| Username |
Post |
| kunjan |
Posted
on 23-Sep-02 04:46 AM
Talk of deep Africa and you will probably imagine all sorts of dark jungles, dark people and dark customs. Cannibalism for example. Well, thanks to leading dailies persisting with a photo feature followed by a news feature recently, Nepal too will probably conjure up similar images henceforth. Can any civilised person imagine that in this day and age people still have such customs where young men bite a goat to death? And the same becomes hot news for newspapers. Today when the civilised world is advocating against cruelty to animals, we in Nepal proudly show off as custom men biting a docile she goat to death. Is this something to be proud of ?
'Witch hunting' and 'Sati' were also strong traditions once upon a time, the dowry system is still a 'hard to get rid of tradition' today, are all traditions good ? In fact the butchering of lakhs of harmless animals during Dashain in the name of tradition is also a savage and barbaric custom which should not be condoned by all of civilised society.
This is the crux of the matter, civilised society just does not bother with such things. Civilised society has too much on its mind, too many materialistic thoughts do not give much leeway for idealistic thinking. That is why we see all of Nepal gleefully competing to achieve greater cruelty to animals. If society claims to be civilised, then why participate in such gory, barbaric activities ? No doubt different people have different views on this and will continue to persist with old values and traditions, each one to his own, I say. But it is a crime to try to bind others to such beliefs in the name of tradition.
At least the educated and those who like to call themselves civilised should set examples by not only non participation, but also by aggressive condemnation of such uncivilised acts. Therefore if there is any weight to the fact that cruelty to animals is an uncivilised and barbaric act, then should we not pledge to have less of bloodshed this coming Dashain? The world is now well into the 21st century, should we lag behind the rest of the world? No wonder people are so cynical . And why shouldn't they be when even the educated and those aware are following others into the dark ages, instead of leading towards the light of a hope, awareness and a humane tomorrow?
Amar Bahadur Shrestha
Kathmandu(the himalayantimes)
|
| thegriffins |
Posted
on 23-Sep-02 08:53 AM
Well after so many dashains passed through my life as slowly the maturity takes a shape in me .I sincerely think that it is absolutely brutal act to kill the poor animals on the occasion of the festival which is supposed to be end of the bloodshed.
Ok lets think religiously cause most of the arguments we hear are based on that.The pundits and purohits may say that we have to sacrifice those things in order make the godess happy.But lets think simple that was the day when the demon who was causing all the nuisance and bloodshed in the life of the god and his creations, finally perished in the hand of goddess durga.But that was it,It was meant to end the bloodshed not to restart the bloodshed.But the people took it in a different way which ended up to produce a dreadful custom in our culture.And in the hindu religion all the animals along with the humans have equal right to live in the earth and a creature cant act brutally upon another unless it is decided by nature for the ultimate balance.And afterall how can a mother be happy by devouring the blood of her own children.
We already have jumped into the 21st century and we must consider everything form all the dimensions viewed rationally.We have had enough of violence I suppose,and with these activities we are injecting the encouragement towards violence in the mind of the young children who will take shape of the future of the country.Somebody has to start it why not it be us then.Wishing you avery happy dashain, I hope that with the holy blessings of the durga bhavani people will understand the charm of the peace and non-violence.Lets enjoy our dashain eating,singing ,dancing,chatting,like the responsible 21 century nepalese showing the devotion towards the ideas of the peace of Gautam Buddha.
|
| Poonte |
Posted
on 23-Sep-02 09:53 AM
One only needs to pay a visit to slaughter houses in the western, developed countries to find out the cruelty to animals does not escape the so-called civilized societies also. Many a time, ironically, those who are so eager to condemn the "barbarism" of the underdeveloped tend to readily forget that the slaughter house events in the West are no less barbaric. Whether you shoot an animal, or poke it's heart with a hot iron (as in the case of pigs), or slaughter it with a khukuri (and, pardon my ignorance but I have never heard of biting the goat to death as a part of celebrating Dashain), for the majority, the end result is a delicious plate of "khasi ko masu" with dal/bhat, achar etc.
I, for one, could never witness the slaughtering of goats, so I never participated in them. Nevertheless, as a meat eater, I do not condemn the practice either. I think the credible condemnations of the prevalent (and lethal) use of khukuris during Dashain can only come from those who are vegetarians (both in belief, and in practice). All others, I believe, should just shut up and enjoy the meat. Bon appetite!
|
| Poonte |
Posted
on 23-Sep-02 10:36 AM
PS: If I wish this year's Dashain to be truly without bloodshed, I wish It would be onthe Maoist front.
|
| dirk |
Posted
on 23-Sep-02 10:43 AM
Poonte,
Je kura lai pani political twist de halne ho, bro! Anyway, the message is quite pertinent. I hope this mayhem that's eating up our country would somehow subside.
I think the "biting a she-goat to death" is one of the rituals in some jatra in Bhaktapur where they toss a goat into the pond, and young men dive in and bite it to death.....I don't know to appease what Goddess.
|
| tropical |
Posted
on 23-Sep-02 02:07 PM
Dashain without Bali is like makai without mohi or Chura without tarkari kya.
Everybody should do as each of us wishes. We should not vilify others who choose to give "Bali" on that day. It is a custom of some people and demonizing such practice is unsuited for the so-called civilized people.
For example, a bully in my School says that the Nepali khana I cook is coarse. He acts like a sophisticated guy when he sees me going about my Nepali way.
But When he makes his "ramon noodles" and eats his burger and when I listen to his stories of how he killed rabbits,deers and other small animals then I cannot help feeling how he himself is so uncivilized.
|
