People gearing up for Bhunda Narmegha Yagna in HP

Shimla, Dec 9 (UNI) People are gathering in large numbers at Devathi village in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh for witnessing the Bhunda Narmegha Yajna tomorrow.

On the last day of the three-day Yagna tomorrow, a mock human sacrifice would be performed during which a person would slide down the rope from the top of a hill to another hill.

The villagers are reviving the almost two-century-old ritual after 83 years, in the belief that the Yagna would bring prosperity in their lives.

During the early 19th century, human sacrifice (bali) was offered to the local deities by cutting the rope on which the person was sliding down the rope from one hill to other, letting him fall hundred feet down to certain death.

However, the ritual now only involves mock human sacrifice after the British banned the sacrifice during their reign.

The first day of the ritual, which began yesterday, was marked by the meeting of 14 local deities at the famous Kaleshwar Cheenja Temple in Barah Beas Valley.

The villagers sacrifice 1,150 goats during the second day besides worshipping the mountain tops and making a ''parikrama'' of the village to ward off the devil's influence.

The mock human sacrifice ritual is performed on the third day, involving the person from the Jaitley caste sliding downhill on a rope after undergoing a Vedic ritual.

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