Cinzia Pieruccini: On the origins and ideology of vegetarianism in India

BNU-UIC Research Centre for History and Culture (Zhuhai, China) is pleased to invite you to an online lecture “On the origins and ideology of vegetarianism in India” by Professor Cinzia Pieruccini, Università degli Studi di Milano. The lecture will take place on 15 May, 7 pm Beijing time (11 am GMT).

Zoom meeting details are as follows:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83530420189
Meeting ID: 83530420189
Password: 662321

Abstract:
In India, individuals and social groups are distinguished from each other by their food habits, the main distinction being whether they adopt a vegetarian diet or not. As in the past, abstention from meat concerns only certain segments of the Indian population; but it is certainly true that nowhere else in the world the choice of vegetarianism has been so widespread and so ideologically charged. According to some estimates, today nearly 30% of Indians adopt a meat-free diet; the high number is due to the large adherence to vegetarianism by the Hindus, who presently make up about 79% of the population. 
In the first great Indian cultural phase, as expressed in the Vedic texts from around 1500 BCE, animals were offered in sacrifice to the gods and meat was normally consumed. Vegetarianism arose along with the great religious revolutions that took place around the middle of the 1st millennium BCE, and which saw the spread of new concepts, such as karman, the “action” that produces merit or demerit for a next life, saṃsāra, the cycle of rebirths, mokṣa, “liberation”, and ahiṃsā, the “not harming” living beings. During this period, Vedic thought evolved into forms that led to so-called Hinduism, and new religions such as Buddhism and Jainism emerged. Each of these religions has interpreted the necessity of dietary norms in a different way. In Hinduism, a vegetarian diet has been adopted by the Brahmans; they are the ritually highest social class, and also through this choice they have become models of purity and virtue to be followed.

More information: BNU-UIC Research Centre for History and Culture (https://bnu-uicrchc.com/)