Nevertheless, on the day we asked the Inlacks & Budhrani Hospital from Pune to set up a blood donation camp at the site. BWC was the first to think of and hold such a blood collection drive in India. (Since then few animal activists and organisations have managed to convince some devotees in different parts of India to donate their blood instead of shedding the blood of innocent animals.) A common excuse for not donating blood was that they were under the influence of alcohol. Very few people therefore availed of this facility and donated blood. Thousands of animals were killed that night in the presence of each other, and in the presence of children who were in fact helping the butchers. On seeing goats being killed outside the authorised area, and the Police expressing inability to take action, BWC lodged a complaint at the Lonavala police station.
However, during the 2012 jatra, Beauty Without Cruelty and the Sarva Jeeva Mangal Pratishthan (SJMP) managed to successfully convince many Ekvira Devi devotees with the help of Marathi pamphlets and corner-meetings, not to buy and kill animals, as a result of which about 70% of animals remained unsold. Simultaneously, the police ensured that the ban on animal slaughter on the hill was implemented to a great extent. Therefore, at the end of the three day jatra it was estimated that 7000 to 8000 chickens and goats must have been saved.
In April 2013 for the jatra, SJMP and BWC campaigned together again. Weeks in advance letters were sent to numerous politicians asking them for support. The Police were contacted. Huge hoardings were put up and thousands of pamphlets in Marathi were distributed at the site and inserted in local newspapers. At the meeting of the organisers of the jatra which was attended by the trustees and head priest of the Ekvira Devi temple, our representatives were able to considerably convince the persons who mattered. The result of our efforts bore fruit with policemen checking each and every vehicle and not allowing liquor and animals to be taken up the hill. However, as we couldn’t get the authorities to close the butcher shops at the foothill, killing of some chickens and goats did unfortunately take place. Eight major Marathi and Hindi newspapers covered our campaign and praised what we had achieved saying it was unprecedented success because no animal was taken up to the temple and sacrificed there.
The highlight of our 2014 campaign to end animal sacrifice at Ekvira Devi jatra was the chief pujari of the temple saying he dreamt the Devi did not want animals to be sacrificed but this amazing development did not eliminate sacrifices totally. Nevertheless, year-on-year since 2008, our efforts have lessened the number of animals sacrificed. Many more animals would be saved if the butcher shops were to be closed on the days of the jatra and no goats and chickens are sold on and around the hill area. But to achieve this, we need much more understanding and support from the temple authorities and government functionaries. SJMP and BWC therefore continue to try to make them see our point of view.
On the first day of the 2015 Ekvira Devi jatra, representatives of BWC and SJMP, visited Karla, and while distributing 4,000 leaflets appealed to people not to sacrifice animals. Again this year, the police had been vigilant and did not allow people to take animals and alcohol up to the temple, but 4 chickens and 1 goat were seen being taken up and brought down alive. However, the 3 butcher shops at the foot of the hill were selling to and killing chickens and goats for devotees. Again we hope we will be able to successfully convince the authorities not to allow the butcher shops to operate next year.
Again in April 2016 Beauty Without Cruelty and Sarva Jeeva Mangal Pratishthan tried to stop animal sacrifice during the Ekvira Devi Jatra at Karla. We displayed hoardings, our volunteers distributed 5,000 pamphlets, and the Marathi publications covered our efforts. For the first time during the public function to honour the palkis, it was announced by the Temple’s Managing Trustee that no killing of animals would be permitted on the hill. But, on that day about ten devotees were seen individually taking chickens and one goat up to the temple and bringing them down alive. They were then presumably killed. We therefore wish the butcher shops would not be allowed to operate at the foot of the hill. Nevertheless, due to our awareness campaigns the number of animals killed lessens each year.
Every year we kept writing to the authorities but the butcher shops were not closed. We wrote in 2020 also but soon after due to the spread of Corona Virus the government stopped the annual Jatra from being held at Karla.
Shree Yedumata temple
Similarly, at the Shree Yedumata temple in Pimpledari village, taluka Akole, Ahmednagar district, during the jatra about 1,500 goats get sacrificed. On 14 March 2015 SJMP and BWC people, together with local social workers approached the officials of the Gram Panchayat of the village, Prant Adhikari and Tehsildar of Akole. Later we got to know that since some people of the Bhil community wanted animals to be sacrificed, a meeting had been called on 31 March at the Tehsidkar’s office. It was attended by representatives of Ahmednagar SPCA and BWC, but it was not possible to convince the devotees and unfortunately the animal sacrifices as scheduled took place during 2 to 5 April 2015.
Bonalu Festival and other Animal Sacrifices
BWC was shocked to know from Earth Quotient South India that for Telangana’s Bonalu Festival (an annual event) which began in 2021 on 11 July and is celebrated on every Sunday of Telegu Ashada masam in various cities and villages of the state, including Hyderabad and Secunderabad, under the pretext of religion it is unfortunate that sheep, goats, fowl and their young are literally bitten to death by humans.
Vadakkampatti Muniyandi temple in Thirumangalam, Tamil Nadu
Over 200 goats and 120 cocks were slaughtered for the Thirumangalam biryani festival held in connection with the festival of the diety of the Vadakkampatti Muniyandi temple in Thirumangalam. It seems to be an annual event with the involvement of the non-vegetarian Muniyandi Vilas hotel and about 10,000 persons consuming the biryani.
Mandirs in Mumbai
BWC was shocked beyond words to know in 2006 that animal sacrifices in the name of religion took place in metropolitan Mumbai temples: one the Gaodevi Mandir on Amboli Hill and the other a similar Gaodevi temple on Gilbert Hill (Gaodevi is a Marathi term connoting a “village temple” harking back to the time when Mumbai was a congregation of small villages each with a temple of its own) both in isolated locations. As the only authorised place of slaughter in Mumbai is Deonar abattoir, BWC together with local animal welfare organisation representatives approached the Police who agreed to help. Accordingly, on the eve of Dassera at 11.30 pm when 10-12 sheep and goats were found tied outside the Gaodevi Mandir on Amboli Hill along with some cocks awaiting animal sacrifice, the Oshiwara police were informed. At 1 am the inspector on night duty along with his men went to the temple. He reported that to his own surprise, he was able to convince the people at the temple without difficulty, not to engage in animal slaughter there; whether or not the animals were sacrificed elsewhere, we do not know, but hope not.
In 2015 the 150-year old Jivdani Goddess temple atop a hill in Virar ensured that no animals and birds would be sacrificed during Navratri. Having failed to totally discourage animal sacrifice for the past few years, the temple authorities installed 93 closed circuit television cameras along the temple route.
However, in view of goats being slaughtered at very many temples in Maharashtra just before the month of Shravan began, and the meat being distributed as prasad, in 2017 a letter from the Animal Welfare Board of India got the Pune Police to agree to stop animal sacrifice at temples.
Fox Ritual and No Sacrifice at Udbur
The brutal ritual of fox sacrifice is prevalent in a number of villages of Karnataka on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. Foxes are illegally trapped, their mouths sewn with needle and thread and presented to the deity and then their lower right ears are amputated and a pack of stray starving dogs made to attack them. Traumatised, mauled, bleeding and dying, the fox is then let loose in the forest. In 1997 Beauty Without Cruelty along with Compassion Unlimited Plus Action was successful in obtaining a Court order thanks to which the cruelty inflicted on the foxes was lessened, but unfortunately nothing could be done to stop the hundreds of sheep and goats which were sacrificed in the temples. However, in 1998, BWC managed to further lessen the suffering inflicted upon the captured fox and succeeded in convincing the inhabitants of the Udbur village against the goat and sheep sacrifice as a result of which not a single animal was killed. Since then they have never sacrificed animals.
The forest department refused to give permission for people to hunt and drive foxes or jackals into the Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareshhwar Temple at Madurai on 3 September 2014 as part of the ritual for Nariyai Pariyakkuthal. (As per legend, a pack of foxes turned into a fine breed of horses, and in the night became foxes and let us a deafening howl because Manickavasagar, one of the 4 Saivite savants of the 9th century used the money meant for buying horses to construct a temple at Avudaiyar Koil, known as Thiruperunthurai in Pudukottai district.)
A Little More Success
At the Mari Jathra and Thingala Jathra in villages around Tumkur, Karnataka, sacrificial beheading of male buffaloes to appease goddess Maramma takes place at annual fairs. In 1991, Beauty Without Cruelty along with Akhil Karnataka Prani Daya Sangh managed to foil the beheading of about 100 buffaloes by contacting localities, distributing leaflets and giving speeches.
A 120 year old tradition of animal sacrifice finally ended in 2012 thanks to police intervention following persistent efforts of two NGOs over 12 years. Till then, to celebrate the Rajo Sankranti festival, every year hundreds of animals were sacrificed in the name of the Deity Maa Ramchandi at Srirampur and neighbouring villages in Odisha.
Buffaloes were also not sacrificed at the 2012 Kherling Mahadev Mela at Mundneshwar temple in Kaljikhal block, about 45 kms from Pauri Garhwal (Uttarakhand). Although one and two were kept for sacrifice at Guthinda village and Chhota Kherling Mahadev at Barkot they were handed over live to the administration. (Some goats may have been slaughtered but not on the temple premises.) It is commendable that the administration motivated the people of Aswalsuen, Patwalsuen and Maniyarsuen patties against animal sacrifice which resulted in no bloodshed. Apart from their efforts the high cost of buffaloes (Rs 40,000) and cost of rituals spanning a fortnight prior to sacrifice (Rs 25-30,000) played an important role resulting in no animal being sacrificed.
All over India animal activists are trying their utmost by convincing people to stop animals being sacrificed. Ancient practices that begun with few animals being killed have at most places escalated to thousands of lives being sacrificed like at the Poleramma Jatra, Venkatagiri, Andhra Pradesh. In 2012 a strong movement was launched to halt the evil practice. Yet in July 2015, some superstitious persons of Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh sacrificed a goat for the success of the film Bahubali.
In September 2014, in response to petitions filed by animal activists from PFA, the Himachal Pradesh High Court passed an order prohibiting animal sacrifices during religious ceremonies and festivals both in temples and in buildings adjoining places of worship. Thus no animal sacrifice took place during the week-long Dussera festival in Kullu. The two-judge bench stated “No person shall perform or offer to perform or serve, assist or participate or offer to serve any sacrifice of animal in any place of religious worship, ceremony, yagnas… including all land and buildings near places of religious worship forthwith. Sacrifice causes immense pain and suffering to innocent animals.”
Soon after, a group of Jains managed to halt via a stay order of the High Court, the proposed slaughter of 12,000 bullocks in Mumbai’s Deonar abattoir for three days around Bakri Eid. Similarly, animal activists forcefully objected to permissions granted for setting up temporary slaughter sites.
For 5 years the Vishwa Prani Kalyan Mandal (VPKM) had being trying to save as many thousands of sheep, goats and hens being sacrificed during the Bhagwan Ranganathaswamy Chikka Jatra at B R Hills and the Siddhappaji Jatra at Chikkalur. They were successful in January 2016 because in response to a writ petition filed by Dayanand Swamiji, President of VPKM, the Karnataka High court order stated “the respondents are directed to adhere to the provisions of the Karnataka Prevention of animal Sacrifice Act, 1959. It shall be the duty of the State Government to secure compliance of the provisions of the said Act strictly.” Significantly, a 26 member team of VPKM supported by many institutions and individuals, worked tireless in different areas of Chamrajanagar, Mandya and Mysuru districts to create awareness among people through the Ahimsa Prani Daya Sandesh Yatra.
In October 2025 the Calcutta High Court passed an order in favour of Reforms Social Foundation and Akhil Bharat Krishi Go Seva Sangh forbidding the Bola Kali temple to have mass animal sacrifices. It was reiterated in favour of Shree Vardhman Pariwar in November 2025.
Killing, killing and killing…
The Durajpalli Jatra which occurs every lternate year at the Linganamantalu Swamy temple of the Durajpalli village in Andhra Pradesh is essentially a social event when people come for two days and a night to have a good time. Unfortunately, part of the festivities includes a mass sacrifice of animals followed by selling of hides collected from the carcasses.
After Gudi Padwa, pilgrims visit the Biroba Temple at Aarewadi village, near Sangli, Maharashtra. About 2 lakh sheep and goats over a period of three weeks are sacrificed by them in the hope that their wishes are fulfilled. The irony of this custom is that the god Biroba is depicted as a vegetarian and non-vegetarians are strictly prohibited from entering the temple. Similarly, around this time thousands of goats and fowls are slaughtered to appease Ekvira Devi at Karla Caves near Lonavla in Maharashtra, as detailed above.
Animal activists have been unsuccessful in stopping the ritual Ajabali (animal sacrifice) that occurs at the Bhavani Tulja Mata temple in Tuljapur, Osmanabad district of Maharashtra.
At Chivari in Maharashtra, a fair is held annually on the Tuesday after Maghi Purnima when around seven thousand animals’ necks are twisted and killed in front of Goddess Laxmi. The bloody carcasses of mainly goats are then hung up on trees. On the same day another fair called the Kayar Yatra is also held when after midnight buffaloes are sacrificed. The main attraction of this fair is finding a hidden lamb which is then bitten to death by the finder who hangs its intestine round his neck.
The Kedu Festival of the Kondhs of Odisha involves a kedu (buffalo) anointed with oil and turmeric being tethered to a tree and brutally attacked with sharp instruments to the chant of mantras and beating drums. The animal squeals in agony, eyes bulging but can not flee. There is a mad rush to hack off pieces of its flesh.
During the Sulia Pashubali Utsav over 10,000 animals are sacrificed in the remote villages of Khairaguda and Kumuria in Bolangir District of Odisha.
In August 2022 after a 2-year Covid-induced hiatus, around 200 animals including 100 goats, were sacrificed to please the goddess of Ma Jagulei temple in Kendrapada’s Garadapur village in Odisha. The animals are taken to the temple, vermillion applied to their foreheads and garlanded, before wedging their necks between wooden poles and being beheaded on a sacrificial altar.
Buffaloes are killed during the festival in honour of the goddess Manju Bhog at Kanda in Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh. Preparations begin a week earlier when they are bathed and made to run helter-skelter in panic till exhausted. Village youths make them stumble midway. On the day of the sacrifice many die en route as the route is long and steep. The ones that make it to the temple are hacked on their necks till they fall dead.
Hundreds of buffaloes are sacrificed during the Kalinka festival at Bunkhal, a remote temple in Pauri District of Uttarakhand.
To celebrate the Ooru Habba festival, two tribal groups, the Hakkipikki and Iruliga, sacrifice two buffaloes and two goats outside the Bannerghatta National Park. The animals are pierced with a trident and their blood is drunk.
Myoko, the monsoon festival, is celebrated by the Apatanis, a major tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, when a garlanded mithun (a cross between a cow and a buffalo) or deer is sacrificed at the end of the 10-day festival celebrations marked by rituals and merriment.
The mithun is important to every one in Arunachal Pradesh because the number of mithuns owned by a man determines his wealth and prestige and they continue to be used as currency in some villages. The Adi tribesmen sacrifice them on their major festivals, Solung, Mopun and Aran. Upon death, the skulls of all the mithuns sacrificed during a man’s life time, are buried with him.
Pomblang or goat sacrifice is an important part of Nongkrem, a 5-day religious thanksgiving festival in Meghalaya.
Just before Bakri Eid 2014, a number of advertisements hawking goats appeared on the OLX website. Bookings were taken against their photos, termed “commodities”. Prices ranged from Rs 4000/- to Rs 1,50,000/- per animal.
Puppies, Owls and Others
The sacrifice of nocturnal owls and bats on auspicious occasions, particularly Diwali, seems to be increasing because tantriks are recommending pujas consisting of body-parts of owls, and saying that owls with ear-tuffs have greater magical powers! Blood and feathers of owls are offered as aahuti/oblation in Havan Samagri.
To ward off enemies and ruin them, a crow’s nest is also used as aahuti/oblation in Havans.
In 1998 on the day of Ayudh Pooja of Dassera animal activists who boarded a train going out of Mysore managed to stop a goat being sacrificed en route at an unscheduled stop. The custom was to conduct a pooja involving an animal being sacrificed for the safe passage of the first train out from the railway station.
Animal Sacrifices in the Indian Army
In some regiments like Gorkha, Garhwal and Kumaon the ritual of mass animal massacre is organized with great pomp and show where even women and children of the units are ceremonially seated to watch the mass gruesome killing of hapless and defenceless innocent animals. Blood letting men are let loose on “safely” tied animals and that there are rewards for the “bravest” men who slit maximum number of throats of poor, bleating goats and innocent buffaloes. The man who kills the most is in fact feted and is a termed a hero. In such ceremonies, the animals are beheaded, cut open, skinned and cut to pieces in public view and the warm raw flesh of such animals which were living few minutes before is offered as prasad.
In 2015 Maneka Gandhi (Union Minister and animal rights activist) strongly spoke up against animal sacrifice in the Indian Army and demanded it be stopped. She stated that Uttarakhand had banned animal sacrifice even for the Army and the regiments stationed there had stopped the practice, so why not elsewhere? She added, the Gurkha brigade in the British Army, a throwback to its Indian days, ended the practice of sacrificing male buffaloes in all its units stationed in Hong Kong and Brunei way back in 1973; and the Gurkha brigade of Nepal allowed sacrifice of only one animal for all its men. She also sought an end to another cruel practice called “meat on hoof” which she termed barbaric. It involved airdropping (from choppers) live animals (with parachutes strapped on them) for regiments posted in so-called inaccessible areas to provide them fresh meat.
Nepal: Ritual sacrifices – or murder?
The Gadhimai Mela (fair) is held every five years in Bariyarpur, Bara District, South Nepal. It has been reported that 2 to 5 lakh animals, mainly young buffaloes, goats, ducks, roosters, pigeons, and rats are sacrificed. Slaughterers, equipped with swords are employed to slay the animals. Seventy per cent of the visitors to the fair are Madheshi (people of Nepalese origin) living in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
BWC had suggested that the number of border police officials should be increased before and during the Mela, and that they should monitor the movement of people and animals. Thus the additional 4,500 Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) officials deployed were alert at outposts and an extra vigil was maintained. Transportation of animals and birds from India to Nepal was considerably stopped and stern action taken against offenders.
Soon after the 2009 Gadhimai Mela got over, animal activists began creating awareness about the next one scheduled to be held on 28 & 29 November 2014.
Earlier, in January 2014, BWC began appealing for contacts likely to help eliminate or at least lessen the number of animals sacrificed at the year-end Gadhimai mela in Nepal.
Our meticulous investigations about the Gadhimai animal sacrifice threw up some significant information. It was only after 28 & 29 November 2014 that we got to know we were not the only ones to have realised the 2009 figures had been highly exaggerated. Moreover, the number of animals planned to be sacrificed at the forthcoming mela had kept rising – began at 25,000, jumped to 200,000 and then 500,000.
The sacrificial area measures 2 Nepalese bighas – 13,546 square metres or 3.35 acres. One buffalo calf thrown on its side would cover a minimum of 1.30 square metres. Adult buffaloes would take up more space. Many photographs show vacant spaces between carcasses. The carcasses are not piled one upon another and none are taken out of the field when the killing is going on. Therefore, no more than 10,000 buffaloes can ever be sacrificed within the walled area.
The Gadhimai temple of Bariyarpur in Bara district in Nepal is situated 26 kilometres from the border town of Raxaul in Bihar. Almost every one who attends the Gadhimai mela is from India. It is not essential for those who visit to sacrifice an animal – and most of them don’t. Although bananas, white pumpkins, and sugarcane sticks are not “sacrificed” there, devotees do break coconuts as an offering to the deity.
Some Nepalese did not even know where or what Gadhimai was, leave alone it being synonymous with buffalo sacrifices! (The Embassy in Kolkata said it could be the way in which they and we pronounce Gadhimai.) Any way, there is no doubt the place is insignificant except when it comes to life – to kill – every few years – not necessarily every five years so the event may not take place in 2019 as expected. However, the Gadhimai mela is organised on the saptami and asthami tithi (seventh and eighth day) of the Margshish month of the Hindu lunar calendar.
To some extent it was a relief to know for sure that the number of animals sacrificed did not run into lakhs although sacrifice of smaller animals like goats, chickens and pigeons is said to be permitted within a radius of 3 or 5 kilometres of the temple. The number of devotees who visit Gadhimai for the mela are not as many either. Only a couple of thousand animals are beheaded at the site, but this, in itself is no doubt, mass slaughter. Repeated close scrutiny of scores of photographs and videos revealed that almost all the buffaloes were male calves – obviously unwanted animals from the dairies of the region.
BWC came to this factual conclusion after making extensive inquiries over a year. We located and spoke to a great number of people like auto rickshaw drivers of Bihar (not one of them had sacrificed an animal there), travel operators of Gorakhpur, journalists and many others who had themselves visited Gadhimai mela.
BWC now realises that it is just not feasible for “approximately 90,000 buffaloes” as stated in the letters written by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 25 September 2014 to the State Governments, to be bought, brought and beheaded by scores of slayers swinging khukuris, machetes and scimitars operating round the clock for a day or two.
Animal Sacrifices on Asthami and Navami before Vijaya Dashami
On 15 & 16 October 2023 from 8 pm of Asthami to 4 am of Navami during the 10-day Dashain festival, 15,251 goats were killed by devotees of Nepal’s Rajdevi Temple, 50% of them being brought by Indians. The sacrifice was arranged by the local Mahavir Youth Committee who charged Rs 200/- per animal that they supplied.
In India too animal sacrifice on these days takes place as part of the Navratri Durga puja. It is understood that on Mahanavami, Goddess Durga is worshipped as Manisasuramardini which means the Annihilator of the Buffalo Demon Maishasura, symbolising triumph of good over evil.
Buffaloes are sacrificed in the presence of thousands of devotees at Billeshwar Dewalaya Temple at Belsor, Assam on Navami.
In Bihar bali is performed in the presence of thousands of devout Hindus who come to witness animal sacrifice on Mahanavami at the Kali Mandir at Darbhanga House on the Patna University campus.
At the Royal Durga Bari in Agartala (Tripura) buffaloes are sacrificed as Bali Pratha on the eve of Mahanavami puja.
Pashu bali in the presence of hundreds of villagers takes place in Chittorgarh (Rajasthan) on the occasion of Mahanavami to please Goddess Kali too.
Animal Sacrifices cause Earthquakes
Etiology of Earthquakes: A New Approach contains scientific research (mid-1990s) by Madan Mohan Bajaj, S M Ibrahim and Vijay Raj Singh. The book states earthquakes are related to the collective slaughter of animals dying in misery. Every time living beings are killed, their tormented bodies and cries emit Einstein Pain Waves (EPW) or nociception waves that cause acoustic anisotropy in the atmosphere. Acoustic anisotropy leads to a very strong anisotropic stress on rocks. This stress builds up, putting immense pressure on the tectonic plates and creating havoc beneath the earth’s surface which in turn results in earthquakes.
Sri Lanka: Ritual sacrifices – banned
Symbolic Bali
Unfortunately, the much needed reform has not taken place at Kalighat, Kolkata where amidst drum-beating thousands of sheep are sacrificed resulting in unforgettable “rivers of blood” as lamented by Mahatma Gandhi.
Kalighat is where, amidst drum-beating, thousands of sheep are sacrificed. The Durga Pooja/Dassera celebrations include animal sacrifice/bali in several parts of India. Buffaloes, cocks, goats, and sheep are ritually sacrificed in hundreds; their flesh consumed as prasad.
But unlike other Kali temples, animals are not allowed to be sacrificed at the Dakshineshwar temple, near Kolkata. It is well known that Thakur Ramakrishna Paramahasa, Sarada Devi and Rani Rashmoni (the founder of the temple) did not like animals being sacrificed. A short documentary film entitled No More Blood Shed promoting the idea that one did not need to kill to prove ones devotion to the deity was made at Dakshineshwar in 2018 with the commentary effectively narrated by no other than a descendant of Rani Rashmoni who holds the post of trustee of the temple.
No More Blood Shed can be viewed on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6mb7b–lIk
Symbolic bali is the ritualistic sacrifice of white pumpkin, banana and sugarcane and is gradually becoming more frequent, replacing animal sacrifices, e.g. Sandhi Puja on Ashtami at the Ramakrishna Math and Mission at Belur.
At the Kamakhya Devi Temple near Guwahati in Assam, one of the most venerated Durga/Shakti shrines in India, male animals are sacrificed in thousands. However, for the past few years a select group of tantriks have been gathering at there on Durga Ashtami and sacrificing instead of humans and animals, effigies made of flour – no outsider is allowed to witness the sacrifice. As mentioned above, Nepal’s King Gyanendra’s emissaries had sacrificed animals at this temple in 2002. And this was the same temple where in 2005 two buffaloes were beheaded on the sacrificial alter for superstar Amitabh Bachchan’s speedy recovery by the Samajwadi Party members. The same political party had earlier performed the panchabali (sacrifice of 4 animals and a pumpkin) to ensure that their chief became CM of Uttar Pradesh.
On Mahashtami Day goats, lambs and cocks were sacrificed at a Durga temple in Sirlo, Odisha. However, it is understood that since 1985 animal sacrifices have been stopped at the Kataka Chandi temple and at the Sarala temple in the area.
Another Durga Temple managed by the Maa Durga Temple Pushpalata Ghosh Charitable Trust abolished the 700-year old tradition of animal sacrifice during Navratri 2022. Usually about 10,000 animals are sacrificed at the Begusarai Durga Temple in Lakhanpur, Bhagwanpur block in Bihar every year after the devotees’ wishes are granted. Instead of animals, devotees sacrificed vegetables and fruits like pumpkin and sugarcane for goddess Vaishnavi.
Thanks to Shree Vardhman Parivar, on 4 November 2025, the Calcutta High Court passed an interim order against the practice of animal sacrifice in Hindu temples. The order pertained to animal sacrifices performed at the Bolla Kali temple in Bolla village near Balurghat town in West Bengal’s Dakshin Dinajpur district. For 350-400 years during the annual fair held in November more than 10,000 goats were sacrificed at this temple in a single day.
Around 11,000 animals were sacrificed in 2023 but due to earlier court proceedings and monitoring the number, it was reduced to 4,500 in 2024. In response to 2 PILs filed against mass animal sacrifice and illegal slaughter by the Akhil Bharat Go Seva Sangh, in November 2024 the historic Bolla Kali Mata Temple in South Dinajpur committee informed the Calcutta High Court that henceforth the public mass sacrifice of animals would stop, but animal sacrifice would take place in a designated room and for which a licence had been obtained; and no animal would be slaughtered in front of another.
Reforms beginning in the 15th and 16th centuries have evolved into symbolic sacrifices but only in some temples of the country: rice, til, coconuts, betel nuts, bananas, sugarcane and white pumpkins have become substitutes for lambs, goats, bulls, and chickens.
Human Sacrifices
Page last updated on 03/01/26