More Than Vegetarian: The Principles and Practice of Sakahari Living

This article, originally published as a personal blog post by Dr. Siddhartha Visveswara Jayanti under the title Śākāhāra, is reproduced here with his permission.

Dr. Jayanti is a passionate advocate for Indian languages and Dharmic traditions. He authored the first modern computer science research paper in Telugu, which was included in his MIT Ph.D. thesis, and also featured an abstract in Sanskrit. Additionally, he actively promotes the preservation and use of these languages in academia. A Sakahari Hindu, he follows and promotes a strict plant-based, no-contact diet — a centuries-old practice rooted in principles of non-violence and holistic well-being — and works to make such food more accessible in university and community settings. Professionally, he is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Dartmouth College, leading research in distributed computing, algorithms, verification, economics, security, and machine learning.

In the piece below, Dr. Jayanti explains the meaning, philosophy, and practical realities of the Sakahari diet, drawing on his personal experiences as a student, teacher, and advocate:

I am a Sakahari (Hindu Strict Vegetarian), a food restriction that amounts to “No Eggs, No Mushrooms, No Fish, No Meat; and No-Contact with these restricted foods.” I am also interested in helping making Sakahara food more easily available at Dartmouth and beyond, for the benefit of students, faculty, and the wider community.

What is Śākāhāra?

Śākāhārī is a Sanskrit term that is derived from the words śāka = vegetable/fruit and āhāra = food; it refers to one who consumes a plant-based diet. The term śākāhāra refers to the diet itself. Sakahara is a dietary restriction that encompasses both the food and its preparation: the food must contain no meat, no fish, no eggs, and no mushrooms, and it must be prepared in such a way that it makes no contact with these restricted foods during preparation or serving.

The Sakahari diet is very popular, particularly amongst Indians, those of Indian origin, and practitioners of dharmic religions, including Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Many sakaharis are nitya-sakaharis (always follow a sakahari diet); a large group of others are sakaharis on fixed days of the week, on holidays, or on days when they pray or go to the temple. For example, a study by Pew Research indicates that around 40% of Indians consider themselves vegetarian and about 80% limit meat in their diet. To put these numbers into perspective, the population of the United States (~330M) is only about 23% of the population of India (~1.4B).

Philosophical Underpinnings

The traditional Hindu and Indian Sakahari diet is the progenitor of several vegetarian and vegan movements. Two of the principles behind the sakahari diet are:

Ahimsa (अहिम्सा)

Ahimsa–i.e., reducing violence–is one of the core principles of dharmic religions, including Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Ahimsa is also a central tenet of Yoga; it is listed as the first of the five yamas (i.e., regulations) by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras. In yoga, the aspiration is to practice ahimsa in actions, speech, and thought, and towards all beings, including human, animal, living, and non-living. The consumption of sakahari food is viewed as an important step towards a life-style of ahimsa.

Satvikata (सात्विकता)

A sakahari diet is traditionally thought to aid in holistic well-being, including in the pursuit of satvikata––a quality of life (guna) in Hindu philosophy that is characterized by mental clarity, equanimity, and shanti (peace).

Practical Challenges

Even though the sakahari diet is very popular, including among students and faculty at American universities, it is often difficult for Sakaharis to get food, particularly due to the no-contact restriction, i.e., the restriction that sakahari food should not make contact with meat or other restricted items while being prepared or served. Dining facilities often fail to meet this criterion in their vegetarian preparations due to many reasons, examples include: using the same cutting utensils or serving utensils for vegetarian and meat pizzas, frying (vegetarian) french fries and meat items in the same oil, using the same gloves to touch meat and vegetables while making salads, making vegetarian quesadillas on the same grill with meat-items etc. I personally struggled to find sakahari options while in school and college, at restaurants, and while travelling, similarly I have talked to innumerable students, colleagues, and friends that similarly struggle to find satisfactory food at dining halls and restaurants. I am interested in working towards ameliorating this situation at Dartmouth and beyond (e.g., at dining halls, restaurants, in flights, etc.).

Aspiration

I am interested in working towards making Sakahara food easily available at Dartmouth and beyond, for the benefit of students, faculty, and the wider community.