Why Brahmins Don't Eat Onions And Garlic

Brahmin is a caste in Hinduism, where majority of the people are priests and scholors. Brahmins are those people who are known to preach their culture. They are bound to their traditions and always are close to god by performing their daily set of pujas and vratas.

Brahmins can be further divided into Vaishnavas who follow Lord Vishnu, Sri Vaishnavas who are the devotees of Lord Lakshmi Narayana anddo not pray Lord Shiva and Smarthas who preach Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva.

Apart from the strict culture and traditional beliefs, Brahmins follow a certain food style too. They do not consume any spicy foods. Most importantly, brahmins do not consume onions and garlic.

In the ancient times, people never ate onions and garlic. These two vegetables were never brought to any Brahmin's house. Though, off late, this concept has been changed. However, many people in the Smartha, Iyengar and Madhava families do not consume onions or garlic even to this day.

As a part of naivedya that is served for the lord, the food items are never prepared using onions and garlic. Let us see what was the actual reason behind this:

Based on Ayurveda, the foods that we eat can be divided into three groups. Satva, rajas, and tamas. Satvic foods provide mental peace, it keeps our mind calm, helps us speak the truth and always keeps our mind under control. This is the main reason as to why Brahmins preferred eating only Satvic foods.

Foods that come under the category of rajas can make you want and desire worldy pleasures. Onions are known to increase your sexual feelings. This is one of the main reasons as to why onions were restricted in the earlier times.

The qualities that we get when we eat foods in the Tamas category, such as onions and garlic, is that our mind becomes evil, we tend to be more angry and our mind can never be got under control.

This is why people always avoided eating onions and garlic. Though some people believe that garlic helps to cure certain health disorders; however, Brahmins found alternative ayurvedic medicines to cure the same diseases.

Since human beings have been known to be evolved from monkeys, these rules and beliefs were applied to tame our ever-diverting minds. Rather, we humans do not have a control over our minds.

So, by avoiding foods like onions, garlic, meat, etc, Brahmins believe that it is a step towards attaining peace and fulfilling the purpose of their life. Hence, they refrain from doing any such activities that might divert their attention away from God.

Cover Image Courtesy Nila Newsom