The Vedas Evidence from the
Vedas suggests the diet of the Vedic people consisted of cereals, initially barley but later dominated by rice, pulses such as
māsha (
urad),
mudga (
moong), and masūra (
masoor), vegetables such as lotus roots, lotus stem, bottle gourd and milk products, mainly of cows, but also of buffaloes and goats. The Vedas describe animals including bulls, horses, rams and goats being sacrificed and eaten. Although cows held an elevated position in the Vedas, barren cows were also sacrificed. Even then, the word
aghnyā ('not to be eaten', 'inviolable') is used for cows multiple times, with some Rigvedic composers considering the whole bovine species, both cows and bulls, inviolable.
Steven J. Rosen suggests that flesh might have been eaten only as part of ritual sacrifices and not otherwise. Acts of animal sacrifice were not fully accepted since there were signs of unease and tension owing to the 'gory brutality of sacrificial butchery' dating back to as early as the older Vedas. The earliest reference to the idea of
ahimsa or
non-violence to animals (
pashu-ahimsa) in any literature, apparently in a moral sense, is found in the Kapisthala Katha Samhita of the
Yajurveda (KapS 31.11), written about the 8th century BCE. The
Shatapatha Brahmana contains one of the earliest statements against eating flesh, and the
Chāndogya Upaniṣad, has an injunction against killing 'all living entities'. Injunctions against flesh-eating also appear in the
Dharmasutras.
Dharmaśāstras According to Kane, one who is about to eat food should greet the food when it is served to him, should honour it, never speak ill, and never find fault in it. The Dharmasastra literature, states
Patrick Olivelle, admonishes "people not to cook for themselves alone", offer it to the gods, to forefathers, to fellow human beings as hospitality and as alms to the monks and needy. Originally written in the South Indian language of
Tamil, the text states moderate diet as a virtuous lifestyle and criticizes "non-vegetarianism" in its
Pulaan Maruthal (abstinence from flesh or meat) chapter, through verses 251 through 260. Verse 251, for instance, questions "how can one be possessed of kindness, who, to increase his own flesh, eats the flesh of other creatures." It also says that "the wise, who are devoid of mental delusions, do not eat the severed body of other creatures" (verse 258), suggesting that "flesh is nothing but the despicable wound of a mangled body" (verse 257). It continues to say that not eating flesh is a practice more sacred than the most sacred religious practices ever known (verse 259) and that only those who refrain from killing and eating the kill are worthy of veneration (verse 260). This text, written before 400 CE, and sometimes called the Tamil
Veda, discusses eating habits and its role in a healthy life (Mitahara), dedicating Chapter 95 of
Book II to it. The
Tirukkuṛaḷ states in verses 943 through 945, "eat in moderation, when you feel hungry, foods that are agreeable to your body, refraining from foods that your body finds disagreeable".
Valluvar also emphasizes overeating has ill effects on health, in verse 946, as "the pleasures of health abide in the man who eats moderately. The pains of disease dwell with him who eats excessively."
Puranas The
Puranic texts fiercely oppose violence against animals in many places "despite following the pattern of being constrained by the Vedic imperative to nominally accept it in sacrificial contexts". The most important Puranic text, the
Bhagavata Purana goes farthest in repudiating animal sacrifice—refraining from harming all living beings is considered the highest
dharma. The text states that the sin of harming animals cannot be washed away by performing "sham sacrifices", just as "mud cannot be washed away by mud". It graphically presents the horrific karmic reactions accrued from the performance of animal sacrifices—those who mercilessly cook animals and birds go to
kumbhipaka and are fried in boiling oil and those who perform sham sacrifices are themselves cut to pieces in
viśasana hell. The
Skanda Purana states that the sages were dismayed by animal sacrifice and considered it against
dharma, claiming that sacrifice is supposed to be performed with grains and milk. It narrates that animal sacrifice was only permitted to feed the population during a famine, yet the sages did not slaughter animals even as they died of starvation. The
Matsya Purana contains a dialogue between sages who disapprove of violence against animals, preferring rites involving oblations of fruits and vegetables. The text states that the negative karma accrued from violence against animals far outweighs any benefits. ==Vegetarianism and caste ==