Jasahar Chariu

SR No.: 001841
Original Sutra Author: Pushpadant
Author: Parshuram Lakshman Vaidya, Hiralal Jain
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Publication Year: 1972
Total Pages: 320
Language: Apbhramsa
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Story
File Size: 22 MB

Page 16

GENERAL EDITORIAL
15
Post Script : It would not be out of place, if I reproduce below ( with thanks to the
Editor) a leader from the Deccan Herald, dated Sunday, August 6, 1972, Bangalore, on the practice of human sacrifice in the name religion.
HIDEOUS
IT IS A sad thought that as many as 50 human lives have been “sacrificed” in the last two years in various parts of the country on the pretext of propitiating various deities. The latest instance comes from Madhya Pradesh. The grisly tale of how a 23-year-old Adivasi girl was beheaded by a group of tribals as part of a ritualistic ceremony "to seek divine blessings for the safety of an earthen dam, which was in immediate danger of collapse following torrential rains was narrated by Chief Minister P. C. Sethi last week in the State Assembly. Irate members demanded summary trial of those involved and called for an early amendmeut of the Penal Code for the award of capital punishment to those found guilty of "ritualistic murder”. Such reaction does not seem wholly unjustified considering the ghastly nature of the crime perpetrated. It is a terrible crime to abduct destitute children and kill them in cold blood to "propitiate evil forces", as happened in Andhra Pradesh early this year. Then there was the bizarre report from Gurdaspur in Punjab of a man who never batted an eye-lid while slaughtering his own five-year-old son to secure peace for the soul of his father. Such macabre murders only show how deadly is the grip of superstition and obscurantism over some sections of our people in the remote interior.
As the Greeks realised, there is no tragedy more poignant than that of a man who sacrifices what is dearest to him to accomplish what he considers is his 'supreme duty'. Surely such motivations cannot be held out in extenuation of the ghastly murders that go on in the name of religion and rituals. This gruesome practice of human sacrifice and some other blood-curdling variants of witchcraft have been in vogue in many parts of the country for generations. The first official report of such ritualistic killings was made in 1842 when the British Agent in Bastar recorded that the practice was widely prevalent in the tribal regions for over centuries. All this underscores the need to enlighten those who are steeped in abysmal ignorance, fossilised customs and traditions. Social reform in this context is as vital as economic progress for such feudalistic outlook in our people can only make a mockery of all human values that freedom and democracy stand for this country. The mass media must be pressed into service in an imaginative campaign to educate the villagers and disabuse their minds of such hideous notions and pagan faiths. Social Welfare agencies will be failing in their duty if they do not spearhead a relentless crusade against this inhuman practice which besmirches the fair name of this country and its people.