Seeking a larger debate on the food habits of mythological personalities and ancestors, Udupi district in-charge Minister Pramod Madhwaraj said on Saturday that Valmiki, Rama and Krishna were non-vegetarians.
Speaking after inaugurating the Maharshi Valmiki Jayanti celebrations, Mr. Madhwaraj said caste had not been a bar for those scaling new heights.
Food habits
He said he was consciously making the statement in the light of the ongoing debate on food habits across the country.
The Minister sought a debate that would include the food habits of mythological personalities.
The Minister said Valmiki, hailing from the lowest stratum of the caste system, wrote the Ramayana . Excellence was not restricted to a particular class, caste or community. Valmiki’s achievements had come a long way in eradicating the caste system, he said.
Mr. Madhwaraj said Maharshi Veda Vyasa, son of fisher woman Satyavati, had penned the Mahabharata . In the present times, the mother and son would have been socially boycotted, he noted. All such issues needed to be debated, he stressed. The Minister wondered how certain castes and communities could claim exclusive rights over the worship of Gods.
