From: aa@iti.org (Aayush Asthana)
Subject: Re: Vegetarianism in TN (was Re: Cannibalism in TamilNadu)
Organization: Industrial Technology Institute
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 04:02:00 GMT

partha@mse.cse.ogi.edu (R. Parthasarathy) writes:

>In article <1993Jan7.225554.1943@nas.nasa.gov> raghavan@wk28.nas.nasa.gov (Venkatraman Raghavan) writes:
>>
>>Even if human sacrifice and cannibalism existed in India, it must 
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>have been very rare. More like leftovers from irrational fears of
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>pre-civilization days. 


Actually the last recorded case of cannibalism occured in the
North-Eastern state of Nagaland which is inaccessible to most
Indians.  In 1964, to be exact.  None since.  It is perhaps the most
removed from the rest of the country in terms of it's culture;  but
there are aspects of Naga culture and society (no crime against
women; no theft -- only resistance against the governement) that are
not at all primitive.

And, yes, what Partha says is quite true.

>I'd recommend a book named "The Stranglers". I forgot the author's
>name (George Bruce?). This is about the "Thuggee" cult all over India 
>for about 800 years and its ultimate eradication during the British 
>regime, headed by a dedicated Englishman named "William Sleeman". 
>I was horrified to read about the cult of human sacrifice so prevalent
>until about 150 years ago in our sub-continent. It seems over the
>years millions had been sacrificed by the thugs. In fact the English
>word, "Thug" derives from the same word in Hindustani language.
>Our history books have seldom made any mention of such practices.
>Common people have suffered in India for ages. There is no mention
>of their downtrodden situation anywhere. Kings and other protectors
>turned a blind eye to the menace of the thuggee cult. Human
>sacrifice, indeed existed at a very large scale almost all over
>the sub-continent, victimizing the innocent travellers of the yester
>years who went by foot most of the time. Our society was not
>"primitive" at that time. Human sacrifice need not be a trade mark
>for just primitive societies. The Aztecs and Mayans practised
>both human sacrifice and ritualistic cannibalism until four centuries
>ago. And their societies were otherwise quite advanced with respect
>to their times. If we look at things from the modern view point,
>I'd say no society on earth was "civilized". Each one has its
>own barbaric tale to tell. Even now, we hear of "cleansing"
>in the name of religion and language or ethinicity. And all these
>societies are existant in modern times.

>>Such things did exist in primitive cultures
>>all over the world. 

>Read the above. Such things existed even in "advanced cultures"

>>At least they didn't do it the way they did in China, during the 
>>cultural revolution days.

>You can also recall the Khmer Rouge, The Third Reich, Serbian
>aggression, Saddam Hussein's attack on the Kurds, Stalin's
>revolution, Armenian massacre by the Turks, Angola, Mozambique,
>Japanese "experiments" on Chinese during WW II, East Pakistan etc.. 
>where human life had no worth at all. 

>>(I am not trying to flame anybody, just putting forth my dumb opinions.)
>>
>Why should your opinions be any dumber than others'?

>>-Raghavan, V.

>Partha sarathy