Meat Eating in Valmiki Ramayana

There are a significant number of passages in Valmiki Ramayana where the principal characters used meat in their religious rites and daily diet. Here are some of the passages with original quotes. It was meat that would not be acceptable today to a typical Hindu. It included wild boar (wild pig) and reptile meat (mangoose or varamus)!

Please note that the Tamil poet Kamban (around 11th century CE) completely sanitizes his Ramayana from meat diet for these characters. So much so that  the first thing Rama utters when he scolds Sita after defeating Ravana is “ஊன் திறம் உவந்தனை” (“you enjoyed meat eating”)  and scolds her again a few verses later as having eaten the bright flesh of beings.  Shows how much values had changed in the intervening thousand years and caused imbalance in the value system resulting in the loss of priorities.

Onto the Valmiki passages:

• Sita promising Ganga meat-rice  on safe return:

From Ayodhya Kandam:52: As Sita crosses Ganga she promises to Ganga what she will offer on safe return: “thousand pots of spirituous liquor and jellied meat with cooked rice (basically briyani)”

http://www.valmikiramayan.net/ayodhya/sarga52/ayodhya_52_frame.htm

suraaghaTasahasreNa maamsabhuutodanena cha |
yakshye tvaam prayataa devi puriim punarupaagataa || 2-52-89

89. devii= “Oh, goddess! Upaagata= After reaching; puriim= the city (Ayodhya); punaH= again; yakshhye= I shall worship (you); suraaghata sahasreNa= with thousand pots of spirituous liquor; maamsa bhuutodanena cha = and jellied meat with cooked rice; prayataa= well-prepared for the solemn rite.”

“Oh, goddess! After reaching back the city of Ayodhya, I shall worship you with thousand pots of spirituous liquor and jellied meat with cooked rice well prepared for the solemn rite.”

• Lakshmana and Rama hunting deer and wild boar (wild pig):

Then on reaching the other shore Rama and Lakshmana hunt four types of animals including wild boar, antelope, spotted antelope and another species of antelope and take their flesh and hurry in hunger to a tree as it was getting dark. Also makes one wonder how much meat they ate in one go as it is too much for three adults even for warriors.
This is the last sloka in the same chapter as above:

tau tatra hatvaa caturaH mahaa mR^igaan |
varaaham R^ishyam pR^iSatam mahaa rurum |
aadaaya medhyam tvaritam bubhukSitau|
vaasaaya kaale yayatur vanaH patim || 2-52-102

102. hatvaa= having killed; tatra= there; chaturaH= four; mR^igaan= deer (namely); varaaham= Varaaha; R^ishyam= Risya; pR^ishhatam= PR^isata; mahaaruru= (and) Mahaaruru; (the four principal species of deer); aadayaa= and taking; tvaritam= quickly; medhyam= the portions that were pure; tou= Rama and Lakshmana; bubhukshhitou= being hungry as they were; yayatuH= reached; vanaspatim= a tree; vaasayaa= to take rest; kaale= in the evening.

Having hunted there four deer, namely Varaaha, Rishya, Prisata; and Mahaaruru (the four principal species of deer) and taking quickly the portions that were pure, being hungry as they were, Rama and Lakshmana reached a tree to take rest in the evening.

• Sita telling Ravana in the disguise of a Brahmin that Rama will bring back deer, reptiles and wild boar for meal:

From Aranya Kandam: The different types of meat Sita offers to the Brahmin guest (in which disguise Ravana is) once Rama brings them from his hunt. Note Deer, Wild Boar and a reptile (உடும்பு?) are offered.

samaashvasa muhuurtam tu shakyam vastum iha tvayaa || 3-47-22
aagamiSyati me bhartaa vanyam aadaaya puSkalam |
ruruun godhaan varaahaan ca hatvaa aadaaya amiSaan bahu || 3-47-23

22b, 23. muhuurtam samaashvasa= for a moment, be comfortable; tvayaa iha vastum shakyam= by you, here, to take rest, possible; me bhartaa= my, husband; ruruun= stag with black stripes; godhaan= mongooses like [civet-like mammals of the family Viverridae, esp. of the genus Herpestes, Marathi manguus]; varaahaan ca= wild-boars, also; hatvaa= on killing; bahu amiSaan aadaaya= aplenty, meat, on taking; puSkalam vanyam aadaaya= plentiful, forest produce, on taking; aagamiSyati= will be coming [soon.]

“Be comfortable for a moment, here it is possible for you to make a sojourn, and soon my husband will be coming on taking plentiful forest produce, and on killing stags, mongooses, wild boars he fetches meat, aplenty. [3-47-22b, 23]

• Ravana was in the guise of a Brahmin (dvija):

saH tvam naama ca gotram ca kulam aacakSva tattvataH |
ekaH ca daNDakaaraNye kim artham carasi dvija || 3-47-24

24. dvija= oh, Brahman; saH tvam= such as you are; naama ca gotram ca kulam ca= name, also, parentage, also, caste, also; tattvataH aacakSva= in actuality, make mention of; ekaH ca= lonesomely, also; daNDaka araNye in Dandaka, forest; kim artham carasi for what, reason, you wander.

“Such as you are, oh, Brahman, you may make mention of your name, parentage and caste, in their actuality. For what reason you are wandering in Dandaka forest lonesomely?”  Thus Seetha questioned Ravana. [3-47-24]

So the upshot of all this is that having forgotten all this modern Hindus overreact to people from other religions eating pig meat or reptile meat as if they were strange animals or demons and bias their interreligious attitudes in a very negative way. We have seen that even Brahmins of Valmiki’s days (about 2000 years ago) took it normally and so modern association of vegetarianism with Brahmins  is much later.

For a solid book on how meat eating including beef eating thrived in Vedic period and continued much later see D.N. Jha’s “The Myth of the Holy Cow” which was originally banned by the BJP administration.

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