Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/56

 === Indian Vegetarians I ===

India is inhabited by twenty-five million of people of various castes and creeds. The very common belief among the Englishmen who have not been to India, or who have taken very little interest in Indian matters, is that all the Indians are born vegetarians. Now this is true only in part. Indian people are divided into three main divisions, viz., the Hindus, the Mohammedans, and the Parsis. The Hindus are again divided into four chief castes, viz., the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas, the Vaisyas, and the Sudras, Of all these, in theory, only the Brahmins and the Vaisyas are pure vegetarians. But in practice almost all the Indians are vegetarians. Some are so voluntarily, and others compulsorily. The latter, though always willing to take, are yet too poor to buy meat. This statement will be borne out by the fact that there are thousands in India who have to live on one pice (11/3d.) a day. These live on bread and salt, a heavily taxed article; for even in a poverty-stricken country like India, it will be very difficult,if not utterly impossible,to get eatable flesh-meat for 11/3d. The question who are vegetarians in India being disposed of, the natural question will be what is vegetarianism as practised by them? To begin with, Indian vegetarianism does not mean the V.E.M. diet. The Indians, i.e., the Indian vegetarians, decline to take, besides fish, flesh and fowl, eggs, for they argue that to eat an egg is equivalent to killing life; since an egg, if left undisturbed would, prima facie, become a fowl. But, unlike some of the vegetarian extremists here, they not only do not abstain from milk and butter, but consider them sacred enough to be used on what are called "fruit-days", which occur every fortnight, and which are generally observed by the highcaste Hindus; because, as they put it, they do not kill the cow in taking milk from her. And certainly the milking of a cow, which, by the way, has been the subject of painting and poetry cannot shock the most delicate feelings as would the slaughtering of her. It may be worth mentioning en passant that the cow is an object of worship among the Hindus, and a movement set on foot to prevent the cows from being shipped off for the purposes of slaughter is progressing rapidly.

The Vegetarian, 7-2-1891

1. Obviously, a slip for crores.

2. V.E.M. probably means vegetables, eggs, milk.

=== Indian Vegetarians