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Vegetarian for Brahmins was initiated by Saint Agasthya,

when he was invited to dine with demons like vadapi and Illvalan. Illvalan used to turn his brother vadapi into a ram, and killed it and made dish out of it and asked the invited guests to eat it. Not to displease the host, the guests ate it and after eaten it , Illvalan by the virtue of boon got by him, called out the brother vadapi to come out of the stomach of the guests. Vadapi will come out tearing the stomach of the guests in full form. In this manner, many brahmins and rishis were killed by these demons. The demons then devor the guests. In the similar manner, when sage Agasthya happen to pass through their place, these demons invited him to have dinner with him. Because of supernatural powers agasthya had, he came to know the ill intentions of these demons and without second thought he agreed to take part in the dinner. As usual, vadapi was turned into goat and got cooked by his brother and served to Sage Agasthya. Agasthya ate the goat and after that uttered "Vadapi jeeranoth bava". When Illvalan tried to call his barother vadapi, vadapi did not appear and Illvalan was shocked and surprised. Knowing that his brother was killed was sage agasthya, he got furious and tried to attack and kill sage agasthya. Agasthya again by his power , reduced Illvalan to ashes and thus got rid of both the demons..  Now sage Agasthya came to a conclusion. He instructed that "From now on, No spritual oriented persons (including brahmins) and sages, rishis should consume meat and meat oriented products in what ever manner .  So it's Agasthya who is responsible for the vegetarianism of the brahmins and rishis...