How did Hindus Become Vegetarians?

Murad bhai, you are completely confused, eating beef is very different from being vegetarian or not. In most of south india, cows are not slaughtered, but bulls are. It has more to do with haumane considerations, an animal that provided so much of milk and sustainance should not be killed in its old age. The same is true for animals used for ox carts and used for ploughing.

Murad,

I think you are wrong about the southie Brahmins, they are (most of them) staunch veggies. Though you have surmised on cattle slaughter based on the male population, this does not truly reflect the real situation. I think cattle slaughter is happening but not as much you have pictured and also the Hindu consumption could not be much because the present Hindu population has been fed with aversion towards beef eating at a very early age.

You have missed the point that we have a huge Muslim population, which does not have anything against eating beef. I admit that Hindus too eat beef, but they are a miniscule percentage. A large percentage of Hindus, including North Indian Brahmins, consume meat of goat/sheep and chicken. Most of the barren cattle, especially in South India, are smuggled into Kerala, which has a large Muslim and Christian population.

Yes, vegetarianism could be the result of Buddhists and Jains, but the current form of Hinduism, I believe, too accepts the merits in it.

Beef eating is prohibited for long time. Does that implies, it has to be mentioned in all the texts. This guy is pure liar (like Muhammed.). Ram had tried to trap the deer to gift to Sita. Ramayana mentions clearly that the wild animals and birds were very fond of sita and they used to roam around freely without any fear. Sita used to feed animals and birds. In most of the texts fruits, vegetables are mentioned as food for rishis and kings. Meat used to be consumed by lower caste people. How this stupid has concluded that, India had not good agriculture at the time of Vedas/Ramayana? Ramayana mentions quite a couple of cities and administrative regions (Like Sita was from Mithila). Agriculture only empower people to settle and create civilisation. As per beef consumption, it is mostly in Kerala and in other states by moslems/barbarians.
In eastern india mostly moslems eat beaf and cow smuggling is major issue in border districts of West Bengal.

Nkg,

Kindly read the Vedas.

Regards

Re: # 3

Nkg,

What makes you think Hindus don't eat beef?

Murad,

Do you mean to say that the Krishna movement is solely responsible for converting Hindus to vegetarianism? I thought you haven't given the answer.

Nkg,

Have you heard of the story where the demon Vatapi's brother killed him and fed him as goat meat to the rishi Agastya. Incidentally this story has been quoted by C. Rajagopalachari, Indian freedom fighter, scholar and a Brahmin (not a lying Moslem!!!) in his version of Ramayana.

Regards

First of all, the question itself is plain wrong.

"How did Hindus Become Vegetarians?"

It has been a wrong perception in the minds of many people that Hindus are vegetarians.

Around 70-80% of Hindus are non-vegetarians. Beef/Pork are taboo for many, but that has been changing too.

Human sacrifice was also part of Ancient Vedic tradition.

haideri

Murad, one should also consider the climate of India. It is one thing to eat a lot of beef in cold Afghanistan, but it is a different matter in the extreme heat and dust of India. Eating non-veg, especially beef will severely impact health and well-being. In such a climate, dal, dahi, veggie type foods are more practical. So I think the aryans started out as meat eaters and probably gave up on it based on the climate.

Personally I am a meat eater and eat beef as well, but I can understand why someone living in the Indian heartland would want to avoid it.

Haideri: Dear boy, did you say, ""..Human sacrifice was also part of Ancient Vedic tradition...".

Anything is possible! But how about quoting the sources if yu please?
kamath

Dear Murad,

This was a very interesting read. I was always puzzled by the phenomenon you tackle. It would be nice to know what pundit Ekalavya thinks about it.

In Assam there is a temple called Kamakhya (jang, I believe knows a lot about it). Goats and pigeons are regularly slaughtered there. On a particular day of some pooja (I believe Durga puja) buffaloes are slaughtered. The locals say that humans were also sacrificed there till the Brits. stopped the practice. There is also a rumour, that since then, on some particular day, a man made of atta (dough) is "sacrificed" (so Haideri may very well be right). I was surprised to know that the temple is very popular amongst the people of Nepal!

Anyway, I shall be reading the interacts with interest!

And last but bot the least....

Hamid Mian Zindabad (he has reasons to be proud of Gopinath).

great article.

you had me at beef..

i even have a friend whose family, in her village, sacrifices a boar during religious festivals and then serves the cooked meat..

interesting article, unfortunately things like diet etc. have now taken on the image of religous identity, so people unnecessarily get upset when discussing it..

valmiki ramayan is quite old, written down maybe 200AD or so but probably reflecting memorized tales from early BC timeframe. So it gives an older picture of "hindu" traditions. Looking at Tulsidas or Kamban ramayana would give an alternative more medieval view of hindu traditions.

Buddhism has never emphasized pure vegetarianism, as you should know buddha was against showy and strict rituals. The buddha himself ate meat and so do most current buddhist leaders (e.g., dalai lama). A buddhist monk is required to accept any food offered, provided it isnt poisonous/spoiled etc. But there is a general preference for reducing violence and violence against animals is definitely part of it...

There is no question that "hindu" traditions manifest non-violence from an early stage. It seems that in response to the deep ethical teachings of jains, buddhists and other groups, brahmins became vegetarian and vegetarianism became an ideal. You will notice also that even today the north indian business-classes and many gujaratis are vegetarian. Its likely that many of these peoples ancestors followed jain traditions in early times. The time-line is a bit hazy, but it seems to that vegetarianizing by the medieval period.

Hindu food rules are, of course, jati and region based. Kshatriyas have always been permitted meat and working people allowed to eat their traditional foods. But to rise up in the hindu hieracrchy of jatis you must give up meat etc.

The hard prohibition on beef-eating does seem to be somewhat recent, its possible that it has something to do with turkic invasions of the 9-11th centuries. Its a little strange in that it is one aspect of modern hinduism that is more like a formal prohibition - very few aspects of hinduism have that character.

So it could have been formulated in response to another tradition that has a lot of sharp rules and dogmas. Many islamic accounts refer to making sure that hindu converts have "truly" converted by having them eat beef or other food prohibited to them. So some clues may lie there...

Dear pmishra2,

Majumdar babu may correct me if he so wishes, but Bengali Brahmins are non-vegetarian. They eat goat and fish ... but not chicken! Tibetan Buddhists, on the other hand, eat almost everything. There was a Tibetan refugee camp near Delhi University where one could down gallons of "chang" (rice beer - illegal of course) and chew on dried beef (sour and hot).

mishraji

i have a theory on banias not eating meat...you see, banias were often on the move for trading and over time must have figured out that in hot climate like india, meat at serais can be bad. the french coutiers log in mughal courts clearly indicates that buying kidd in dilli and agra markets was a very risky bussiness where the vendor sould show you fresh cut of kidd and then will pack a rancid piece of mutton. so just like the europeans realized that drinking beer makes you not get sick (water used to be contminated with shyte) smart banias prolly figured out that grain is a way to go for living well in a tropical climate.

protecting the cow and the brahmin has always had a political signinficance..akbar prohibited cow-slaughter and sivaji decalred himself "go-brahman pratipalak" (protector of the holy cow and brahman) .. both symbolic acts of laying down the "dharma" (order).

i found out one of the largest mutton-prcessors and exporter out of india "al-kabeer" is a jain..and one of the largest poultry operation is venkateshwar hatcheries...so go figure.