--- title: "Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904) - IVU - International Vegetarian Union" description: "Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904): Gandhi , a rebel against vegetarianism in his own country where it was an expected duty, took up the unpopular cause in London and became very active in the vegetarian movements. He even founded his own Vegetarian Club in Bayswater with Dr." url: "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2454-history-europe19b-arnold.html" date: "2026-11-06T03:38:02+00:00" language: "en-GB" --- # Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904) ![Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904)](https://ivu.org/images/legacy/history/banners/history-europe19b-arnold.png)[Gandhi](https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2521-history-gandhi-index.html), a rebel against vegetarianism in his own country where it was an expected duty, took up the unpopular cause in London and became very active in the vegetarian movements. He even founded his own Vegetarian Club in Bayswater with [Dr. Josiah Oldfield](https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2464-history-europe19b-oldfield.html) as president, Sir Edwin Arnold the poet as vice-president, and himself as secretary. from *The Sacrifice* . . . . . . . . But the Buddha softly said, "Let him not strike, great King," and therewith loosed The victim's bonds, none staying him, so great His presence was. Then, craving leave, he spake Of life, which all creatures love and strive to keep, Wonderful, dear and pleasant unto each, Even to the meanest; yes, a boon to all Where pity is, for pity makes the world Soft to the weak and noble for the strong, Unto the dumb lips of his flock he lent Sad pleading words, showing how man, who prays For mercy to the gods, is merciless, Being as god to those; albeit all life Is linked and kin, and what we slay have given Meek tribute of the milk and wool, and set Fast trust upon the hands which murder them. Nor, spake he, shall one wash his spirit clean By blood; nor gladden gods, being good, with blood, Nor bribe them, being evil; nay, nor lay Upon the brow of innocent bound beasts One hair's weight of that answer each must give For all things done amiss or wrongfully, Alone, each for himself, reckoning with that The fixed arithmetic of the universe Which meteth good for good and ill for ill. - **Poetical works of Edwin Arnold : containing The light of Asia** *(PDF 12mb)*, 1883. p.95: 'henceforth none Shall spill the blood of life nor taste of flesh' A note on this archive. The history section of this website is drawn from a body of legacy content originally compiled by John Davis, former manager of the International Vegetarian Union. It represents his curation of historical material, and in places includes passages written by him directly. Over the years, the IVU website has migrated between several different hosting servers. In the course of these migrations, a number of PDF files were unfortunately lost, and **some links to PDF documents may no longer function**. Where this is the case, we have chosen to leave the original link text in place, as it may itself carry information of historical value. - Hits: 1569 ## Schema ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://ivu.org/hv-societies-ivu-history-societies-united-kingdom.html?view=article&id=2454:history-europe19b-arnold&catid=59","url":"https://ivu.org/hv-societies-ivu-history-societies-united-kingdom.html?view=article&id=2454:history-europe19b-arnold&catid=59","name":"Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904)","inLanguage":"en","isPartOf":[{"@id":"https://ivu.org/history-of-ivu.html#archive"},{"@id":"https://ivu.org/hv-societies-ivu-history-societies-united-kingdom.html"}],"publisher":{"@id":"https://ivu.org/#organization"},"description":"Gandhi, a rebel against vegetarianism in his own country where it was an expected duty, took up the unpopular cause in London and became very active in the vegetarian movements."}]} ``` ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://ivu.org" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "IVU", "item": "https://ivu.org/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Resources", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Interviews", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "History of the Vegetarian Societies", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "name": "history", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "name": "europe19b", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "name": "Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904)", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2454-history-europe19b-arnold.html" } ] } ``` ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2454-history-europe19b-arnold.html" }, "headline": "Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904)", "description": "Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904): Gandhi , a rebel against vegetarianism in his own country where it was an expected duty, took up the unpopular cause in London and became very active in the vegetarian movements. 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