Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 6.6.1

6.6.1

Perhaps the first legislators in the Indies hoped that the interdiction of animal food would produce a beneficial effect upon the character of the people, and that they might be brought to exercise less cruelty toward one another when required by a positive precept to treat the brute creation with humanity. The doctrine of the transmigration of souls secured the kind treatment of animals, by leading to the belief that no animal can be killed or eaten without incurring the danger of killing or eating some ancestor, than which a more heinous crime cannot be committed. It may be also that the Brahmens were influenced by the consideration that in their climate the flesh of cows or oxen is neither savoury nor wholesome except for a short time during winter. The Beths render it obligatory upon every Gentile to say his prayers with his face turned to the East thrice in the twenty-four hours: in the morning, at noon, and at night. The whole of his body must also be washed three times, or at least before every meal; and he is taught that it is more meritorious to perform his ablutions and to repeat his prayers in running than in stagnant water. Here again regard was probably had to what is not only proper but highly important in such a climate as that of Hindoustan.