Jainism....Why don't followers eat underground roots ?

Jains dint eat potato, onions, yam, peanut etc considering that these edible items take shape under the ground. What is the reasoning behind this? Please explain.

Religions rarely have good reason for anything they do.

They think they're still alive; they think potatoes are still alive.

Perhaps a better place to ask would be a Jain priest perhaps? they could give a full explanation.

I agree with Desiree.

eating all underground roots produce gas trouble

Because they don't believe in killing anything, and to eat a root vegetable means killing a plant.

who/what is Jainism?

Desiree is right, because it involves killing the entire plant, and also because small life is injured or killed when the plant is pulled from the root.

Vegetables and fruits that grow underground (roots of plants) are prohibited as a general rule in Jainism

. The reason being, plant is pulled out from the root, it destroys the entire plant, and with it all the other micro organisms around the root.

Roots are supposed to increase sensuous feelings.

The basic philosophy of Jainism is non violence. But it also understands while a person is alive it will have to breathe thus killing microorganisms. So the idea is to reduce the violence one commits or to reduce the pain and suffering caused by ones actions be it physically,mentally or vocally.

For the question above for not eating anything that grows underground

1. The whole plant is killed.
2. Lot of small animals and microorganisms are hurt/killed

motivation is the insects living in the earth should not be disturbed.

It is not only the Janis who do not eat underground root Brahmins (priests of Hindu temples) of highest order do not consume it too.


Reasons :

No 1-you have to kill the poor plant for its root
No2-while doing this you also kill many ants :'(
NO-3-We develop a hating towards it


Ps we also do not drink tea because we take more than what we want from the plant.It is greed to remove every leaf from the plant body :'( (it is also bad for health)

Eating underground roots means to remove the entire plant and hence they don't want to kill anything.