The history of meat-eating in India

The biggest myth about India is that it is a largely vegetarian country. According to three large-scale government surveys, only 23-37% of Indians are estimated to be vegetarian. But according to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey, a vast majority of Indian adults (81 percent) follow some restrictions on meat in their diet. However, most Indians do not abstain from meat altogether. Only 39% of Indian adults describe themselves as ‘vegetarian’.

An authoritative study completed in 1993 by the Anthropological Survey of India found that as much as 88% of the population comprised ‘meat eaters’. In 2014, a national-level survey showed that more than two-thirds of the respondents identified themselves as non-vegetarians, with the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Kerala, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal reporting more than 90% as non-vegetarians.

Contrary to recent assertions, since the oldest times, meat-eating has been prevalent in India. And why not? The lush forests of the country boasted an abundance of tropical animals, birds and fish.

Early men—in India, too—were clearly not grass-eating animals. They were hunter-gatherers. In fact, according to scientists and scholars, our digestive systems lack the anatomical adaptations of plant-eaters such as deer, cows, rabbits and other herbivores, which have a specialised system to digest greens comprising cellulose.

Also, with the discovery of fire and the means to control the same, Homo Erectus began cooking their food, and perhaps even Homo Habilis (the earliest of the ‘Homo’ genus). Fossils and stone tools of the time—dating back two million years—prove that animal foods were a regular part of their diet.

Archaeological evidence from the 5,000-year-old Harappan civilisation shows that a wide variety of animals were consumed. Also, the ritual of animal sacrifice was considered an important part of the Vedic culture 3,000 years ago.

One of the oldest Hindu sacred texts—the Rig Veda (1500 BC)—has written evidence that cow meat was consumed during the time, as many of these animals—horses, buffaloes, rams and goats—were also ritually sacrificed and their meat is partaken as part of the convention.

The Rig Veda describes sacrificial animals. The 162nd hymn of the sacred text describes the elaborate horse sacrifice—ashwamedh yagya—performed by the royals. In fact, in the text, it is stated how different Vedic gods have different preferences for animal meat. For example, Agni likes bulls and barren cows, Rudra likes red cows, Vishnu prefers a dwarf ox, Indra likes a bull with droopy horns with a mark on its head, and Pushan a black cow.

The Vedas refer to more than 250 animals of whom about 50 were deemed fit to be sacrificed.

The Taittireeya Upanishad also praises the sacrifice of a hundred bulls by the sage Agasthya. A new adjective, goghna (killing of a cow), was coined by the grammarian Panini for honoured guests. Ancient ritual texts are known as Brahmanas (900 BC) espouse that as per religious duty (dharma), a bull or cow should be killed to be eaten when a guest arrives.

The Sushrut Samhita compiled by the physician sage Sushruta lists eight kinds of meats that can be consumed. It is even recommended by the famed physician Charaka. Also, the Buddha did not forbid the eating of meat if offered as alms. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad has a reference to meat cooked with rice.

Both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have references to dishes cooked with meat. There is also enough historical evidence to show that people living in the Indus Valley indulged in dishes made with meat and poultry.

Research by US-based anthropologist Balmurli Natrajan and India-based economist Suraj Jacob finds a heap of evidence that points to the under-reporting of eating meat—particularly beef—and over-reporting of eating vegetarian food due to ‘cultural and political pressures’. The researchers claim that only about 20% of Indians are actually vegetarian. Also, as per government surveys, 7% of Indians eat beef. But Natrajan and Jacob claim that the extent of beef eating is much higher than claims suggest.

While the BJP goes about blatantly promoting vegetarianism and banning meat at the drop of a hat (like the recent instance of banning meat shops from operating during the ongoing Navratri in Delhi and the violence that erupted in JNU when meat was served in the student hostel) and vigilante cow protection groups operating with impunity, the truth is millions of Indians, including Dalits, Muslims and Christians, consume beef.

Some 70 communities in Kerala prefer beef to the more expensive goat meat. Even Meghalaya has a sizeable beef-eating population. Natrajan and Jacob conclude that close to 15% of Indians eat beef.

The practice of vegetarianism actually spread throughout India after the fourth century BC, largely among Buddhists, Jains and Hindus. At the same time, many Hindus continued to eat beef, find many studies.

Historian Romila Thapar describes vegetarianism as a ‘matter of status’. According to her, the higher the caste, the greater the food restrictions. Sociologist MN Srinivas seconds this; when he points out that the lower castes gave up beef when they wanted to move up the social ladder—part of the process of ‘Sanskritisation’.

In fact, even Mahatma Gandhi never called for the banning of cow slaughter in India. He is recorded to have said: “How can I force anyone not to slaughter cows unless he is himself so disposed? It is not as if there were only Hindus in the Indian Union. There are Muslims, Parsis, Christians and other religious groups here.”

Maybe, the recent dispensation—not to mention, the fringe—would do well to read up on the history of meat-eating in India.