324
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 5, Ch. 9]
decorated;  bhuktavantam —having eaten;  dhūpa —with incense;  dīpa —lamps;  mālya —garlands;  lāja —parched grain;  kisalaya-aṅkura —twigs and sprouts;  phala —fruits;  upahāra —other paraphernalia;  upetayā —fully equipped;  vaiśasa-saṁsthayā —with complete arrangements for sacrifice;  mahatā —great;  gīta-stuti —of songs and prayers;  mṛdaṅga —of the drums;  paṇava —of the bugles;  ghoṣeṇa —by vibration;  ca —also;  puruṣa-paśum —the man-animal;  bhadra-kālyāḥ —of the goddess Kālī;  purataḥ —just in front;  upaveśayām āsuḥ —made him sit down.
TRANSLATION
After this, all the thieves, according to their imaginative ritual for killing animalistic men, bathed Jaḍa Bharata, dressed him in new clothes, decorated him with ornaments befitting an animal, smeared his body with scented oils and decorated him with tilaka, sandalwood pulp and garlands. They fed him sumptuously and then brought him before the goddess Kālī, offering her incense, lamps, garlands, parched grain, newly grown twigs, sprouts, fruits and flowers. In this way they worshiped the deity before killing the man-animal, and they vibrated songs and prayers and played drums and bugles. Jaḍa Bharata was then made to sit down before the deity.
PURPORT
In this verse the word  sva-vidhinā  (according to their own ritualistic principles) is very significant. According to the Vedic  śāstras , everything must be done according to regulative principles, but here it is stated that the thieves and rogues devised their own process for killing an animalistic man. The tamasic  śāstras  give instructions for the sacrifice of an animal like a goat or buffalo before the goddess Kālī, but there is no mention of killing a man, however dull he may be. This process was manufactured by the dacoits themselves; therefore the word  sva-vidhinā  is used. Even at this time there are many sacrifices being conducted without reference to the Vedic scriptures. For instance, in Calcutta recently a slaughterhouse was being advertised as a temple of the goddess Kālī. Meat-eaters foolishly purchase meat from such shops, thinking it different from ordinary meat and taking it to be the  prasāda  of goddess