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Key Points:
While vegetarianism is associated with Hindu identity, many communities, especially in Bengal, Assam, and Odisha, include fish and meat in religious offerings.
Food is often politicized, with religious sentiments tied to dietary habits, such as bans on meat during religious events.
In 2018, reports estimated that only 23–27% of Indians identified as vegetarians.
The relationship between religion, culture, and politics is deeply intertwined, with each often influencing the other. In a diverse country like India, religion has increasingly become a politically charged subject over the years. One aspect of this is how food has become a marker of association in relation to religion.
Do your eating habits and food preferences reflect your religion, or does your religion determine your food choices? This paradox frequently channels into politics to serve particular ideologies, often targeting or being used against specific religious communities.
Political intervention in personal preferences often begins by targeting a particular food item and associating it with the majority religion. The food restrictions on non-vegetarian dishes during the Kanwar Yatra serve as one example of politics meeting religion and culture.
The Meerut district (in Uttar Pradesh) administration imposed a ban on cooking non-vegetarian foods, including fish, eggs, and meat, in local eateries to ensure a peaceful annual pilgrimage.
In many religious traditions practised in India, people follow strict dietary plans—some rooted in ancient texts and others in widely popular beliefs. In Jain theology, practitioners avoid consuming meat and root vegetables. They consider uprooting a root vegetable an act of violence. In Hindu culture, consuming beef is strictly prohibited because of the cow’s divine sacredness. However, the popular belief that India is a vegetarian country is far from true.
According to the BBC, two-thirds of the Indian population eat non-vegetarian food. In 2018, reports estimated that only 23–27% of Indians identified as vegetarians.
The Pew Research Center stated in 2021 that about 81% of Indian adults restrict their consumption of meat—either by avoiding certain kinds of meat altogether or by abstaining on specific days of the week due to religious sentiments. The report further stated that only 39% of Indian adults identified as vegetarians. This study also states that around 44% Hindus are vegetarians.
Hinduism does not enforce vegetarianism as a mandatory requirement. Instead, the idea derives from abstaining from killing other creatures and consuming their meat.
Over time, vegetarianism has come to signify Hindu identity. However, some Hindu cultures dissent from this belief and incorporate meat into their religious practices. Bengali culture, in particular, challenges the political narrative of Hinduism and vegetarianism.
The offerings of fish and meat in religious rituals have persisted for thousands of years. The Vedas, composed around 1500 BCE, also mention such practices. Food historian K.T. Achaya, in his book A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food, stated that the Vedas permitted ritual killings of cows, horses, sheep, and other animals. Among the 250 animals listed in the sacred texts, 50 were deemed appropriate for ritual practices such as Yagnas.
Although vegetarianism is widely associated with Hindu traditions, many practices in India involve offering non-vegetarian food in temples. Devotees offer such items as ‘bhog’ during rituals like Durga Puja. In addition to meat, some traditions include fish, chicken, mutton, and even alcohol as offerings. In the Kaal Bhairav temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, devotees offer Lord Bhairav his favourite madira (liquor).
This offering, known as madira seva, is believed to get rid of negativity and serves as a symbol of devotion and faith.
In certain Bengali families of East Bengal or Bangladeshi origin, people customarily offer fish to Goddess Durga on Dashami.
Similar practices exist in Assam and Odisha, where devotees offer cooked fish to Goddess Vimala inside the Jagannath temple. They offer silver hilsa, rohu, snakehead murrel, catfish, and other varieties. Tantric tradition considers fish (matsya) part of the five panchakaras and views it as a temporary resting place for departed souls before they leave the mortal realm.
The Bengali love for fish extends beyond cultural delicacy; it also stems from the abundance of fish in the region, which makes it both a staple food and a ritualistic offering. Fishing has long sustained livelihoods in Bengal. The region is home to multiple rivers such as the Ganges, Damodar, Hooghly, Bhagirathi, and Teesta.
The Bay of Bengal forms the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta in the Sundarbans, providing opportunities for fishing. Critics often oppose the Bengali custom of offering non-vegetarian food to gods. Yet, in the famous 13th-century Tarapith temple of West Bengal, devotees continue to offer fish daily to Goddess Kali. Its easy availability ensures that fish remains not only a ritualistic offering but also a common staple found in every corner of Bengal.
Can restrictions on any food item be termed as regressive or controlling? Food available in abundance is not only a source of livelihood for thousands but also a cultural delicacy and, at times, a sacred offering to gods. [Rh/VS]
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