Hinduism - How Is Alcohol Consumption Perceived In A Hindu Society? What Are Instances Of Hindu Religious Exceptions That Tolerate Alcohol?

 

Traditional Hindus condemn it, however opinions vary depending on the sort of booze drunk.

Drinking beer, wine, and distilled spirits ("foreign liquor") is associated with embracing "foreign" Western ideals, but drinking un-distilled, fermented beverages like "country liquor" and toddy is associated with low-class conduct.

Drinking habits tend to reflect and perpetuate unfavorable attitudes.

People who drink will typically complete the bottle in one sitting and get inebriated, thereby "proving" that there is no such thing as responsible drinking since booze is banned in polite society.

Despite widespread cultural opposition, there are a few Hindu temples where whiskey is offered to the god on a daily basis.

As prasad, the sanctified food or drink that bears the deity's benediction, the devotees also get wine.

In certain tantric religious practices, alcohol has also been integrated into religious rites.

Tantra is a hidden ritual-based religious system founded on the notion that everything exists in ultimate oneness.

To proclaim that the whole cosmos is one principle from a tantric viewpoint implies that the adept must reject all dualistic conceptions.

Consuming the "Five Forbidden Things" (panchamakara) is one method to achieve this, purposefully breaching social conventions prohibiting the intake of intoxicants, nonvegetarian cuisine, and illegal intercourse.

This is always done in a precisely specified ritual environment, with the intention of sacralizing what is not morally wrong.


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