Vegetarianism

Published on 14th June, 2017, on www.dailyo.in. The idea of "vegetarian" diet has spread throughout the world, thanks to many Hindu and Jain immigrants in the USA and the UK and the popularity of yoga. However, not all Hindus are vegetarian. In fact, most aren't. Since vegetarian practices distinguishes Hindus from other communities, and was seen as "quaint" in western societies until recent times, it has become the defining trait of Hinduism, statistics notwithstanding. Hindus can be vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Hinduism is a plural religion, an umbrella term for many jatis, sampradayas and paramparas, some of whom may be vegetarian some of the time, or ..

Published on 14 November 2015, in the DNA. Many people are of the opinion that eating vegetarian food is indicative of kindness and non-violence. That is not so. Ask the bull, or rather the bullock. A bullock is a castrated bull: a bull whose testicles have been cut so as to deprive him of male hormones that make him untamable and violent. In other words, a bullock is to a bull is what a eunuch is to a man. Gelding and neutering and banding are nicer words used instead of castration. It’s a brutal procedure, carried out all over the world, as can be seen ..

Published on 6th October, 2015, in The Hindu. If you love cows and care for them, you have three choices: Choice A: Build goshalas or cow shelters where the animals can be taken care of. But this is an expensive proposition. There is heavy investment and no returns whatsoever, despite all the talk of the great medicinal value of cow urine and cow dung. Choice B: Ban beef, stop farmers from selling cows and bulls to butchers, outlaw the culling of cattle, punish cow smugglers, declare all slaughter houses illegal, lynch people who eat beef, and justify all this using complex arguments. This results in ..

Published on 20th September, 2015, in Mid-Day. Every year, as the rains wane, many families across Maharashtra bring the image of the Goddess as Gauri into their homes to sit alongside Ganesha, who is brought in a few days earlier. She comes dressed in fabric and bangles as green as the countryside. All rituals of Gauri are conducted by women. It is they who carry her around, bedeck her, feed her, dance and play around her to make her happy. The idea being that the Goddess has come to her mother’s house (maher, in Marathi) to have some ‘me time’. A similar theme underlies the ..