The concept of veganism is not new to India. Just the word ‘vegan’ is. Veganism is nothing but the concept of not harming animals and giving them the respect they rightfully deserve. In today’s age, even though we consider we have evolved into better human beings, we humans barbarously exploit and brutally kill animals for food, clothing, labour, entertainment, experimentation, cosmetics, apparel, religion, medicine, etc.
We raise land animals in confinement and in terrible unliveable conditions in the billions, and drag sea animals out of water while destroying the ocean floor in the trillions just for ‘food’. We also kill thousands of bees and take away the honey they have made for themselves. We separate babies from their mothers in the dairy industry and take away the food mother cows and buffaloes made for their calves and then kill the mothers mercilessly when they can no longer produce a profitable amount of milk.
We have been eating food that doesn’t contain any animal products for centuries so we can easily presume that the concept of veganism existed in ancient India. Our dishes like poha, upma, idli-dosa-wada with sambhar and chutney, batata wada, kachori, pani puri, bhel puri and regular food like roti-sabji, dal-chawal along with accompaniments like papad, chutney, aachar and salad vegetables are all vegan by default. We have a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes and pulses, grains and millets as well as nuts and seeds that we have been eating since ancient times and so it’s extremely easy to choose ‘nonviolent’ food in our daily lives.
We brutally skin snakes, cows, aligators alive and shear sheep selfishly to use their skins and wool to make clothes and shoes. We treat oysters inhumanely to make pearls, and boil thousands of silkworms alive to make sarees and other garments. We use horses, elephants, mules, donkeys and bullocks to ride on or pull carts in which we sit for entertainment or use to transport goods. We use these animals as cheap labour to carry super heavy loads and in our fields to till the land we grow crops in. In today’s day and age with so many varieties of fabrics, we shouldn’t need to harm animals for their skins. Moreover, with the easy availability of machines like tractors, trucks and other vehicles, there is absolutely no need to use animals for labour or for riding them.
We train animals in cruel ways and use them for ‘entertainment’ in merciless bullock cart races, buffalo and cock fights, especially in rural India. Fortunately we have progressed in that wild animals are banned in circuses but on the other hand we still imprison animals in zoos.
India has now banned experimenting on animals for cosmetics, but we still get cosmetics from some companies that continue to carry out experiments on animals in other countries for the ingredients they use.
We pluck the feathers of pretty birds like peacocks and other smaller birds for the use of their feathers in religious places, in home decorations and also for apparel like earrings and belts. We break the spirit of elephants after capturing them from the wild to make them do our bidding and use them with no mercy in our temples. We also kill animals like chickens, goats, pigeons, cows and camels in the name of religion and call it ‘sacrifice’.
We experiment on dogs, rats, monkeys, guinea pigs and rabbits for medicine even though these experiments have not been proven to be useful for the human anatomy.
Ahimsa
India is a land that made the concept of Ahimsa (nonviolence) known to the entire world, and yet we are far away from practicing it ourselves. What exactly is Ahimsa? It’s the concept of living a positive life that doesn’t involve any negative or hurtful thoughts, words about or behaviour with others. We could also automatically include ourselves in this because when we don’t think of hurting others how can we do anything but good for ourselves?
Veganism
Veganism focuses mainly on our actions towards animals and so is a part of the larger concept of Ahimsa. Veganism encourages us to look at things from the perspective of the animals being exploited and asks if we would be okay with those same things done to us. If the answer is ‘No,’ then we should stop making choices that harm animals for any reason.
We can easily live healthy and peaceful lives without keeping animals in captivity or without exploiting, harming and killing them. Please choose ahimsa in all your actions and help us create a kinder and just world for all creatures on this earth.