Question

The practice of Meriah, Which was followed by Khonds till the 17th century is a sacrifice of which of the following?
A) Sheep
B) Goat
C) Human
D) None of these

Answer 1

Hint:
i) The Khonds, or the Kui as they are locally known as one of the largest tribal groups in Odisha. Kui are known for their cultural heritage and values which center on respecting nature.
ii) The Khonds were basically hunter- gatherers. They regularly went out in groups on collective hunts and then divided the meat amongst themselves.

Complete answer:
- The practice of Meriah, Which was followed by Khonds till the 17 th century is a sacrifice of which of the Human.
- Kondhs followed their barbaric custom of human sacrifice.
- For this kind of sacrifice activity, they were criticized by the British official
- For this reason, the British government was trying to suppress their activities during the 1860s.
- So they appointed one agent named Colonel Sleeman for the suppression of the sacrifices done by Khonds.
- British officials did a lot of work for the suppression of human sacrifice.
- Lord Dalhousie successfully did this work of suppression better.
- To the Khonds, Captain Macpherson gave them other offers like trade to leave their tradition of human sacrifice forever.
- Captain Macpherson gave them superior legislations to arbitrate between different tribes, and between tribes and landlords.
- Captain Macpherson’s trick became successful when put into action and the practice and culture of human sacrifice were ended completely.

Thus the correct answer is option ‘C’.

Note:
i) These tribal groups also ate fruits and roots collected from the forest and cooked food with the oil they extracted from the seeds of the sal and mahua.
ii) The reputation of Khonds was famous for its cruel and barbaric sacrifices.
iii) For this British officers did few military operations to curb their brutal culture and even succeeded in it.