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SHRAMAN MAHAVIR
to all the castes-Brahmin, Ksatriya, Vaisya and Shudra Vedic religion did not prohibit meat-eating Buddhists took meat although they subscribed to shraman tradition Jainism alone tabooed meat-eating Shravaka re Jain house-holders also abstained from meat-eating
Mahavira prescribes infernal perdition for those who commit four kinds of lapses one of which is meat-eating it already evinces how he abhorred meat-eating
As time elapsed Mahavira's movement against meateating gained momentum Numerous religions and castes joined the movement and abandoned meat as a food Other than Jain scriptures were also there that proscribed meateating.
Food is no end in life but only a means And still it is an issue of great import No doctrine is needed to sustain the principle Only the force of the situation warrants an attention to the issue From the biological angle alone a thought has been given to the matter Other aspects of the subject have been ignored Food does not affect merely the body, it affects one's mind as well If mind be impure, the physical frame can be of little avall, it can barely use the animal force causing more unhappiness than otherwise What is desirable is the mental purity and tranquillity It necessitates a discreet choice of right type of food It is barbarous and diabolical to butcher poor, mute, hapless animals for one's selfish ends Meat-eating has caused this avoidable cruelty
Mahavira gave his profound thought to the right type of food, its periodicity and its optimum quantity Prohibition of meals at night is another great contribution of his novel thought
Liquor, meat, intoxicants and stale food are to be imperatively shunned in the spiritual course devised by him 8 Sacrificial Rites : Endorsement or Modification :
The historians say. 'Mahavira repudiated sacrificial rites' The present author seeks the liberty to hold a different view.
