The Jain Option
Ordering “Jain” in Indian restaurants is not for Hindu Vaishnavs or Jains.
Disclaimer: This is for Hindus, Jains and other Dharmics. If you’re not a Dharmic, you can read but you probably won’t understand because I didn’t write this for non-Dharmics.
There’s a lot of ignorance in our community.
Many people who were born and brought up in India don’t understand the basic difference between a Jain meal and a Hindu Vaishnav* meal, even though Jainism and Hinduism are both Indigenous to India.
Even Indian people who run Indian restaurants don’t know the difference, which is appalling considering they’re cooking for Vaishnavs and Jains.
For clarity, both a Jain meal and a Vaishnav meal are lacto vegetarian meals but I’m not talking about being lacto vegetarian right now. I’m talking about onions and garlic.
Abstaining from onions and garlic is a well known part of the strict Jain diet. It’s also part of the strict Vaishnav diet.
Unfortunately, many educated Hindus are so ignorant of their own religion they think that anyone who doesn’t want onion or garlic in their meal must be Jain. This means that in an Indian Hindu restaurant, if a Vaishnav orders their food without onion and garlic, the server will nonchalantly tap “Jain” on their order.
That is incorrect.
Not only do Jains and Vaishnavs eat differently, their mentalities behind abstaining from onions and garlic are also different.
Jains follow ahimsa, non-violence, to such an extent that they don’t dig into the earth. This is because they feel that digging into the earth harms the insects who live there. As a result, they don’t eat any roots such as potatoes, carrots, ginger, turmeric, onions, garlic and many other foods. Another reason they don’t eat roots is because they believe that eating a root kills the entire plant. So they only eat what grows above the ground and even that is restricted to certain foods only. It’s out of adhering to their principle of non-violence. This is also why they don’t eat honey, because they believe that harms the bees.
That also means that if certain plants that belong to onion and garlic family (called alliums) grow above the ground, like leeks and chives, some Jains might eat them because that doesn’t break their rule of not digging into the earth. I have heard that strict Jains won’t eat leeks, though, because they believe leeks increase lust and they are practicing restraint and asceticism. I’m not sure about their thoughts on chives and although I imagine that it’s the same as leeks, I can’t say for sure.
A Vaishnav’s diet is also about ahimsa but with a different reasoning process to Jains. The often quoted line “ahimsa paramo dharma” actually comes from a Hindu shastra, the Mahabharat, in which Shri Krishna is the hero. Vaishnav dietary guidelines follow ahimsa according to the science of satvic, rajsic, and tamasic guna foods. You can learn all about the three gunas in the Bhagavad Gita, which is one chapter of the Mahabharat. Vaishnavs avoid tamasic guna foods because the nature of such foods adversely impacts the mind causing increased anger, greed, envy, lust, and delusion.
For a Vaishnav, avoiding onions and garlic (and anything in the allium family) has nothing to do with digging in ground and everything to do with protecting the mind from an influence that would alter their emotional state — and thus their behavior — in a negative way. (As I said above, strict Jains also avoid alliums likes leeks because they increase lust.) Vaishnavs do eat potatoes, carrots, ginger, turmeric, and plenty of other non-allium roots as such foods are considered to be satvic and thus don’t adversely impact the mind.
In general, all Hindus, not just Vaishnavs, dig into the earth to harvest roots and sow seeds for food. We do this while praying to Mother Earth for forgiveness for any harm caused to her and the insects, and giving thanks for the bounty she provides. Hindus eat honey but harvest it in an Indigenous way that allows the bee hives to recover. Bees are very sacred to Hindus. Hindus even pray to the goddess in the form of Mata Bhramari who took the form of a bee to protect her devotees. My own mother always told me that wherever Mataji is pleased, there are bees on that land.
Hindus offer the food we cook on our altars to many different forms of the Divine so the Divine may bless the plants, the insects, the animals, and all of us. That means all beings spiritually benefit from such food because all are in a divine relationship, including the plants and insects.
For Vaishnavs, we offer food to Vishnu on our altars. Mother Earth, Prithvi Mata, is pleased by that offering because Prithvi Mata is Vishnu patni — the wife of Vishnu. Vishnu is the sustainer, he protects the cycle of nature and all creation. Prithvi Mata is pleased when the sustainer is worshipped so she provides even more bounty and the land flourishes.
Hindus in general (not only Vaishnavs) are also supposed to feed the insects, ants in particular, as prescribed by our shastra.
Unfortunately, as I said above, many western educated Hindus are unaware of their own Indigenous traditions and cultural practices and thus many don’t follow these practices of feeding the insects, offering food on their altar, or anything else.
This widespread ignorance comes from the fact that for centuries, Hindus have been systematically stripped of Indigenous education by imperialists. That means that Indian children aren’t allowed to learn their own ancestral practices in school. Indian children today are not even taught the basic principles of Hinduism in public education, even though Hinduism is the majority religion of India. This Hinduphobic state of affairs has been operating for generations even after Independence from the British in 1947. Meanwhile, minority religions get to teach their children their own religions and receive state funding to do so. Only Hindus are deprived of state funding for religious education.
If you’re an Indian who is so western influenced that you’re scoffing right now because none of this even matters and who cares if there are potatoes and leeks in the food, you’re missing the whole point. The very existence of Jains and Hindus and their diet cultures is something that violent genociding slaving Abrahamic supremacists tried to wipe out for centuries. Still Jains and Hindus exist in their own land in greater numbers than any other Indigenous civilization in the world. That is testament to the strength and wisdom our ancestors granted us.
Only a fool would reject the strength and wisdom of their own ancestors.
So Hindus: We’re supposed to feed the insects regularly by burying balls of sugar and flour in the four corners of the land our home stands upon. You can also sprinkle flour on ant hills. In South India some Hindu women still meditatively draw traditional geometric designs outside their houses with rice flour every morning. One reason they do that is to feed the ants. This practice of meditatively feeding the insects atones for the harm caused to insects while ploughing the earth.
Feeding the insects is also natural pest control, as insects will be attracted to the food sprinkled or buried outside. That means the insects are less likely to come into human structures where they might be harmed. Feeding the insects ensures that the insects thrive which is necessary for the fertility and health of the soil. Everyone benefits from the practice of feeding insects.
Westerners, who spray pesticides everywhere and wage war on nature every day, can never understand this practice.
There is still more nuance to Hindu practice. The often quoted “ahimsa paramo dharma” is an incomplete quote:
What the Mahabharat actually says is “ahimsa paramo dharma dharma himsa tataivacha”.
= Non-violence is dharma, the correct path, and violence in the service of dharma is also dharma, the correct path.
So if you have to commit violence against invaders to defend your community, that is dharma. If you have to commit violence against insects to sow seeds and grow food for your family, that is dharma.
Hindus are practical and Hinduism is about mitigating harm to all while still defending ourselves and creating thriving communities. That is why India was the richest country worldwide for the majority of the last two thousand years. It’s also why Hindus and Jains still exist in greater numbers than any other Indigenous civilization, despite centuries of imperialist attacks and genocide.
That’s why digging into the earth while praying to Mother Earth is acceptable to Hindus. Because providing food for Prithvi Mata’s children including humans and insects — alieviating hunger and providing safety and stability — is in the service of dharma, even if digging into the earth causes harm to some insects along the way. Meanwhile, we protect our minds from negative influence by avoiding tamasic foods which helps lead to less conflict and more peace in families and communities. That leads to healthier non-violent outcomes for all. There’s a reason why the Hindu majority civilization of India never invaded other countries to colonize them despite being invaded by colonizers.
Do you see how the Jain diet and the Vaishnav diet are different? One mentality is about compassion in protecting insects from the immediate human violence of a plough or shovel. The other mentality is about compassion in preventing negative influences on the human mind that can lead to violence against everyone.
As a sidenote, this is why most Jain families are business people, because their food practices forbid them from becoming farmers where they must dig into the earth. It’s Hindus who are farmers because we plough the earth to sow seeds to grow food to feed everyone. The dietary guidelines of both Jains and Hindus reflect in very real practical outcomes where Hindus do the work of ploughing the land to grow many foods that both Jains and Hindus can eat.
It was actually Hindus who taught white people organic farming that is regenerative, good for Mother Earth, and produces abundance for all. Organic farming can feed the whole world while producing the least harm to Mother Earth. Organic farming has become a craze in the west now, albeit a corrupt and dishonest craze because the west can’t do anything without corrupting it.
What amazes me is how many Indians, including Hindus, don’t know any of these details about two Indigenous Indian diets. Yes, it’s not taught in public schools in India but didn’t you listen to your own elders? Didn’t you read any of your own shastra? Didn’t you learn about your own ancestors? Or were you so brainwashed by western propaganda that you ignored your own people and thus avoided learning anything that might help you? Why are you so educated on what the ignorant white man said but you don’t know what you’re own wise grandfather said?
Have you ever eaten turmeric, ginger, carrots, potatoes, in a Vaishnav temple? Yes. Because eating those is in accordance with Vaishnav beliefs. Prithvi Mata provides us with many foods and we grow and harvest with prayers and harm mitigating actions to atone for any pain we cause smaller and more vulnerable beings like insects and plants. If we can’t mitigate the harm, we ask forgiveness.
Have you ever been to a Vaishnav temple where they put onion and garlic in the food? Of course not. Because Vishnu will not accept anything tamasic. Vaishnavs are supposed to eat a satvic diet and how Vaishnavs eat is prescribed by the rishis who wrote our shastra.
That means that not only is Indian food possible without onions and garlic, if you’re a Vaishnav it’s actually supposed to be without onions and garlic. It’s always been without onions and garlic, for centuries and millennias because a Vaishnav won’t eat anything without first offering that food to Vishnu who sustains us. The Vaishnav sect is one of the biggest most mainstream Hindu sects.
That means that the most authentic Indigenous Indian food you’ll find in many parts of India and around the world is in temples, not in restaurants. The only reason why tamasic foods are in so many Indian restaurant dishes, including those that brand themselves “authentic” is because of the colonizing influence of the Abrahamic supremacist imperialists who genocided and tortured us.
Do you think it’s a coincidence that violent genociding imperialists put onions and garlic in everything? Onions and garlic are tamasic and thus stimulate anger, greed, lust, envy, and delusion. These negative emotions lead to violence.
It’s not that onions and garlic are bad. Ayurvedic scriptures state that both onions and garlic are medicines. I once heard that someone who suffers from depression should eat onions and garlic because it’ll help their symptoms. (Disclaimer: I’m not an Ayurvedic vaidya and anyone suffering from depression or anything else should to go to a Hindu Ayurvedic vaidya for advice and guidance before adding anything to their diet.)
It is also not that anything tamasic is bad. Sleep is tamasic. Sex is tamasic. Alcohol is tamasic. Drugs are tamasic. Violence is tamasic. Anything that takes you away from your rational conscious mind is tamasic. But sleep is necessary for health. Sex is necessary for procreation. Alcohol is necessary to disinfect surfaces. Drugs are necessary for pain killing. Violence is necessary to defend against attack and hunger.
See how everything tamasic is actually correct in the right context? Everything in creation has its place including tamasic guna. That means that tamasic things can be medicine if you know how to use that medicine.
Medicine should be used to treat symptoms and conditions. Medicine should not be used recreationally or recklessly. If you’re taking medicine to indulge your senses it will end in disaster. If you have no symptoms or conditions then taking that medicine will have adverse side effects on your mind, body, and spiritual self. This is why taking marijuana when you’re not in pain makes you high. This is why eating onions and garlic when you’re not depressed messes up your emotions and stresses your mind. This is why putting alcohol in your body instead of using it as a disinfectant is poisonous and can lead to cancer and many chronic conditions.
Medicine should not be taken wrongly.
Medicine should not be overdosed.
Medicine should not be prescribed to people who’s health risks have not been assessed.
Medicine should not be in every meal for every person.
Medicine has a time, place, and circumstance.
Medicine should not be given without consent.
So that brings me back to Indian restaurants who don’t know the basic difference between Jain and Vaishnav dietary guidelines.
Do you realize what their ignorance means? It means that the onions and garlic had an adverse impact on their minds. Tamasic literally means “ignorance”.
The adverse mental impact of their ignorance can lead to Vaishnavs not getting the correct meal.
I’m a Vaishnav. I refuse alliums but I don’t want my meal without turmeric and ginger and carrots and potatoes and other roots. All of those things are good for my health in a balanced diet and are not going to give adverse side effects when eaten every day the way onions and garlic will.
Restaurant ignorance can also mean that Jains won’t get a meal that follows their diet. Many of these “Jain” options may contain turmeric, ginger, carrots, potatoes, and more. Calling such food “Jain” is a spiritual offense against Jain people. Also, if a Jain person has abstained from such foods their whole life and suddenly accidentally eats one of them, that could even have unforeseen physical reactions as well.
When someone follows a spiritual diet — any spiritual diet — that is their vrat. It is a sacred practice. To feed them food that breaks their vrat is a spiritual offense that will have consequences. It is negative karma.
Here’s an example:
I went to a an Indian Hindu Vaishnav restaurant. I ordered my meal and said that I wanted no onions or garlic but I did want added peas and carrots. The man looked confused, and said: “So you want Jain?”
“No.” I said. “I want no onions or garlic. I’m not Jain.”
“But no onions or garlic is Jain.”
“I added carrots. That’s not Jain. What I ordered also has turmeric and ginger in it. That’s not Jain. It’s Vaishnav. Vaishnav’s don’t eat onion or garlic.”
He continued to look confused. I had to repeat my order in various different ways. He finally gave me what I wanted but only after consulting other servers because he didn’t understand what I was telling him.
Here’s another example:
A Hindu man created immunity boosting soups using Ayurvedic medicines. I asked if he had an option with no onions or garlic. He said: “Yes, I’ll show it to you.” When he showed me the packet, it had “Jain” written under the product title. I bought a bunch of packets, excited to have Ayurvedic medicinal soup whenever I felt run down or sick.
I noticed, however, that after I ate the soup I suffered acid reflux** flare ups, something that usually only happens if I eat onions or garlic by accident. I finally looked at the ingredients. It had leeks and chives in it. I’d been unknowingly eating alliums. Because the soup had been labelled Jain and I knew that strict Jains avoided onions and garlic and leeks, I thought I didn’t have to worry about it. But the Hindu manufacturer formulated the soup to be what he considered Jain.
When I researched this article, I looked for evidence on whether Jains eat leeks and chives, already knowing from my Jain friends that strict Jains don’t eat leeks. Unfortunately, written evidence in English was hard to find, and I could find only one Jain blog that said strict Jains don’t eat leeks (it didn’t mention chives). So even if my Hindu soup manufacturer did his research and looked up authoritative websites, he would still think he’d done the right thing including leeks and chives in the soup.
As for me, the soup harmed me physically and broke my Vaishnav vrat.
There’s no doubt that it impacted my emotions. I was going through a very stressful time and needed satvic food to help me stay calm. Unknowingly eating leeks and chives set my digestive system on fire, which is a symptom of emotional distress. Tamasic foods mess with emotions. I stopped taking the soup and the acid reflux went away, even though my outward stressors remained the same. That means that eating leeks and chives added to my emotional load leading to physical suffering and health deterioration.
The digestive system is directly related to stress, emotions, and immunity, which is why western medicine is starting to call the gut the second brain. (Yes, it took westerners until the 21st century to figure out what Hindus have known for thousands of years, that what we eat affects our mind and body.)
My digestive system was telling me, by reacting with acid reflux, that I was taking the wrong medicine. My second brain was warning me that the soup was tamasic.
Here’s the thing:
I already knew that eating onions and garlic harms my digestive system because when I was a teenager, I decided to follow the wisdom of my ancestors and stop eating alliums. Since then, if I eat alliums accidentally, my body reacts and I know it’s caused by these plants. But if I was like most other people, eating alliums in every meal — constantly overdosing on a potent medicine — then I’d have no idea why I was constantly suffering from digestive issues or other issues. There’d be no way to pinpoint the problem because my body would be saturated in tamasic guna.
Different people react to emotional imbalance and stress differently so there might also be other symptoms apart from digestive issues — I know that I can’t be the only Vaishnav who has suffered from the chronic misunderstanding of Vaishnav and Jain food culture.
Ignorance about the Jain diet must be distressing for Jains too because they’re being given foods that violate their vrat. Turmeric and ginger might not physically hurt them if they eat it by accident but it will hurt their hearts and minds because it violates their beliefs. And again, leeks aren’t eaten by strict Jains because they don’t want to be overly influenced by lust. Feeding them something they don’t want is a problem, on top of the fact that it’s stimulating their body in ways they never consented to.
Our history is riddled with the trauma of invading Abrahamic supremacists tricking or forcing our ancestors into eating food that our rishis told us not to eat.
That trauma never ended because these Abrahamic imperialists still do this to torment and convert us while demonizing our Indigenous resistance as the problem.
So why are we inflicting this same trauma on each other? Being slipped turmeric for a Jain or chives for a Vaishnav may not be as bad as being tricked into eating meat for either a Jain or a Vaishnav, but it’s still a violation. If someone states their diet, and that diet guideline is violated, that goes against consent.
Violating someone’s consent is violence. It is himsa that is not in the service of dharma.
What this means is that both Vaishnavs and Jains are actually being excluded from service in Indian restaurants, even Indian vegetarian restaurants. That’s a lot of people who don’t get service.
As almost every other cuisine puts onions and garlic in everything, Vaishnavs and Jains can’t actually eat anywhere. They’re excluded from every restaurant including their own community’s restaurants where there’s a “Jain” option.
This is why so many strict Vaishnavs today won’t eat in restaurants at all — even Indian vegetarian restaurants — because they don’t trust that their dietary needs will be respected and followed. Many Vaishnavs either travel with their own food or go hungry because that’s better than the danger of being fed the wrong food. They’re not being picky or difficult. They’re following their vrat and that is sacred.
On the financial side, it means that there are Indian restaurants missing out on a lot of business and they don’t even know what’s driving patrons away.
Not understanding the Jain diet or the Vaishnav diet has consequences. Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, financial, political. Those who don’t take it seriously do so at their own risk.
Hinduism and Jainism are Dharma religions Indigenous to India. Jains are a small but prosperous and influential minority while, as I said above, Vaishnavs are a massive Hindu sect and one of the most mainstream. Misunderstanding the diets of both of these communities is a big problem.
Next time you go into an Indian restaurant run by either Hindus or Jains, show the proprietor this article so they learn what they’re doing wrong and how to correctly provide for their patrons. It’ll help their business and their customers. Everyone wins when ignorance is addressed.
Food is fundamental and food culture is sacred. Respect it.
*I’m specifying Vaishnav in this article because Shaiv and Shakta traditions have their own diet rules that don’t necessarily follow the same guidelines as the Vaishnav diet. Other Hindu traditions not named here might also have their own rules. They might follow the same guidelines — and most mainstream temples I’ve seen do — but some might not, particularly if they follow tantric diet practices. Their food practices might vary with the calendar also, depending on their region and the Indigenous food practices in that region. As I don’t belong to a Shaiv or Shakta temple tradition, and I’m not a tantric follower or a follower of any other not named tradition, I don’t want to speak for them.
**Many people unknowingly suffer acid reflux and other inflammation symptoms from eating alliums (anything in the onion and garlic family). That’s because alliums are a potent medicine. You cut into an onion and it makes you cry, right? That’s potent. So if you’re not sick, taking potent medicine you don’t need can make you sick. Some westerners are finally starting to realize the physical harm onions and garlic can cause, which is why certain western brands have started offering allium free options. They don’t fully get it because westerners will never fully understand the mental and spiritual implications, but some of them are starting to realize how alliums can make them suffer at least physically.
If you suspect that your acid reflux / inflammation might be caused by alliums, try an elimination diet to pinpoint the problem. (Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, I’m just telling you what worked for me.)