Overall, Indians are evenly split on these questions, but there are wide variations by group. In addition to asking about personal dietary habits, the survey asked whether respondents would ever eat food in the home of someone – or at a function hosted by people – whose religion has different rules about food than their own. Hindus, especially in the South, may fast before every Skanda Sashti – a day devoted to Skanda, the god of war. Muslims, for example, fast during the month of Ramadan each year, while other Indians fast on certain days of the week and to mark important life events. Religious groups in India fast to mark different occasions. Smaller majorities of Christians and Buddhists fast (64% and 61%, respectively), while Sikhs are the least likely to fast (28%). About three-quarters of Indians overall (77%) fast, including about eight-in-ten or more among Muslims (85%), Jains (84%) and Hindus (79%). ![]() Hindu vegetarians are about evenly divided between those who eat root vegetables and those who do not.įasting is another common dietary practice in India. Even among Hindus and Sikhs, roughly one-in-five say they do not eat root vegetables (21% and 18%, respectively). About two-thirds of Jains (67%) say they abstain from eating root vegetables such as garlic and onions (staples in many Indian cuisines). Many Jains avoid not only meat but also root vegetables to avoid destroying the entire plant, which is seen as a form of violence in Jain theology. ![]() Among Hindus, in addition to the 44% who are vegetarian, another 39% follow some other restriction on meat consumption. For example, roughly two-thirds of Muslims (67%) and Christians (66%) avoid meat in some way, such as refraining from eating certain meats, not eating meat on certain days, or both. Yet, even among groups with low rates of vegetarianism, many Indians restrict their meat consumption. For example, the vast majority of Jains say they are vegetarian (92%), compared with just 8% of Muslims and 10% of Christians. Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses, and its methodology.Īmong India’s six largest religious groups, some are much more likely than others to abstain from meat. Data was weighted to account for the different probabilities of selection among respondents and to align with demographic benchmarks for the Indian adult population from the 2011 census. Six groups were targeted for oversampling as part of the survey design: Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and those living in the Northeast region. ![]() Respondents were selected using a probability-based sample design that would allow for robust analysis of all major religious groups in India, as well as all major regional zones. Interviews for this nationally representative survey were conducted from Nov. An additional 67 respondents belong to other religions or are religiously unaffiliated. The sample included interviews with 22,975 Hindus, 3,336 Muslims, 1,782 Sikhs, 1,011 Christians, 719 Buddhists and 109 Jains. For this report, we completed 29,999 face-to-face interviews in 17 languages with adults ages 18 and older living in 26 Indian states and three union territories. It is based on the 2021 report “ Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation,” the Center’s most comprehensive, in-depth exploration of Indian public opinion to date. Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to better understand how dietary laws and traditions in India are tied to religious identities, beliefs and attitudes.
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