Indian Goat Sold For $2,000 After Being Named After Bollywood Actor Salman Khan

An Indian goat was sold for around $2,000 (1,00,000 rupees) after it was named after a Bollywood actor Salman Khan.

Habibullah, a goat-seller from the Indian city of Lucknow, apparently used the same strategy while selling his animals. He named his “healthiest two-year-old goat” after Khan, and asked a hefty amount for it. According to the Times of India, the goat named after Khan was “tall and fair.”

However, there are other Indian celebrities that goats are named after. A goat named after Shah Rukh Khan, another top Bollywood celebrity, was priced at 10,000 rupees (around $2,000). A goat named after Indian tennis player Sania Mirza was sold at the market.

The “celebrity goats” are sold on the occasion of Eid al-Adha when Muslims sacrifice goats for religious reasons. The sacrifice symbolizes Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his own son to prove his devotion for God.

Goats are generally bought well ahead of the occasion so that the family may get emotionally attached to the animal. Thus, the sacrifice symbolizes giving away one’s most loved possession for the sake of God.

Apart from Bollywood goats, goats with Islamic connotations were sold for high prices as well. According to ABP Live, a goat with a natural a star and moon, a typical Islamic symbol, was sold for 200,000 rupees (around $4,000). Another goat having “Allah” inscribed on its body was sold for 500,000 rupees ($10,000).

Indian sellers made goats available for online sale as well. OLX, a popular online selling gateway in India, has a number of goats available for online sale.

Wall Street Journal reported Indonesia, world’s most populous Muslim nation, is expected to sacrifice around 700,000 animals on Eid. The typical price for a goat in the country is $144.