Gadhimai festival
गढीमाई पर्व
Hindu
Dates
| 2083 BS | Date to be announced | Date to be announced |
| 2084 BS | Date to be announced | Date to be announced |
Gadhimai festival is a Hindu festival held every five years in Nepal at the Gadhimai Temple of Bariyarpur, in Bara District, about 160 kilometres (99 mi) south of the capital Kathmandu, and about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) east of the city of Kalaiya, near the Indo-Nepal border. The event involves large-scale sacrificial slaughter of animals, including water buffalo, pigs, goats, chickens, and pigeons, with the goal of pleasing Gadhimai, the goddess of power. People also make other offerings, including coconuts, sweets, and red-coloured clothes. The festival has been described as the world's largest animal sacrifice event or one of the largest. The Supreme Court of Nepal ordered an end to live animal sacrifices in 2019, but the order was "widely ignored".
It is estimated that 250,000–500,000 animals were sacrificed during the 2009 event. In 2015, it was erroneously reported that Nepal's temple trust planned to cancel all future animal sacrifices at the festival.
नेपालीमा
गढीमाई पर्व नेपालमा प्रत्येक पाँच वर्षमा राजधानी काठमाडौँ करिब १६० किलोमिटर (९९ माइल) दक्षिणमा रहेको बारा जिल्लाको बरियारपुर गढीमाई मन्दिरमा र भारत-नेपाल सीमा नजिकैको कलैया सहरबाट करिब ७ किलोमिटर (४.३ माइल) पूर्वमा मनाइने हिन्दु पर्व हो। यस कार्यक्रममा शक्तिको देवी गाधिमैलाई प्रसन्न गर्ने लक्ष्यका साथ भैँसी, सुँगुर, बाख्रा, कुखुरा र परेवाहरूसहित जनावरहरूको ठुलो मात्रामा बलि चढाउने कार्य समावेश छ। मानिसहरूले नरिवल, मिठाई र रातो रङको लुगासहित अन्य प्रसादहरू पनि दिन्छन्। यस पर्वलाई विश्वको सबैभन्दा ठुलो पशु बलि कार्यक्रम वा सबैभन्दा ठुलो उत्सवको रूपमा वर्णन गरिएको छ। नेपालको सर्वोच्च अदालत सन् २०१९ मा जीवित पशु बलि अन्त्य गर्ने आदेश दिएको थियो, तर यो आदेशलाई "व्यापक रूपमा बेवास्ता" गरिएको थियो। सन् २००९ को गढीमाई मेलामा २,५०,०००-५,००,००० जनावरहरूको बलि दिइएको अनुमान गरिएको छ। २०१५ मा, नेपालको मन्दिर ट्रस्टले उत्सवमा भविष्यमा हुने सबै पशुबलि रद्द गर्ने योजना बनाएको गलत रिपोर्ट गरिएको थियो।
History
Millions of people have attended the festival, which began around 1759. It is said that the festival originated when feudal lord Bhagwan Chaudhary dreamed that he could offer a blood sacrifice to the goddess Gadhimai in order to be freed from jail. Animal sacrifice at the festival attracts people from both Nepal and India, while the majority of the sacrificed animals are illegally transported across the border from India into Nepal.
