Binding Bharat with a vegetarian canteen

Many pilgrim spots are being turned vegetarian. First Jain sites. Now Hindu sites. The assumption being vegetarian food is non-violent (it is not), eggs, fish, and meat are impure and polluting (they are not) and gods prefer vegetarian food (since when?).

Beliefs, by definition, are not logical or scientific. They are ideas meant to bind communities. Muslim Halal certification, or Kosher food certification, is just indulgence of unscientific ideas for market access, virtue signalling and tribal identification. The belief that Brahmin food habits are the ‘correct’ Hindu food habits is a lie being propagated by political groups trying to create a Hindu vote bank.

Many political groups that want to unite India are insisting on vegetarian canteens in party headquarters, in government-run schools, colleges, offices, and jails. Never mind the fact that 80% of India eats meat. Brahmin communities of Kashmir, Bengal, and Odisha also eat meat. The reality of meat-eating gods is being denied. We never have tribal food day in parliament, do we? Even Harappan food festivals in museums deny their cattle eating habits.

Many communities in India have for centuries been forced to eat village leftovers as well as the rotting meat of carcasses that they were obliged to clear from the village. This was not a choice. This is what Brahmins called their sva-dharma determined by birth. Now, to create a casteless society, all these communities are being told that the easiest way to be uplifted and integrated is by following the vegetarian diet of Bharat’s affluent mercantile communities, who control most of India’s resources and are major funders of political parties.

This model of purification can be seen even in Sikh community kitchens which are turning strictly vegetarian. It has nothing to do with caste, say community leaders, who are now alarmed by an increasing number of Mazhabi Sikhs (traditionally involved in sanitation work) who are being drawn to evangelical Christianity that has no such restrictions.

It allegedly began with dietary advice given just before a war on a battlefield. While convincing Arjuna to fight his cousins who stole his inheritance, Krishna decided to take time out for urgent matters like food that needs to be classified into three categories: satvik, rajasic, and tamasic. Food shapes caste. Three types of food give rise to four types of caste. And every caste has duties to perform.

Curious conversation since the Mahabharata diet seems to be only vast quantities of meat, domestic and wild, being eaten by kings and their priests. Rantideva’s kitchen is praised for serving vast volumes of meat. Nala, the legendary king-cook of the epic, allegedly wrote a cookbook called Pakadarpana which describes a biryani-like preparation of rice cooked with meat known as mansodana. Modern Hindi translations of the epic turn the meat into pumpkins and gourds. Many Sanskrit experts argue that the word mamsa in Sanskrit can be translated as ‘flesh of fruit’ as well as ‘flesh of animal’. So as per need, it is possible to see Vedic heroes as either vegetarian or meat-eaters.

Based on Krishna’s alleged dietary advice, many followers of Krishna refuse to give, and do not allow others to give, eggs to consenting school children during mid-day meals. Satvik food is far more important to a scientifically balanced diet for the Vaishnava Brahmin.

Jain funders align with this Vaishnava Brahmin practice. In Jain stories, Nemi-natha became vegetarian after he heard cries of animals, herded by his cousin Krishna, being butchered in the kitchen for his wedding banquet. And so non-violence is unacceptable in food matters for most business communities of India. However, violence is perfectly acceptable for highly profitable infrastructure development projects.

For Kashmiri pandits, the offering of mutton is integral to the worship of Shiva and Shakti, as part of Herath (Hara-ratri, Shiva-ratri). In Maharashtra, the fisherfolk offer fish to Gauri. A curtain is drawn so that her food does not offend her son, Ganesha, who is given vegetarian fare. In Puri Jagannath temple in Odisha, vegetarian food is cooked in grand kitchens. But for the presiding deity’s mother, Vimala, there are secret goat offerings made, at night. Across Deccan, buffaloes are sacrificed to the village goddess to renew the earth’s fertility. Tamil Periya Puranam tells stories of how Shiva prefers the affectionate meat offerings of tribes over the ritual alignment of the purity-conscious.

Every community in India has its own stories, symbols, rituals, gods, and dietary practices. To unite Bharat, many seem to be promoting one language, one colour, and increasingly one diet. Diversity is being projected as division. This strategy helped turn the pagan Roman Empire into the Christian Roman Empire. Will it succeed in Bharat?