Hyderabad: Meat sales usually soar on Sundays, but March 18 proved to be an anomaly. Because of Ugadi, there were very few people buying mutton, chicken and seafood. Meat shops and markets wore an unusually deserted look.
In a survey conducted two years ago, it was found that Telangana state had the largest non-vegetarian population in the country.
According to that report, about 99 per cent of the residents of the state were non-vegetarians. However, on Sunday, a majority of Telugu families abstained from eating meat because of Ugadi, and most Christians observed Lent.
Meat sales were only 25 to 30 per cent of the regular Sunday sales. Ram Reddy, the MD of Sneha Farms, said that chicken sales were three times higher on Sundays as compared to other days of the week. He said that the consumption of chicken in the state capital was usually in the range of 12 lakh kilos to 15 lakh kilos on Sundays. He added that sales were only a third of that on March 18, and a bulk of the amount was purchased by hotels and restaurants.
Mohd Saleem, a retail mutton seller, said that sale of red meat was just one-fourth of the usual Sunday sales.
“If a big Hindu festival falls on a weekday, most mutton sellers shut their shops in anticipation of poor business. Because it was a Sunday, sellers kept their shops open with half the quantity of mutton. But most of it remained unsold,” he said.
The situation was no different at the Musheerabad fish market, the largest wholesale seafood market in the city. On Sundays, the market usually receives 50 trucks bearing nearly 200 tonnes of seafood. But on Ugadi, the number of trucks was much less. Members of the Musheerabad Association said that only 25 to 30 percent of the fish was sold.
Skip meat till next Ugadi on Sundays
Pandits who read out the almanac during Panchanga Shravan, on Ugadi advised people to abstain from eating non-vegetarian food on Sundays for the next 12 months
Bachampally Santosh Kumar from Karimnagar read out the Panchangam at the programme organised by the state government at Pragati Bhavan in Begumpet.
He said if people wanted good things to happen, they would have to dutifully follow one rule and not eat non-vegetarian food on Sundays for the next year.
According to Hindu Shastra, every day of the week has some significance.
Each day is associated with a specific god and is ruled by a specific planet. Fasts are kept on Sundays in the name of Surya Narayan, or the Sun God.
Somashekara Sharma, a senior purohit from the Sri Ganesh Temple near Secunderabad Railway Station, echoed similar sentiments.
He said that there were many benefits of offering prayers to the Sun by abstaining from eating non-vegetarian food.
“It helps boost confidence and improves communication. It eliminates the negative effects of graha dosh and removes all sorts of hindrances from our personal and professional lives. It also brings us prosperity in health and wealth, and peace,” he said.
According to Hindu beliefs, abstinence from the consumption of non-vegetarian food on Sundays to please the Sun God has always been advised.
However, with western culture slowly seeping into our lives, and Sunday being a holiday, families have started making a habit of eating non-vegetarian food on Sundays.
Mr Sharma said that such practices had to be stopped. “With Ugadi falling on a Sunday this time, it is the Sun God who is the ‘Raju’. And so, it is advisable to switch to the consumption of vegetarian food on Sundays for the next 12 months,” he said.
