Why is meat-eating looked down upon by certain communities in India?

Here is my take…

I think in the beginning it was less to do with religion and more to do with hygiene and health.

India is a humid country. It’s very hot most of the year, and even in winter, during the day, the weather can be warm in many areas. I mean, it is not as cold as other regions of the world.

Meat, in the absence of refrigeration, begins to rot fast. Even vegetables and fruits rot, but their smell and the condition of their rotting is not as repulsive as that of meat.

You throw meat in the open and when it rots, it is ripe for spreading smell and disease. Throw vegetables and fruits in the open, they become manure.

The body odour of meat eaters is sharper, stronger, and more pungent, compared to vegetarians. Add this to the fact that in a humid environment, people sweat a lot and not everyone had running water. Not everyone lived near a river or a stream or even a well. People couldn’t bathe regularly. Hence, meat eaters must have smelled awfully bad. Perfumes and deodorants, therefore, are more popular among meat eaters than vegetarians.

Since lack of hygiene and smell is indicative of disease, people must have thought that if they could avoid eating meat, they could remain less smelly and healthier. In the olden days people must have also observed that people who ate meat fell sick more compared to those who ate fruits and vegetables. People would have more teeth problems after eating meat compared to after eating fruits and vegetables.

When you slaughter animals for food, it’s usually quite messy. There is lots of blood. There are many parts of the body that are simply thrown. They attract flies and other meat-eating animals. They attract birds of prey that are not exactly friendly-looking, such as vultures.

In the meat markets, in the olden days, live animals were slaughtered when they were about to be sold and the blood would flow in the streets. The surrounding may have seemed horrific to many.

You cannot call slaughtering animals a pleasing sight. There would be lots of wailing and cries of agony. Many people must have thought, “Is it worth it to cause so much pain and anguish when alternatives are available?”

Even today, visit a meat market and then visit a vegetable market. You will note the difference yourself.

Two compelling reasons why people avoided eating meat and avoided people who ate meat:

Lack of refrigeration and hence, lots of rotting meat.

Lack of bathing and washing opportunities resulting in disease and smell.

I’ve noticed in India whenever they thought that there is a practice that can help people live better lives, they turned it into a religious practice. That is why most of the rituals have scientific reasons behind them. Even the concept of untouchability that is abhorrent in the contemporary scenario, had scientific reasons. Think of the Covid outbreak and you will be able to understand the context — social distancing and avoiding people became a norm. And this is when we are scientifically advanced and in a much better position to understand what is going on around us.

Remember that I’m talking about a history of 5000–6000 years. Our current perceptions are based on what, maybe 50–200 years? These practices must have originated for logical reasons and then they transformed into religious practices and then these religious practices turned into superstitious and casteist biases.

Imagine what all people must have faced 1000 years ago, or 2000 years ago, or 4000 years ago.

This is not an excuse for how people behave in modern times, but I strongly believe that the resistance to meat-eating had a solid scientific reason.