It’s been a really long time since I’ve actually written anything in here. Probably because I didn’t really have the time and also because there wasn’t much happening that I felt needed writing about. But that’s changed over the last few days.
For the last couple of days I’ve been seeing a lot of uproar in the newspapers and on the net about a certain group of people sacrificing some goats and chickens in order to appease a certain deity. And to tell you the truth, I’ve been left a bit confused as to the whole hullabaloo.
Apparently, a certain Hindu Kovil has a traditional celebration (For lack of a better word), in which the devotees make animal sacrifices to the resident Goddess. This has been going on for many years without anyone raising any issues about it. But this year, certain members of the public and a section of the Buddhist clergy have decided that they need to put a stop to this ritual.
Naturally, this has led to a certain amount of ill feeling and tension between the two groups and also in the immediate area of the Kovil, leading to the authorities having to call out the riot police in order to prevent the situation from escalating.
Now, as for me, this is where the confusion starts to set in. I thought that we were living in a multi-cultural, multi-religious country? A country in which the constitution, while giving prime position to Buddhism, still allows for the free practice of other religions.
I do understand that some people may be quite shocked at the thought of animals being sacrificed to the Gods in this modern day and age, but then what about the hundreds if not thousands of cattle, chickens and fish that are ‘sacrificed’ on the alter of our appetites on a daily basis? I seriously doubt that many of those people who are crying copious tears about this ritual can honestly claim to be vegetarians!
I believe it says somewhere “He who is without sin, cast the first stone”
IMHO, if it’s alright for some of us to pay people to catch, kill and butcher animals just for the satisfaction of eating their flesh with much smacking of lips and sucking of bones, then it is perfectly alright for others to kill other animals in the name of their religion. After all, what’s the difference, both practices end in dead animals ya?
Now some may argue that animals that are killed for food purposes are not treated in the ‘barbaric’ manner in which the sacrificed animals are killed in these rituals, but I beg to differ, all it will take to put this argument to rest is to take a tour of the nearest abattoir and see how exactly your meat ends up in your plate!
But what really gets my goat (Excuse the pun), is the audacity of these protesters in thinking they have the right to demand that another religion bows down to their petty moral standards! Who or what gives them the right to do so? If they believe they actually do have the right to express their outrage, then IMHO, I too have the right to protest in front of the Sri Dalada Maligawa during the Perehara because I believe it involves extreme cruelty to elephants and should therefore be stopped with immediate effect! I would love to see what the reaction to that would be.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, we all need to be a little more tolerant of other people’s beliefs and practices. They may not sit very comfortable with us, but if we appreciate Sri Lanka for what it is, we need to have an open mind.
For the record, I’m not a Hindu or Buddhist, nor do I practice ritual sacrifice of animals, but I believe as a citizen of this country I have every bloody right to kill a goat if I feel like doing so!
Tags: clergy, elephants, goats, hypocrites, Sri Dalada Maligawa, tolerance
TheKillRomeoProject 
August 26, 2010 at 1:34 pm |
You are really pathetic. In another post here on your blog you were screaming about the cruelty apparently metered out to two baby elephants who were separated from their mother and here you are trying to justify the slaughter of animals for some hindu goddess. What about YOUR petty moral standards?
August 27, 2010 at 8:09 am |
I see you’ve missed my point totally Raji. In no way am I justifying the sacrifice of live animals. What I am justifying is a person’s RIGHT to follow their own faith without being bullied by other faiths or beliefs.
If you believe this ritual should be stopped, then I too have the right to demand an end to the use of elephants in religious processions.
Please try to understand the meaning behind a post before voicing your opinion on what is being said. It is this petty minded, jumping to conclusions, type of thinking that has Sri Lanka so screwed up in the first place!
August 26, 2010 at 2:04 pm |
Is goat’s life your property? How could that be?
August 27, 2010 at 8:15 am |
Is the broiler chicken on your dinner plate your property? 🙂
August 26, 2010 at 4:35 pm |
Let me guess.. you are a Muslim. No? err a Christian? I am wasted by the way and I say live and let live. And please get off your high horse now…
August 26, 2010 at 6:55 pm |
Quite true what you say….
But regardless of religion i would not like to see animals being killed in such a manner just to appease a god( that my opinion abt the situ)but i do eat them :D…
Im right on with you about elephants being in the perahara, Remember that diabolic incident where the Maligawa Nilame forcefully took an elephant cub from the Pinnawala Orphanage? all done in the name of religion, pathetic…
August 27, 2010 at 12:27 am |
Right on! Double standards – par for the course here and now…. and all in the name of ‘religion’. What a farce!!!
August 27, 2010 at 12:52 am |
I don’t know if the sacrificed goats will end up at the butchers, but shouldn’t killing to eat and killing for faith (?) be considered as two different things?
If the culture ( set of norms which a group of people believe and uphold) which is the majority of a country thinks that something is wrong obviously they will act up and try to change things. ( After all thats what the USA is trying to do to the rest of the world)
The same thing happens in Denmark where adulthood is welcomed through the mass killing of whales and dolphins. Loads of people protest against this as well.
Even if it was your goat culture dictates that you cannot do what ever you want to.
August 27, 2010 at 6:02 am |
Good post
August 27, 2010 at 6:03 am |
Good post.
September 1, 2010 at 9:04 am |
@Dong patas : killing is killing whether for faith or food.
That said, and while horrified at the slaughter, am even more horrified at the hipocrisy of the protestors who I am willing to bet are majority non-veg.
September 7, 2010 at 5:24 pm |
I too am horrified to think of those animals being slaughtered en masse, but the 510 gm steak I had last night(I like them big), medium rare, did not look so bloody and tasted good. Like your post.
September 8, 2010 at 4:47 am |
Thanks
October 1, 2010 at 4:02 pm |
Well said,
I am a Hindu and a vegetarian. And I really don’t like the idea of killing an animal in a temple of anywhere else. But as you said animals are killed everywhere everyday. And the real motive of those protests is not about protecting animals. This is more to do with “My religion is holier than yours” attitude that is just part of the ‘rise of nationalism’ these days as they put it.
Two of my Buddhist friends are vegetarians. But they wouldn’t even dream about taking part in a protest like this. It would be interesting to know how many of those guardians of Buddhism practice anything that their religion really teaches!
October 4, 2010 at 3:05 pm |
@Dong Patas
About your answer you question
“..shouldn’t killing to eat and killing for faith (?) be considered as two different things?…”
Actually all those animals that are “killed in the name of faith” are eaten in the end. Instead of “plain old killing” this is “special killing with prayers” But in the end the animal ends up in the tummies of the “devotees”
So they are both “killing to eat” The only difference is where you do the killing and if you say any Hindu prayers during the process or not. Does that really matter? May be in the eyes of those people who believe in that practice. But does it make any difference either to the animal concerned or an animal rights activist who cares about these things? Someone who hates killing animals would hate it whether it is done in a Hindu temple or elsewhere as KillRomeoProject as already pointed out very clearly.
If you are OK with “killing to eat outside Hindu temples” but want to protest against “killing to eat with hindu prayers inside Hindu temples” your problem obviously has nothing to do with killing animals. It has something to do with who is doing it or where they are doing it or how they doing it etc.
Not all hindu’s believe in this kind of stuff and I am personally against it. I think it is just plain stupid to think that you can invoke blessings from some God (even if one exists) by murdering a Goat! But I think it is even stupider saying “I don’t mind killing and eating animals. I just don’t like Hindus doing it in their temples as they are doing it in the name of their faith.”
At this rate you might as well start saying “I also don’t like Muslim killing animals while saying ‘halal’ prayers” What is the problem here?
If you are really concerned about Animals then go ahead and become a vegetarian first! I would be glad to welcome another member to the club. But it looks like your problem is something else!
October 5, 2010 at 3:58 am |
Well said sir, you’ve got the point of this post perfectly! The protest action was more a racial / religious issue than one of empathy for the animals.
The sad thing is most of these people don’t even recognise their hypocrisy, cos they’ve lied to themselves so often, it’s turned into the truth they believe in.