22nd November:

Jayasimha Nuggehalli: I have spent many years of my life as an undercover investigator. I have documented cruelty to animals in abattoirs, transport routes, factory farms, seen animals being dismembered, skinned while they are still alive, dogs being clubbed to death in dog-meat markets, birds being shackled alive on slaughter line. These experiences drain me physically and emotionally – but the more I see such cruelty the more I feel the need for others see the injustice. I go to Gadhimai with the same feeling. I know it is going to be hard, but someone needs to bring the story out.

Gadhimai Festival takes place every five years; it is the largest animal sacrifice event in the world and has previously involved the sacrifice of nearly half a million animals, of which more than 65-70% are illegally transported from India. Last month, the supreme court of India passed an interim order directing the government to prevent animals being illegally transported across the border to Nepal for sacrifice. The court order was followed by the state district magistrates, police officers and Sashastra Seema Bal [SSB -Armed Border Force] and they also submitted a report on the number of arrests and seizures of animals that have been made from the period of October-November. To date, 2,422 cattle have been confiscated and 114 arrests have been made.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hundreds of thousands attend the festival every time it takes place. Photograph: Images for Humane Society International

What of the temple itself? Numerous meetings have been held with the Gadhimai temple authorities to stop the massacre. Despite countless pleas the authority has refused to budge. However, as of yesterday, only 33 animals are on the ground at the festival site, which is a phenomenal drop in numbers so far. If that trend continues we will have secured a huge victory.

Alokparna Sengupta: This is my first experience going to such an event and while it is a bit nerve-racking, I am determined to be there to make myself stronger for the animals who are being led to their death. We are very aware that emotions will run high and there may be confrontations. All in all, trying to save animals is an unbelievable feeling and I would not want to be doing anything else.

24th November:



Alok: Tents and shelters are being built for public viewing of the sacrifice. False rumours are being spread that devotees’ families are suffering with sudden disorders and deformities because they have not been allowed to make an animal sacrifice or are being persuaded not to. There is also a rumour in that an inspector who had stopped animals is now paralysed. I’m anxious because we don’t know what the final number of animals is going to be. The helplessness and the confusion of the animals makes me feel very low.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nuggehalli Jayasimha (left) and Alokparna Sengupta (right) of Humane Society International India. Photograph: Kuni Takahashi/AP/Images for Humane Society International

25th November:

Alok: While we were getting ready for a meeting with the temple authorities we received news about a truck of animals being confiscated at the Indian border. Our volunteers stopped the truck, but the Indian customs officials were adamant it be allowed to pass (contrary to the supreme court order). Jaya and Gauri from Humane Society International [HSI] left the festival site immediately for the Indian border.

Once at the border, after a lot of debate and arguing, Jaya and Gauri convinced the Indian customs to stop the animals. While on their way back, they were stopped by the Nepal armed police force repeatedly. HSI’s partner group, Animal Welfare Network Nepal [AWNN], eventually negotiated with the police and our team leaders reached the hotel safely.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A woman wrestles with the animal she has brought to the sacrifice. Photograph: Kuni Takahashi/AP/Images for Humane Society International

The meeting with the temple authorities, meanwhile, could not go ahead because every hour they were changing their mind about wanting to meet us. Clearly they were under immense pressure to respond and backing out of everything seemed the only way out.

26th November:



Alok: Driving towards the temple we saw a couple of men walking two buffalo calves with red cloth around their necks. We stopped and Manoj Gautam, president of AWNN, asked them what they were doing. One of them said they were there on their wives’ insistence, that they felt bad and wouldn’t do it again. As if on cue, the buffalo calf with him, not more than six-months-old, came over and started chewing on the tassels of my shawl. He was just a baby and wanted some affection! I could not bear to think what his fate would be in two days. I stroked his head for a while before his so-called owner directed him forward. The other buffalo calf with him had started to graze. His owner called out to him and in an act of complete trust, the calf ran to him not knowing he was being led to his death.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Approaching the sacrificial area. Photograph: Kuni Takahashi/AP/Images for Humane Society International

We met a goat market owner too on the way. Goats aged three months to a year were available for sale at Gadhimai sacrifice – each for a price of 8,000 Nepalese rupees (5,000 rupees more than their usual price). A woman bought a three-month old kid goat and wrapped it in cloth and yanked it forward with a rope. The goat resisted but the woman continued to pull. It took all my self-discipline not to rescue that goat.

When we reached the temple, I realised the limitation of my imagination. It was unbelievably primitive. A temple in the middle of nowhere surrounded by fields. There were at least close to a million people living there with numbers peaking around the days of animal sacrifice. Everyone was bathing and defecating in public. Walking through human faeces and the skeletal remains of the sacrificed heads of the buffaloes from 2009 (buried in a pit and freshly dug up for this year’s sacrifice), we reached the place where the founder of this temple, Bhagwan Chowdhary, was buried.



About 265 years ago Chowdhary had had a dream that the goddess Gadhimai wanted blood in return for freeing him from prison, protecting him from evil and promising prosperity and power. Initially the goddess asked for a human sacrifice, but Chowdhary offered an animal instead, this was accepted and has been offered every five years since. Next to the temple was the arena or the holding area of buffaloes. We estimated that there were around 1,500 there. More were being brought in, being dragged because they were resisting any movement, smelling death ahead of them.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Thousands of animals are sacrificed by people with varying levels of skill. Photograph: Kuni Takahashi/AP/Images for Humane Society International

We then walked to the temple where followers of the goddess were pushing, shoving and running to touch to their forehead every bit of vermillion smeared on trees, on the floor, on bells, etc. Disabled people were being assured that Gadhimai would cure them if they gave a sacrifice. A half-burnt woman was begging on the street, a human baby with an overgrown head (hydrocephalus) was being exhibited and a video glorifying the need to sacrifice animals was being shown to the millions of people visiting. Amid the struggle fear and need to please a goddess these human beings seemed to let go of their humanity.

Nanditha Krishna, HSI’s board membertried one last attempt to talk to the priest. “Look at the crowd,” he said. “How will I stop the sacrifice?” He wanted to work with us and the government for the next Gadhimai festival but at the same time was dismayed at the Indian government’s decision to stop the movement of animals.

We walked away overwhelmed with what we saw. Was this the 21st century? Nobody can imagine it without witnessing it themselves. Primitive. Horrible. Heartbreaking.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Excitement mounts as the days of sacrifice come closer. Photograph: Kuni Takahashi/AP/Images for Humane Society International

27th November:

Alok: On Thursday morning, after a visit to the border, we headed back to the temple, and were caught up in thousands of vehicles and people all heading to Gadhimai. Hundreds of families were arriving with the goats that they had brought to be sacrificed.

With hundreds of families lining up their buses, trucks, tractors and jeeps for camping the night out, we had to return to pick up Swami Agnivesh, the well-known social activist and campaigner who was driving down to Nepal from Patna, India to protest against the animal sacrifice at Gadhimai. It took us three hours to drive down a road which usually takes about 40 minutes. The roads were jampacked with tractors, buses and horse carriages filled with people and a goat or two per family heading to Gadhimai. While coming back I saw a man carrying a huge sword covered up in a saffron cloth heading to the temple. It suddenly hit me that the animals’ end was near.

28th November:

Alok: It was midnight by the time we reached Gadhimai but as we were escorted by the armed police force as Swami Agnivesh was a state guest, we were dropped right in front of the temple. The secretary of the temple trust rushed to meet Swami Agnivesh. We began to hope we might win a last-minute change of heart; but he then disappeared into a meeting and did not reappear. All night we waited; the sun started rising and we received a call from the secretary saying he had positive news for us and he would get back to us in 15 minutes. It was a last ray of hope. But as we reached the temple we saw a procession of hundreds of men with kukri knives and swords being cheered by hundreds of thousands of devotees.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Swami Agnivesh (2nd from left) and Nuggehalli Jayasimha talk to Motilal Kushwaha (2nd from right), a Trustee of Gadhimai Temple Committee. Photograph: Kuni Takahashi/AP/Images for Humane Society International

The temple trustees had switched off their phones. It was over. We headed towards the sacrificial arena with a huge crush of people cheering and screaming around us in near-stampede conditions. While the “panch bali” or the first sacrifice of five animals (rat, pigeon, pig, goat, buffalo) by the very pleased and ecstatic chief priest received a huge round of applause and jubilation; there was almost another stampede when the siren rang for the animals inside the arena to be sacrificed. I have seen animal cruelty in every aspect of life, especially in India where cruelty against street animals, chicken and goats is in your face most of the time, and I had imagined that it would be easy seeing people’s apathy to animals but now, as the knives fell all on the animals in and around the arena, I was beyond shock. I was in disbelief and felt numb. As we saw a headless goat spurting out blood and throwing about its legs, we decided that if we could not stop it, we should document it so we can show the world the cruelty of the ritual.

While some butchers killed animals in one blow, many of the other animals were not as lucky. In a futile attempt to run after two blows, one buffalo got hit on its shoulder and died a long, painful death kicking its legs about. All this happened while the butcher and his helpers laughed. Among the beheaded buffaloes, a live but weakened buffalo’s head popped up moaning anxiously. He had not been killed and he was crying for his dead companions around him.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Several thousand buffalo were slaughtered in one day. Photograph: Kuni Takahashi/AP/Images for Humane Society International

With the sacrifice almost coming to an end, a few lone, confused, helpless buffaloes wandering among the carcasses of thousands of buffaloes, the butchers started to leave the arena, blood streaking their bare legs and clothes. Proud to have been blessed to work for the goddess, they seemed ecstatic as I took a photo.

29th November:

Alok: We headed back to the temple this morning and were given news of some unrest. The Dalit community who believe they have a traditional right over the meat refused to let the meat contractors take the meat and hence the dead carcasses were laying there for more than 24 hours. The contractors had to break the deal with the temple trust where the trust apologised for the low numbers of animals (4,000) while they had guaranteed them a minimum of 10,000 and the contractors had prepared for at least 25,000. While we gained nothing out of this controversy, our hearts did feel better that the hypocritic temple trust were not able to make any profit out of this. While the meat was taken away by the Dalit community and the hide by the leather contractor, a hole dug near the skinning arena filled by blood.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest The last of the bodies. Photograph: Kuni Takahashi/AP/Images for Humane Society International

We were able to stop the movement of animals from India to Nepal reducing at least the buffalo count by 80%. We are heartbroken by what we saw, but not dejected. We know the reasons for everything that goes on in this country for Gadhimai now and we know we will come back stronger than we are and put an end to this the next time. We won’t let Gadhimai demand another animal sacrifice again.

Jayasimha Nuggehalli is director and Alokparna Sengupta is deputy director at Humane Society International India. Follow @HSIGlobal on Twitter.

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