Meat Eating Hindus

Meat Eating Hindus

 

According to Hinduism we have to be careful about our food, because

what we eat decides our physical well being as well as our mental

makeup. Eating very gross foods like animal meat and heavy or

intoxicating food may lead to the strengthening of animal qualities

and lethargic nature in us. This is one reason why Hindus do not

prefer to eat non- vegetarian food. Another reason is their belief

that killing innocent and helpless animals for the purpose of

filling ones stomach is a bad karma with harmful consequences.

 

Apart from non vegetarian food, orthodox Hindus also avoid eating

spicy food, onions, garlic, mushrooms, intoxicating juices, very

sour food and some bulbs and tubers. The following are a few

quotations from the Manusmriti.

 

The eater who daily even devours those destined to be his food,

commits no sin; for the creator himself created both the eaters and

those who are to be eaten (for those special purposes).(5:30)

 

Meat can never be obtained without injury to living creatures, and

injury to sentient beings is detrimental to (the attainment of)

heavenly bliss; let him therefore shun (the use of) meat. (5:48)

 

There is no sin in eating meat, in (drinking) spirituous liquor, and

in carnal intercourse, for that is the natural way of created

beings, but abstention brings great rewards. (5:56)

 

Not all Hindus avoid eating meat. A great majority of Hindus eat it.

In ancient India even the Brahmins were said to be eating certain

types of sacrificial meat. Hindu laws books do not prohibit the

eating of meat in general, but only certain types of meat. Jainism

and Buddhism seemed to have influenced the food habits of Hindu

community a great deal during the Gupta and post Gupta period,

although we cannot say definitely that the concept of non violence

and avoiding meat eating were alien to them.

 

The ancient Hindu sacred literature mentions approvingly of the

sacrifice of animals whose flesh was eaten presumably by those in

charge of the temples where the sacrifice was given. Even now

animals are slaughtered before certain idols of goddesses who are

supposed to drink the blood of the slaughtered animals. What happens

to the flesh of those animals left behind in the temples is

anybody's guess. The sacrifice is supposed to be an offering to the

gods and goddesses to please them. If gods and goddesses are pleased

at the slaughter of animals whose blood, if also not their flesh, is

acceptable to them as food, why should human beings hesitate to eat

animal flesh? The Hindu gentlemen from Southern India (Madras) who

have asked this question may not be aware but most of the Hindus in

Central, Western and Northern India now eat animal flesh. Except for

Jains and Buddhists, almost all other nations and religions approve

of the eating of animal flesh.

 

The reason for the overwhelming practice of eating flesh is that it

is in the human nature to eat it. Proof of it is to be found in the

canine teeth to be found in the human mouth, which teeth are only to

be found in the carnivorous animals, and in the juices which flow in

the human stomach [i.e., pepsin], the intestines and other organs of

the digestive system. It is true that there are also in the human

mouth the teeth to be found among the vegetarian animals. But that

goes to show the fact God, the Great and Wise Creator, intended man

to eat both the animal flesh and the vegetables.

 

Proteins are the most important need of the human body. And animal

proteins are the best and most easily assimilable proteins. The

system within the human body for the assimilation of the proteins is

very complicated and elaborate. Ask any impartial doctor and he will

tell you that proteins from animal flesh are the most easily

digested and assimilated proteins of all. Besides, there are

important vitamins, minerals and enzymes to be found in animal

flesh, which in fact help in the assimilation of proteins drawn from

the same flesh.

 

That food affects human character is now beginning to be realised by

those doing medical research in the West -- particularly in America.

Meat gives courage and stamina to human beings, as shown by history

also that meat eating nations are the bravest. Even in this sub-

continent the Rajputs, Gurkhas, and Marathas, who have been the best

soldiers among the Hindus, are meat-eaters.

 

The main objection to meat eating is that it means cruelty to

animals when they are slaughtered. That objection may have looked

worth considering before the scientific discoveries of the 20th

century. It was no less a person than an outstanding Hindu scientist

and a Nobel Prize winner, Sir J. C. Bose, who discovered that

vegetables have, not only life, but sensibility particularly of

pain. That finishes for all time the objection of cruelty to

animals. If we slaughter a sheep or a bigger animal, it may suffer

momentary pain when its throat is cut for it becomes insensitive to

pain the moment its jugular vein is cut, and is unconscious of pain

for the rest of its dying process. Such momentary pain is, in any

case, better than months or years of slow dying through old age,

debility and disease. But one such animal feeds several human beings

for several meals, depending on its size. On the other hand, if one

is a vegetarian, one slaughters, causing acute pain, to a large

number of live vegetables to feed even one person at a time. Should

we also ban the grazing of cattle because every blade of grass

plucked by their teeth is a life eaten with acute pain to the poor

grass?

 

Talking about cruelty--is it cruelty to kill an animal

instantaneously, but no cruelty to tie up a cow for life with a

rope, deny its calf the milk the cow produces for it, and cause

acute mental torture to the mother-cow and the hungry calf, while a

so-called humanitarian being steals the milk before their eyes? Or

is it humanitarian to enslave the bullocks in the plough or the

bullock carts and work them day in and day out?

 

BEEF-CONSUMPTION PROMOTED IN THE HINDU SCRIPTURES (UPANISHADS)

 

The following ritual (which incidentally also includes sex and wife-

battering) is excerpted from the Upanishads (the Brhadaranyaka

Upanishad) and in the middle of the ritual, beef-consumption is

encouraged in order to beget a learned and famous son:

 

"Surely, a woman who has changed her clothes at the end of her

menstrual period is the most auspicious of women. When she has

changed her clothes at the end of her menstrual period, therefore,

one should approach that splendid woman and invite her to have sex.

Should she refuse to consent, he should bribe her. If she still

refuses, he should beat her with a stick or with his fists and

overpower her, saying: 'I take away the splendor from you with my

virility and splendor.' And she is sure to become bereft of

splendor. If, on the other hand, she accedes to his wish, he should

say: 'I confer splendor on you with my virility and splendor.' And

then they are both sure to become full of splendor. If he wants her

to love him, he should slip his penis into her, press his mouth

against hers, and stroke her vagina as he softly recites: 'From my

body you spring -- from every inch! Born from my heart, you are my

body's pith! Make her crazy about me, as if she's been hit with a

dart carrying a poisoned tip.' If he does not want her to become

pregnant, he should slip his penis into her, press his mouth against

hers, blow into her mouth and suck back the breath, as he says: 'I

take back the semen from you with my virility and semen.' And she is

sure to become bereft of semen. If, on the other hand, he wants her

to become pregnant, he should slip his penis into her, press his

mouth against hers, suck in the breath first, and then blow it back

into her mouth, as he says: 'I deposit the semen in you with my

virility and semen.' And she is sure to become pregnant. In case

someone's wife has a lover whom he hates, this is what he should do.

He should place some fire in an unbaked pot, spread out a bed of

reeds, arranging them in a way that is the reverse of the normal,

apply ghee to the tips of those reeds, again in an order that is the

reverse of the normal, and offer them in that fire, as he

recites: 'In my fire you made an offering! So-and-so, I take away

your out-breath and your in-breath. In my fire you made an offering!

So-and-so, I take away your sons and livestock. In my fire you made

an offering! So-and-so, I take away your sacrifices and good works.

In my fire you made an offering! So-and-so, I take away your hopes

and expectations.' A man cursed by a Brahmin possessing this

knowledge is sure to depart from this world bereft of his virility

and stripped of his good works. One should, therefore, never try to

flirt with the wife of a learned Brahmin who knows this, lest one

make an enemy of a man with this knowledge. Now, when a man finds

that his wife is having her period, he should make sure that she

does not drink from a metal cup or wear fresh clothes for three

days. Nor should a low-caste man or woman be allowed to touch her.

When the three days are over and she has taken her bath, he should

get her to thresh some rice. 'I want a son with a fair complexion

who will master a single Veda and live out his full life span' -- if

this is his wish, he should get her to cook that rice with milk, and

the two of them should eat it mixed with ghee. The couple thus

becomes capable of begetting such a son. 'I want a son with a ruddy

complexion and tawny eyes who will master two Vedas and live out his

full life span' -- if this is his wish, he should get her to cook

that rice with curd, and the two of them should eat it mixed with

ghee. The couple thus becomes capable of begetting such a son. 'I

want a son with a dark complexion and reddish eyes who will master

three Vedas and live out his full life span' -- if this is his wish,

he should get her to cook that rice in water and the two of them

should eat it mixed with ghee. The couple thus becomes capable of

begetting such a son. 'I want a learned daughter who will live out

her full life span' -- if this is his wish, he should get her to

cook that rice with sesame seeds and the two of them should eat it

mixed with ghee. The couple thus becomes capable of begetting such a

daughter. 'I want a learned and famous son, a captivating orator

assisting at councils, who will master all the Vedas and live out

his full life span' -- if this is his wish, he should get her to

cook that rice with meat and the two of them should eat it mixed

with ghee. The couple thus becomes capable of begetting such a son.

The meat may be that of a young or a fully-grown bull. Then, towards

morning, following the same ritual procedure as at the cooking of

the pot of milk-rice, he should prepare melted butter and offer

portions from the pot of milk-rice in the fire, saying: 'To fire,

svaha! To assent, svaha! To the divine Savitr, faithful in

procreation, svaha!' After making these offerings, he takes the rest

out and, after first eating himself, gives some to his partner.

After washing his hands, he fills a pot with water and sprinkles her

with it three times, saying: 'Get up, Visvavasu, and leave this

place; find yourself some other luscious girl. This wife is here

with her husband.' Then he embraces her, as he says: 'I am ama, you

are sa -- you are sa, I am ama. I am the Saman chant, you are the Rg

verse; I am the sky, you are the earth. Come, let us unite, deposit

the seed, to get a son, a male child.' Then he spreads apart her

thighs, saying: 'Spread apart, earth and sky.' He slips his penis

into her, presses his mouth against hers, and strokes her three

times in the direction of her hair, as he says: 'May Vishnu prepare

your womb, and Tvastr mould the forms; may Prajapati impregnate you,

and Dhatr lay the foetus in you.' " -- Brhadaranyaka Upanishad 6:4:6-

21. [Olivelle, Patrick. Upanishads. Pub.: Oxford University Press.

ISBN 0-19-282292-6. pp.88-91].

 

Moreover, meat is further acclaimed by the Vedas as shown in the

following quote from the Satapatha Brahmana:

 

"Meat is indeed the best kind of food." -- Satapatha Brahmana

11:7:1:3; cf. 12:8:3:12. [Doniger, Wendy. The Laws of Manu. Pub.:

Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-044540-4. Introduction, page xxxiii].

 

III. NON-VEGETARIAN HINDU DEITIES

 

Not only is meat-consumption praised in the Vedas, but some Hindu

goddesses are not vegetarian either, as they eat flesh. For

instance, it is recorded in the Puranas that Devi and other

goddesses had devoured Shiva's testicles:

 

"The demon Ruru with his army attacked the gods, who sought refuge

with Devi. She laughed, and an army of goddesses emerged from her

mouth. They killed Ruru and his army, but then they were hungry and

asked for food. Devi summoned Rudra Pasupati and said, 'You have the

form of a goat and you smell like a goat. These ladies will eat your

flesh or else they will eat everything, even me.' Shiva said, 'When

I pierced the fleeing sacrifice of Daksa, which had taken the form

of a goat, I obtained the smell of a goat. But let the goddesses eat

that which pregnant women have defiled with their touch, and newborn

children, and women who cry all the time.' Devi refused this

disgusting food, and finally Shiva said, 'I will give you something

never tasted by anyone else: the two balls resembling fruits below

my navel. Eat the testicles that hang there and be satisfied.'

Delighted by this gift, the goddesses praised Shiva." -- Padma

Purana 5:26:91-125; cf. Linga Purana 1:106:1-27; Matsya Purana 252:5-

19, 179:7-186; Kurma Purana 1:16:141-222. [O'Flaherty, Wendy D.

Shiva: The Erotic Ascetic. Pub.: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-

520250-3. p.280].

 

Meat-eating Rama

In the Valmiki Ramayana, Rama laments to his mom (Kausalya) that he

is going to be exiled from the palace at Ayodhya into the forest for

fourteen years (because of his evil & selfish co-mom Kaikeyi's

plot), and he explains how he will be missing eating meat as he is

so accustomed to at the palace:

 

"[Rama:] 'I must to lonely wilds repair, abstain from flesh, and

living there on roots, fruit, honey, hermit's food, pass twice seven

years (14 yrs.) in solitude. To Bharat's hand the king will yield

the regent power I thought to wield, and me, a hermit, will he send

my days in Dandak wood to spend.' " -- Ramayana 2:20. [Griffith,

Ralph T.H. The Ramayan of Valmiki: translated into English verse.

Benares: E.J. Lazarus & Co., 1895. p.117].

 

Lord Rama, a great, divine exemplar of dharma & virtue for Hindus,

himself apparently doesn't care much for vegetarianism & ahimsa.

 

Not only that, but some Brahmins & Ksatriyas ate five-clawed

creatures. Five out of the five-clawed were allowed, that is. As the

relatively innocent Vali is being murdered from ambush by Rama, he

states:

 

"[Vali:] 'Only five among the five-clawed creatures can be eaten by

brahmans and kshatriyas, Raghava: the hedgehog, the porcupine, the

lizard, the rabbit, and fifth, the turtle.' " -- Ramayana 4:17:34.

[Lefeber, Rosalind. The Ramayana of Valmiki: an Epic of Ancient

India. Kiskindhakanda (vol. 4). Pub.: Princeton University Press.

ISBN 0-691-06661-2. p.90].

 

A very similar injunction is found in the Vaisnava dharmasastra:

 

"If a man has (unawares) eaten meat of a five-toed animal, with the

exception of the hare, the porcupine, the iguana, the rhinoceros,

and the tortoise, he must fast for seven days." -- Visnusmrti 51:6.

[Jolly, Julius. The Institutes of Vishnu. Sacred Books of the East

(vol. 7). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1880. p.163].

 

Who knows, in addition to eating standard meats, perhaps both Rama &

Sita also ate lizards, turtles, hedgehogs and porcupines.

 

Budhdha ate meat -Please read 'Ragula Sangiruthiyayan's transalation

of 6th Cenury BC novel - (the original stone-form of this book is

available in the Poona Museum).

 

Brahmins ate meat - after offering the same to the Lord.

Please know about Asuvamedha Yagam - The Yagam meant for Horse Meat

Offering to God and sharing the same with fellow Brahmins.

 

Aryans ate meat.

 

Of course all these people were not eating chicken and mutton those

days. Chicken became a regular meat only after breeding them in

Scientific method after 1950's.

 

Lambs were rare.

 

These people were eating animals which were available abundant - the

beef. On special occasions they ate forest animals.

 

Beef eating was stopped after Cow has become a form of God/Goddess -

Around 5th Century of the Christian Era.

namaste,

 

I would recommend to be a little extra careful when considering to quote wendy

doniger and her books on Hinduism for she is quite know to have written many

works which are not correct interpretations of scriptures. This is have has been

quite a bit of debate in the academic circles and her introduction about

Hindusism in Microsoft encarta has been replaced with a better one.

 

While this hardly the list to debate this, please do a little more extensive

search than quote wendy doniger.

 

regards

Rudra.