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If Meat Eating is Wrong, Why do Kshatriya Hunt?

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Vic DiCara

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Yama and niyama for a yogi is yama and niyama for a yogi. Why should you ask a non-yogi to live by those standards???

What is “right” and “wrong” depends on many things. Therefore the vedas never make any claims of universal rights and wrongs. They always scope the rights and wrongs to individual classes and types of people.

Hunting is dharma of a kṣatriya. More than hunting, a kṣatriya will probably kill other human men even. And that is their dharma. That is their “right” not their “wrong.”

Why is it? (A) it is an important part of martial training, and their duty requires proficiency in martial skills. (B) Animals can be a huge nusance to humans.

Kṣatriyas only hunted animals that were a nuisance or menace. It is easy to see how carnivorous animals would be a menace, but some herbivores are an agricultural menace. For example boar and deer.

Usually when kings get into trouble for hunting it is because they are going too far from human settlements, where these animals have the right to be, and the kṣatriya is overstepping their bounds hunting them there. Often a Rakṣasa will intervene to cause trouble for the hunter.

Now, about meat eating, again, you are trying to make a universal right and wrong, when right and wrong is a relative judgement. If one wants to be a sadhu, a yogi, a brahmin, if one wants to be an intellectual, and develop sympathy and love and kinship and peace – then it is wrong to eat meat. But not everyone is that type of person. Some people are warriors, some are just simple workers, etc. Meat eating is not wrong for everyone. Just look in Manu-smṛti. Manu says “there is no wrong in eating meat, but there is great merit in not eating it.”

So, if I have to kill boars and deer as part of my job, what should I do with the meat? Let it rot? No, I should eat it. This is why most Kṣatriyas eat meat.

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4 responses to “If Meat Eating is Wrong, Why do Kshatriya Hunt?”

  1. avacascade Avatar
    avacascade

    I wish for a world where hunting is either running after and catching a naughty animal to make sure it has a full understanding of how its misbehavior is interfering with universal harmony and help it stop if it doesn’t know how, or where hunting can be like playing paintball together. We are all capable of love and peace.

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    1. Vic DiCara Avatar
      Vic DiCara

      maybe thats a little disney-eque? in my experience animals are not humans. also is a deer or boar misbehaving by plundering my farm? or is it following its dharma? Similarly is a villiage misbehaving by hunting it for doing so? or is it following its dharma? Maybe the hunting teaches the deer and boar “don’t go near human towns” – maybe that is what you are talking about?

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      1. avacascade Avatar
        avacascade

        True, it is a high hope and has not been the case thus far. For example, a hunter could run after a boar and inflict a lot of damage without killing the boar to get the message across. If a clearly injured boar comes back, then unfortunately it may need to be killed.
        Not all deer and boar plunder your farm, otherwise it would be standard behavior for the creature and extra precautions would have to be taken. Some deer and boar plunder your farm. It would be very nice if we could have a better understanding of why, so we can do something even more precise to address the issue.
        I think Ksatriyas have done the best that they could with the knowledge that they have. I don’t resent meat-eaters for having eaten meat, especially in your example “if I have to kill boars and deer as part of my job, what should I do with the meat? Let it rot? No, I should eat it. This is why most Kṣatriyas eat meat.”.
        I don’t think it should be structurally accepted as the right thing to do as part of spiritual existence itself, as it excuses a lack of innovation and improvement in tackling the issue.

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  2. avacascade Avatar
    avacascade

    I can summarize it better from an interpersonal perspective. Ksatriya can be aggressive. Brahmins/sages tend to err to nonviolence. Some arrangements might have been best-fit to avoid unnecessary hardship. It is better to be grateful for best-fit and tell everyone how it works, in case it’ll help them.

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