Jain Journal 2003 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 19

MEAT EATING BY THE EARLY JAINS-ATRAGEDY OF
LINGUISTICS
GP CAPT. V. K. JAIN
From time to time authors dealing with Jain texts and history, have raised the issue of meat eating by the early Jains. More specifically, the use of a meat preparation by Lord Mahāvīra to treat his sickness has been advanced as the primary evidence in this regard. In most cases the author's did not have the necessary cultural background to understand or appreciate the possibility of alternate meanings and near impossibility of their prima facie interpretation. The latest to join in this potpourri is the book titled Holy Cow-Beef in Indian Dietary Tradition which has once again raised the controversy about the Jains along with the controversy about beef eating by the Hindus. The book is not available for detailed study as its publication has been stayed by the courts. My discussions with the author and perusal of what has appeared in the press, indicates that the author has used certain previous source references to conclude that the early Jains were not so inhibited in taking meat or its preparations. He has used this as a convenient peg to support his main thesis although there is no apparent connection with the title of the book which concerns beef eating. He has reposed blind faith in his references. Perhaps he had neither the time nor the inclination to go into the depth of this matter. Had he done so, it would have revealed to him the basic infirmities in those sources.
A passage in the Bhagavati Sūtra (15/152) of the Jain canon has been the main and important quotation in this regard, although there are some minor references in the Acāranga, Daśavaikālikasūtra and Suryaprajñapti also. Some Western and Eastern scholars have translated the above passage and concluded that Mahāvīra, to overcome his illness, partook of a preparation made by cooking a cock killed by a cat. The text of his passage is as follows :
tam gacchaha nam tumam sīhā. Mendhiyagamaṁ nagaram revatie gāhāvatiņie gihe tattha nam revatie gāhāvatinie mamam atthāe duve kavoya sarīrā uvakkhadiyā tehim no attho atthise anne pāriyāsie majjārakadae kukkudamamsae tamāharāhi ee nam attho.