Chhattisgarh is one of the least developed of Indian States and has one of the largest % of Tribal populations in India.
The Tribes of India are communities of people who still live according to the hunter-gatherer way of life and have usually not associated themselves with the rest of the population. Many of them have shamanistic religious practices, and even practicing shamans.
I feel really sorry about the death of the little girl. Those who did this should serve life in prison without parole. The least educated segments of the society are naturally the ones who fall prey to superstitions and mumbo jumbo. This fact is evident not just in this case, but in all similar cases around the world.
Oh and btw the picture provided with the Original article is very misleading as it refers to a Hindu ceremony on a Different state of India. For those who did not check this detail and noticed the disparity, the article would have implied that the ceremony had something to do with this sacrifice. However I'm not bothered enough to complain to the original author of the essay and have him put a disclaimer.
But then again we Hindus are pretty laid back....Hindus who range from Atheists and goddess worshipers to heretics who've sought god through booze, sex, and meat, ash covered hermits, dualist and non-dualists, nihilists and hedonists, poets and singers, students and saints, children and elders.... have seen so much variety to be bothered by such an implication. Oh I should also add the Thugees who, in the 1800s used ritual sacrifice. We dont deny any of it..both good and bad, as Hinduism is an expression of humanity as a whole..both good and bad.
As a religion...nay..as a Dharma(way of life) we are probably the ONLY major religion/way of life in the world that does not claim that our way is the only way and everything else is false.One does not see Hindus running from pillar to post trying to explain away any of these actions as the work of "not true Hindus". We hold true to the maxim that was voiced millenias ago in the Indian epic, the Mahabharata, where when asked "what is the definition of hypocrisy", Dharma, a hero from that epic replies, "The setting up of religious standards for others is hypocrisy".
Some tribal people of India
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A song by A.R.Rahman which shows a cross section of the hundreds of tribes that exist in India to this day
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