Veda20- Were the Vedic Indians vegetarians?

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Vegetarianism is considered to be a virtue in many places. In some parts of India, you are looked down if you are a non-vegetarian. 

 

What about the Vedic Indians? Were they vegetarians?

 

Most people would be surprised to know that they were not. These people did consume nonvegetarian food, but unlike their counterparts in many parts of the world, they were apologetic about that. They tried to minimize violence to their fellow beings since they considered that every living being has a right to exist. They are “not created for the sake of man”.

 

I once attended a marriage ceremony in India. The ceremony was conducted in a place administered by Arya Samaj - a Hindu revivalist movement started by Maharshi Dayananda Saraswati in late 19th century. These people believed that Vedic Indians were strict vegetarians. I had a casual chat with the priest who officiated the marriage rituals as per the Arya Samaj customs.

 

This priest told me that Vedic Indians were strict vegetarians. When I pointed to the fact that many Vedic rituals did involve animal sacrifice, he totally denied that to be so. He said that those were distorted reports of westerners to degrade Indians. He blamed Max Muller and party for such distortions. When I further pointed out that the work of Max Muller was based on the work of well-known Indian Vedic commentator Sayanacarya, he even disowned Sayanacarya. He said that the commentary of Sayanacarya was totally wrong!

 

When asked what exactly those animal sacrifices described in the Vedas meant, he started talking about the secret symbolism used in these Vedas. For example, the word Ashwa Medha does not mean horse sacrifice as generally projected. Ashwa also means sense organs. And medha is not about sacrifice but control of these sense organs. That is what he believes.

 

There are many who talk about such “secret codified interpretations” of the Vedas. But the fact is that there are just too many cases where such sacrifices are described and giving a unique, coherent, symbolic interpretation in all those cases is impossible. So, I decided to agree to disagree with that priest since it did not serve any purpose.

 

The fact is that Indians, barring some exceptions, were never strict vegetarians. This is borne out from scriptures, history, mythology, and even current Hindu practices. Till the advent of a strong current of Jainism, India was predominantly non vegetarian. It was only the Jains who strictly forbade non vegetarian food. Even the Buddhists who also talked about avoidance of violence, had no problem consuming meat. They had problem with killing but not with consuming the meat of an animal killed by someone else!

 

That is understandable since the Buddhist monks were supposed to subsist on the food offered as alms and whatever is offered, they were expected to consume. The monk had no choice. Even the Dalai Lama once admitted that he is not a vegetarian but he wished he were one.

 

The ancient religious law book of Hindus, namely the Manu Smriti while advocating vegetarianism, talks about exceptions. Manu says that when one performs a Vedic ritual, one is allowed to consume the meat offered to the divine beings since that was ordained by the Vedas. On other occasions he recommends vegetarianism.

 

 

I have to explain all these before I go into the details about the Vedic rituals since they do involve sacrifice of not one but several animals. That may offend many modern Hindus like our Arya Samaj priest, who are unaware of all the facts.

 

It is also true that the Vedic rituals conducted these days rarely involve animal sacrifice. The great Advaita philosopher Sankara is credited with reforming these Vedic practices in favor of nonviolence. Strong influence of Jainism could be the reason that forced Sankara to undertake such a reform. Instead of sacrificing a live animal, a make-believe effigy of the animal is sacrificed.

 

In a recent video that I watched, a priest conducting the Vedic ritual explains why they had to resort to this. The video also shows how effigies of animals are made using powdered rice, mixed with clarified butter. These effigies are wrapped in plantain leaves and probably baked to give them firm shape. And these are used in the place of real animals in a Vedic ritual these days. Moreover, sacrifice of live animals in religious rituals is legally banned in India. But to say that such practices never existed, does not match with reality.

 

That does not mean to say that I support animal sacrifice or meat eating. As I have explained in many of my Yoga books, especially while talking about Patanjali’s ahimsa or nonviolence, avoidance of violence to the extent possible is also non-violence. No one can survive without indulging in violence to some extent. At the same time, killing an animal just for the pleasure of eating its meat is not acceptable to me nor was it acceptable in the Vedas. This fine difference becomes clearer as we discuss the animal sacrifices in the Vedic rituals.

 

So, let us continue these discussions with an open mind and acceptance of past as it was.

 

 

A series discussing the most ancient of the Indian scriptures, nay the world scriptures namely the Vedas. © Dr. King, Swami Satyapriya 2021