A rather curious (if a little extreme) religious practice is that of self-beheading. Apparently head offerings were highly valued in ancient southern India. The ultimate offering which a Sakta (one concerned with the worship of the divine feminine) could make was that of his own head. This procedure was performed by lopping the head off with a sword, a sabre, or an ingenious instrument called a gandakattera - a tool which was designed specifically to facilitate auto-decapitation. The Venetian merchant Nicolo di Conti, who visited India around the year 1420 gives this vivid description of how the gandakattera was used:“By virtue of the great effectiveness of their priests’ power of persuasion, many step resolutely forward to offer themselves, and they are immediately escorted to a platform where, after the performance of certain ceremonies, a large iron collar is placed around their necks; this is rounded on the outside, whereas the inside (which touches the skin) is fashioned like a razor. Hanging down from the front of the collar and over the chest is a chain into which, once they are seated and have lifted their legs, they place their feet. Then, as the priest intones certain words, they bravely extend their feet and, by lifting their head, detach it with a single stroke from the trunk: in this way, by offering up their life in sacrifice to their idols, they are deemed saints.”
Bone Idle
2 comments:
Bonkers - though there recently was the case of that man locally who beheaded himself with a chainsaw! Ouch!!!
Dear Dave,
Was this perhaps an example of some Welsh religious ritual?
Bone Idle
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