Originally Posted by
kalibhakta
Hello,
My name is William Clark and I am a Kali bhakta from the USA who has lived in India extensively and am heading back in the near future. Most of my academic research and all of my devotion is dedicated specifically to Ma Kali. You can check out my recent essay on Kalighat, the famous Kali temple associated with many of the false, negative western perceptions of Kali which are being regurgitated here. Along with the essay, I have included some very detailed information on the practice of sacrificing goats which takes place there:
[Apparently, I am blocked from posting urls as a new member of this forum, but the website is ]
I found this messageboard while trying to find sources for some of the misinformation presented in the sensationalistic Time magazine article mentioned at the beginning of this thread.
For starters, I found the title "Killing for Kali" pretty crass because it's a reference to a scene in the 1939 film Gunga Din where a white man, painted brown, plays a diabolical Indian Kali priest and Thuggee leader who calls upon his followers to "Kill for the love of killing! Kill for Kali!" This character formed the basis for the villainous Kali priest, Mola Ram, in the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
The Time magazine article by Alex Perry goes on to provide an incredibly slanted perspective of traditions associated with Kali worship with one outrageous statement after another which are never backed by credible sources:
"Even 200 years ago, when a boy was killed every day at a Kali temple in Calcutta, blood cults were at odds with a benign Hindu spiritualism that celebrates abstinence and vegetarianism."
A statement like this is so loaded, I don't even know where to begin--but I will try to keep this short. The first part, "even 200 years ago, when a boy was killed every day at a Kali temple in Calcutta..." refers specifically to Kalighat where such events never took place. Although I didn't get very into it in my article, the priesthood at Kalighat--for over 250 years--are strict Vaishnavs by lineage and practicing vegetarians. Every historical source I have researched mentions nothing of the sacrifice of boys at Kalighat because it never happened. However, I would bet on the fact that it was mentioned in the Orientalist-fantasy literature penned during the period of British rule by Christian missionaries and colonial authorities, both of whom would have the agenda of suppressing and dominating the colonized native population. In fictional works, Kali was often used as the most convenient, most "exotic" plot device in Victorian novels which were filled with lurid tales of sexual excess, intoxication, and blood sacrifice all in the name of the Thuggee's patron Goddess of Doom. I think you get the idea. The author Alex Perry is referencing completely archaic and invalid sources when not inventing the backstory himself. It is interesting to note that many 19th century accounts of Kali's associated rites describe them much like an inverted Christian mass. In a word, she was demonized early on by colonizers and that false perception has lasted to the present day. For Bengali devotees, she is the Cosmic Mother--the opposite of evil.
The second part of the statement is just naive. I mean, what I get from it is that "blood cults" aren't a part of "Hindu spiritualism," which sounds like a real party because it "celebrates" abstinence and vegetarianism--good times. I understand that the author is trying to condense a tremendous amount of information for the sake of brevity, but that's exactly the problem with such an article--it ends up being a bunch of slanderous hogwash. Hinduism is commonly referred to as the "oldest living religion" in the world as its roots reach into prehistory. Let's return to those bloody sacrifices--if Kali is not evil, then why does she require blood?
She doesn't. I personally know quite a few Kali devotees will not even touch meat, but it is true that she is associated with animal sacrifice and carries a large sword. The fact of the matter is that Bengalis, unlike many Indians, are a traditionally meat-eating culture and goats are tasty. Being spiritually inclined, it makes sense they would develop ways to offer an animal they are going to eat before it is killed for their food. To take an animal's life is a rather intense act, but if you still want to eat it and have a religious disposition it would logically follow that you would attach spiritual significance to the act of slaughtering livestock. What is merely taking place is the phenomenon of religious folks blessing their meat--it's really nothing that "exotic" at all.
On numerous occasions, I have spent a good deal of time in the temple area where this takes place, talking with the men whose job it is to behead the goats. The sacrificial goat, as Kali's gift, is treated quite well by the family who purchases it. Before the immolation, there are some prayers said by a priest and it is sprinkled with water--similar to kosher (Judaism) and halal (Islam) practices. However, unlike the kosher and halal practice, the animal is not bled to death. In order for the ritual to be karmically pure, the animal must suffer as little as possible before it is killed. To this end, its neck is braced in a specially constructed post and the head is then cleanly chopped off with one sharp blow of the khadga--Kali's characteristic sword. The whole thing is over in a few of seconds. Honestly, having witnessed it myself countless times, I feel that such a swift end is ultimately more humane than what happens at factory farms here in the USA where animals undergo prolonged suffering, locked in cramped spaces much of their lives. Here we never see the process of slaughter involved in our consumption of meat, but in a place like West Bengal if you want to eat chicken you go to a market and pick out a live chicken which is then killed on the spot. It's a very different culture. I have visited Kalighat many times during different trips to India for nearly a decade. It always struck me as odd that many foreigners who regularly eat meat would freak out about the animal sacrifices. What they never notice is that following the sacrifice, the goat is taken to a designated area in the temple complex where the animal is butchered, dressed, and packaged for the contributing family to take home. To demonize the practice of goat sacrifice, is tantamount to demonizing the consumption of meat, which, like it or not, is common almost everywhere in the world. Again Alex Perry writes:
"Most Kali temples have settled on large pumpkins to represent a human body; other followers slit the throats of two-meter-tall human effigies made of flour, or of animals such as goats."
I have never seen anything even vaguely resembling these practices at any Kali temple that I have visited; I have been to many and certainly those which are historically and spiritually considered most important. Where the Hell did he get this from? It is not based upon reality.
Alex Perry goes on to claim that "tantrics say" (who? which Tantriks?) Kali takes care of those who take care of her, followed by "so far this year, police have recorded at least one case of ritual killing a month." Do you see how distorted this type of writing is? First he speaks on behalf of Tantriks and mentions Kali's name, then follows this up with a sentence making the shocking claim of one ritual murder per month. What qualifies as a ritual murder? He avoids being a flagrant liar here by not directly saying that the ritual murders were performed on Kali's behalf, but most readers will link the entire paragraph together. It is very poor, misleading writing and the worst kind of journalism. The whole paragraph is dedicated to a number of grisly murders, only one case of which might even be related to Kali.
"Far from ancient barbarisms that refuse to die, sacrifice and sorcery are making a comeback. Sociologists explain the millions who now throng the two main Kali centers in eastern India, at Kamakhya and Tarapith, as what happens when the rat race that is India's future meets the superstitions of its past."
Apparently Mr. Perry is a hardcore vegetarian who believes eating meat is barbaric. I won't even touch on the how condescending the second sentence is, but I will point out that at the Kamakhya temple in Assam the revered goddess is named Kamakhya, while Tarapith is the home of goddess Tara. Despite these goddesses being independent entities, Alex Perry ignorantly refers to their respective places of worship as "Kali centers." This glaringly false statement leads me to assume that the uninformed author uses "Kali" as the name for every deity he knows nothing about--casting serious doubt on any of his previous references to her in connection with criminal cases. He does not know what the Hell he is talking about.
(The blood never dries at Tarapith," whispers one villager.)
Spooky.
This odious article ends with the words, "but in the dust-bowl villages of India, where superstition reigns and blood has a dark authority, the question is how many other "holy men" have found that ultimate power still rests in the murderous magic of a virgin sacrifice" which brings us full-circle back to the imperialist drivel of the 1800's (universally denounced by academic authorities). Suddenly, the insatiable Goddess of Doom now requires the blood of virgins! The nonexistent connection between the ancient mother goddess Kali and the relatively modern archetype of Satan have been emphatically and idiotically asserted after drawing inspiration from prejudiced sources more than one and a half centuries old.
It seems that I have failed to keep my response short, but I do hope that some folks looking over this will see this article for the mediocre fodder that it is. I felt the need to point out the numerous fallacies contained within it because perpetuating bigotry and misunderstanding does nothing except cause division and strife. This kind of writing originates in a racist, colonialist worldview where people are looked upon as inferior or threatening simply because they are not understood. It perpetuates a destructive and hateful mentality.
I could go on about this forever, but there were a few factual cases of human sacrifice which were brought up in this thread. This is easily explained by one truthful statement found early in the Time magazine article: "Human sacrifice has always been an anomaly in India." It is not the norm by any means. In the past, when it has rarely occurred in connection with goddess worship it was also related to such things as warring kingdoms. I have read that, in some cases, captured soldiers from opposing armies were offered in Assam. This sort of thing you will find in the history of people around the world. In modern times, these actions have--very rarely--been directed by twisted people who have adopted a spiritual persona to seek their own ego gratification (usually related to money) through duping the naive. Another incident mentioned previously involved a man who was clearly mentally disturbed as anyone committing such acts obviously is. Again, you find this kind of deviance in all societies--so mislabeling Hindu goddess devotees as sacrificers of humans is just as illogical as comparing all Atheists to Josef Stalin, Muslims to Osama Bin Laden, Christians to Timothy McVeigh etc. It needlessly condemns a large number of people and is a bigoted mentality.
If anyone has any questions regarding legitimate religious and spiritual practices connected with Kali, I will gladly respond as best I can. Please be aware that there is lot of false information out there and try not to rush to judgement.
William
Killing for Kali: Alex Perry's Offensive and Inaccurate Time Magazine Article
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