About 50 goats were sacrificed to propitiate Goddess Maa Mahakala in the Mahakala temple located within the famous Buddhist site of Udayagiri in Jajpur district on Sunday.
The event, which takes place every year on the last day of the Raja festival, began with the decapitation of a goat killed in "honour" of the goddess.
The goats were queued up in the temple with the animals crying as they watched the others butchered and awaited their turn. Blood flew everywhere in the shrine and some worshippers anointed themselves with the blood.
Jajpur MP Mohan Jena criticised the persons who sacrificed animals at a Buddhist site. "I demanded before the Superintendent of Police to arrest those who sacrificed animals. lord Buddha is the symbol of peace, but some people besmirched the name of Udayagiri by sacrificing animals in the temple," said Jena.
As per the ancient tradition, the animals were first taken to the temple where vermilion was applied on their foreheads. Then, they were dragged to the altar of the temple for sacrifice. They were slaughtered one by one with sharp-edged weapons by the butchers while offering their special prayers to the goddess.
The frightened animals galloped around in vain as the butchers chopped off the other animals' heads. A priest of the temple said he was pleased with the festival's high turnout and insisted that the "tradition" had to be kept. "The goddess needs blood and the devotee can make his wishes come true," he added.
"It is the traditional way," explained 45-year-old Santosh Rout of Udayagiri village, who has been attending the event since he was 12,
"If we want anything and we come here with an offering to the goddess, within a year all our dreams will be fulfilled," he said.
When contacted, Superintendent of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) AK Patel said, "The ASI earlier urged the villagers not to sacrifice any animals in the temple. But they did not pay any heed and sacrificed animals. The ASI is planning to file an FIR against the priests of the temple and devotees who sacrificed animals."
Secretary of the district unit of People for Animals Sudhanshu Parida said, "We fail to understand why animals are sacrificed. To our knowledge, the practice is not written in the religion; therefore, morally, ethically and religiously, this is wrong.
Over the years, we have been trying to pursue the authorities and devotees to stop
such gruesome activities, but they do not pay any heed to our pleas."
"The practice of mass animal sacrifice is a cognizable offence under
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act, but it has been going on for several years right under the nose of the administration and police," rued another local animal right activist Hemanta Rout.