ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the animal and dietary ethics in early Brāhmaṇism, Buddhism and Jainism. The debates that shaped animal and dietary ethics have been crucial to the early Indian traditions as they define both the worldly existence and soteriological goals and the boundary between these traditions. The discourses on animals in the Indian traditions, as this chapter shows, develop from an approach that appeals to harmony with nature and focuses on the well-being of animals and compassion. Given the intricacies of dietary ethics and its relationship with vegetarianism, a connection with animals, their positionality and their relationship with humans is something to be considered as well. Subsequently, the question of dietary ethics is linked to animal ethics. These varying positions on animal and dietary ethics hold significant lessons for the modern movements concerning animal rights as well.
