You are right: garlic, onion, potato, carrot – all are root (kand-mool) vegetables, and by basic Jain rules all root vegetables are to be avoided.

So if you see some Jains eating carrot / garlic etc., while saying “we don’t eat onion–garlic–potato,” it is usually because of different levels of practice, not because carrot/garlic are allowed in scriptures.

1. What is the actual Jain rule?

Traditional Jain achar (conduct) – in both Śvetāmbara and Digambar – is:

• All root / underground vegetables are to be avoided, for example:

potato, onion, garlic, carrot, beet, radish, sweet potato, ginger, turmeric (fresh), yam, etc. ( jainknowledge.com)

Main reasons:

1. Uprooting kills the whole plant (not just a part, like a leaf or fruit). ( jainknowledge.com)
2. Roots are believed to contain countless tiny lives (nigod / sūkṣma jīva).
3. When you pull them out, many more soil organisms are also harmed. ( jainknowledge.com)

So, from shastra-based and ideal Jain practice: > Onion, garlic, potato, carrot – all are in the “not to be eaten” group.

You can read a simple explanation here and here .

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2. Then why do some Jains differentiate between them?

In practice, people follow different strictness levels:

1. Stricter/ideal practice (closer to monks’ rule)

- Avoid all root vegetables: onion, garlic, potato, carrot, beet, etc. - Also avoid some multi-seeded vegetables like cabbage, eggplant, cauliflower. ( jainknowledge.com)

1. Common household practice

- Many families say: “We don’t eat onion–garlic,” mainly because: - Onion–garlic are very pungent and believed to disturb the mind and increase passions. ( jainknowledge.com) - But the same families may still eat potato or carrot out of habit or convenience, even though ideally they are also to be avoided as root vegetables.

1. Very relaxed practice

- Some people call themselves “Jain” culturally but follow only vegetarianism, and freely eat potato, onion, garlic, carrot, etc. - This is not according to Jain shastra; it is a personal/family choice.

So, the difference is not in Jain law, but in how fully people choose to follow it.

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3. Summary in very simple words

• According to Jain principles and scriptures:

- All root vegetables (onion, garlic, potato, carrot, beet, radish, etc.) are to be avoided.

• Some Jains only stop eating onion–garlic, but still eat potato or carrot – this is a lighter, practical level, not the full ideal.
• The root reason (for all of them) is:

> to reduce violence (ahimsa) by not killing the whole plant and not harming countless tiny lives in the roots and soil.

You can read more in detail here .