The Art of Cannibalism

          Aghori’s are a Hindu Sect consisting of ascetic Sadhus who prefer a different path to worship the Hindu gods. Thanks to their unusual rituals and beliefs they are always condemned as non Hindu’s by the so called normal Hindu communities. They are normally great fans and followers of Lord Shiva so they are often seen imitating him in the way they dress, specially the hair part. Its really tough to differentiated between the Normal Sadhus and the Aghoris because nowadays they all dress similar but the basic difference between both is in the way they perform their rituals because an ideal normal sadhu performs his prayer according to white Hinduism but Aghoris are into Tantric form of traditions which are often considered as a taboo in a Hindu society.

An Aghori Sadhu

Something really bizarre about Aghoris are their rituals and beliefs, Unlike normal Hindu’s they indulge in extreme ritual practices that includes drinking alcohol, engaging in sexual rituals, Getting high on opiates such as Hashish and eating Human meat. Cannibalism is a key to attain Moksha and stop their rebirth cycle in this world according to Aghoris. Aghoris cover themselves in the ashes of dead bodies which are burnt around the ghats of Varanasi. They prefer to eat the dead remains after the body is burnt near the ghats but they have a set of rules to do that well. The dead remains are not touched by them, they put their mouth in the ashes and eat the remains directly. Sometimes the dead body is directly pulled out from Ganga and is eaten raw provided they find a dead body in Ganga.

Statue at the Ashram

Aghoris have a bit of scientific approach to life, for us the dead body will be something that is unclean, unhygienic and eating it is something that is gross but for Aghoris that body is nothing but a natural matter which contains energy, they think about the corpse in a same way in which a non vegetarian will think about chicken except the Aghoris have added benefits of hands. Aghoris believe that nothing is separated from god hence their preference of eating a dead body is nothing but an effort to come closer to the God and Moksha. They believe in newtons law as well, In fact they contribute for the law by eating corpse and converting energy from one form to another.

They even use the body remains as utensils, they normally carry a skull along though which they drink alcohol. They worship lord Shiva and his various incarnations. The Keenaram Baba Ashram Contained tomb of Baba Keenaram who is followed by the Aghori sect as he is held to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva. Even thought Aghoris follow cannibalism they are never know to kill anyone for food but according to their theory a maximum of seven human murders are forgiven excluding human sacrifices which don’t usually occur.
I entered the Ashram with a hope to find some Aghoris while they were engage in Cannibalism but its not that they practice it 24/7. Since photography was forbidden in the Ashram I managed to get two pictures but found a very interesting video on you tube that showcases Aghoris while they are involved in Cannibalism. check it out if you are psyched enough.