Cow urine

Last updated

Cow urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in cows. It has a sacred role in Zoroastrianism and Hinduism.

Contents

Urophagia, the consumption of urine, was used in several ancient cultures for various health, healing, and cosmetic purposes; urine drinking is still practiced today. Cow urine is used as medicine in some places of India, Myanmar, and Nigeria. Proponents' claims about its curing diseases and cancer have no scientific backing. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Hinduism

Cow urine is considered sacred in Hinduism. Cow urine is used in the making of pancha-gavya, for use in Hindu rituals. [6] The Mahabharata narrates a story about how Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, came to reside in cow dung. In the legend, Lakshmi asks cows to let her live in their bodies because they are pure and sinless. The cows refuse, describing her as unstable and fickle. Lakshmi begs them to accept her request, saying that others would ridicule her for being rejected by the cows, and agreeing to live in the most despised part of their body. The cows then allow her to live in their dung and urine. [7]

Usage

Cow's urine historically used as a treatment in Indian Ayurvedic medicine. A sick man is held over a cow's hindquarters so that the cow's urine streams onto his face. Cow's urine used as a medical treatment in India Wellcome V0041323.jpg
Cow's urine historically used as a treatment in Indian Ayurvedic medicine. A sick man is held over a cow's hindquarters so that the cow's urine streams onto his face.

Folk medicine

Cow urine Cow urine.JPG
Cow urine

Consuming cow urine is used as folk medicine in some cultures. The purported medicinal benefits of cow urine lack scientific substantiation and rigorous empirical evidence. Claims suggesting that cow urine can cure various ailments or possess unique therapeutic properties are not supported by robust clinical trials or research. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Some Hindus claim that cow urine has a special significance as a medicinal drink. [8] [1] Among other usage, urine therapy is used for the medicinal purposes as a system of alternative medicine popularized by British naturopath John W. Armstrong in the early 20th century based on the metaphorical misreading of the Hebrew Biblical Proverb 5:15. [9] [10] His widely sold book inspired the writing of Manav mootra (Gujarati: Urine therapy; 1959) by Gandhian social reformer Raojibhai Manibhai Patel, and many later works, which often reference Shivambu Kalpa, a treatise on the pharmaceutical value of urine. However, according to medical anthropologist Joseph Alter, the practices of sivambu (drinking one's own urine) and amaroli recommended by modern Indian practitioners of urine therapy are closer to the ones propounded by Armstrong than traditional ayurveda or yoga, or even the practices described in Shivambu Kalpa. [9]

Cow urine is also used in Myanmar and Nigeria as a folk medicine. [11] [12] In Nigeria, a concoction of leaves of tobacco, garlic and lemon basil juice, rock salt and cow urine is used in an attempt to treat convulsions in children. [12] This has resulted in the death of several children from respiratory depression. [13]

COVID-19

Cow urine and dung is believed by some in India to protect against COVID-19. [14] There is however no scientific evidence that cow dung or urine improves immunity against COVID‐19, but consuming these products does increase the risk of animal-to-human disease transmission, such as E. coli and Mycobacterium paratuberculosis . [14] Exposure also increases the risk of fungal infections such as mucormycosis in those with COVID-19. [15]

On 14 March 2020, a Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha hosted a cow urine drinking party with over 200 people in attendance to ward off COVID-19. This urine drinking party was held weeks after a leader from Assam, India told state lawmakers during an assembly that "cow urine and cow dung can be used to treat the coronavirus". Leaders from BJP had previously called for the use of cow urine as medicine and a cure for cancer. [16]

In May 2021, two men in Manipur, India, Erendro Leichombam and Kishorechandra Wangkhem, were jailed for stating that cow dung and cow urine were not cures for COVID-19. They had criticized the BJP on Facebook for recommending cow dung and cow urine and were arrested under India's National Security Act. They were jailed for 45 days. [17] In July 2021, the Supreme Court of India ordered that Leichombam be released, saying that the "continued detention of the petitioner would be a violation of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution." The Manipur High Court also ordered the release of Wangkhem after two months in jail, citing parity with the Supreme Court decision in Leichombam's case. [18] [19]

As a floor cleaner

A floor-cleaning fluid called Gaunyle is marketed by an organisation called Holy Cow Foundation. [20] Maneka Gandhi, Women and Child Development Minister, has proposed that Gaunyle be used instead of Phenyl in government offices. [21] In May 2015, Rajendra Singh Rathore, Medical and Health Minister of Rajasthan, inaugurated a ₹40 million (US$470,000) cow urine refinery in Jalore. [22] [23]

In farming

Jeevamrutha storage cans Jeewamrut urine storage cans (4950882796).jpg
Jeevamrutha storage cans

Cow urine has been used as a fertilizer, such as jeevamrutha that adds cow dung, jaggery, pulse flour and rhizosphere soil to the mixture. [24] [25]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Nelson, Dean (11 February 2009). "India makes cola from cow urine". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  2. 1 2 Buncombe, Andrew (21 July 2010). "A cure for cancer – or just a very political animal?". The Independent. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
  3. 1 2 Paliwal, Ankur (3 March 2018). "From cure in cow urine to 'superior child', pseudoscience inviting research". Business Standard India. Archived from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2019– via Business Standard.
  4. 1 2 RAMACHANDRAN, R. (17 August 2016). "Of 'cowpathy' & its miracles". Frontline.
  5. 1 2 Prabhala, Achal; Krishnaswamy, Sudhir (16 June 2016). "Mr. Modi, Don't Patent Cow Urine". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  6. ↑ Jain, Rupam (8 March 2010). "Cow dung and urine 'healthy'". Telegraph. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  7. ↑ Isobel Julia Leslie (1989). The Perfect Wife: The Orthodox Hindu Woman according to the Strīdharmapaddhati of Tryambakayajvan. Oxford University South Asian Studies Series. Oxford University Press. pp. 60–62. ISBN   978-0-19-562107-5.
  8. ↑ Burrows, Ben (13 January 2014). "Pictured: A very few Indian Hindu worshippers drink COW URINE to help prevent cancer". Daily Mirror . Archived from the original on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  9. 1 2 Alter, Joseph (19 September 2004). "Auto-urine Therapy". Yoga in modern India: The body between science and philosophy. Princeton University Press. pp. 181–210. ISBN   0691118744.
  10. ↑ Armstrong, John W. (2011). The Water Of Life: A Treatise on Urine Therapy. Random House. ISBN   978-1446489925.
  11. ↑ "An amazing cow's urine therapy practice in Myanmar". University of Toyama. hdl:10110/1993.
  12. 1 2 "Effects of cow urine concoction and nicotine on the nerve-muscle preparation in common African toad Bufo regularis". Biomedical Research. 16 (3): 205–211. 2005.
  13. ↑ "Don't use cow urine to treat infant epilepsy, Kwara warns mothers". Premium Times. 2 February 2013. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  14. 1 2 Daria, S; Islam, MR (September 2021). "The use of cow dung and urine to cure COVID-19 in India: A public health concern". The International journal of health planning and management. 36 (5): 1950–1952. doi:10.1002/hpm.3257. PMID   34037266.
  15. ↑ Pourazizi, Mohsen; Hakamifard, Atousa; Peyman, Alireza; Mohammadi, Rasoul; Dehghani, Shakiba; Tavousi, Najmeh; Hosseini, Nastaran‐Sadat; Azhdari Tehrani, Hamed; Abtahi‐Naeini, Bahareh (January 2024). "COVID‐19 associated mucormycosis surge: A review on multi‐pathway mechanisms". Parasite Immunology. 46 (1). doi:10.1111/pim.13016.
  16. ↑ Danish, Siddiqui (14 March 2020). "Hindu group offers cow urine in a bid to ward off coronavirus". Reuters. Reuters. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  17. ↑ "Two Men Have Been in Jail for 45 Days for Saying Cow Poop and Piss Can't Cure COVID". www.vice.com. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  18. ↑ "Elangbam Ranjita v. State of Manipur". Global Freedom of Expression. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  19. ↑ "Released Manipur scribe to move Supreme Court against NSA". The Hindu. 23 July 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  20. ↑ "Use cow urine to clean offices, says Maneka Gandhi". The Times of India . 25 March 2015. Archived from the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  21. ↑ "Cow urine cleaner to replace phenyl in government offices". India Today . 9 January 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  22. ↑ "Cow-urine refinery inaugurated at Jalore". Deccan Herald . 3 May 2015. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  23. ↑ "Cow urine to be used to clean Rajasthan government hospitals". India Today . 5 May 2015. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  24. ↑ T. Satyanarayana; Bhavdish Narain Johri; Anil Prakash (2 January 2012). Microorganisms in Sustainable Agriculture and Biotechnology. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 63. ISBN   978-94-007-2214-9 . Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  25. ↑ "Farmer cultivates paddy with cow urine, dung". The Hindu . 13 December 2012. Archived from the original on 27 December 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.