The Religious Roots of India's Vegetarian Tradition

India has one of the highest proportions of vegetarians of any country in the world, a phenomenon with deep religious roots. Jainism's commitment to ahimsa, or non-violence, is especially uncompromising: adherents not only avoid meat but, in some sects, even avoid root vegetables grown underground, out of concern that harvesting them might harm tiny forms of life in the soil.

The Spread of Ahimsa

The principle of non-violence was never unique to Jainism. Buddhism also holds it as one of its core precepts, and Hinduism — though more doctrinally diverse — has long been steeped in the same idea, which, combined with the sanctification of the cow, gave rise to a broad vegetarian tendency of its own, with especially high rates of vegetarianism among priestly castes such as Brahmins.

The Reality of Vegetarianism in India Today

India's vegetarian culture today displays rich regional and sectarian variation:

• Vegetarian tradition is comparatively more widespread and strictly observed in South India
• Restaurants and packaged foods use clear green-and-red symbols to distinguish vegetarian from non-vegetarian items
• Spices and legumes, such as chickpeas and lentils, form a major source of vegetarian protein
• Vegetarian choices are often bound up with caste, region, and family tradition

India's example shows that a food ethic capable of resonating across multiple religious traditions at once can grow into an everyday way of life embraced by hundreds of millions of people, rather than remaining the practice of a small community of believers.