The earliest records of vegetarianism as a concept and practice amongst a significant number of people are from ancient India, especially among the Hindus and Jains. Later records indicate that small groups within the ancient Greek civilizations in southern Italy and Greece also adopted some dietary habits similar to vegetarianism. In both instances, the diet was closely connected with the idea of nonviolence toward animals (called ahimsa in India), and was promoted by religious groups and philosophers.
Following the Christianization of the Roman Empire in late antiquity (4th–6th centuries), vegetarianism nearly disappeared from Europe. Several orders of monks in medieval Europe restricted or banned the consumption of meat for ascetic reasons but none of them abstained from the consumption of fish; these monks were not vegetarians but some were pescetarians. Vegetarianism was to reemerge somewhat in Europe during the Renaissance and became a more widespread practice during the 19th and 20th centuries. The figures for the percentage of the Western world which is vegetarian varies between 0.5% and 4% per Mintel data in September 2006.
Ancient Indian subcontinent Early Jainism and Buddhism
Jain and Buddhist sources show that the principle of nonviolence toward animals was an established rule in both religions as early as the 6th century BCE.Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics vol. 1 p. 231.; . The Jain concept, which is particularly strict, may be even older. Lord Parshvanath, the 23rd Jain leader whom modern historians consider to be a historical figure, lived in the 9th century BCE. He is said to have preached nonviolence no less strictly than it was practiced in the Jain community during the times of Mahavira (6th century BCE). Tirukkural, dated to the late 5th century CE, contains chapters on veganism or moral vegetarianism, emphasizing unambiguously on non-animal diet (Chapter 26), non-harming (Chapter 32), and non-killing (Chapter 33).
Not everyone who refused to participate in any killing or injuring of animals also abstained from the consumption of meat. Hence the question of Buddhist vegetarianism in the earliest stages of that religion's development is controversial. There are two schools of thought. One says that the Buddha and his followers ate meat offered to them by hosts or alms-givers if they had no reason to suspect that the animal had been slaughtered specifically for their sake. The other one says that the Buddha and his community of monks (sangha) were strict vegetarians and the habit of accepting alms of meat was only tolerated later on, after a decline of discipline.Kapleau, Philip: To Cherish All Life, Rochester (N.Y.) 1981, p. 29-33Page, Tony: Buddhism and Animals, London 1999
The first opinion is supported by several passages in the Pali version of the Tripitaka, the opposite one by some Mahayana texts.; . All those sources were put into writing several centuries after the death of the Buddha. They may reflect the conflicting positions of different wings or currents within the Buddhist community in its early stage. According to the Vinaya Pitaka, the first schism happened when the Buddha was still alive: a group of monks led by Devadatta left the community because they wanted stricter rules, including an unconditional ban on meat eating.
The Mahaparinibbana Sutta, which narrates the end of the Buddha's life, states that he died after eating sukara-maddava, a term translated by some as pork, by others as mushrooms (or an unknown vegetable).Waley, Arthur: Did Buddha die of eating pork?, in: Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques, vol. 1931/32, p. 343-354.
The Buddhist emperor Ashoka (304–232 BCE) was a vegetarian, and a determined promoter of nonviolence to animals. He promulgated detailed laws aimed at the protection of many species, abolished animal sacrifice at his court, and admonished the population to avoid all kinds of unnecessary killing and injury.Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics vol. 2 p. 124-125.; . Ashoka has asserted protection to fauna, from his edicts:
Theravada Buddhists used to observe the regulation of the Pali canon which allowed them to eat meat unless the animal had been slaughtered specifically for them.; . In the Mahayana school some scriptures advocated vegetarianism; a particularly uncompromising one was the famous Lankavatara Sutra written in the fourth or fifth century CE.; .Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol, Food of Bodhisattvas, Boston 2004, p. 47-77.
Hinduism
The vegetarian lifestyle is deeply rooted in India's historical traditions, as vegetarian cuisine existed as early as the time of the Vedas. The early history of Indian dietary practices, especially during the Vedic period, was shaped by the concept of the Guṇa—a central term in Hindu philosophy that refers to qualities or attributes. It was believed that the three Guṇas—Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas—manifested in the forms of "vegetarian," "spicy," and "meaty" foods, respectively. Brahmins, the priests of the highest caste, often adhered to vegetarian diets guided by the Sattva philosophy.
Philosopher Michael Allen Fox asserts that "Hinduism has the most profound connection with a vegetarian way of life and the strongest claim to fostering and supporting it." In the ancient Vedic period (between 1500 and 500 BCE), although the laws permitted the consumption of some types of meat, vegetarianism was encouraged. Hinduism provides several foundations for vegetarianism as the Vedas, the oldest and sacred texts of Hinduism, assert that all creatures manifest the same life force and therefore merit equal care and compassion. A number of Hindu texts place injunctions against meat-eating and others like the Ramayana and Mahabharata advocate for a vegetarian diet. In Hinduism, killing a cow is traditionally considered a sin.
Vegetarianism was, and still is, mandatory for Hindu yogis, both for the practitioners of Hatha YogaGherand Samhita 5.17-21. and for the disciples of the Vaishnava schools of Bhakti Yoga (especially the Gaudiya Vaishnavas). A bhakta (devotee) offers all his food to Vishnu or Krishna as prasad before eating it.Bhagavad Gita 3.13 . Only vegetarian food can be accepted as prasad.Mahabharata 12.257 (or 12.265 according to another count); Bhagavad Gita 9.26; Bhagavata Purana 7.15.7. According to Yogic thought, saatvik food (pure or having a good impact on the body) is meant to calm and purify the mind "enabling it to function at its maximum potential" and keep the body healthy. Saatvik foods consist of "cereals, fresh fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, sprouted seeds, whole grains, and milk taken from a cow, which is allowed to have a natural birth, life, and death including natural food, after satiating the needs of milk of its calf". Many Vaishnava schools avoid vegetables such as onion, garlic, leek, radish, carrot, brinjal (eggplant), bottle gourd, mushrooms, red lentils, etc., as they are considered to have non-saatvik effects on the body.
Shankar Narayan suggests that the origin of vegetarianism in India developed from the idea that balance needed to be restored. He claims, "Along with the development in civilization, savagery also increased, and those who were helpless and voiceless among both humans and non-human animals were more and more exploited and killed to satiate human needs and greed, thus disturbing the balance of nature. But there were also many serious attempts to bring back humanity to sanity and restore balance from time to time." He also notes that the idea of living in harmony with nature became central to the rulers and kings.
Zoroastrianism Followers of Ilm-e-Kshnoom, a school of Zoroastrian thought found in India, practice vegetarianism, and follow other currently non-traditional opinions. There have been various theological statements supporting vegetarianism in Zoroastrianism's history and claims that Zoroaster was vegetarian.
Mediterranean Basin
Classical antiquity In Ancient Greece during Classical antiquity, the vegetarian diet was called abstinence from beings with a soul (, apokhḗ empsúkhōn). As a principle or deliberate way of life it was always limited to a rather small number of practitioners belonging to specific philosophical schools or certain religious groups. The earliest European/Asian Minor references to a vegetarian diet occur in Homer (Odyssey 9, 82–104) and Herodotus (4, 177), who mention the Lotophagi (Lotus-eaters), an indigenous people on the North African coast, who according to Herodotus lived on nothing but the fruits of a plant called lotus. Diodorus Siculus (3, 23–24) transmits tales of vegetarian peoples or tribes in Ethiopia, and further stories of this kind are narrated and discussed in ancient sources.
The earliest reliable evidence for vegetarian theory and practice in Greece dates from the 6th century BCE. The Orphics, a religious movement spreading in Greece at that time, may have practiced vegetarianism.; . It is unclear whether the Greek religious teacher Pythagoras actually advocated vegetarianism, and it is more likely that Pythagoras only prohibited certain kinds of meat. Later writers presented Pythagoras as prohibiting meat altogether. Eudoxus of Cnidus, a student of Archytas and Plato, writes that "Pythagoras was distinguished by such purity and so avoided killing and killers that he not only abstained from animal foods, but even kept his distance from cooks and hunters". Behind Pythagoras' rejection of eating meat were ethical considerations. He believed that animals possess both intelligence and passion (the critical elements for sentience) and because of that their mistreatment was unethical. Pythagoras additionally forbade his students from consuming eggs and wearing woolen clothing.
The followers of Pythagoras (called Pythagoreans) did not always practice strict vegetarianism, but at least their inner circle did. For the general public, abstention from meat was a hallmark of the so-called "Pythagorean way of life".; . Both Orphics and strict Pythagoreans also avoided eggs and shunned the ritual offerings of meat to the gods which were an essential part of traditional religious sacrifice.; . In the 5th century BCE the philosopher Empedocles distinguished himself as a radical advocate of vegetarianism specifically and of respect for animals in general.; ; . A fictionalized portrayal of Pythagoras appears in Book XV of Ovid's Metamorphoses, in which he advocates a form of strict vegetarianism. It was through this portrayal that Pythagoras was best known to English-speakers throughout the early modern period and, prior to the coinage of the word "vegetarianism", vegetarians were referred to in English as "Pythagoreans".
The question of whether there are any ethical duties toward animals was hotly debated, and the arguments in dispute were quite similar to the ones familiar in modern discussions on animal rights.; . Vegetarianism was usually part and parcel of religious convictions connected with the concept of transmigration of the soul (metempsychosis).; . There was a widely held belief, popular among both vegetarians and non-vegetarians, that in the Golden Age of the beginning of humanity mankind was strictly non-violent. In that utopian state of the world hunting, livestock breeding, and meat-eating, as well as agriculture were unknown and unnecessary, as the earth spontaneously produced in abundance all the food its inhabitants needed. This myth is recorded by Hesiod (Works and Days 109sqq.), Plato (Statesman 271–2), the famous Roman poet Ovid (Metamorphoses 1,89sqq.), and others. Ovid also praised the Pythagorean ideal of universal nonviolence (Metamorphoses 15,72sqq.).