Diet in Hinduism

Illustrative Hindu meals

Diet in Hinduism varies with its diverse traditions. The ancient and medieval Hindu texts do not explicitly prohibit eating meat, but they do strongly recommend ahimsa—non-violence against all life forms including animals.[1][2] Many Hindus prefer a vegetarian or lacto-vegetarian lifestyle, and methods of food production that are in sync with nature, compassionate, and respectful of other life forms as well as nature.[1] Most Hindu sects and gurus also promote a sattvic vegetarian diet as a natural obligation as part of living a lifestyle that causes minimum harm to other lifeforms.

The diet of Hindus may include eggs and meat. However, often they favor jhatka (quick death) style preparation of meat since Hindus believe that this method minimizes trauma and suffering to the animal.[3][4]

Ancient Hindu texts describe the whole of creation as a vast food chain, and the cosmos as a giant food cycle.[5]

Hindu mendicants (sannyasin) avoid preparing their own food, relying either on begging for leftovers or harvesting seeds and fruits from forests, as this minimizes the likely harm to other life forms and nature.[5]

Food in the Vedas

The Vedic texts have conflicting verses, which scholars have interpreted to mean support or opposition to meat-based food. In some verses, the oldest Hindu text, the Rigveda (10.87.16-19), denounces eating meat of cattle and horses:[6]

The fiend who smears himself with flesh of cattle, with flesh of horses and of human bodies,
who steals the milch-cow's milk away, O Agni,—tear off the heads of such with fiery fury.

The cow gives milk each year, O Man-regarder let not the Yātudhāna ever taste it.
If one would glut him with the biesting, Agni, pierce with thy flame his vitals as he meets thee.

Let the fiends drink the poison of the cattle; may Aditi cast off the evildoers.
May the God Savitar give them up to ruin, and be their share of plants and herbs denied them.

Agni, from days of old thou slayest demons never shall Rākṣasas in fight o’ercome thee.
Burn up the foolish ones, the flesh-devourers let none of them escape thine heavenly arrow.

— Rig Veda (10.87.16-19)[7]

Some consider this as a disapproval of cow slaughter and meat eating in general.[8] However, elsewhere the Rig Veda says:

The bridal pomp of Sūrya, which Savitar started, moved along.
In Magha days are oxen slain, in Arjuris they wed the bride.

— Rig Veda (Book 10, Hymn 85, Verse 13)[9]

Wealthy Vrsakapayi, blest with sons and consorts of thy sons,
Indra will eat thy bulls, thy dear oblation that effecteth much. Supreme is Indra over all.
Fifteen in number, then, for me a score of bullocks they prepare,
And I devour the fat thereof: they fill my belly full with food. Supreme is Indra over all.

— Rig Veda (Book 10, Hymn 86, Verse 13 to 14)[10]

These verses mention deity Indra eating bulls, but states Pandit, these verses are in the context of demons and evil spirits (Yātudhāna) stealing the cattle and the milk.[7]

Food in Upanishads, Samhitas and Sutras

Vegetarian diet is favored in many ancient Hindu texts. A vegetarian plate is shown above.

The Upanishads and Sutra texts of Hinduism discuss moderate diet and proper nutrition,[11] as well as Aharatattva (dietetics).[12] The Upanishads and Sutra texts invoke the concept of virtuous self-restraint in matters of food, while the Samhitas discuss what and when certain foods are suitable. A few Hindu texts such as Hathayoga Pradipika combine both.[13]

Moderation in diet is called Mitahara, and this is discussed in Shandilya Upanishad,[14] as well as by Svātmārāma as a virtue.[11][15][16] It is one of the yamas (virtuous self restraints) discussed in ancient Indian texts.[note 1]

Some of the earliest ideas behind Mitahara trace to ancient era Taittiriya Upanishad, which in various hymns discusses the importance of food to healthy living, to the cycle of life,[18] as well as to its role in one's body and its effect on Self (Atman, Spirit).[19] The Upanishad, states Stiles,[20] notes “from food life springs forth, by food it is sustained, and in food it merges when life departs”.

The Bhagavad Gita includes verses on diet and moderation in food in Chapter 6. It states in verse 6.16 that a Yogi must neither eat too much nor too little, neither sleep too much nor too little.[21] Understanding and regulating one’s established habits about eating, sleeping and recreation is suggested as essential to the practice of yoga in verse 6.17.[21][22]

Another ancient Indian text, Tirukkuṛaḷ, originally written in the South Indian language of Tamil, states moderate diet as a virtuous life style and criticizes "non-vegetarianism" in its Pulaan Maruthal (abstinence from flesh or meat) chapter, through verses 251 through 260.[23] Verse 251, for instance, questions "how can one be possessed of kindness, who, to increase his own flesh, eats the flesh of other creatures." It also says that "the wise, who are devoid of mental delusions, do not eat the severed body of other creatures" (verse 258), suggesting that "flesh is nothing but the despicable wound of a mangled body" (verse 257). It continues to say that not eating meat is a practice more sacred than the most sacred religious practices ever known (verse 259) and that only those who refrain from killing and eating the kill are worthy of veneration (verse 260). This text, written before 400 CE, and sometimes called the Tamil Veda, discusses eating habits and its role in a healthy life (Mitahara), dedicating Chapter 95 of Book 7 to it.[24] Tirukkuṛaḷ states in verses 943 through 945, "eat in moderation, when you feel hungry, foods that are agreeable to your body, refraining from foods that your body finds disagreeable". Tiruvalluvar also emphasizes overeating has ill effects on health, in verse 946, as “the pleasures of health abide in the man who eats moderately. The pains of disease dwell with him who eats excessively.”[24][25]

Verses 1.57 through 1.63 of the Hathayoga Pradipika suggests that taste cravings should not drive one's eating habits, rather the best diet is one that is tasty, nutritious and likable as well as sufficient to meet the needs of one's body and for one’s inner self.[26] It recommends that one must "eat only when one feels hungry" and "neither overeat nor eat to completely fill the capacity of one's stomach; rather leave a quarter portion empty and fill three quarters with quality food and fresh water".[26] Verses 1.59 to 1.61 of Hathayoga Pradipika suggest a mitahara regimen of a yogi avoids foods with excessive amounts of sour, salt, bitterness, oil, spice burn, unripe vegetables, fermented foods or alcohol. The practice of Mitahara, in Hathayoga Pradipika, includes avoiding stale, impure and tamasic foods, and consuming moderate amounts of fresh, vital and sattvic foods.[27]

Diet in ancient Hindu texts on health

Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita – two major ancient Hindu texts on health related subjects, include many chapters on the role of diet and personal needs of an individual. In Chapter 10 of Sushruta Samhita, for example, the diet and nutrition for pregnant women, nursing mothers and young children are described.[28] It recommends milk, butter, fluid foods, fruits, vegetables and fibrous diets for expecting mothers along with soups made from jangala (wild) meat.[29] In most cases, vegetarian diets are preferred and recommended in the Samhitas; however, for those recovering from injuries, growing children, those who do high levels of physical exercise, and expecting mothers, Sutrasthanam's Chapter 20 and other texts recommend carefully prepared meat. Sushruta Samhita also recommends a rotation and balance in foods consumed, in moderation.[28] For this purposes, it classifies foods by various characteristics, such as taste. In Chapter 42 of Sutrasthanam, for example, it lists six tastes – madhura (sweet), amla (acidic), lavana (salty), katuka (pungent), tikta (bitter) and kashaya (astringent). It then lists various sources of foods that deliver these tastes and recommends that all six tastes (flavors) be consumed in moderation and routinely, as a habit for good health.[30]

Food in the Dharmaśāstras

According to Kane, one who is about to eat food should greet the food when it is served to him. In performing this act, he should honour it, never speak ill, and never find fault in it.[5][31] Everyone needs food, and everything is food for something or someone else.[5] Living beings eat and are eaten, state the ancient Hindu texts, the whole of creation is a vast food chain, the cosmos a giant food cycle.[5]

The Dharmasastra literature, states Patrick Olivelle, admonishes "people not to cook for themselves alone", offer it to the gods, to forefathers, to fellow human beings as hospitality and as alms to the monks and needy.[5] All living beings are interdependent in matters of food, thus food must be respected, worshipped and taken with care.[5] Olivelle states that the Shastras recommend that when a person sees food, he should fold his hands, bow to it, and say a prayer of thanks.[5] This reverence for food reaches a state of extreme in the renouncer or monk traditions in Hinduism.[5] The Hindu tradition views procurement and preparation of food as necessarily a violent process, where other life forms and nature are disturbed, in part destroyed, changed and reformulated into something edible and palatable. The mendicants (sannyasin, ascetics) avoid being the initiator of this process, and therefore depend entirely on begging for food that is left over of householders.[5] In pursuit of their spiritual beliefs, states Olivelle, the "mendicants eat other people's left overs".[5] If they cannot find left overs, they seek fallen fruit or seeds left in field after harvest.[5]

The forest hermits of Hinduism, on the other hand, do not even beg for left overs.[5] Their food is wild and uncultivated. Their diet would consist mainly of fruits, roots, leaves, and anything that grows naturally in the forest.[5] They avoided stepping on plowed land, lest they hurt a seedling. They attempted to live a life that minimizes, preferably eliminates, the possibility of harm to any life form.[5]

Manusmriti

The Manusmriti discusses diet in chapter 5, where like other Hindu texts, it includes verses that strongly discourage meat eating, as well as verses where meat eating is declared appropriate in times of adversity and various circumstances, recommending that the meat in such circumstances be produced with minimal harm and suffering to the animal.[32] The verses 5.48-5.52 of Manusmriti explain the reason for avoiding meat as follows (abridged),

One can never obtain meat without causing injury to living beings... he should therefore abstain from meat. Reflecting on how meat is obtained and on how embodied creatures are tied up and killed, he should quit eating any kind of meat... The man who authorizes, the man who butchers, the man who slaughters, the man who buys or sells, the man who cooks, the man who serves, and the man who eats – these are all killers. There is no greater sinner than a man who, outside of an offering to gods or ancestors, wants to make his own flesh thrive at the expense of someone else's.

— Manusmriti, 5.48-5.52, translated by Patrick Olivelle[32]

In contrast, verse 5.33 of Manusmriti states that a man may eat meat in a time of adversity, verse 5.27 recommends that eating meat is okay if not eating meat may place a person's health and life at risk, while various verses such as 5.31 and 5.39 recommend that the meat be produced as a sacrifice (Jhatka method).[32] In verses 3.267 to 3.272, Manusmriti approves of fish and meats of deer, antelope, poultry, goat, sheep, boar, buffalo, rabbit and others as part of sacrificial food.[33] In an exegetical analysis of Manusmriti, Patrick Olivelle states that the document shows opposing views on eating meat was common among ancient Hindus, and that underlying emerging thoughts on appropriate diet was driven by ethic of non-injury and spiritual thoughts about all life forms, the trend being to reduce the consumption of meat and favour a non-injurious vegetarian lifestyle.[34]

Food and ethics

This is a typical vegetarian food pyramid; however, many Hindus consider eggs to be derived from the animal life cycle, and therefore are non-vegetarian.

Hinduism does not explicitly prohibit eating meat, but it does strongly recommend ahimsa – the concept of non-violence against all life forms including animals.[1][2] As a consequence, many Hindus prefer a vegetarian or lacto-vegetarian lifestyle, and methods of food production that are in harmony with nature, compassionate, and respectful of other life forms as well as nature.[1]

Vegetarian Hindus

Hinduism does not require a vegetarian diet,[35] but many Hindus avoid eating meat because of their belief that it minimizes hurting other life forms.[36] Lacto-vegetarianism is favored, which includes milk-based foods and all other non-animal derived foods, but it excludes meat and eggs.[37] There are three main reasons for this: the principle of nonviolence (ahimsa) applied to animals,[38] the intention to offer only vegetarian food to a deity and then to receive it back as prasad, and the conviction that non-vegetarian food is detrimental for the mind and for spiritual development.[39][40] Many Hindus point to scriptural bases, such as the Mahabharata's maxim that "Nonviolence is the highest duty and the highest teaching",[41] as advocating a vegetarian diet.

The followers of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Hare Krishna) not only abstain from meat, fish, and fowl, but its Pushtimargi sect followers also avoid certain vegetables such as onion, mushrooms and garlic, out the belief that these are tamasic (harmful).[42][43] Swaminarayan movement members staunchly adhere to a diet that is devoid of meat, eggs, and seafood.[44] A typical Indian meal is based on rice and dal, vegetable, chapattis, yogurt and milk.[45]

Animal-derived fat is also unacceptable to vegetarian Hindus.[42] Vegetarianism is a satvic, that is purifying the body and mind lifestyle in some Hindu texts.[39][46]

Non-vegetarian Hindus

Butter chicken, one of many meat preparations found in the Indian subcontinent

Hindus who eat meat demand quick and painless death to the animal, a process classified as jhatka (quick death) meat.[3]

Although many Hindus are lacto-vegetarians,[42][47] a large number of Hindus consume eggs and meat.[48] The preferred production method for meat is the Jhatka method. Many Shaivites also eat meat, who require the Jhatka processing method. Many Vaishnava avoid meat.[49]

Hindus who do eat meat, often distinguish all other meat from cow meat (beef). The respect for cow is part of Hindu belief, and most Hindus avoid meat sourced from cow,[42] as cows are treated as a motherly giving animal,[42] and can be considered like another member of the family.[50] Some Nepalese Hindu sects sacrifice buffalo at Gadhimai festival, but consider cow different from buffalo or other red meat sources. Among meat eating Hindus, chicken and fish are the most popular, followed by lamb and goat.[51]

Among Hindus of Nepal, annual festivals mark sacrifice of goats, pigs, buffalo, chickens and other animals, and ritually produced Jhatka meat is consumed.[52]

See also

Note

  1. ↑ The other nine yamas are Ahiṃsā (अहिंसा): Nonviolence, Satya (सत्य): truthfulness, Asteya (अस्तेय): not stealing, Brahmacharya (ब्रह्मचर्य): celibacy and not cheating on one’s spouse, Kṣamā (क्षमा): forgiveness,[17] Dhṛti (धृति): fortitude, Dayā (दया): compassion,[17] Ārjava (आर्जव): sincerity, non-hypocrisy, and Śauca (शौच): purity, cleanliness.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Susan Dudek (2013), Nutrition Essentials for Nursing Practice, Wolters Kluwer Health, ISBN 978-1451186123, page 251
  2. 1 2 Angela Wood (1998), Movement and Change, Nelson Thornes, ISBN 978-0174370673, page 80
  3. 1 2 Das, Veena (13 February 2003). The Oxford India companion to sociology and social anthropology, Volume 1. 1. OUP India. pp. 151–152. ISBN 0-19-564582-0. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
  4. ↑ Neville Gregory and Temple Grandin (2007), Animal Welfare and Meat Production, CABI, ISBN 978-1845932152, pages 206-208
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Patrick Olivelle (1991), From feast to fast: food and the Indian Ascetic, in Medical Literature from India, Sri Lanka, and Tibet (Editors: Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld, Julia Leslie), BRILL, ISBN 978-9004095229, pages 17-36
  6. ↑ http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv10087.htm
  7. 1 2 Sri M P Pandit (1 June 1990). Wisdom of the Veda. Lotus Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-941524-55-1. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  8. ↑ Editors of Hinduism Today (15 April 2007). What Is Hinduism?: Modern Adventures Into a Profound Global Faith. Himalayan Academy Publications. p. 346. ISBN 978-1-934145-27-2. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  9. ↑ Book 10, Hymn 85, Verse 13
  10. ↑ Book 10, Hymn 86, Verse 13 to 14
  11. 1 2 Svātmārāma; Pancham Sinh (1997). The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (5 ed.). Forgotten Books. p. 14. ISBN 9781605066370.
    Quote - अथ यम-नियमाः
    अहिंसा सत्यमस्तेयं बरह्यछर्यम कश्हमा धृतिः
    दयार्जवं मिताहारः शौछम छैव यमा दश
  12. ↑ Caraka Samhita Ray and Gupta, National Institute of Sciences, India, pages 18-19
  13. ↑ Hathayoga Pradipika Brahmananda, Adyar Library, The Theosophical Society, Madras India (1972)
  14. ↑ KN Aiyar (1914), Thirty Minor Upanishads, Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 978-1164026419, Chapter 22, pages 173-176
  15. ↑ Lorenzen, David (1972). The Kāpālikas and Kālāmukhas. University of California Press. pp. 186–190. ISBN 978-0520018426.
  16. ↑ Subramuniya (2003). Merging with Śiva: Hinduism's contemporary metaphysics. Himalayan Academy Publications. p. 155. ISBN 9780945497998. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
  17. 1 2 Stuart Sovatsky (1998), Words from the Soul: Time East/West Spirituality and Psychotherapeutic Narrative, State University of New York, ISBN 978-0791439494, page 21
  18. ↑ Annamaya Kosa Taittiriya Upanishad, Anuvaka II, pages 397-406
  19. ↑ Realization of Brahman Taittiriya Upanishad, Anuvaka II & VII, pages 740-789; This is extensively discussed in these chapters; Illustrative quote - "Life, verily, is food; the body the food-eater" (page 776)
  20. ↑ M Stiles (2008), Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy, Lotus Press, ISBN 978-0940985971, pages 56-57
  21. 1 2 Paul Turner (2013), FOOD YOGA - Nourishing Body, Mind & Soul, 2nd Edition, ISBN 978-0985045111, page 164
  22. ↑ Stephen Knapp, The Heart of Hinduism: The Eastern Path to Freedom, Empowerment and Illumination, ISBN 978-0595350759, page 284
  23. ↑ Tirukkural, Translated by GU Pope et al, WH Allen, London, verses 251-260, pages 31-32, and pages 114-115, 159
  24. 1 2 Tirukkuṛaḷ see Chapter 95, Book 7
  25. ↑ Tirukkuṛaḷ Translated by V.V.R. Aiyar, Tirupparaithurai: Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam (1998)
  26. 1 2 KS Joshi, Speaking of Yoga and Nature-Cure Therapy, Sterling Publishers, ISBN 978-1845570453, page 65-66
  27. ↑ Steven Rosen (2011), Food for the Soul: Vegetarianism and Yoga Traditions, Praeger, ISBN 978-0313397035, pages 25-29
  28. 1 2 KKL Bhishagratna, Chapter X, Sushruta Samhita, Vol 2, Calcutta, page 216-238
  29. ↑ Sushruta Samhita KKL Bhishagratna, Vol 2, Calcutta, page 217
  30. ↑ KKL Bhishagratna, Sutrasthanam, Chapter XLII Sushruta Samhita, Vol 1, Calcutta, page 385-393
  31. ↑ Kane, History of the Dharmaśāstras Vol. 2, p. 762
  32. 1 2 3 Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195171464, pages 139-141
  33. ↑ Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195171464, page 122
  34. ↑ Patrick Olivelle (2005), Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195171464, pages 279-280
  35. ↑ Madhulika Khandelwal (2002), Becoming American, Being Indian, Cornell University Press, ISBN 978-0801488078, pages 38-39
  36. ↑ Steven Rosen, Essential Hinduism, Praeger, ISBN 978-0275990060, page 187
  37. ↑ Paul Insel (2013), Discovering Nutrition, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, ISBN 978-1284021165, page 231
  38. ↑ Tähtinen, Unto: Ahimsa. Non-Violence in Indian Tradition, London 1976, p. 107-109.
  39. 1 2 N Lepes (2008), The Bhagavad Gita and Inner Transformation, Motilal Banarsidass , ISBN 978-8120831865, pages 352-353
  40. ↑ Mahabharata 12.257 (note that Mahabharata 12.257 is 12.265 according to another count); Bhagavad Gita 9.26; Bhagavata Purana 7.15.7.
  41. ↑ Mahabharata 13.116.37-41
  42. 1 2 3 4 5 Eleanor Nesbitt (2004), Intercultural Education: Ethnographic and Religious Approaches, Sussex Academic Press, ISBN 978-1845190347, pages 25-27
  43. ↑ Narayanan, Vasudha. “The Hindu Tradition”. In A Concise Introduction to World Religions, ed. Willard G. Oxtoby and Alan F. Segal. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007
  44. ↑ Williams, Raymond. An Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism. 1st. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 159
  45. ↑ Sanford, A Whitney."Gandhi's agrarian legacy: practicing food, justice, and sustainability in India".Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture 7 no 1 Mr 2013, p 65-87.
  46. ↑ Michael Keene (2002), Religion in Life and Society, Folens Limited, p. 122, ISBN 978-1-84303-295-3, retrieved May 18, 2009
  47. ↑ Siroj Sorajjakool, Mark Carr and Julius Nam (2009), World Religions for Healthcare Professionals, Routledge, ISBN 978-0789038135, page 43, Quote: "Most Hindus are lacto-vegetarians and avoid animal products, except milk, in the diet".
  48. ↑ Jeaneane Fowler (1996), Hinduism: Beliefs and Practices, Sussex Academic Press, ISBN 978-1898723608, page 65
  49. ↑ Puskar-Pasewicz, Margaret, ed. (2010). Cultural Encyclopedia of Vegetarianism (Margaret Puskar-Pasewicz, editor. ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood. p. 39. ISBN 0313375569.
  50. ↑ Bhaskarananda, Swami (2002). The Essentials of Hinduism. Seattle: The Vedanta Society of Western Washington. p. 60. ISBN 1884852041.
  51. ↑ Ridgwell and Ridgway (1987), Food Around the World, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0198327288, page 67
  52. ↑ Sarkar, Sudeshna (24 November 2009), "Indians throng Nepal's Gadhimai fair for animal sacrifice", The Times of India

Bibliography

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