'Human Sacrifice' In Kerala: Don't Give It a Religious Angle........We're All Equal
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
14 October
2022
The
shuddersome incident of 'human sacrifice' in Kerala in which two women were cut
into pieces has shocked the world.
One pervert
Mohammed Shafi exploited the vulnerabilities of Bhagaval Singh and (his wife)
Laila to win their confidence and committed the crime. All three are equally
responsible. Shafi is a Muslim and the couple is Hindu. So, don't bring in a
specific religion and zero in on that.
Healer
and masseur Bhagaval Singh (left), his wife Laila (right), and Shafi were
arrested Tuesday in connection with the killings of two women who had been
missing. (File) Photo: Indian Express
----
This is a
case of sex, deviant behaviour, superstitions, black magic and pathological
human greed. It's indeed sad and unnerving to know that in these 'modern'
times, people can be lured and convinced to sacrifice their fellow humans.
This also
underlines a sordid saga of superstitions still making inroads into human
consciousness. Whether Hindus or Muslims, we're imbued with sacrificial
instincts. Had Britishers not intervened, Hindus would still have been
decapitating poor humans to placate their blood-thirsty, subaltern deities.
Killing a child to pacify a tribal deity or amass wealth is a common occurrence
in India.
Offering
animals in place of humans at Kamakshya (Kamakhya) temple in Assam, Kalighat in
Calcutta, Tuljapur Bhavani in Maharashtra, to name but a few goes on unabated
till date. Earlier, humans used to be offered! Horrendous, to say the least!
Years ago,
now defunct The Quest carried an article. I cannot recall the name who wrote
it. But I still remember the thrust of the piece. The writer argued that all
religions had these sacrificial elements in their system. In fact, a faith sans
blood, flesh and sacrifice wasn't considered a faith at all.
Even
Zoroastrianism, the first monotheistic faith, 4, 000 years ago, had the concept
of sacrifice. Early Christianity and Judaism (it still follows the custom of
sacrifice as a perfunctory ritual) had sacrifice as a sanctified practice. All
these faiths began their primitive sacrificial spree with humans but soon had
to make do with animals.
But
subaltern societies and their religious practices continued with human
sacrifice as occultism, animism, magic and recondite superstitions all acted as
catalysts to forming the core of various quasi-religions. When even an animal
is sacrificed to appease an imaginary blood-thirsty Hindu deity and an equally
dubious Allah, the question remains whether humans have evolved that much as to
part with their ingrained sanguinary instincts? Jerome K Jerome put it
beautifully, “Humans have been civilizational fools, further stupified by god
and religion." So long as we continue to wallow in this state of stupor,
Kerala like incidents will keep happening.
-----
A
regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/religious-angle-kerala-human-sacrifice/d/128172
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