ABSTRACT
Sacrifice is a disarmingly familiar concept. Yet, many languages in Northeast India do not contain a term that can easily be translated as the English ‘sacrifice’. So, what makes a sacrifice a sacrifice? Starting off with the emergence of sacrifice as an analytic among 19th century social theorists, this contribution then outlines historical accounts of sacrifices in Northeast India. The Assamese saint Sankardeva instructed his followers to avoid sacrifice. Assamese priests at the Kamakhya temple encouraged devotees to offer animals. Sacrifice has long been contested. Yet, when it comes to nationalist and subnationalist rhetorics, it is argued here, idioms of sacrifice have achieved much acceptance. Individuals who die in national service are frequently extolled as conducting a form of self-sacrifice, thereby adding yet another way of understanding the term sacrifice.
