ON ANIMAL SACRIFICE :

YOU MAY AGREE OR DISAGREE....
I am, personally, against animal slaughter in the name of 'Religion'...
...and I find both Islamic and Hindu rituals of animal sacrifice during Eid and Kali puja/Durga Puja equally disgusting and depressing.
The practice of Qurbani in Eid is derived from the Abrahamic legend - that he dreamt/ got a vision of God asking him to sacrifice his son Ishmael. But ultimately the son's life was saved by divine intervention and in place a lamb was sacrificed..
For Kalipuja/ Durga Puja and many other non-Vaishnabite Hindu pantheon it is believed that through the sacrifice -Boli- one may clear his or her being from evil shades - Tamah...symbolically..
I am not sure how many who offered goats/ cattle in the name of their respective religions stood purified and attained spiritual development...
I have personally known some professional criminals even suspected murderers who every year faithfully sacrifice cattle during Eid and 'shared' meat, to the poor as Islamic ritual makes it imperative, only to revert to their original self next day.
I have also seen similar characters- having a soap-soaked bath and flaunting massive gold chains dangling from the neck and wrists -offer 'Black Goat' at the feet of the Mother ...Many of them are virtually indirect descendants of all those famous Dacoits, who used to perform similar sacrifice before committing dacoity...
It is, however, not the question who performs, the point is how far such practice of animal slaughter in the name 'Religion'...despite the fact of they being handed down to us from ancient times... can be accepted in a society which is expected to develop on the basis on rational thinking, reasoning and scientific approach/ understanding of life ...Not to be guided by some silly 'vision' or 'belief'.
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Just for information for my friends from outside India : Kalipuja the animal sacrifice is even government sponsored in Tripureswari Temple in Udaipur ( in some other cases too). The District Magistrate by virtue of his position is the Sevayet.. ( Due to instrument of Merger agreement of Royal Tripura with India)... Its all about rules and tradition... as the government's support for Hajj...And this typical Indian brand of secularism..