Posted on 04/14/2005 6:55:48 AM PDT by bedolido
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian police have charged 80 people for burying children alive in an ancient Hindu ceremony known as "the festival of pits".
The ceremony, in which children -- some less than a year old -- are buried alive briefly and then dug up, happened on Monday in southern Tamil Nadu state, The Asian Age reported on Thursday.
Authorities have been trying for years to stop it and people found guilty face up to three years in jail and or a fine of 5000 rupees (60.7 pounds).
Every two years, parents who have vowed to bury their first-born if they are blessed with a child, take part in the Kuzhimattru Thiru Vizha ceremony.
The children are drugged to make them unconscious and placed in shallow "graves" in temple courtyards. The pits are covered with leaves and dirt and the children are pulled out after Hindu priests chant a brief prayer -- lasting up to a minute.
India has a ways to go before it gets "First World" status.
Paganism run amock.
Man! The headline sure is worse than the story-I thought the kids were buried alive and left in the ground to die. (Not that being buried alive "briefly" would be fun, but at least the kids survive.)
Ping.
Hmm, symbolic burial alive or symbolic drowning? Don't be so quick to judge. the part that bothers me is the drugging.
Unfortunately, both of you are correct. Being of both "HIndu" and Indian background, this behaviour is particularly offensive to me.
Yet another example of the dangers of organized religion...IMNSHO.
Though apparently less dangerous than subjecting your kids to second-hand smoke for 18 years.
I take it your refering to baptism by submersion, which is a symbolised cleansing, not drowning. To dunk someones head underwater for 2 seconds is different than burying children in the ground.
Valuing Diversity Ping!
-uh, well---it's not quite like the Thugee sect was---
Ah, to be Nadu, now that spring is here!
Last one in the pit's "Kaiser Bill!"
Say, how about a nice, short burial to pick up your day?
"Hey, dirt naps, get your dirt naps here!"(opening day slogan at the "Festival of the Pits").
Crazy, crazy people.
This is literally the pits...
it derives from symbolic death to rebirth in a new life. It's carried out in different ways in different cultures. I am a Christian, but I do recognize that many Christian traditions have their origins in much older, sometimes more "raw" ceremonies that have been made more civilized.
Quick to judge? I was proud and touched to watch both my sons baptized a few years ago - and was never worried that they would be drugged or held under for a minute. I cannot imagine sticking my baby in a hole in the ground and kicking dirt over them, waiting for some priest to finish chanting, then digging them baby up hoping they were still breathing.
Nope . . . no comparison.
I already said that I had a problem with the drugging. From strictly symbolic point of view, the goal is the same, though: to "die and be reborn in a new life".
Having said that. I go on record as not being in favor of drugging and burying kids. I didn't really think I'd have to be that obvious, but there it is. As someone who is interested in cultural symbols, though, I still find it an interesting study.
This is both a cultural and religious practice, just because it seems barbaric to you discloses nothing but your prior mindset.
I saw this ritual in the movie "Motel Hell."
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