History of Thumishaling | Taleno | Who Was Shiri Badat The Cannibal King | The King Who Eats Human Flesh | thetutee |

History of Thumishaling / Taleno

Gilgit-Baltistan

The oldest festival Thumishling is celebrated every year. This ritual was performed with enthusiasm on the night of 21st December.

This festival is celebrated by the people of Gilgit and Hunza. Legends say that Shri Badat who was a tyrant, Cannibal man-eating ruler of Gilgit used to eat the flesh of infants. He is thought to be the last Hindu ruler of the north of Pakistan, who ruled in the 7th century. Many people think of it as a folk tale, but most of the people think that he actually has existed.

The story begins with that the Shiri Badat used to love to eat meat in the dinner. People have to offer him meat every day so that they could make the king happy. Every village and every household has the turn to offer the animal to the king or else they will face fatal consequences. There was an old woman in the village of the Shiri Badat, who was living alone, and she had only a single sheep to offer to the cannibal. She then offers the sheep with a heavy heart.

At the dinner, Shiri Badat ate a lot and the guards and the ministers were shocked to see him eating so much, he almost eats the sheep alone. Shiri Badat askes his governor to summon the lady. Listening to this minister asks the king if there is something wrong. The king replies with a devilish smile “yes”. The very next day she appears in front of the king. He asked her that what her sheep has eaten that it become so tasteful. I am glad that you like replied to the old lady, she further says that she has no one in her family so she took great care of it. Her infant son just has died, so she feeds the sheep with her milk.

Listening to this the king thought that if the milk of a human makes a sheep so much tasteful then the human must be much more tasteful. So, the Shiri Badat king decides to eat one human being every day. From that day he ate a human every day in his dinner. He was so cruel that people thought of him as a bad god or a devil. His daughter was a gentle lady who was never happy with her father’s actions.

One day people asked the cannibal's daughter, what her father is afraid of, she replied that her father is very much afraid of fire. People and the King's daughter decided to kill their king once and for all, then the people dug a big pit in a field in which they collected wood and made a roof over it. Then the people gathered, and Shri Badat was invited to dance at the party and while dancing, Shri Badat fell in the stands, then the wood was set on fire and thus he was burnt to death in this fire and the people got rid of the tyrant ruler. Until this day the people of northern Pakistan celebrate this day every year in the name of Thumishling in memory of this event. They make giant fire and dance around it.