Answer

Yes, there may have been indirect contact between the Mediterranean world and Indian religious traditions, including Jainism, especially through trade routes and the campaigns of Alexander. However, there is no clearly established Jain traditional evidence that Pythagoras or Pythagoreanism directly learned vegetarianism from Jainism.

So the careful answer is:

• Historical contact between India and the Mediterranean world did exist.
• Both Jainism and Pythagorean traditions valued vegetarianism and non-violence toward animals.
• But a direct link between Pythagorean vegetarianism and Jain Dharma is not clearly proven.

Explanation

Jain Dharma has taught ahiṃsā — non-violence toward all living beings — from very ancient times. Vegetarianism in Jainism is not merely a diet; it is part of a deep spiritual discipline based on reducing harm to living beings.

Pythagoreanism, in the Mediterranean world, also encouraged abstaining from killing animals and eating meat. Because of this similarity, some modern scholars have wondered whether there was influence from Indian traditions.

Historically, there were routes of contact between India and the West:

• Trade between India and West Asia/Mediterranean regions
• Persian imperial connections
• Greek contact with India after Alexander’s campaigns
• Reports by Greek writers about Indian ascetics

But these contacts do not prove that Pythagoras himself encountered Jain monks, Jain teachings, or Jain communities.

Spiritual Understanding

From a Jain perspective, the important point is not whether another tradition borrowed from Jainism, but that ahiṃsā is a universal truth. A spiritually sensitive person in any land may recognize that causing suffering to living beings binds the soul and disturbs inner purity.

In Jain Dharma, vegetarianism arises from:

• Compassion for living beings
• Awareness of karma
• Restraint of passions
• Respect for the soul present in all forms of life

Thus, similarities between Jainism and other traditions may show that noble seekers in different cultures reflected deeply on life, suffering, and self-control.

Takeaway

There was broad historical contact between India and the Mediterranean world, and both Jainism and Pythagoreanism valued abstaining from animal-killing. But a direct connection between Pythagoras and Jainism is not clearly established within Jain tradition or firm historical evidence.