ASKeA in Tonk district decided to end its 150 year old tradition of sacrificing camel

Anjuman Society of Khandan-e-Amiriya (ASKeA) in Tonk district on 6 October 2014 decided to end its 150 year old tradition of sacrificing camel on the occasion of Eid-Ul-Zuha festival.

However, ASKeA families gathered in Nawab haveli sacrificed the goat to observe the Eid-ul-Zuha  festival.

The decision came following the Rajasthan government's move to adopt Camel as the state animal.

Declaration of camel as a state animal
Earlier in June 2014, the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan amended the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Exports of Camel) Act, 1995 and declared the camel as a state animal.

The decision was taken after seeing an alarming decline in number of camels from 7.63 lakh in 1995 to 2.24 lakh in 2013. The draft bill proposed jail term between three to seven years for slaughtering and smuggling camels.

Tradition of sacrificing camel
•    The tradition of sacrificing camel had begun in 1864 by the then ruler of Tonk Nawab Ibrahim Ali Khan IV.
•    During that period the entire state was governed under Shariat Law (Islamic law).
•    The practice of sacrificing camel had begun keeping in mind the poor people of Tonk who could not enjoy and afford to have sacrificial meat on Eid-ul-Zuha.
•    Till 1990, the erstwhile Nawabs sacrificed two camels, one at the Eidgah and the second at their mansion in Tonk.
•    After 1990 the camel sacrifice at Eidgah was discontinued but one camel continued to be sacrificed at the mansion after which the meat was distributed among the people.