Tibetans pledge to give up non-vegetarian food

Hundreds of Tibetan exiles in Karnataka, who gathered in Bangalore for the Dalai Lama’s 72nd birthday, pledged to give up non-vegetarian food for the next one year.

Offerring prayers to the deities and scarves of the portrait of Dalai Lama as part of the ‘Sangsol’ ceremony to mark his birthday celebrations, the Tibetans from various refugee camps across Karnataka prayed for the Dalai Lama’s long life at the Office of the Tibetans Chief Representative (South) in Bangalore on Friday.

Volunteers of Regional Tibetan Youth Congress in Karnataka said the Tibetan community believes that the birth years of 13 and 73 are inauspicious and apprehends that the Dalai Lama, their spiritual head, may face obstacles. “Hence, we have urged Tibetans to go strictly vegetarian for the whole of next year in an effort to reduce the obstacles in the personal life of Dalai Lama”, a volunteer said.

Thousands of Tibetans reside in Karnataka at their settlements at Bylakuppe in Kodagu districts and Kollegal in Chamarajanagar district. Tibetans in other parts of India including Dharmashala, the headquarters of the Tibetan Government in Exile, have also pledged to keep off non-vegetarian food for a year, the volunteer added.

Tibetans, who are followers of the Buddhist religion, are not basically vegetarian and their diet normally includes meat of a variety of animals.