Meat Eating Tradition of Vedics | Role of Jainism in Stopping It

"Meat-eating and wine-drinking in Brahminism were discarded on account of the influence of Jainism" Lokmanya Tilak

Well this can be proved as per vedic purans too on reality basis & after reading following one will be convinced that vegetarian & ahimsa concept was borrowed by vedic religion ( today corruptly known as hinduism ) from jainism .

HINDU SCRIPTURES ALLOW NON-VEGETARIAN FOOD
Some Hindus think that it is against their religion to have non-vegetarian food But the fact is that the Hindu scriptures permit a person to have meat The scripture mentions sages and saints having meat. Hindu scriptures clearly mention that there is nothing wrong in having meat.
It is mentioned in Manu Smruti, the law book of Hindus! In chapter 5 verse 30 “The eater who eats the flesh of those to be eaten does nothing bad! even if he does it day after day; for God himself created some to be eaten and some to be eater”

Again next verse of Manu Smruti that is; chapter 5 verse 31 says “Eating meat is right for the sacrifice, this is traditionally known as a rule of the gods”

Further in Manu Smruti chapter 5 verse 39 and 40 says “God himself created sacrificial animals for sacrifice… therefore killing in a sacrifice is not killing.”

Manu Smruti even narrates the supremacy of killing animals in sacrifice it is mentioned in chapter 5 verse 42 “A twice born (a Brahmin) who knows the true meaning of Vedas and injures sacrificial animals for CORRECT PURPOSES cause both himself and the animal to go to the highest level of existence".

Among the Hindu scriptures Vedas are considered as most ancient and most sacred. We find mentioning of non-vegetarian food in Vedas too it is mentioned in Rig-Veda book 10 Hymn 27 verse 2 “Then will I, when I lead my friends to battle against the radiant persons of godless, prepare for thee at home a vigorous bullock, and pour for thee the fifteen fold strong juices"

Again in RigVeda book 10 Hymn 28 verse 3 it says "0 Indra, Bulls they dress for thee, and of these (meat) thou eatest when Maghavan, with food thou art invited". In Rig veda Book 10 Hymn 86 verse 13 says “indra will eat thy bulls, thy dear oblation that effecteth much. Supreme is Indra over all"

These verses indicates that Indra, a god of vedic age, used to eat meat.

Also another god of vedic age, Agni, is referred to as "flesh-eater' in vedas.

For example, in Rig Veda bock 10 Hymn 16 verse 10 it is said I choose as god for Father-worship Agni, FLESH Eater, who hath past within your dwellings". In RigVeda Vivah sukta book 10 Hymn 85 verse 13, it mentions that during marriage ceremony the guests were fed with the meat. it says “in Magha days are oxen slain, in Arjunis they wed the bride" Atherva veda book 9 Hymn 4 verses 37-38-39 gives _expression that cow's milk and cow's meat are most tasty among all other foods. It says "The man should not eat before the guest who is Brahmin versed in holy lore When the guest hath eaten he should eat. Now the sweetest portion, the produce of cow, milk or flesh, that verily he should not eat (before the guest)" If you read Mahabharata Shanti Parva chapter 29, a story of greatness of a king called Rantideva is described It is said that he was very rich and generous, and used to feed thousands of guests. The paragraph reads as follows “All the vessels and the plates, in Rantideva's palace, for holding food and other articles, all the jugs and other pots, the pan and plates and cups, were of gold. On those nights during which the guests used to live in Rantideva's abode, twenty thousand and one hundred kine {cows} had to be slaughtered. Yet even on such occasions, the cooks, decked in ear-rings, used to proclaim (amongst those that sat for supper) “There is abundant of soup, take as much as you wish, but of flesh we have not as much today as on former occasions" This shows that even after slaughtering 20,100 cows, meat used to fall short on some occasions.

Many more quotations can be given where non-vegetarian food is given preference compared to vegetarian food. For example, Mahabharata Anushashan Parva chapter 88 narrates the discussion between Dharmaraj Yudhishthira and Pitamah Bhishma about what food one should offer to Piths (ancestors) during the Shraddha (ceremony of dead) to keep them satisfied Paragraph reads as follows "Yudhishthirn said, "0 thou of great puissance, tell me what that object is which, if dedicated to the pitris (dead ancestors), become inexhaustible! What Havi, again, (if offered) lasts for all time? What, indeed, is that which (if presented) becomes eternal?”
"Bhisma said, Listen to me, 0 Yudhishthira, what those Havis are which persons conversant with the rituals of the Shraddha (the ceremony of dead) regard as suitable in view of Shraddha and what the fruits are that attach to each. With sesame seeds and rice and barley and Masha and water and roots and fruits, if given at Shraddhas, the pitris, 0 king, remain gratified for the period of a month. With fishes offered at Shraddha, the pitris remain gratified for a period of two months. With the muflon they remain gratified for three months and with the hare for four months, with the flesh of the goat for five months, with the bacon (meat of pig) for six months, and with the flesh of birds for seven. With venison obtained from those deer that are called Prishata, they remain gratified for eight months, and with that obtained form the Ruru for nine months, and with the meat of Gavaya for ten months. With the meat of the buffalo their gratification lasts for eleven months. With beef presented at the Shraddha, their gratification, it is said, lasts for a full year. Payesa mixed with ghee is as much acceptable to the pitris as beef. With the meat of Vadhrinasa (a large bull) the gratification of pitris lasts for twelve years. The flesh of rhinoceros, offered to the pitris on anniversaries of the lunar days on which they died, becomes inexhaustible. The potherb called Kalaska, the petals of Kanchana flower, and meat of (red) goat also, thus offered, prove inexhaustible.

So but natural if you want to keep your ancestors satisfied forever, you should serve them the meat of red goat.

Same message is repeated in Manu Smruti Chapter 3 verses 266 to 272. In Shraddha (ceremony of dead) even Brahmjn priests are expected to eat meat. Manu Smruti instructs Hindus to serve non-vegetarian food to priests i.e. Brahmins. It says in Chapter 3 verses 226 and 227 “Purified and with a concentrated mind, he should put down on the ground before (those priests) seasoned foods like soups and vegetables and also milk, yogurt, clarified butter, honey and various foods that are eaten and enjoyed, roots and fruits, tasty meats, and fragrant water.

Hindu scriptures not only allow non-vegetarian food but at few places it makes it compulsory for Hindus to eat non-vegetarian food. If anyone refuses non vegetarian food, he will have to face consequences.

according Hindu Scriptures, In Vishnu Dharmottar Puran book 1 chapter 140 verses 49 & 50 says,
"Those who do not eat meat served in the ceremony of dead (Shraddha), will go to hell (narak)".
And Manu Smruti mentions still stronger punishment. In Manu Smruti Chapter 5 verse 35 it says,
“But when a man who is properly engaged in a ritual does not eat meat, after his death he will become a sacrificial animal during twenty-one rebirths"

This verse says those who don't eat meat will become sacrificial animals in next twenty-one rebirths. It not only says that a person will become an animal but says will become “sacrificial animal" meaning others will sacrifice him.

These statements are mentioned in vedic purans on fact basis .

Todays vedic hinduism is more influenced by jainism on jain concept of ahimsa & vegan theory .