Abstract
AbstractIn this chapter (Based on the author’s forthcoming book, A Taste of Purity), Julia Hauser argues that India played a crucial role in the German vegetarian discourse. While contacts were less direct than in Britain, references to India served to buttress the idea of Aryanism, which in the eyes of some German vegetarians assigned a prominent role to the German ‘race’ in uplifting humankind through vegetarianism. While some German vegetarians were obsessed with Aryanism, others, believing that Germany needed a strong ascetic leader, were inspired by the figure of Gandhi and his idea of non-violence. This sometimes led to a general assumption that the entire Indian subcontinent was non-violent, which of course ignored the violent aspects of Hindu nationalism.
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