Did Shri ram ate meat in Exile?

The question is asked many times, Here I will keep all points in front of you with a neutral point of view and you can decide what is true.

First point -

Sri Ram promised to his mother that he won't eat meat in exile ...
He said- I will "abstain from meat" and live like hermits in the forest
(V.R 2.20.29)

Further said -
I will eat roots and fruits in forest
(2.34.59)
(2.20.31)

Hanuman ji said -

Ram do not eat meat nor he drinks wine
(5.36.41)
Now there are some verses where it seems like Sri Ram is eating meat in forest, hunting animals and then eating their meat.

This can happen only in 3 cases -

1. Sri Ram lied to his mother

2. The verses have a different translation

3. The verses were interpolated.
1st point is impossible, Sri Ram can never lie to anyone and
Ram never breaks his promise
रामो द्विर्नाभिभाषते (2.18.30)

Hence first point must be ruled out.

2nd point is most probable, Geeta Press has provided alternate translations of those shlokas...
Where it seemed like Sri Ram is eating meat, NO alternate translation is possible of shlokas where he promised he won't eat meat, not Hanumanji's statement.

Hence Geeta press has found a good solution of apparant contradictions
Third point is can these verses be Interpolations? If yes then one needs to prove that on what basis these are Interpolations, we can't just declare something as interpolation without proper evidence.
Further it actually makes sense that they won't eat meat in forest, there were plenty of fruits and roots in forests, Rishis and Munis lived on the fruits in forests.

Due to all above points I believe that Sri Ram did not eat meat and one should follow Geeta press here.
Also just as a Note, Bhagwan Krishna said Hunting animals is bad and all learned people believe so.
Eat*
You can follow @VedicWisdom1.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: