Notes from India (3) Virtuous Veg

Above: Dera Mandawa. Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. 05 April 2024.

Dera Mandawa, Jaipur’s top heritage homestay - Alfred& (kuoni.co.uk)

Thakur Durga Singh, owner of Dera Mandawa, led a demonstration to our family group, and Raj, our TravelScope tour guide, of the preparation of various Indian foods, including bread making using cow dung coals (see image), nan, and the making of paneer (Indian cottage cheese). Most intriguing to me was Singh's making the case for vegetarianism.

The Hindu tradition of ahimsa, or nonviolence and compassion, includes a deep commitment to vegetarianism. Singh noted that early Hindus started eating foods for which they had no need to kill any sentient being. About a third of Indians today follow a vegetarian diet.

Singh discussed the practice of lacto-vegetarianism favored by most practicing Hindu vegetarians. Lacto-vegetarianism includes milk-based foods and all other non-animal derived foods. Meat and eggs are excluded.

According to Singh, there are three main reasons for Hindus to practice vegetarianism. 1. the principle of ahimsa applied to animals. 2. Prasad. The practice of offering only vegetarian food to a preferred god and then sharing the offering with fellow adherents. 3. the belief that non vegetarian food is detrimental for the mind and for spiritual development.

The Hindu tradition of spiritual vegetarianism is getting a fresh start in India and abroad.

Why the Hindu spiritual tradition of vegetarianism is getting a fresh start (religionnews.com)

There are fifteen million Indian passport holders who live outside of India and another fifteen million Indians who have given up their Indian nationality to become citizens of other countries. While not all of this massive diaspora are vegetarians in the Hindu tradition, many are, and they, many of them in the United States, have found a new reason to recommit themselves to vegetarianism: prevention of global warming. These virtuous foodies see themselves as bringing the wisdom of traditional Hindu culture to address environmental degradation - specifically greenhouse gas emissions caused by animal waste.

As wealth has increased, so has meat consumption. But dung and flatulence from cows, pigs, goats, and sheep are considered major contributors to global warming. These animals produce methane gas, which is more than thirty times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. In addition, raising livestock takes up twenty times as much land as growing beans.

Considering India's growing influence in the world, and the enormous size of the Indian diaspora throughout the West, will food spirituality combine with climate virtue to influence the diets of the rest of us non-Hindus? I could live with it. I love a meal of lentils (protein), muttar paneer curry, dahl, bindi, and nan. Let's go veg! Cummon, America! You can do it!