Animal sacrifice still on in Malkangiri dist

KORAPUT: Contrary to administration's appeal to stop animal sacrifice during the festival, hundreds of animals were sacrificed during the final celebration of the month-long Badayatra festival in Malkangiri district. The three-day final celebration of the festival was held at the district headquarters town of Malkangiri between Sunday and Tuesday.
The festival, which is very popular among the tribals, is celebrated every two years.During the festival, tribals pay obeisance to Goddess Jangyaseni (Durga) in a distinctive manner believing that she will shower prosperity on them.
According to a legend, Malkangiri was once ruled by a king named Jarasandha. He had imprisoned 100,000 kings to sacrifice them before goddess Jangyaseni at Manyamkonda. But his wish did not come true as Krishna, Arjun and Bhim, disguised as Brahmins, rescued the kings by killing Jarasandha. But, Goddess Jangyaseni became agitated when she was deprived of the lives of 1,00,000- kings. Krishna, Arjun and Bhim promised the Goddess that they would offer her an equal number of lives. They kept the promise by sacrificing 100,000 animals and birds at Malkangiri.
This started the tradition of animals sacrifice at the festival which continues even today. During the festival, Goddess Jangyaseni is brought from a hill at Manamyokanda to Malkangiri on a wooden palanquin. The persons, who carry the palanquin to Malkangiri, start their journey 30 days in advance and cover a distance of around 90 km walking barefoot.
During their journey, the goddess is kept at several places for the local tribals to offer puja. "Hundreds of animals and birds are sacrificed to gratify the goddess before she is brought to Malkangiri," said Durjyadhan Patra, a local resident.
A senior official of Malkangiri adminsitarion said, "Compared to earlirer occasions, animal sacrifice has decreased this year. Prior to the festival, an awareness drive was launched by the administration in the district against animal sacrifice. There is also a decline in animal sacrifice as prices of animals have gone up."