The Vegetarian Movement in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a country with 25 centuries of recorded history, with two chronicles, Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa, describing the story of civilisation in the island from the 6th century before Christ. Buddhism was brought to Sri Lanka in the 3rd century B.C. and has remained since then as the dominant religion of the country.

Like in any other culture, in Sri Lanka too reality and ideals have never been co-equal. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka has some impressive records from an animal rights' perspective. The first animal sanctuaries in Sri Lanka were established by Buddhist kings in pre-Christian times. There have been five kings of Sri Lanka who proclaimed what was called the Maghata rule which completely prohibits the killing of all animals in the kingdom. The first such king was Amanda Gamani who lived in the 1st century.

Until the advent of western colonialism, the consumption of animal food was minimal and the slaughter of cattle was regularly prohibited. Up until the early decades of the 20th century, fishing and hunting and other forms of killing animals were limited and people who resorted to these occupations had absolutely no social status.