Jain vegetarianism
Encyclopedia
Jain vegetarianism is the diet of the Jains, the followers of Jainism
. It is the most strict form of religiously-motivated diet regulation in the Indian subcontinent.
Jain objections to the eating of meat and fish are based on the principle of nonviolence
(ahimsa
, literally "non-injuring"). Every act by which a person directly or indirectly supports killing or injury is seen as violence (hinsa), which creates harmful karma
. The aim of ahimsa is to prevent the accumulation of such karma. The extent to which this intention is put into effect varies greatly among Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. Jains consider nonviolence to be the most essential religious duty for everyone (ahinsā paramo dharmaḥ, a statement often inscribed on Jain temples). It is an indispensable condition for liberation from the cycle of reincarnation
, which is the ultimate goal of all Jain activities. Jains share this goal with Hindus and Buddhists, but their approach is particularly rigorous and comprehensive. Their scrupulous and thorough way of applying nonviolence to everyday activities, and especially to food, shapes their entire lives and is the most significant hallmark of Jain identity. A side effect of this strict discipline is the exercise of asceticism
, which is strongly encouraged in Jainism for lay people as well as for monks and nuns.
have been strongly influenced by Jainism. These include
In India, vegetarian food is regarded to be appropriate for everyone for all occasions. This makes vegetarian restaurants quite popular. Many of vegetarian restaurants and Mishtanna sweet-shops - for example, the legendary Ghantewala
sweets of Delhi
and Jamna Mithya in Sagar - are run by Jains.
Some restaurants in India serve Jain versions of vegetarian dishes that leave out carrots, potatoes, onions and garlic. A few airlines also serve Jain vegetarian dishes upon prior request.
Strict Buddhist cuisine
is similar to Jain cuisine in leaving out onions and garlic. The term satvika
often implies Indian cuisine without onions and garlic; strict Jain cuisine also excludes other root vegetables like potatoes.
Some Rajasthani dishes were invented for festivals during which the orthodox may avoid eating green vegetables.
revived and reorganized the Jain movement in the 6th or 5th century BCE, ahimsa was already an established, strictly observed rule. Parshva
, a Tirthankara who modern Western historians consider to be a historical figure, lived in about the 8th century BCE and founded a community to which Mahavira’s parents belonged. Parshva’s followers vowed to observe ahimsa; this obligation was part of their "Fourfold Restraint" (caujjama dhamma). Mahavira adopted it into his code of conduct.
In the times of Mahavira and in the following centuries, Jains criticized Buddhists and followers of the Vedic religion
or Hindus for negligence and inconsistency in the implementation of ahimsa
. In particular, they strongly objected to the Vedic tradition of animal sacrifice
with subsequent meat eating and to the hunting.
Early Buddhism discouraged eating animals that were slaughtered for the purpose of eating. The Buddha declared:
, Valluvar, who is regarded to be a Jain by some scholars, criticizes the Buddhists for accepting the same of meat:
s, Bengali Brahmins
and Saraswat Brahmin
s - have traditionally eaten meat (primarily seafood). However in regions with strong Jain influence such as Rajasthan
and Gujarat, or strong Jain influence in the past such as Tamil Nadu
, Brahmins are strict vegetarians. Bal Gangadhar Tilak has described Jainism as the originator of Ahimsa. He wrote in a letter:
Jain texts, the Acaranga Sutra
and the Dasaveyaliya, have been interpreted as regulations for specific types of meat and bones which were considered to be acceptable alms. This can also be interpreted at references to fruits and seeds. Another Svetambara text, the Viyahapannatti, tells a story where Mahavira himself eats kutkutmansa, which may be interpreted as meat of a cock. Medieval Jain commentators of these passages interpreted them in the literal meaning, but also mentioned the opinion that the offensive words had different meanings, some of which did not refer to animals and hence was compatible with vegetarianism. Jains, who are strict vegetarians, do not accept the interpretations of Western scholars.
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
. It is the most strict form of religiously-motivated diet regulation in the Indian subcontinent.
Jain objections to the eating of meat and fish are based on the principle of nonviolence
Nonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...
(ahimsa
Ahimsa in Jainism
Ahiṃsā in Jainism is a fundamental principle forming the cornerstone of its ethics and doctrine. The term "ahimsa" means “non-violence”, “non-injury” or absence of desire to harm any life forms. Vegetarianism and other non-violent practices and rituals of Jains flow from the principle of Ahiṃsā...
, literally "non-injuring"). Every act by which a person directly or indirectly supports killing or injury is seen as violence (hinsa), which creates harmful karma
Karma
Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
. The aim of ahimsa is to prevent the accumulation of such karma. The extent to which this intention is put into effect varies greatly among Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. Jains consider nonviolence to be the most essential religious duty for everyone (ahinsā paramo dharmaḥ, a statement often inscribed on Jain temples). It is an indispensable condition for liberation from the cycle of reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
, which is the ultimate goal of all Jain activities. Jains share this goal with Hindus and Buddhists, but their approach is particularly rigorous and comprehensive. Their scrupulous and thorough way of applying nonviolence to everyday activities, and especially to food, shapes their entire lives and is the most significant hallmark of Jain identity. A side effect of this strict discipline is the exercise of asceticism
Asceticism
Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals...
, which is strongly encouraged in Jainism for lay people as well as for monks and nuns.
Practice
- For Jains, lacto-vegetarianism (generally known simply as vegetarianism in India) is mandatory. Food which contains even small particles of the bodies of dead animals or eggs is absolutely unacceptable. Some Jain scholars and activists support veganismVeganismVeganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
, as the production of dairy products often involves violence against cows. - Jains go out of their way so as not to hurt even small insects and other tiny animals, because they believe that harm caused by carelessness is as reprehensible as harm caused by deliberate action. Hence they take great pains to make sure that no minuscule animals are injured by the preparation of their meals and in the process of eating and drinking.
- Traditionally Jains have been prohibited from drinking unfiltered water. In the past, when stepwellStepwellStepwells, also called bawdi or baoli , or vaav are wells or ponds in which the water can be reached by descending a set of steps. They may be covered and protected, and are often of architectural significance...
s were used for the water source, the cloth used for filtering used to be reversed and some filtered water was poured over it to return the organisms to the original body of water. This practice of jivani or bilchavani is no longer possible because of the use of pipes for water supply. Modern Jains may also filter faucet water in the traditional fashion and a few continue to follow the filtering process even with commercial mineral or bottled drinking water. - Jains make considerable efforts not to injure plants in everyday life as far as possible. but they only accept such violence inasmuch as it is indispensable for human survival, and there are special instructions for preventing unnecessary violence against plants. Strict Jains don’t eat root vegetables such as potatoes, onions, roots and tubers, because such root vegetables are considered to be 'ananthkay'. 'Ananthkay' means one body, but containing countless lives. A regular vegetable such as cabbage has number of leaves and lives as could be counted by a layman. However, a root vegetable such as potato, though from the looks of it is one article, is said to contain multiple lives ('ekindriya') in it. Also, tiny life forms are injured when the plant is pulled up and because the bulb is seen as a living being, as it is able to sprout. Also, consumption of most root vegetables involves uprooting and killing the entire plant. Whereas consumption of most terrestrial vegetables doesn't kill the plant (it lives on after plucking the vegetables or it was seasonally supposed to wither away anyway).
- Honey is forbidden, as its collection would amount to violence against the bees.
- Food items that have started to decay are prohibited.
- Traditionally cooking or eating at night was discouraged because insects are attracted to the lamps or fire at night. Strict Jains take the anastamita or anthai vow of not eating after sunset.
- Strict Jains do not consume food which has been stored overnight, as it possesses a higher concentration of micro-organisms (for example, bacteria yeast etc) as compared to food prepared and consumed the same day. Hence, they do not consume yoghurtYoghurtYoghurt, yogurt or yogourt is a dairy product produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yoghurt are known as "yoghurt cultures"...
or dhoklaDhoklaDhokla or Dhokra is a vegetarian food item that originates from the Indian state of Gujarat. It is made with a fermented batter of gram flour . Dhokla can be eaten for breakfast, as a main course, as a side dish or as a snack...
& idli batter unless they've been freshly set on the same day. - Jains do not consume fermented foods (beer, wine and other alcohols) to avoid killing of a large number of microorganisms associated with the fermenting process.
- During some specific fasting periods in the religious calendar, Jains refrain from consuming any green-coloured vegetables (which have chlorophyll pigment) such as okra, leafy vegetables, etc.
Influence on vegetarian cuisines in India
The vegetarian cuisines of some regions of the Indian subcontinentIndian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
have been strongly influenced by Jainism. These include
- Gujarati Jain cuisine
- MarwarMarwarMarwar is a region of southwestern Rajasthan state in western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. In Rajasthani dialect "wad" means a particular area. The word Marwar is derived from Sanskrit word 'Maruwat'. English translation of the word is 'The region of desert'., The Imperial Gazetteer...
i Jain cuisine of Rajasthan - BundelkhandBundelkhandBundelkhand anciently known as Chedi Kingdom is a geographic region of central India...
i Jain cuisine of central India - AgrawalAgrawalAgrawal or Agarwal is a large and influential community in India. Agrawals are Kshatriya by birth of the Solar Dynasty but after the adoption of Vanika dharma by king Agrasena, Agrawals started dealing in business...
Jain cuisine of Delhi/UP - Deccan Jain cuisine of Karnataka and South Maharashtra
In India, vegetarian food is regarded to be appropriate for everyone for all occasions. This makes vegetarian restaurants quite popular. Many of vegetarian restaurants and Mishtanna sweet-shops - for example, the legendary Ghantewala
Ghantewala
The Ghantewala Halwai in Chandni Chowk in Delhi, established in 1790 CE is one of the oldest halwais in India It has catered to Mughal Emperors, Presidents and Prime Ministers of India.-History:...
sweets of Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
and Jamna Mithya in Sagar - are run by Jains.
Some restaurants in India serve Jain versions of vegetarian dishes that leave out carrots, potatoes, onions and garlic. A few airlines also serve Jain vegetarian dishes upon prior request.
Strict Buddhist cuisine
Buddhist cuisine
Buddhist cuisine is an East Asian cuisine which is followed by some believers of Buddhism. It is primarily vegetarian, in order to keep with the general Buddhist precept of ahimsa...
is similar to Jain cuisine in leaving out onions and garlic. The term satvika
Jain (Satvika)
The traditional Jain cuisine is completely vegetarian and also excludes onions and garlic like the shojin-ryori cuisine of Japan. This is also called 'satvic' because onions and garlic are regarded to be tamasic....
often implies Indian cuisine without onions and garlic; strict Jain cuisine also excludes other root vegetables like potatoes.
Some Rajasthani dishes were invented for festivals during which the orthodox may avoid eating green vegetables.
Historical background
When MahaviraMahavira
Mahāvīra is the name most commonly used to refer to the Indian sage Vardhamāna who established what are today considered to be the central tenets of Jainism. According to Jain tradition, he was the 24th and the last Tirthankara. In Tamil, he is referred to as Arukaṉ or Arukadevan...
revived and reorganized the Jain movement in the 6th or 5th century BCE, ahimsa was already an established, strictly observed rule. Parshva
Parshva
Pārśva or Paras was the twenty-third Tirthankara "Ford-Maker" in Jainism . He is the earliest Jain leader generally accepted as a historical figure. Pārśva was a nobleman belonging to the Kshatriya varna....
, a Tirthankara who modern Western historians consider to be a historical figure, lived in about the 8th century BCE and founded a community to which Mahavira’s parents belonged. Parshva’s followers vowed to observe ahimsa; this obligation was part of their "Fourfold Restraint" (caujjama dhamma). Mahavira adopted it into his code of conduct.
In the times of Mahavira and in the following centuries, Jains criticized Buddhists and followers of the Vedic religion
Historical Vedic religion
The religion of the Vedic period is a historical predecessor of Hinduism. Its liturgy is reflected in the mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites...
or Hindus for negligence and inconsistency in the implementation of ahimsa
Ahimsa
Ahimsa is a term meaning to do no harm . The word is derived from the Sanskrit root hims – to strike; himsa is injury or harm, a-himsa is the opposite of this, i.e. non harming or nonviolence. It is an important tenet of the Indian religions...
. In particular, they strongly objected to the Vedic tradition of animal sacrifice
Animal sacrifice
Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing of an animal as part of a religion. It is practised by many religions as a means of appeasing a god or gods or changing the course of nature...
with subsequent meat eating and to the hunting.
Early Buddhism discouraged eating animals that were slaughtered for the purpose of eating. The Buddha declared:
... meat should not be eaten under three circumstances: when it is seen or heard or suspected (that a living being has been purposely slaughtered for the eater); these, Jivaka, are the three circumstances in which meat should not be eaten, Jivaka! I declare there are three circumstances in which meat can be eaten: when it is not seen or heard or suspected (that a living being has been purposely slaughtered for the eater); Jivaka, I say these are the three circumstances in which meat can be eaten.In the Tamil classic Tirukkuṛaḷ
Tirukkuṛaḷ
Tirukkuṛaḷ , sometimes spelt 'Thirukkural, is a classic of couplets or Kurals or aphorisms celebrated by Tamils. It was authored by Thiruvalluvar, a poet who is said to have lived anytime between the 2nd and 6th centuries AD. Although the exact period of its composition is still disputed,...
, Valluvar, who is regarded to be a Jain by some scholars, criticizes the Buddhists for accepting the same of meat:
256 If the world did not purchase and consume meat, no one would slaughter and offer meat for sale.Some Brahmins - Kashmiri Pandit
Kashmiri Pandit
The Kashmiri Pandits are a Hindu Brahmin community originating from Kashmir, a mountainous region in South Asia.-Background:The Hindu caste system of the region was influenced by the influx of Buddhism from the time of Asoka, around the third century BCE, and a consequence of this was that the...
s, Bengali Brahmins
Bengali Brahmins
The Bengali Brahmins are those Hindu Brahmins who traditionally reside in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, currently comprising the Indian state of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Bangladesh...
and Saraswat Brahmin
Saraswat Brahmin
The Saraswats are a Brahmin caste of India.- History :According to the legend, Saraswat Brahmins are Brahmins who lived on the banks of the former Saraswati River that once flowed in northern India. Although it is said that at Prayag the three rivers meet or met.the fact is that the Saraswati never...
s - have traditionally eaten meat (primarily seafood). However in regions with strong Jain influence such as Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
and Gujarat, or strong Jain influence in the past such as Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, Brahmins are strict vegetarians. Bal Gangadhar Tilak has described Jainism as the originator of Ahimsa. He wrote in a letter:
In ancient times, innumerable animals were butchered in sacrifices. Evidence in support of this is found in various poetic compositions such as the Meghaduta. But the credit for the disappearance of this terrible massacre from the Brahminical religion goes to Jainism.Some Western authors have interpreted the texts in different way to show that ancient Jain ascetics accepted meat as alms if the animal had not been specifically killed for them. If this is correct then they applied the same standard as early Buddhists. Some passages in two of the earliest Svetambara
Svetambara
The Śvētāmbara is one of the two main sects of Jainism, the other being the Digambar. Śvētāmbara "white-clad" is a term describing its ascetics' practice of wearing white clothes, which sets it apart from the Digambara "sky-clad" Jainas, whose ascetic practitioners go naked...
Jain texts, the Acaranga Sutra
Acaranga Sutra
The Acaranga Sutra is the first of the eleven Angas, part of the agamas which were compiled based on the teachings of Lord Mahavira.The Acaranga Sutra discusses the conduct of a Jain monk...
and the Dasaveyaliya, have been interpreted as regulations for specific types of meat and bones which were considered to be acceptable alms. This can also be interpreted at references to fruits and seeds. Another Svetambara text, the Viyahapannatti, tells a story where Mahavira himself eats kutkutmansa, which may be interpreted as meat of a cock. Medieval Jain commentators of these passages interpreted them in the literal meaning, but also mentioned the opinion that the offensive words had different meanings, some of which did not refer to animals and hence was compatible with vegetarianism. Jains, who are strict vegetarians, do not accept the interpretations of Western scholars.