Human sacrifice

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Human sacrifice is the act of killing a human being for the purposes of making an offering to a deity or other, normally supernatural, power. It was practiced in ancient cultures. The practice has varied between different cultures, with some like the Aztecs being notorious for their ritual killings, while others have looked down on the practice as primitive. Victims were ritually killed in a manner that was supposed to please or appease gods or spirits. Victims ranged from prisoners to infants to Vestal Virgins, who suffered such fates as burning, beheading and being buried alive.

Because information on certain cultures' sacrificial tendencies often comes from outside sources (Greeks and Romans for Celts and medieval Christians for Norsemen, for example) who may have had ulterior propaganda motives, some contemporary historians consider certain allegations of human sacrifice suspect.

Over time human sacrifice has become less common around the world, and sacrifices are now very rare. Most religions condemn the practice and present-day laws generally treat it as a criminal matter. Nonetheless it is still occasionally seen today, especially in the least developed areas of the world where traditional beliefs persist.

Contents 1 Evolution 2 Context 3 Antiquity 3.1 Ancient Egypt 3.2 Phoenicia 3.3 Greco-Roman sacrifice 3.4 Celts 4 Abrahamic traditions 4.1 Hebrew Bible 4.2 Christianity 5 Germanic peoples 6 China 7 India 8 Hawaii 9 Pre-Columbian Americas 9.1 Mixtec 9.2 Maya 9.3 Aztec 9.3.1 Tlaloc 9.3.2 Xipe Totec 9.4 Inca empire 9.5 North America 10 West Africa 11 Contemporary human sacrifice 11.1 In India 11.2 In Africa 12 References 12.1 Books 12.2 Journal articles 13 Notes 14 See also 15 External links

[edit] Evolution

Further information: Origin of religion, Homo Necans, and Magical thinking

The idea of human sacrifice has its roots in deep prehistory,^[1] in the evolution of human behaviour. Mythologically, it is closely connected, or even fundamentally identical with animal sacrifice. There has been a lot of debate on the primacy of myth vs. ritual, and the presence of a myth of human sacrifice should not be taken as necessarily implying the historical existence of the actual practice: human sacrifice may be taken as the re-enactment of an older myth, or conversely a myth can be taken as a memory of an earlier practice of human sacrifice.

Theistic rationalizations of human sacrifice may involve the idea of offering jhbas payment for favorable interventions in an event of special importance, to forestall unfavorable events, or to purchase disclosures about the physical world.

To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup because it is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (September 2007)

[edit] Context

Human sacrifice has been practiced on a number of different occasions and in many different cultures.

Indians who adhere to Tantrism believe that human sacrifices to the gods can change their fortune.

Some cultures would use a human sacrifice to dedicate a completed building like a temple or bridge. There is a Chinese legend that says there are thousands of people entombed in the Great Wall of China. This may be a factual historical event, even as a metaphor, considering the labor and investment of construction and the deceased laborers could be buried where they worked.

In ancient Japan legends talk about Hitobashira ("human pillar"), in which maidens were buried alive at the base or near some constructions as a prayer to ensure the buildings against disasters or enemy attacks.^[2]

The Thuggee cult that plagued India was devoted to Kali, the goddess of death and destruction. According to the Guinness Book of Records the Thuggee cult was responsible for approximately 2,000,000 deaths.

Aztec and Mayan people participated in human sacrifice as a part of their culture to diverse gods. For the re-consecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs reported that they killed about 80,400 prisoners over the course of four days. According to Ross Hassing, author of Aztec Warfare, "between 10,000 and 80,400 persons" were sacrificed in the ceremony.^[3]

According to the Bible, Jephthah sacrificed his daughter after making a promise to God. In Judges 11:29 he says to God "If you deliver the Ammonites into my hands then I will make a burnt sacrifice out of the first thing that comes out of my house to greet me." He says this anticipating a goat or animal to greet him. Tears start to run down his face when his only child, his daughter. He grants her 3 months to mourn her virginity then sacrifices her as he promised God. Abraham was instructed by God to sacrifice his only son. He was told to take him to a place on a hill and build an altar and sacrifice him there. Abraham gets as far as bounding up his son and laying him altar and pulls out a knife when God tells him to stop. He had proved his loyalty to God. God gave him a ram to sacrifice instead. (Genesis 22)

Sacrifice upon the death of a king, high priest or great leader; the sacrifices were to serve or accompany the deceased leader in the next life. Mongols, Scythians, early Egyptians and various Mesoamerican chiefs could take most of their household, including servants and concubines, with them to the next world. This is sometimes called a "retainer sacrifice," as the leader's retainers would be sacrificed along with their master.

Aztecs killed prisoners in ritual combats such as gladiatorial or bloody games. This is an example of sacrifice by ritual combat. Martyrdom or sacrifice through war, a controversial argument that asserts military combat to be ritualistic and hence a kind of ritual human sacrifice.

Priests would try to predict the future from the body parts of a slain prisoner or slave. According to Strabo, Celts stabbed a victim with a sword and divined the future from his death spasms. Sacrifice for divination.^[4]

Droughts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and comets were seen as a sign of anger or displeasure of gods and sacrifices were made to appease the divine ire. Ancient Minoans may have tried to avert destruction by earthquake by using a man as a sacrificial victim within the temple of Anemospilia.^[5]

[edit] Antiquity

[edit] Ancient Egypt

There may be evidence of retainer sacrifice in the early dynastic period at Abydos, when on the death of a King he would be accompanied with servants, and possibly high officials, who would continue to serve him in eternal life. The skeletons found show no obvious signs of trauma, leading to speculation that the giving up of life to serve the King may have been a voluntary act, possibly carried out in a drug induced state. At about 2800BC any possible evidence of such practices disappears, though echoes are perhaps to be seen in the burial of statues of servants in Old Kingdom tombs.^[6][7]

[edit] Phoenicia

According to Roman sources, Phoenicians and Carthaginians sacrificed infants to their gods. The bones of numerous infants have been found in Carthaginian archaeological sites in modern times but the subject of child sacrifice is controversial.^[8]

Plutarch (ca. 46–120 AD) mentions the practice, as do Tertullian, Orosius, Diodorus Siculus and Philo. Livy and Polybius do not. The Hebrew Bible also mentions what appears to be child sacrifice practiced at a place called the Tophet ("roasting place") by the Caananites, ancestors of the Carthaginians, and by some Israelites. Some of these sources suggest that babies were roasted to death on a heated bronze statue. According to Diodorus Siculus:

“

There was in their city a bronze image of Cronus extending its hands, palms up and sloping toward the ground, so that each of the children when placed thereon rolled down and fell into a sort of gaping pit filled with fire.

”

The accuracy of such stories is disputed by some modern historians and archaeologists.^[9] Nevertheless, several apparent "Tophets" have been identified, including a large one in Carthage.

[edit] Greco-Roman sacrifice

Other than three possible sites in Crete, dated to the pre-Hellenic Minoan civilisation, and allusions to the practice in classical mythology, archaeologists have been unable to find any evidence that Ancient Greeks practiced human sacrifice. The deus ex machina salvation in some versions of Iphigeneia (who was about to be sacrificed by her father Agamemnon) and her replacement with a deer by the goddess Artemis, may be a vestigial memory of the abandonment and discrediting of the practice of human sacrifice among the Greeks in favor of animal sacrifice. Many scholars have suggested a possible analogy with the story of Isaac's attempted sacrifice by his father Abraham in the Bible, which was also stopped at the last minute (though it had first been encouraged) by divine intervention.

Early Romans practiced various forms of human sacrifice in their first centuries; from Etruscans (or, according to other sources, Sabellians), they adopted the original form of gladiatorial combat where the victim was slain in a ritual battle. During the early republic, criminals who had broken their oaths or defrauded others were sometimes "given to the gods" (that is, executed as a human sacrifice). The Rex Nemorensis was an escaped slave who became priest of the goddess Diana at Nemi by killing his predecessor. Prisoners of war and Vestal virgins were buried alive as offerings to Manes and Di Inferi (gods of the underworld).^{[citation needed]} Archaeologists have found sacrificial victims buried in building foundations. Ordinarily, deceased Romans were cremated rather than buried. Captured enemy leaders, after the victorious general's triumph, would be ritually strangled in front of a statue of Mars, the war god.

Religious practices changed over the centuries. According to Pliny the Elder, human sacrifice was abolished by a senatorial decree in 97 BC, although by this time it was so rare that the decree was wholly symbolic. Most of the rituals turned to animal sacrifice like taurobolium or became merely symbolic. A Roman general might bury a statue of his likeness to thank the gods for victory. Dionysius of Halicarnassus^[10]refers to a sacrifice of Argei in the Vestal ritual that might have originally included sacrifice of old men. When the Roman Empire expanded, Romans stopped human sacrifices as barbaric. However, other activities with a ritual origin kept being practiced for many years, and even get more massive, like the gladiatorial games and some kinds of executions.

[edit] Celts

Main article: Celts and human sacrifice

As written in Roman sources, Celtic Druids engaged extensively in human sacrifice.^[11] According to Julius Caesar, the slaves and dependants of Gauls of rank would be burnt along with the body of their master as part of his funerary rites.^[12] He also describes how they built wicker figures that were filled with living humans and then burned.^[13] It is known that druids at least supervised sacrifices of some kind. According to Cassius Dio, Boudica's forces impaled Roman captives during her rebellion against the Roman occupation, to the accompaniment of revellery and sacrifices in the sacred groves of Andate.^[14] Some modern-day scholars question the accuracy of these accounts, as they invariably come from hostile (Roman or Greek) sources.^[15] Different gods reportedly required different kind of sacrifices. Victims meant for Esus were hanged, those meant for Taranis immolated and those for Teutates drowned. Some, like the Lindow Man, may have gone to their deaths willingly.

Archaeological evidence from the British Isles seems to indicate that human sacrifice may have been practiced, over times long pre-dating any contact with Rome. Human remains have been found at the foundations of structures from the Neolithic time to the Roman era, with injuries and in positions that argue for their being foundation sacrifices. Similarly, additional human remains in the tombs of aged men show signs of having been killed to be buried in the grave.

[edit] Abrahamic traditions

All three Abrahamic religions condemn human sacrifice. A More detailed account of Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and modern historians' views on this subject can be found in the articles dealing with the binding of Isaac and the vow made by Jephthah

[edit] Hebrew Bible

References in the Bible point to an awareness of human sacrifice in the history of ancient near-eastern practice. During a battle with the Israelites the king of Moab gives his firstborn son and heir as a whole burnt offering (olah, as used of the Temple sacrifice).^[16] (2 Kings 3:27).

In Genesis 22 there is a story about the binding of Isaac. In this story, God tests Abraham by asking him to present his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. No reason is given within the text. Abraham agrees to this command without arguing. According to the text, God does not want Abraham to actually sacrifice his son; it states from the beginning that this is only a test of obedience. The story ends with an angel stopping Abraham at the last minute and making Isaac's sacrifice unnecessary by providing a ram, caught in some nearby bushes, to be sacrificed instead. Many Bible scholars have suggested this story's origin was a remembrance of an era when human sacrifice was abolished in favor of animal sacrifice.^[17][18]

Another instance of human sacrifice mentioned in the Bible is the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter in Judges chapter 11. Jephthah vows to sacrifice to God whatsoever comes to greet him at the door when he returns home if he is victorious. The vow is stated in Judges 11:31 as "Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering." When he returns from battle, his virgin daughter runs out to greet him. That he actually does sacrifice her is shown in verse 11:39, "And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed". This example seems to be the exception rather than the rule, however, as the verse continues "And she was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite custom that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite." The lamentations that were offered annually in remembrance of this act frame it as the atrocity it was, and accentuate the grievousness of such a rash action. According to commentators of the rabbinic Jewish tradition this was a gross violation of God's law, and this part of the Bible illustrates the terrible tragedy of human sacrifice. However most scholars believe the passage suggests the sacrifice was accepted by God.^[19] Others point out the complete lack of censure by God of Jephthah and the sacrifice of his daughter in the biblical account.^[20] The majority of the early Christian Church Fathers saw the sacrifice of Jepthah's virgin daughter as foreshadowing, like Isaac, the death of Jesus Christ not least because Jepthah's vow in the biblical account was made whilst under the influence of the Holy Spirit (Judges 11:29).

[edit] Christianity

In the Christian religion the belief developed that the story of Isaac's binding was a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Jesus, whom Christians believe was God's only son and simultaneously God Himself, and who gave up his life so that sins could be forgiven. There is a tradition that the site of the binding of Isaac, Moriah, was also the city of Jesus's future crucifixion, i.e. Jerusalem.^[21] However no archaeological or historical evidence supports this assertion.

The beliefs of most denominations of Christianity hinge upon a single, specific human sacrifice: that of the Christ. Most Christians believe, at least nominally, that in order to gain access to paradise in the afterlife each individual person must somehow become a partaker in that all-important human sacrifice for the atonement of their personal sins. Some Christians, including Orthodox and Roman Catholics, believe they participate in the sacrifice of Calvary through the Eucharist which they believe is really the body and blood of Jesus Christ.^[22][23] Many Protestants, however, reject this, and rather believe that the bread and wine of communion are merely symbolic, trusting that it is their faith in Christ's finished work on the cross that atones for their sins.

[edit] Germanic peoples

According to Norse mythology, Odin hung himself from the world-tree Yggdrasil for nine nights to attain divine wisdom. Medieval Christian sources refer to Norsemen sacrificing prisoners by hanging them from trees, but the true extent of this behavior is unclear, it is most likely that these killings were of an executional nature leaving the bodies on show as a warning to enemies, or criminals.

One account by Ahmad ibn Fadlan as part of his account of an embassy to the Volga Bulgars in 921 claims that Norse warriors were sometimes buried with enslaved women with the belief that these women would become their wives in Valhalla. In his description of the funeral of a Scandinavian chieftain, a slave volunteers to die with a Norseman. After ten days of festivities, she is stabbed to death by an old woman, a sort of priestess who is referred to as Völva or "Angel of Death", and burnt together with the deceased in his boat.

Adam von Bremen recorded human sacrifices to Odin in 11th century Sweden, at the Temple at Uppsala, a tradition which is confirmed by Gesta Danorum and the Norse sagas. According to the Ynglinga saga, king Domalde was sacrificed there in the hope to bring greater future harvests and the total domination of all future wars. The same saga also relates that Domalde's descendant king Aun sacrificed nine of his own sons to Odin in exchange for longer life, until the Swedes stopped him from sacrificing his last son, Egil.

Heidrek in the Hervarar saga agrees to the sacrifice of his son in exchange for the command over a fourth of the men of Reidgotaland. With these, he seizes the entire kingdom and prevents the sacrifice of his son, dedicating those fallen in his rebellion to Odin instead.

[edit] China

The ancient Chinese are known to have made sacrifices of young men and women to river deities, and to have buried slaves alive with their owners upon death as part of a funeral service. This was especially prevalent during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. During the Warring States period, Ximen Bao of Wei demonstrated to the villagers that sacrifice to river deities was actually a ploy by crooked priests to pocket money.^[24] In Chinese lore, Ximen Bao is regarded as a folk hero who pointed out the absurdity of human sacrifice.

The sacrifice of a high-ranking male's slaves, concubines or servants upon his death (called Xun Zang 殉葬 or more specifically Sheng Xun 生殉) was a more common form. The stated purpose is to provide companion for the dead in afterlife. In earlier times the victims were either killed or buried alive, while later they were usually forced to commit suicide.

Funeral human sacrifice was abolished by the Qin Dynasty in 384 BC. Afterwards it became relatively rare throughout the central parts of China.. However, the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty revived it in 1395 when his second son died and two of the prince's concubines were sacrificed. In 1464, the Zhengtong Emperor in his will forbade the practice for Ming emperors and princes.

Human sacrifice was also practiced by the Manchus. Following Emperor Nurhaci's death, Lady Abahai and his two lesser consorts committed suicide. During the Qing Dynasty, sacrifice of slaves was banned by Emperor Kangxi in 1673.

[edit] India

Human sacrifices were carried out in connection with the worship of Shakti till approximately the early modern period, and in Bengal perhaps as late as the early nineteenth century^[25]. Certain tantric cults performed human sacrifice till around the same time, both actual and "symbolic"; it was a "highly ritualised" act, and on occasion took many months to complete^[25].

The question of whether human sacrifice is permitted in the Vedas and, if so, was actually practiced is a matter of dispute by scholars. The prevailing nineteenth century view, associated above all with Henry Colebrooke, was that human sacrifice had little scriptural warrant, and did not actually take place. Those verses which referred to purusamedha were meant to be read symbolically^[26] or as a 'priestly fantasy'. However, barely a generation later Albrecht Weber collected textplaces referring to human sacrifice with greater specificity; and Rajendralal Mitra published a defence of the thesis that human sacrifice, as had been practiced in Bengal, was a continuation of traditions dating back to Vedic periods^[27]. Hermann Oldenberg held to Colebrooke's view; but Jan Gonda underlined its disputed status.

It was agreed even by Colebrooke, however, that by the Puranic period - at least at the time of the writing of the Kalika Purana, human sacrifice was accepted^[26]. These two periods, however were separated by a period of increasing "embarrassment" in the use of violence in worship, contemporaneous with the Upanishads.

In the post-Puranic medieval period, however, it became increasingly common. In the seventh century, Banabhatta, in a description of the dedication of a temple of Chandika, describes a series of human sacrifices; similarly, in the ninth century, Haribhadra describes the sacrifices to Chandika in Orissa^[28]. It was "more common" in the Southern parts of India, where it took on a scapegoating rather than purifying role^[28].

The Khonds, an aboriginal tribe of India, inhabiting the tributary states of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, became notorious, on the British occupation of their district about 1835, from the prevalence and cruelty of the human sacrifices they practised.^[29]

[edit] Hawaii

In Ancient Hawaii, a luakini temple, or luakini heiau, was a Native Hawaiian sacred place where human and animal blood sacrifices were offered. Kauwa, the outcast or slave class, were often used as human sacrifices at the luakini heiau. They are believed to have been war captives, or the descendents of war captives. They were not the only sacrifices; law-breakers of all castes or defeated political opponents were also acceptable as victims. ^[30][31]

[edit] Pre-Columbian Americas

Some of the most famous forms of ancient human sacrifice were performed by various Pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas.^[32]

[edit] Mixtec

The Mixtec players of the Mesoamerican ballgame were sacrificed when the game was used to resolve a dispute between cities. The rulers would play a game instead of going to battle. The losing ruler would be sacrificed. The ruler "Eight Deer" was considered a great ball player and won several cities this way, until he lost a ball game and was sacrificed.

[edit] Maya

The Maya held the belief that cenotes or limestone sinkholes were portals to the underworld and sacrificed human beings to please the water god Chaac. The most notable example of this is the "Sacred Cenote" at Chichen Itza where extensive excavations have recovered the remains of 42 individuals, half of them under twenty years old.

In the Post-Classic period, the victims and the altar are represented as daubed in a hue now known as Maya Blue, obtained from the añil plant and the clay mineral palygorskite.^[33]

[edit] Aztec

Main article: Human sacrifice in Aztec culture

The Aztecs were particularly noted for practicing human sacrifice on a large scale; an offering to Huitzilopochtli would be made to restore the blood he lost, as the sun was engaged in a daily battle. Human sacrifices would prevent the end of the world that could happen on each cycle of 52 years. In the 1487 re-consecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan some estimate that 80,400 prisoners were sacrificed.^[34][35]though numbers are difficult to quantify as all obtainable Aztec texts were destroyed by Christian missionaries during the period 1528-1548.^[36]

According to Ross Hassing, author of Aztec Warfare, "between 10,000 and 80,400 persons" were sacrificed in the ceremony. The old reports of numbers sacrificed for special feasts have been described as "unbelievably high" by some authors ^[37]and that on cautious reckoning, based on reliable evidence, the numbers would have been in the hundreds for yearly feasts in Tenochtitlan.^[38] The real number of sacrificed victims during the 1487 consecration is unknown.

Michael Harner, in his 1997 article The Enigma of Aztec Sacrifice, estimates the number of persons sacrificed in central Mexico in the 15th century as high as 250,000 per year. Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl, a Mexica descendant and the author of Codex Ixtlilxochitl, claimed that one in five children of the Mexica subjects was killed annually. Victor Davis Hanson argues that an estimate by Carlos Zumárraga of 20,000 per annum is more plausible. Other scholars believe that, since the Aztecs always tried to intimidate their enemies, it is more likely that they could have inflated the number as a propaganda tool.^[39][40]

[edit] Tlaloc

Main article: Child sacrifice in pre-Columbian cultures

Tlaloc would require weeping boys in the first months of the Aztec calendar to be ritually murdered.

[edit] Xipe Totec

Sacrifices to Xipe Totec were bound to a post and shot full of arrows. The dead victim would be skinned and a priest would use the skin. Earth mother Teteoinnan required flayed female victims.

[edit] Inca empire

A number of mummies of sacrificed children have been recovered in the Inca regions of South America, an ancient practice known as capacocha.^[41]

[edit] North America

The Pawnee practiced an annual Morning Star Ceremony, which included the sacrifice of a young girl. Though the ritual continued, the sacrifice was discontinued in the 19th Century.^[42]

The Southern Cult or Mound Builders, of the Southeastern United States may have also practiced human sacrifice, as some artifacts have been interpreted as depicting such acts.^[43] Early European explorers reported witnessing mass human sacrifices.^[44]

[edit] West Africa

Human sacrifice was common in west African states up to and during the nineteenth century. The Annual customs of Dahomey was the most notorious example, but sacrifices were carried out all along the west African coast and further inland. Sacrifices were particularly common after the death of a King or Queen, and there are many recorded cases of hundreds or even thousands of slaves being sacrificed at such events. Sacrifices were particularly common in Dahomey, in the Benin Empire, in what is now Ghana, and in the small independent states in what is now southern Nigeria.

In the northern parts of West Africa, human sacrifice had become rare early as Islam became more established in these areas such as the Hausa States. Human sacrifice was officially banned in the remainder of West African states only by coercion, or in some cases annexation, by either the British or French. An important step was the British co-ercing the powerful Egbo secret society to oppose human sacrifice in 1850. This society was powerful in a large number of states in what is now south-eastern Nigeria. Nonetheless, human sacrifice continued, normally in secret, until west Africa came under firm colonial control.

The last major center of human sacrifice was the Benin Empire in modern Nigeria. The Benin Empire agreed with the British to prohibit human sacrifice in the 1890s. However, for five years the rulers continued human sacrifice on a large scale. After an incident in which British observers were killed in order to prevent them witnessing human sacrifice, the British authorities assembled forces to conquer the Benin Empire. This caused an escalation of human sacrifice as Benin's rulers sought to protect themselves from Britain by appeasing the Gods with sacrifice. After a brief campaign the Benin Empire was conquered and human sacrifice suppressed.

[edit] Contemporary human sacrifice

[edit] In India

Some people in India are adherents of a set of theistic philosophies called Tantrism (not to be confused with Tantric Buddhism). Most either use animal sacrifice or symbolic effigies, but a small percent of them engage in human sacrifice:

“

After a rash of similar killings in the area — according to an unofficial tally in the English language-language Hindustan Times, there have been 25 human sacrifices in western Uttar Pradesh in the last six months alone — police have cracked down against tantriks, jailing four and forcing scores of others to close their businesses and pull their ads from newspapers and television stations. The killings and the stern official response have focused renewed attention on tantrism, an amalgam of mysticism practices that grew out of Hinduism.[45]

”

A 2006 newspaper report states:

“

Police in Khurja say dozens of sacrifices have been made over the past six months. Last month, in a village near Barha, a woman hacked her neighbour's three-year-old to death after a tantrik promised unlimited riches. In another case, a couple desperate for a son had a six-year-old kidnapped and then, as the tantrik chanted mantras, mutilated the child. The woman completed the ritual by washing in the child's blood. "It's because of blind superstitions and rampant illiteracy that this woman sacrificed this boy," said Khurja police officer Ak Singh. "It's happened before and will happen again but there is little we can do to stop it. In most situations it's an open and shut case. It isn't difficult to elicit confessions — normally the villagers or the families of the victims do that for us" […]. According to an unofficial tally by the local newspaper, there have been 28 human sacrifices in western Uttar Pradesh in the last four months. Four tantrik priests have been jailed and scores of others forced to flee.[46]

”

[edit] In Africa

Human sacrifice, in the context of religious ritual, still occurs in other traditional religions, for example in muti killings in eastern Africa. Human sacrifice is no longer officially condoned in any country, and such cases are regarded as murder.

On January, 2008, Milton Blahyi, 37,confessed being part of human sacrifices which "included the killing of an innocent child and plucking out the heart, which was divided into pieces for us to eat." He fought versus Charles Taylor's militia.^[47]

[edit] References

[edit] Books

• Cults That Kill, Larry Kahaner; Warner Books; 1994, ISBN 978-0446356374
• Dying for the Gods, Miranda Aldhouse Green; Trafalgar Square; 2001, ISBN 0-7524-1940-4
• Cenote of Sacrifices, Clemency Coggins and Orrin C. Shane III ; 1984 The university of Texas Press; ISBN 0-292-71097-6
• Violence and the Sacred, Rene Girard, translated by P. Gregory; Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979, ISBN-10: 0826477186
• I See Satan Fall Like Lightning, René Girard, Translated by James G. Williams; Orbis Books; 2001, ISBN 1-57075-319-9
• The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy Ronald Hutton, 1991, ISBN 0-631-18946-7
• Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece Dennis D. Hughes 1991 Routledge ISBN 0-415-03483-3
• City of Sacrifice: The Aztec Empire and the Role of Violence in Civilization, David Carrasco, Moughton Mifflin, 2000, ISBN 0-807-04643-4

[edit] Journal articles

• Michael Winkelman, Aztec Human Sacrifice: Cross-Cultural Assessments of the Ecological Hypothesis, Ethnology, Vol. 37, No. 3. (Summer, 1998), pp. 285-298.
• R. H. Sales, Human Sacrifice in Biblical Thought, Journal of Bible and Religion, Vol. 25, No. 2. (Apr., 1957), pp. 112-117.
• Brian K. Smith; Wendy Doniger, Sacrifice and Substitution: Ritual Mystification and Mythical Demystification, Numen, Vol. 36, Fasc. 2. (Dec., 1989), pp. 189-224.
• Robin Law, Human Sacrifice in Pre-Colonial West Africa, African Affairs, Vol. 84, No. 334. (Jan., 1985), pp. 53-87.
• Th. P. van Baaren, Theoretical Speculations on Sacrifice, Numen, Vol. 11, Fasc. 1. (Jan., 1964), pp. 1-12.
• Heinsohn, Gunnar: “The Rise of Blood Sacrifice and Priest Kingship in Mesopotamia: A Cosmic Decree?”^[48] (also published in Religion, Vol. 22, 1992)
• J. Rives, Human Sacrifice among Pagans and Christians, The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 85. (1995), pp. 65-85.
• Clifford Williams , Asante: Human Sacrifice or Capital Punishment? An Assessment of the Period 1807-1874, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 21, No. 3. (1988), pp. 433-441.

[edit] Notes

[edit] See also

• Cannibalism
• Luhansk sacrificial site
• Moche
• The Lottery (short story)
• The Wicker Man
• Eye of the Devil
• The practice of Sati
• Hashshashin

[edit] External links

• TIME Asia Magazine: Killing for “Mother” Kali
• Indian temple revives “human sacrifice”
• Witch Burning and Human Sacrifice in India, PDF
• “Priest makes human sacrifice”
• Human sacrifice of children
• Kamehameha I of Hawaii Biography

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Aspects	Beliefs · Ritual (liturgy · sacrifice) · Mythology · Mysticism · Spirituality · Supernatural · Deities · God · Priesthood · Denomination · Conversion · Apostasy & Disaffiliation · Symbols · Truth
Religious studies	Anthropology · Development · Origin · History · Comparison · Psychology · Sociology · Philosophy · Theology
Politics	Demographics · Proselytism · Growth · State religion · National church · Theocracy · Religious freedom · Education · Right-wing · Left-wing · Minorities · Schism · Violence (war · persecution · terrorism) · Fundamentalism · Fanaticism · Neo-Fascism
Secularism and non-religion	Criticism · Relationship between religion and science · Atheism · Nontheism · Irreligion · Secularization · Separation of church and state · Deconstruction · Secular theology
List articles	Basic topics · Topics · Deities · Deification · Denominations · New religious movements · Cults · Founders · Scholars · Mass gatherings

v • d • e Death and related topics
In medicine	Autopsy · Brain death · Clinical death · Euthanasia · Persistent vegetative state · Terminal illness
Lists	Causes of death by rate · People by cause of death · Notable deaths in 2008 · 2007
Mortality	Immortality · Infant mortality · Legal death · Maternal death · Mortality rate
After death	Afterlife · Burial · Cremation · Decomposition · Funeral · Grief · Mourning · Promession · Resomation · Séance · Customs
Fields of research	Cryonics · Near-death experience · Near-death studies · Reincarnation research
Other	Genocide  · Fascination with death · Martyrdom · Sacrifices (Human · Animal) · Suicide · War · Personification of Death  · Death and culture