Food – Drink – Kitchen - Rise and Fall of kingdoms-I
History says food has played an important role in shaping society and its people. One would be surprised if they come to know food played its role in rise and fall of kingdoms.
In this article one finds that Ancient India and early Hindus did not believe completely in Ahimsa [C1 C2 ]there were frequent animal sacrifices [Manushastra, Sacrifice] to please and bring the Gods down, then with the rise of Buddhism we see that Ahimsa philosophy [Ahimsa paramodharma] reached its peak both in mind and in action. So in 3rd BC century one witness an exact picture of India, because of foreign travelers and Rock inscriptions of Ashoka the great [5th Pillar Inscription] , also history becomes clear and experts come to a consensus... Decline of Buddhism is followed by rise of Acharyas who interpret vedas, shastras and define set of rules in the course of revival of Hinduism. These were blindly followed and 99% blind faith still exists in India. Satvika ahara [Satvika ahara a Myth] was misinterpreted which made the Religion enter kitchen and people were busy thinking what to eat, what is pure and forgot the wonder interpretation by Shankara [Ahara Shuddi : Shankara]. Let’s see through the eyes of history and philosophers of various times
Food and Drink in Ancient India
Rig-Veda is the earliest and primitive document available to us .It is a collection of hymns for use at the sacrifices of the Aryan cult. Some of its verses are still recited as Hindu prayers, at religious functions and other occasions, putting these among the world's oldest religious texts in continued use. Some people prefer to call it Aristocratic Aryan cult. When we try to infer food habits from this we find that they were much addicted to inebriating drinks, of which at least two Soma and sura. Soma was drunk at sacrifices [Sacrifice].
During the Vedic period we shall understand that eating beef was a common practice when we read this below passage from Vivekananda’s complete works.
There was a time in this very India when, without eating beef, no Brahmin could remain a Brahmin; you read in the Vedas how, when a Sannyasin, a king, or a great man came into a house, the best bullock was killed; how in time it was found that as we were an agricultural race, killing the best bulls meant annihilation of the race. Therefore the practice was stopped, and a voice was raised against the killing of cows [ 1 ]
Considering Genius work of Ambedkar who studied history, Hindu scriptures in original, Buddhist scriptures in detail gives a scientific explanation of how Brahmins of Ancient India transformed themselves from Meat eaters to being strict vegetarians we can understand history better. Baba saheb Ambedkar has done an exlusive analysis of the same and speaks how and under what circumstances Ancient Brahmins turned from Beef eaters to vegetarians [Exclusive citations by Ambedkar ]
An interesting thing that comes to light is that early Vedic Aryans forgot the actual meaning of what the words like “Gau” “Mesha” “Ashwa” suggested in vedas, unfortunately they started performing rituals blindly. [Yaska Aurobindo on Rig-Veda ]
Rig-Veda can be misinterpreted easily; symbolic interpretation allows the scholars to assign a hundred different meanings to the same word in different contexts depending on the exigencies of the verse and the whims of the translator. [ similes and metaphor ]
Yaska says: Nirukta of yaska, dating from 5th BC shows that, a very early period of the Brahman's had forgotten true meaning of many obsolete words. This is the reason why rituals gained intensity and the core of the religion was forgotten even after the Upanishads declared Jnana marga is the best. [Rise of new Religions]
Also Aurobindo resounds Yaska
Rig-Veda is the one considerable document that remains to us from early period of human thought. When the spiritual and psychological knowledge of the race was concealed, the symbols protected the same from the profane, and revealed it to the initiated.
Reading this Some orthodox ritualistic Hindus get excited and say Vivekananda is wrong, they curse him with all bad words on earth which shows their Aristocratic Aryan roots, they further say he did not understand Vedas as he was not a Brahmin by birth. [Check this link which details why Vivekananda was not wrong Was Vivekananda wrong ]
FUTILE ARGUMENT BY Certain Hidus:
Read Futile Argument which talks about logical arguments of Buddha [Pali Text], history, Vivekananda [C1 C2 ] , Basavanna , especially we cannot ignore Asokan rock edicts [5th Pillar Inscription ] rather than the hypothetical metaphorical argument of certain sectional interests who argue in vain to safeguard their personal pride.
Read Part2
Food – Drink – Kitchen - Rise and Fall of kingdoms-II
Detailed Citations about Food and drink in Vedic, period, post Vedic period, http://horahaaku.blogspot.com/2011/08/food-drink-kitchen-rise-and-fall-of.html
Bibliography
[ 1 ].
Rig-Veda C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 FOOD- DRINK Gambling Soma Sacrifice Rig Veda Rescued Yaska Aurobindo on Rig-Veda Pali Text C8 Manushastra C9 Brhaspati C10 Mallinatha C11 minister of a Tanjore ruler C12 C13 similes and metaphor C14 Archaeological evidences C15 Basavanna CRY CRY O GOAT Ahimsa paramodharma Rise of new Religions Ashoka the great 5th Pillar Inscription Haraprasad Shastri R S Sharma Kautilya Artha Shastra rational behind ahimsa \b \b0 Decline of Buddhism Was Vivekananda wrong Ahara Shuddi Ahara Shuddi : Ramanuja Ahara Shuddi : Shankara Satvika ahara a Myth Obesity is the truth Gandhi Sri Ramana Maharshi Mercy Futile Argument References Why I Wrote Exclusive citations by Ambedkar
