Lahaul deity gives up yatra over ban on animal sacrifice In place of lamb, devotees to offer coconuts to Raja Gepan Kuldeep Chauhan Tribune News Service Shimla, October 12: Fearing a crackdown following the ban on sacrificing animal, tribals in Lahaul-Spiti have decided to give up the Kesamdhor, a sacred two-month-long yatra of Raja Gepan, the presiding lord of Lahaul, who will come out of his temple at Sissu on October 17 after three years. Devotees say the lord will come out of the temple that day, but they will sacrifice coconuts to the devta instead of a lamb, which used to be a tradition earlier, respecting the High Court ban on animal sacrifice in the state. But devotees have been denied the blessings of the lord after centuries, they resent. The devotees of Lord Gepan hold a night-long oracle session on Saturday with the Gur of the lord, along with the Dev Samaj of Lahaul and members of the Devta Committee, to discuss the ban on animal sacrifice imposed by the High Court. The Gur told the Harook, the assembly of devotees and the Dev Samaj that the “devta does not approve of a break from the tradition of sacrificing a lamb to the Gepan Raja, which is mandatory whenever he comes out for a “divine get-together at Gonchaling, the sacred spot in Lahaul after every three years. The devotees fear legal action if they sacrifice a lamb and may invite the wrath of the devta if they do not, they told The Tribune on the phone after attending the meeting last night. The devta will go to Gondla for the mela and then to Gonchaling to perform the traditional puja on October 21 and will come back to the temple, revealed devotees. The Harook decided that they cannot afford to break the tradition of animal sacrifice throughout its yatra of the valley. The Raja Gepan takes a tour of the valley and pays his obeisance at the Mrikula Devi temple at Udaipur in the Pattan valley where lambs are sacrificed in each village by devotees. President of the Raja Gepan Devta Committee Puran Chand said the devta would not tour the valley and come back to his temple after the Gonchaling pilgrimage as the Gur of the devta had warned them of not breaking the tradition of animal sacrifice. “The Dev Samaj opines that they should respect the ban as it was done in the Lanka Dahan ceremony of the week-long Kullu Dasehra on October 9”, he told the devotees. The Kardar Sangh of Kullu and chief representative of Lord Raghunath and Kullu legislator Maheshwar Singh have moved the Supreme Court against the High Court ban on animal sacrifice. The apex court had issued notices to all stakeholders, including the state government, but gave no relief to the petitioners on October 8 when the petitions were admitted to the court. The High Court has banned the animal and bird sacrifice in public places or place of worship in the state on September 1, 2014. The animal rights NGO had filed a petition in the court pleading that the animal sacrifice to seek blessings of the deity was inhuman and should be banned.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 06:37:16 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015