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human sacrifice

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human sacrifice

Ritual slaughter of human beings in the belief that through the offering of such sacrifices to a deity, powers and forces will be given to those making the sacrifice, or that the anger of the deity will be assuaged or placated.

Human sacrifice is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as being practised in the area of Palestine. Hinduism records such practices at a similar time and in a few extreme cases, for example the worship of the goddess Kali, such practices continued in India until the 19th century. The Aztecs practised human sacrifice on a considerable scale.


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
"A suttee," returned the general, "is a human sacrifice, but a voluntary one.
Formerly a temple of the Celtic divinities, when Belle-Isle was still called Kalonese, this grotto had beheld more than one human sacrifice accomplished in its mystic depths.
He placed a foot upon the carcass before him, and raised his head to give the victory cry of his kind, but as his eyes fell upon the opening above him leading into the temple of human sacrifice he thought better of his intended act.
 
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