Can Hindus eat beef? (was: Can cheese be considered vegetarian?)
Somak Raychaudhury
Path: somak
From: so...@head-cfa.harvard.edu (Somak Raychaudhury)
Subject: Can Hindus eat beef? (was: Can cheese be considered vegetarian?)
Message-ID: <1993May14....@cfa203.harvard.edu>
Keywords: Hinduism, vegetarianism, Beef, meat
Sender: so...@head-cfa.harvard.edu (Somak Raychaudhury)
Organization: Harvard University/Smithsonian Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA
References: <930501063...@agcrr.bio.ns.ca>
Date: Fri, 14 May 1993 21:53:15 GMT
In article <930501063...@agcrr.bio.ns.ca>, eve...@agcrr.bio.ns.ca (Everett Coldwell) writes:
> Recently, my wife has discovered that most types of cheese (except
> ricotta) contain an ingrediant called rennet. Rennet is an enzyme found
> in the lining of young cow's stomachs. Unlike milk, this is extracted
> from a killed animal.
>
>......
>
> She follows the traditianal form of Hindu vegetarian diet, but eats eggs
> and takes milk and other dairy products.
>
> What have others decided as far as cheese is concerned? Can I justify
> to her that cheese is OK to eat?
>
On a related note, I quote from a article I posted on the net a year ago......
""""""""""""""""""
That beef was a delicacy in Ancient India is common knowledge: see any
respectable textbook on Indian social history. I quote from one of the most
commonly available of such books:
" The Aryans came as semi-nomadic pastoralists living chiefly on the produce
of cattle, and for some time cattle-rearing remained their main occupation. The
cow was the measure of value and was a very precious commodity... Perhaps the
cow was regarded as a totem animal by these tribes and an object of veneration.
Its meat was taboo except on specific occasions when beef-eating was regarded as
particularly auspicious. The economic value of the cow enhanced the usual
veneration given to it. This may have been the origin of the later irrational
attitude of regarding the cow as sacred...."
(Romila Thapar, "A History of India", volume 1, Penguin, 1966, pp 34-35 of the
1987 edition, $5.95).
H.T. Colebrooke (1765-1837), the editor and annotator of one of
the first Sanskrit dictionaries to be published in the West, on discussing the
etymology of the word "goghna", which is a synonym of "atithi" (guest), points
out that when Brahmin guests visited the houses of wealthy people, it was
customary for the host to kill his best calf in order to serve the guest.
Colebrook's dictionary was based on the thesaurus "Amarakosa".
Below, I give other references to beef-eating and cow-sacrifice from well-known
Hindu Scriptures.
** VEDAS/BRAAHMANAS ** (Vedas < 1000 BC, Braahmanas > 700 BC)
In the Krishna-Yajurveda Braahman, a standard commentary which serves as the
most extensive source of Vedic religious rituals, cites numerous "yajnas" at which
the cow was to be sacrificed to feed the gods. It cites in detail the pedigree,
age and appearance of such cows. For example, you offer the meat of a young
calf to Vishnu, that of a reddish adult cow to Rudra (Siva) etc.
** RAMAYANA **
In the "Uttar-ramacharita", the last chapter of the Ramayana, I find
two of the seven top sages of Hinduism (Saptarishi) eating beef.
Vaalmiki (the author of the Ramayana) is treating his
guests to a sumptuous meal, which includes beef as a principal item.
Among the invitees are Vasishtha and Viswaamitra
(two of the principal figures of the Vedas),
along with Jaamadagnya and Janaka (Rama's father-in-law).
[ Incidentally, elsewhere, in the "Mahavircharita",
we find Vasishtha trying to calm down an angry Jaamadagnya by saying "the calf
is ready to be killed, and all the food is being prepared with fine ghee...
Come and oblige us by being present in the festivities." ]
There are several references to cow-sacrifice in the Ramayana & the Mahabharata.
** CHARAKA, SUSRUTA ** (5th-6th century BC, the ancient Hindu medicinal texts)
Charaka recommends beef for the diet of pregnant women, in order to
strengthen the foetus. However, he advises against eating the flesh of the cow,
bull or swine on a daily basis, since it may cause indigestion.
Susruta forbids the eating of beef only in case of certain ailments.
Clearly, beef and pork were on the regular menu of most people around that time,
otherwise Charaka and Susruta wouldn't have bothered.
** MANUSMRITI **
The Manus, from whom the Surya and Chandra Dynasties decended, compiled the
earliest known prescriptions for social behaviour of the Hindus
(in five volumes). A lot of the familiar common do's and don'ts of
Hindu life in India can be traced back to the Manusmriti. Some quotes:
"The flesh of animals can be eaten at any time, but first some of it must be
dedicated to God, or to the souls of one's forefathers, or to a guest" (5:32)
"Of animals that have five toes/fingers, you may eat the flesh of the hedgehog,
the chameleon, the rhinoceros, the tortoise and the hare. Of animals that have
four legs, you may eat, with the exception of the camel, the flesh of all animals
that have one row of teeth". (5:18)
[ Elsewhere, in the context of household animals,
we find the Manus know that the cow falls in the latter category.]
The Manus also say that someone who refuses to eat meat that is offered to him
at a "Yajna" will be born as an animal twenty-one times.
[Some of the above quotes are taken from an excellent article, written in
English in 1872, entitled "Beef in Ancient India", by Rajendralal Mitra (1822-1891).]
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Somak Raychaudhury
Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138.