As whole, the major religions of South Asia place a high value on ahmisa, or nonviolence, which is reflected in the promotion of a vegetarian diet to avoid harming animals. However, in light of modern agriculture’s cultivation practices, some have called into question the permissibility of milk consumption. For many Indians, this represents a dissonance between the sacred nature of cow’s milk and the harmful karma associated with harm to such a creature. This conflict between the religious importance of cow’s milk and the ahimsa associated with obtaining the substance leads to a divide among modern Jains, causing a primarily generational split between young, educated Jains from Anglophone countries and those with more traditional views. While young Jains assert that such a rejection of milk is motivated by a commitment to ahimsa, some call into question the participation of Jains in the global animal liberation movement as a contradiction to the Jain value of world renunciation.By examining the ways in which young Jains rectify the conflict between the traditional importance of cow’s milk and the value of ahimsa, which include subversion of traditional Jain dietary practices, it can be concluded that the rejection of milk by Jains in the diaspora provides a means of interacting with global social movements while reaffirming a unique Jain identity.
The Jain Religion
Although Jains are a minority in India, the distinctive and austere practices associated with the religion led to the development of a unique identity within India’s larger Hindu culture. While Hinduism and Buddhism also value ahimsa, nonviolence, Jainism’s ethical system is built primarily around adherence to the principle of absolute nonviolence. Jain teaching maintains that every being has a perfect, eternal soul, a jiva, which is equivalent to that of a human soul, and such jivas are caught in an endless cycle of birth and death. In order to escape this cycle, one must avoid accruing bad karma. In Jain ideology, the only way to escape the himsa associated with living and achieve moksha is through the ascetic ideal of world renunciation. Although Jain society is divided into renouncers and laity, both engage in ascetic practices. Renouncers, who have taken a vow of complete nonviolence, must avoid harm to even the simplest beings and thus live without a home or possessions and depend on the generosity of others to provide food. Both Jain renouncers and laity are expected to follow the precepts of the ascetic’s vows, the mahavratas, all of which stem from the principle of nonviolence and aim to limit a Jain’s involvement in worldly affairs. Beyond nonviolence, the remaining mahavratas call Jains to truthfulness, non-stealing, sexual restraint, and non-possession (Humphrey and Laidlaw; Jainism and the Puja Ritual).
Many Hindus and Buddhists are vegetarians to avoid himsa to animals, but for Jains, the principle of ahimsa is extended to innumerable beings which are characterised by their senses; a single-sensed jiva is that contained within vegetable origins while a five-sensed jiva is an animal or human being. Because each jiva is a being equivalent in value to a human and causing harm leads to negative karma, Jain vegetarianism not only prohibits meat consumption but also foods like root vegetables, which contain the life of the entire plant and house many single-sensed beings. Other foods forbidden to Jains include eggs, unfiltered water, fermented foods, and yeast. (semiotics)
Because of the emphasis on avoiding harm through one’s consumption, for Jains, food can be considered a ‘dangerous’ substance because it forces one to interact with and take from the world instead of removing oneself from it. According to The Jain Plate: Semiotics of the Diaspora Diet, for Jains, food bears particular importance because “diet is ethics inscribed upon the body”, and diet provides a concrete way for Jain practitioners to exercise their ideological beliefs through practice. (semiotics) Jains approach the world and particularly food with what James Laidlaw refers to as an “ethic of quarantine”, which he argues is not so much about minimizing death, but keeping one’s interaction with worldly life to a minimum; in other words, Laidlaw asserts that Jain diet has as much to do with world renunciation as it does ahimsa (Laidlaw-modern movements)
While this may be an accurate description of Jain theology as it is understood and practiced historically within India, modern diaspora Jainism is redefining what it means to follow a Jain diet, shifting a focus away from ascetic self-control to compassion for other creatures. Increasingly, modern Jains, especially in North America, no longer follow a traditional Jain diet that prohibits things like potatoes and onions, but instead avoid foods that are linked to harm to the environment or animal cruelty, such as rennet, lecithin, gelatin, even milk products on the grounds that they are animal products and thus linked to himsa. Although this may seem like a drastic shift away from tradition, the use of the individual’s body and diet as a medium for ethical expression is a distinctly Jain notion that allows Jains in the diaspora to connect to their religious identity (semiotics)
Importance of Cow’s Milk
While there is extensive discourse between Jains in the diaspora today regarding the permissibility of cow’s milk, for many, the removal of dairy products would be unthinkable because of the importance of milk in South Asian culture and religion. Throughout India, cows are revered and milk is considered a sacred substance. Although this principle is tied to ahimsa, the special standing of cows can be traced back to both ancient sources and the practice of Hinduism. In the Rig Veda, cattle are praised for their economic value; bulls provide transportation, assistance in agriculture, and flesh while female cows provide nourishment through their milk. Beyond their utilitarian value, cattle served as a chief sacrificial victim within Vedic literature, yet there are several passages that refer to cattle using the word aghanya, not to be slain. While Vedic texts do not proclaim the cow to be sacred and even encourage its slaughter, they do extol the value of cattle, even if only from an economic perspective. The idea of cow protection became more apparent in the time of the Laws of Manu, which list cow slaughter as a crime and suggest the use of cow milk, dung, urine, and ghee as sacred and purifying substances for ritual use (sanctity of the cow in hinduism)
The rhetoric of cow protection as a part of Indian identity was cemented by M. K. Gandhi; while Gandhi himself was Hindu, his teachings were no doubt influenced by Jainism during his early life in the province of Gujarat. For Gandhi, the cow is a recipient of special benevolence because of its gentle nature; like a mother provides milk to her child, cows provide milk to humans and should thus be treated with the utmost respect and protection. Gandhi later began to leverage cow protection as a vehicle for Indian nationalism, but his appeals to cow protection undeniably shaped public opinion towards dairy products and their sanctity. Because of the religious importance of milk, India is the largest producer of milk worldwide and dairy products including yoghurt, paneer, and condensed milk are a staple of many Indian diets (rhetoric of violence, religion, and purity in india’s cow protection movement)
Because Jainism arose from the majority Hindu country of India, the importance of milk extended to Jainism and use in Jain rituals. One of the most prominent Jain religious festivals, Mahamasthakabhishka, is performed every twelve years at the famous Jain pilgrimage site in Karnataka, India. The word Mahamasthakabhishka means “head anointing ceremony” where devotees anoint a statue of Lord Bahubali, a symbol of austerity and complete detachment. Among other substances, Jains pour thousands of gallons of milk over the statue as a symbol of their devotion. (http://mahamasthakabhisheka.com). Despite the fact that this event occurs in India, it nevertheless remains important to Jains in the diaspora. The magazine Jain Digest, published by the Federation of the Jain Associations of North America, published a piece on this festival as a religious pilgrimage and encouraged its readers to visit and participate (Jain digest 2018) Because of the cultural and religious prominence of milk for Jains, the act of renouncing such a pleasure is one that not only removes a sense of bodily satisfaction, but often participation in traditional rites.
The Modern Dairy Industry
Because milk unequivocally bears special importance to Jains both in India and within the diaspora community, in order to contextualize the significance of rejecting consumption of dairy products, one must understand the process of cow husbandry and its connection to himsa. Prior to the 21st century, in India, the majority of milk was produced on family farms and consumed primarily by the family, marking a direct and intimate relationship between humans and an animal they care for. However, in the face of increasing demand for milk, India faces pressure to expand productivity of the dairy industry, leading to a shift in cultivation practices. The Indian government’s National Action Plan for Dairy development outlines a goal of increasing productivity primarily by shifting focus away from the traditional, small scale cultivation method to favor modern agricultural practices utilized by countries like the United States. Within this agricultural model, the majority of animals are selectively bred for maximum milk production, so this industrialized agricultural approach would move away from the use of the Bos Indicus, the traditional humped Indian cow. The National Dairy Plan also outlines a goal of utilizing artificial insemination for the majority of cow breeding in the near future, along with moving towards a system of feedlots rather than grazing (future trends of growing demand for milk and dairy products and … Yukiko Nozaki)
While it may seem paradoxical, another reason for the complications of the dairy industry in India is the passage of the Cow Protection Act, which places penalties on those who slaughter the Bos Indicus. Because the dairy industry inherently relies on mature female cows that have recently given birth, they are faced with the issue of what to do with male calves and older females that cannot be used for dairy production. Often, the solution is to set such cattle loose to starve to circumvent fines that would come from slaughtering cattle, or instead sell them to illegal traders. (future trends of growing demand for milk and dairy products and … Yukiko Nozaki). As a direct result of the growing demand for milk, growing evidence has shown that the majority of milk products in India have been intentionally adulterated and thus do not meet the safety standards laid out by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). In order to produce milk products more economically, substances such as urea, starch, glucose, and formalin are added in the industrial processing of milk as a thickeners and preservatives. Thus, the dairy industry in India contributes not only to harm towards cows, but harm towards the people who consume their milk (economic times article)
For modern Jain practitioners, the consumption of milk is understandably a source of ambivalence and discord. On one hand, milk and other dairy products bear religious importance and provide a connection to their Indian heritage, which can be especially valuable for Jains in the diaspora looking for a way to reconnect to their identity. On the other hand, many Jains see the rejection of milk as a natural extension of their commitment to ahimsa in the face of changing agricultural practices and a medium for engaging with society in a distinctly Jain manner: through the diet and body of the individual. Because of the complex nature of modern Jains’ connection to milk, the interplay cannot simply be boiled down to choice between rejection and consumption, but instead investigated with an acknowledgement of the fluidity of diet and religious practice.
Historical Precedent for Milk Rejection
While modern Jains who reject milk generally do so as a response to the dairy industry’s implication in suffering, the rejection of milk is not simply a modern adjustment to an ancient tradition. Rather, in addition to being characteristic of modern diaspora Jainism, there are historical roots behind the removal of dairy products from the Jain diet. Within Jain dietary practices, the strictness of one’s restrictions depends on the vrats, vows, that a Jain has taken and the required level of piety. One such category of food is known as the Maha Vigai, the great perversions, which are to be avoided because of their ability to arouse the four passions: anger, pride, greed, and deceit. Traditionally, the Maha Vigai include honey, meat, alcohol, and ghee, but some pious Jains consider milk a part of this category because of its quality as a tamasic food. Tamasic foods have the potential to cause both physical and mental harm to the body because of their tendency to excite the passions, which would lead one to go against acceptable, pious Jain behavior. However, some Jains would not classify dairy products as tamasic, and such a classification varies based on region and practitioner. Despite the fact that milk bears religious importance to Jains, there is historical precedent for the rejection of milk on the very basis of religion. (http://jainsite.in/ayambil/)
Although milk is generally considered an integral part of Indian identity, Mahatma Ghandi notably believed that milk could not be categorized as a vegetarian substance. In his writing The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism, Gandhi makes the statement that “milk is an animal product and cannot by any means be included in a strictly vegetarian diet” because of the fact that “it serves the purpose of meat to a very large extent.” Gandhi extols the benefits of rejecting milk, claiming that man is not entitled to take any milk besides that which he receives as a baby from his human mother. Beyond the moral implications of taking something from an animal, Gandhi also focuses on the fact that any animal products bring with them the “defects” of the animal from which they were derived. Despite Gandhi’s insistence that milk is not in fact a truly vegetarian food, Gandhi himself could not fully remove all milk from his diet due to health reasons, which he called “the tragedy of his life”. (Moral basis of vegetarianism ghandi)
Alternative Agricultural Practices
In the face of changing agricultural practices, one way to rectify the dissonance between milk’s cultural significance and its connection to violence is through a growing movement for “slaughter-free milk”. Such milk is produced in a manner antithetical to the ideals of industrialized agriculture, with focus on animal welfare over economic profit and expansion. These small-scale farms mirror India’s pre-industrial dairy farms, and similarly lack practices like artificial insemination, genetic modifications, and hormone injections that would amount to violence against their cattle. One such company is the United Kingdom based Ahimsa Milk, which markets specifically towards Indians in the diaspora, including Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists, who have become increasingly wary of purchasing milk in Britain, which faces similar problems with their own animal agriculture. Ahimsa milk advertises that they do not slaughter any cows, calves, or bulls, and they even milk their cows by hand.(AHIMSA MILK) In the United States, California has several slaughter-free dairy farms marketed primarily towards Americans concerned with the concept of animal welfare, such as Long Dream Farm, that advertises its mission to provide consumers with “the choice to consume dairy without coupling to the meat industry” (LONG DREAM FARM)
Despite the potential for a slaughter-free farming model to rectify conflicting attitudes towards milk within Jainism, such farming is still extremely isolated and largely inaccessible to individuals living in suburban or urban areas. Because of the increased costs associated with this style of animal husbandry, the dairy products produced by these farms are extremely cost prohibitive, with the only cheese available online from Long Dream farm costing $39.99 for a single package. Further, although a slaughter-free farming model would largely address Jain concerns over violence towards animals, it would not provide a solution to Gandhi’s concern that milk is fundamentally non-vegetarian and not for human use.
Veganism and the Modern Jain Diet
As emphasized by scholar Anne Valley, for Jains, the body is the medium upon which ethics are inscribed and diet provides a concrete way to engage with one’s ethical ideology. While traditional Jain diets aimed to limit worldly involvement, modern Jains, especially in the diaspora, have adjusted their dietary restrictions to reflect not world detachment, but world redemption; instead of utilizing diet as a means of self-control, Jains are increasingly using diet as a medium for compassion through the rejection of foods associated with tangible forms of animal exploitation. (semiotics) This can be seen as a growing eagerness to participate in the global ecological and animal rights movements which focus not on individual redemption, but the redemption of society.
For Jains in the diaspora, connection to their religious and cultural identity comes through their family members along with local Jain organizations known as Sanghs. In the United States and Canada, the umbrella organization of local Jain groups is known as the Federation of Jain Associations in North America, or JAINA. This organization’s aim is to “foster friendship and unity among various Jain communities and elsewhere”, and JAINA’s objectives involve the promotion of religious and educational activities, including encouraging engagement with community service activities (https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.jaina.org/resource/resmgr/JAINAEC15-17/JAINA_Constitution_1-15-09.pdf).
Additionally, featured prominently in JAINA literature is the message that as Jains, they have a connection and responsibility to the issues of animal welfare and environmentalism. On the JAINA website along with several printable pamphlets, the association professes its support for “Eco-Veganism” and describes the launch of the Jain Eco-Vegan Project, which encourages Jain practitioners to adopt veganism as defined by “not eating, wearing, or using animal products” on the basis of “animal suffering and animal killing”. In order to do this, JAINA urges its member community centers to hire Vegan Ambassadors specifically to promote adherence to animal welfare within each community Sangh, who would take on the responsibility of encouraging their members to adopt “animal-friendly practices” like avoiding leather products and avoiding dairy consumption. Currently, 30% of Jain centers have a vegan ambassador. (https://www.jaina.org/group/vegan)
Even though the literature of North American Sanghs and their umbrella organization JAINA overwhelmingly favor adoption of a vegan diet, this does not necessarily reflect the beliefs or dietary practices of the average Jain. Because of the ubiquitous presence of the Internet in the lives of modern people, online recipe blogs are a way of gaining insight into the actual dietary practices of Jains. When reviewing the categorization of Jain recipes, the dichotomy between traditional food restrictions and the emerging ethic of veganism becomes apparent. On the lifestyle and food blog affiliated with JAINA, recipes are grouped into two main categories: Vegan and Jain. The Jain recipes generally include traditional Indian dishes like Rava Idli, dosa, rice kheer, and various masalas, with some of the most prevalent ingredients being ghee, paneer, and buttermilk. While the Jain recipe section adheres to traditional dietary restrictions including rejection of root vegetables, yeast, and fermented foods, the Vegan recipe page adheres to a different dietary ethic. These recipes are, in general, authentic to Indian cuisine, but appeal specifically to a North American audience, pairing descriptions of traditional dal preparation with instructions on making a ‘vegan pizza’ with milk-free cheese. Perhaps the most striking contrast between the two sets of recipes is the fact than several of the Vegan Recipes stray from traditional Jain restrictions, including ingredients like ginger, arrowroot powder, and asafoetida, all of which are root vegetables and would traditionally be avoided by Jains.(https://www.jaina.org/page/JainRecipe). Another popular recipe page, Jain Vegans, aims to “help Jains transition towards a low-himsa lifestyle”, but the movement away from traditional dietary restrictions is similarly apparent. However, the website offers a disclaimer that while they include recipes with ingredients like root vegetables and fermented foods due to their growing acceptance in the Jain community, most of these ingredients can be easily left out or substituted(.http://www.jainvegans.org/recipes/). Overall, reflected in modern Jain recipe blogs is the growing idea that dietary preferences and restrictions are left to the individual, with the option to reinforce one’s Jain identity through traditional dishes or reinforce an expanding ethical system by eating for the purpose of maintaining ahimsa towards animals. Although the latter option may seem like a rejection of Jain values, the idea of individual discernation regarding diet and ethics demonstrates a means of carving out a distinctly Jain identity in the midst of a changing socio-cultural environment.
Distinctions between Jainism and Modern Social Movements
With the changing definition of what it means to eat as a Jain, to follow traditional restrictions or align with modern movements, is a question debated by Jain scholars. Although Jains who reject milk while consuming traditionally prohibited foods would defend their rationale through an ethical commitment to ahimsa, some claim that such a shift is not due to concern over harm to jivas but rather increasing laxity towards traditional food restrictions among diaspora Jains. In the book Vegetarian Food and Jain Conduct, Dr. Hukam Chand Bharill criticizes the lack of concern among many modern Jains towards beings with fewer senses, which are protected by traditional Jain restrictions, as they too contain jivas and are worthy of equivalent compassion. Interestingly, the original publication of the book offered little comment on milk, besides stating that its consumption traditionally acceptable under Jain dietary practices because unlike eggs, which come from a chicken’s sexual organs, milk is a pure substance. (BOOK CITATION)However, after “feedback pointing out the cruel processes used by modern milk industries”, the affiliated website added a page in 2013 outlining how Jains could practice ahimsa through veganism, even though milk consumption itself is not forbidden. https://www.atmadharma.com/shastras/vegetarian_food_and_jain_conduct_eng_txt/vfjcmpmilk.html The attitudes of Dr. Bharill reflect the growing dissonance in regards to changes in Jain diets, and that for many scholars criticizing the modernization of dietary practices, the issue lies not with rejecting dairy, but with consuming other traditionally prohibited substances. In fact, in light of modern cultivation methods, most Jains recognize the himsa associated with milk, but they associate the adoption of a vegan diet with Westernization and rejection of traditional ideals.
puja:https://ojs.library.dal.ca/JUE/article/viewFile/8146/6982
While the rejection of dairy product consumption is fundamentally an individual decision, it is made by Jains within the larger context of the animal liberation and environmental social movements. However, although the ideologies of nonviolence and compassion within Jainism intersect with modern social movements, the Jain identity cannot be equated with participation in such social movements. The scholar Laidlaw asserts that “the nature of the connection between Jainism and these worldwide social movements is being glossed over in a variety of ways”, primarily because aspects of Jain ideology are at odds with that of such social movements. At the head of the animal liberation movement is the philosopher Peter Singer, who centers his argument for ‘speciesism’, mistreatment of animals, around humans’ denial of animals’ inherent moral rights. On the other hand, Jainism emphasizes world renunciation, and with that, concepts like inherent rights. The vast majority of rhetoric for the modern environmental movement focuses on the idea that we as human beings are causing irreparable damage to the world, but the view of the universe within Jainism is that humans cannot alter the universe’s course in a substantial way, and that the world contains inherent suffering; instead, Jains look to minimize their negative environmental impact to avoid the individual acquisition of bad karma. In other words, the primary motive within Jainism is not to change suffering in the world. (Laidlaw- ethical traditions in question)
Socially Motivated Ahimsa
Despite the distinctions in ideology between Jainism and global social movements, many young Jains, especially in Anglophone countries, find that the similar emphasis on compassion transcends these differences and that they as Jains are called to participate. Anney Valley explains this inclination of young Jains in the diaspora as a shift away from complete world renunciation in favor of ‘socially motivated ahimsa’; instead of focusing solely on individual redemption, young Jains turn outwards to favor societal redemption. While this may seem in opposition to the Jain identity, this trend is still in line with traditional ethical orientation; however, it marks a shift in the piety of ahimsa over self-control and world renunciation. (Anne Valley)
Conclusions
As a function of modernization and the diaspora, the Jain identity and practice have inevitably shifted. In general, the lesser emphasis on world renunciation and self-control and the greater emphasis on ‘socially motivated ahimsa’ is illustrated in the changing dietary restrictions of Jains, specifically the consumption of traditionally forbidden foods and the rejection of milk in the name of ahimsa. However, the Jain identity is fluid, and the ideas of both world transcendence and ahimsa can coexist and interact in a modern diaspora community. Whether modern Jains choose to reject milk or traditionally forbidden substances, the emphasis on bodily orientation of the individual through diet provides a way to reaffirm and build a unique, Jain identity even in the diaspora. Although Western veganism is fundamentally separate from Jainism, for many young Jains, following a vegan diet and rejecting milk products provides a means of contextualizing their identity within the modern world and engaging with social issues in a distinctly Jain manner: through the individual, through the body, and through food.