Ahimsa

 Today in class one of the things we discussed was Ahimsa, the Hindu and Jain idea of non-violence. In it, Hindus and Jains refrain from eating animals for food. One of the main ideas we touched upon was that all food are souls and all of nature is just a gift that is exchanged. I thought this was interesting because I used ahimsa as one of my main talking points in my senior seminar thesis. In my thesis project, I argued that the religious practices of the Adivasi, the Indigenous groups of India, are more environmentally friendly than the practices of Hindus. 

I also remember learning about ahimsa in one of my anthropology classes a couple of semesters ago. I think the class was called "environmental anthropology." We did a reading that discussed the Hindu principle of ahimsa and why it was so important to the Hindus of that mountainous region. The reading said that it was because of the environment that they lived in that this principle worked in their favor. The mountains gave life that served the Hindus of this region, and in turn, the Hindus use the grasses, trees, and waters, as well as trade with one another, to sustain life for themselves. They have no use for killing. What good does killing do in their society? Nothing. This serves as a cultural practice as well as a religious one as well. Nature is an exchange in this way which benefits them physically and spiritually.