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NHRC issues notice on 'burial festival'

The National Human Rights Commission on Monday issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu government with regard to the ritualistic burial of more than a hundred children to propitiate deities at Perayur village in Madurai district in the presence of a minister last week.

The commission has asked the state chief secretary to send a detailed report in this regard within the next four weeks. Incidentally, this is the first time that the bizarre festival has caught the media's imagination, as State Housing Minister C Durairaj was present there.

As per tradition, children are buried alive for less than a minute to propitiate local deities Muthu-kuzhi Mariamman and Kaali-Amman, for curing them or their family members of illnesses etc. The Kuzhi Maatru Thiruvizha, which is celebrated once in five or seven years, has been in vogue in the village for over 400 years.

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