A CITY in the Indian state of Gujarat is believed to be the first in the world to have banned all non-vegetarian food, Malaysia Nanban reported.
Palitana, located in the Bhavnagar district, is home to more than 800 Jain temples built into the Shatrunjaya Hills. It is one of the most important pilgrimage sites for the faithful.
The city is renowned for its ties to the Jain faith, which prohibits cruelty to animals.
Followers abide by a strict version of vegetarianism. They avoid root vegetables as well.
Jain temples there have a 900-year history.
In 2014, about 200 monks staged a hunger strike to demand the closure of 250 butcher shops in the city.
The state government agreed with it and completely banned the sale of meat, poultry and the butchering of animals in the city.
Over the years, Palitana has bloomed into a food paradise for non-meat eaters.
The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.
