Baidyanath Dham readies for animal sacrifice

DUMKA: Baidyanath Dham is preparing for the age-old practice of animal sacrifice on Durga Puja even as a writ petition against the ritual is pending in the high court.
The Shiva temple in Deoghar is among the 12 ‘jyotirlingas’ in the country and the only one where animals are offered to the goddess. Durlabh Mishra, the local priest, said Deoghar became a ‘shaktipeeth’ even before the ‘jyotirlinga’ was worshipped.
“Baidyanath Dham is the only dwadash jyotirlingam where Lord Shiva resides with Goddess Shakti. So animal is sacrificed to the Goddess and her incarnations,” Mishra said.
The Ranchi high court had on October 6, 2012, issued a notice to the Baidyanath Dham temple management board following a writ petition filed by an Ajit Kumar, who said the practice was violating the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. The petition also says such killings are prohibited in dwadash jyotirlingas.
The case is sub judice, but this has not stopped the temple management board from inviting tenders for supplying 150 goats to be offered to Shakti, Triguna Shakti (Maha Kali, Maha Laxmi and Maha Saraswati) and the 10 mahavidyas and Lord Bhairava.
Pandit Anup Kumar Bajpayee, a Dumka-based animal rights activist, said, “There is no mention of animal sacrifice in the books. Instead, they talk about protection of animals. It is not right to sacrifice animals.”
Kumar’s counsel Delip Jairath happens to be one of the members of the Baidyanath Dham temple management board who had to face the wrath of the local priest community as well as other members of the board for advocating against the age old tradition of the temple. Both Kumar and Jairath could not be reached for comment.