The Kalinka Bungkhal religious Mela held at Thallisain Tehsil in Pauri-Garhwal district concluded peacefully on Saturday sans any animal sacrifice. This is the fourth consecutive year when no animal has been ritualistically sacrificed by way of propitiating the deities at Bungkhal temple at Thallisain Tehsil.
The Bungkhal festival is celebrated every year in the first week of December. Thousands of devotees offered prayers to Kalika Goddess at the temple on Friday. The long -enduring ritual of sacrificing animals Baggi (male buffalo) and goats was stopped at the instance of the district administration, NGO and temple committee and this is the consecutive fourth year when no animal was sacrificed in the temple in the name of religion.
The devotees from different parts of the district and from neighboring states too visit the temple to worship the deities at the shrine to have their desire fulfilled on the occasion of the Mela. The devotees in large numbers reach the temple with their flag and doli of Goddess to the beats of drums. They either pray to the deities to fulfill their wishes or thank them for fulfilling their desire.
The district administration made full-fledged arrangements to ensure that the mela was completed peacefully and sans any animal sacrifice. Barricades were erected along the roads leading to Bungkhal. Adequate contingents of both regular and revenue police were deployed in the key points to bar animals from being smuggled into the temple premises.