Dakshinkali is a temple dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali, in the hills south of the Kathmandu Valley. There is a ritual that takes place here every Saturday morning, which requires a bit of explanation.

There was a bad cholera epidemic in this area in the 1300's, and people were dying in large numbers. So the local Hindus decided to make a sacrifice to appease Kali, the goddess of death and destruction. They built a temple over the stream in a deep little valley south of Kathmandu and called it Dakshinkali (dakshin means south in the local language). They then sacrificed a large number of water buffaloes there, letting the blood flow down into the stream, and lo and behold the cholera epidemic stopped. Thereby seeing the cause and effect, they decided to keep on sacrificing animals at this place to keep everyone healthy.

These days, every Saturday people line up in several long lines and patiently wait to sacrifice the goats or chickens they have brought there for this purpose. Each animal is splattered with water, and when it shrugs that's the sign that it's ready to be re-born as a human (all animals sacrificed at Dakshinkali are reincarnated as humans), and then off with its head with a big sharp knife. Afterward, the families take their decpatitated animals up the hill to a picnic area and cook them for lunch.

It was pretty interesting to watch, and I took lots of pictures and taped some of the sounds of the bells ringing, music playing, and people talking. I had read that non-Hindus had to stand on a "raised platform nearby," but it was much closer than I expected -- we were about 20 feet from the action, and the platform was raised only about a foot above ground level.

Note the young couple at the left, holding their baby as close as possible to the blood being washed away from the sacrifice area, innoculating him against cholera.

Click here to see a vendor up the street from this temple.