Animal-sacrifice rampant in a temple at Anklav too

Animal-sacrifice rampant in a temple at Anklav too
MILIND GHATWAI

Anklav (Gujarat), JULY 6: While religious sacrifice has become a major issue in Vadodara with a clash between animal rights' activists and the members of the Mali community, the practise is followed thrice a week in a temple, less than 25 kms away from here.

On Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, scores of devotees throng the Rupni Mata temple, which was built in 1997 on a private plot which did not boast of any facilities.

Most of the devotees belong to the waghri community, whose members believe the deity helps them fulfill any wish. Picture-frames of infants have been hung around the entrance of the sanctum sanctorum, symbolising the faith childless couples have in the deity.

More than one hundred such frames have been installed in the last couple of years. Some devotees also donate a wooden ghodiu (swing) on fulfillment of their wish. The picture of the infant taken with parents carries the name of the child and the place the parents hail from. Complimenting the frames are a string of wall-clocks which jostle for space on the iron entrance.

It has become a routine for the locals, the same way the offering of goats has. Devotees cook the sacrificed goats in the backyard and eat the prasad there itself. Few know the history of the place and the deity. They believe the deity had come out from the bowels of the earth on its own decades ago, before they built a temple dedicated to it by collecting donation money.

Ambaben Rupchand Padhiyar says the ``deity is powerful and punishes non-believers who try to denigrate it ''. She swears a police sub-inspector, who committed the mistake of belittling the deity's power, had invited the goddess' wrath resulting in his suspension from service. ``He has been ruined,'' vouches another local. ``No one dares to steal even a small stone from here,'' avers another villager.

The local people have such abiding faith that they view outsiders, who make even friendly inquiries, with suspicion. Animal-sacrifice was not always the practice as devotees used to distribute sweets after their wishes were granted. One of the characteristics of the temple is that it has no priest or maharaj in the temple and devotees worship the goddess on their own.

Parbatbhai Narsinhbhai, who lives in the temple premises, says ``No one minds the sacrifice.'' That, however, is not the case. Former sarpanch N N Raj, who lives a few yards away, says the waghris throw away entrails in a nearby pond. ``Hundreds of Muslims also live in the village but never say a word fearing a communal backlash,'' he says.

An employee of the Anklav Municipal Borough alleges that around half of the regular devotees are criminals who seek to propitiate the deity by offering animals. ``They take it as acquittal granted by the deity,'' he offers by way of explanation. The temple has provided an excuse for those who want to eat meat, drink and enjoy themselves, he asserts.

Frames of children hung by devotees on the iron gate leading to the sanctum sanctorum at Rupni Mata's mandir in Anklav, about 25 kms from Vadodara. Express photo by Bhupendra Rana.