Are Jains the original vegans?

Although the term "vegan" was coined nearly 80 years ago by the British animal rights advocate Donald Watson, it is only in the last couple of decades that veganism has come into its own as a lifestyle trend. However, in many Eastern cultures, the practice of shunning meat as an act of kindness towards animals is ancient, going back more than two millennia.

In particular, Jainism, the Indian faith that originated in north India sometime between 5th-7th Century BCE, predating Buddhism, comes closest to the modern-day vegan principles of avoiding animal products. "Non-violence or ahimsa is the basic principle of life for all Jains," explained Kusum Jain, retired professor of philosophy at the University of Rajasthan. Professor Jain added, "This includes all living things – not just human beings, but also animals, insects and plants. For Jains, hurting or harming any living being is violence."

One aspect of life where most Jains tend to be stringent is in their food habits and rituals. In general, they follow a vegetarian diet, strictly avoiding meat, seafood and eggs. Jainism also prohibits eating any plant that grows under the soil – such as onions, potatoes, carrots and garlic – since uprooting them could kill insects that thrive in that ecosystem.

Although the Jain diet is guided by the principle of compassion and nonviolence, Jains are allowed to consume dairy and don't see any ethical dilemma in adding dairy to their diets. It was perhaps because traditional dairy farming tended to be ethical and kind to the animals, and the scriptures were written at a time when there was no commercial mass production. "When I was growing up, we had cows at home for the household dairy needs such as milk, curd, butter and ghee. We used to always let the calf have her fill of the milk first before taking for our own consumption," Chef Aruna Vijay, a recent finalist on MasterChef India and a practising Jain said.

Irrespective of the term used to describe them, the important thing, as Vijay noted, is that "[Jains] try their best to avoid harming anything, even by mistake. Our motto is 'live and let live'."