Early Leverage
I believe tzitzit derived from two directions. One was an attempt by our forefathers to save babies immediately after birth, by always having a cord to tie off umbilical cords, and the other, possibly earlier, was having a source of fire starting material at hand at all times.
These two safety measures on a garment may have established customs of Hinduism and Judaism during early contact. Anyone that has read the Bible would probably notice the similarity between the Jerusalem temple apparel descriptions, when compared to the style of attire in many Hindu temples in modern operation.
If an early Jew showed up in India and said 'this is for fire making and tying umbilical cords', or vice-versa if an Indian establishing the Hindu religion found Israel, and saw the tradition in use, the reaction to form a contrasting custom could be, 'To avoid some fires, I'm going to be vegetarian.' I'll assume that the tzitzit wasn't ever a tradition of Hinduism, since we still wear them, at least on occasion.
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