In their pure form, Hsunchen are (vertebrate) beasts that happen to have a human and a beast shape. Some Hsunchen are the entirety of their beast shape (Eastern Eagles), others (nowadays the majority) have lots of beast kin that does not change shape into humans.
One type of Hsunchen, the Tanuku (milk-antelope), exists primarily as life stock for non-Hsunchen Agimori. Presumably these get eaten by their keepers, too.
Some Hsunchen have developed a life-style that makes them difficult to tell apart from pre-Waha Praxians - especially the Pralori and the Yak folk of Pent.
Most human-shaped Hsunchen are carnivorous, and some predate on their beast kin - either ritually (bear hunting among Rathori), or even regularly (egg-stealing Sofali).
A few Hsunchen have beast forms that prey naturally on humans - as opportunity targets. These include bear, wolf and all the large cats, and possibly crocodiles and saurians.
When a Hsunchen beast eats another Hsunchen beast, that's not cannibalism. One might say, regardless of the shape that eaten Hsunchen currently employs. Things get into the cannibalism sphere when a human-shaped Hsunchen practices man-eating. Reading the material about the Telmori, they don't regard other humans as the same as themselves. Theoretically, there would be no taboo for human-shaped wolves to eat non-Telmori human-shaped prey.
I'd expect the same about the Praxian Basmoli, who are untainted by any Pendali theist practices.
The Pendali are a different case - besides Basmol and his lioness mate, they also claim descent from Seshna Likita, who also is ancestress of the native earth worshipping humans (or human-shaped Likiti?) of Seshnela who lived there before either Basmoli or Malkioni arrived in Seshnela.
While I know of no reports on the Basmoli arrival in Seshnela or their arrangement with Likita, it appears to have predated the arrival of Froalar and Neleos. Somehow, the lion-folk have adopted the deities of the land, and presumably their worshippers, too. Given the martial power the Basmoli present, probably as a warrior-nobility to protect the natives against the warfare of the Storm Age.
>From the Dawn Age History of Seshnela, it appears that the Pendali(-ruled) cities (those ending on -ket rather than -wal, which indicates Malkioni colonies) were annexed with their Likita-worshipping citizens remaining and only the lion-folk nobility expulsed (or - as likely - extinguished in the fights).
For the Pendali to revert to Basmoli "any non-lion-spirit is acceptable prey" would indeed be an act of cannibalism, especially since one would expect a certain intermixture of Likiti worshippers in the Malkioni bloodlines following Froalar's marriage with Seshna Likita.
On the other hand, cannibalism features in a number of earth cult practices. Like human sacrifice, this is reserved for desperate times, but the genocidal war of the Malkioni against the descendants of Basmol qualifies as such. I wouldn't rule out that the ritual devouring of captive Malkioni had a Likiti background.
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