A gift from the gods: bottled cow's urine

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<h3>A gift from the gods: bottled cow's urine </h3>

By Julian West in New Delhi

 

(Filed: 02/09/2001)

 

HINDU nationalists in India have launched a

marketing exercise to promote cow's urine as a

health cure for ailments ranging from liver disease to

obesity and even cancer.

 

The urine, which is being sold under the label "Gift of

the Cow", is being enthusiastically promoted by the

government of Gujarat, one of three states in India

dominated by Hindu nationalists.

 

The urine is collected daily from almost 600 shelters

for rescued and wounded cattle set up by the

Vishwa Hindu Parisad (VHP), or World Council of Holy

men, as part of a government cow-protection

programme to save the country's sacred, but often

maltreated, beasts.

 

Advertised as being "sterilised and completely fresh"

it is available for 20 rupees (30p) a bottle at about

50 centres run by the VHP in Gujerat, from 200 of

their outlets in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, and

at fairs and religious festivals throughout India.

 

It also comes in tablets or a cream mixed with other

traditional medicinal herbs. Demand is currently

outstripping supply.

 

Dr Jadi Patel at the VHP's headquarters in

Ahmedabad said: "It's very popular because the

results are very good, but we've got a shortage." He

explained that the cow protection centres had been

formed after the last grand gathering of saddhus, or

holy men, to save cows from "unofficial slaughter by

Muslims".

 

Killing cows is illegal in most Indian states but there

are an estimated 32,000 illegal abattoirs and 13.7

million cows are believed to be slaughtered by

Muslims for the leather industry.

 

Animal rights activists in India also claim that the

doe-eyed, hump-backed white Brahma cattle that

are to be found on almost every Indian street are

subjected to various abuses, including forced

pregnancies to produce more milk.

 

The cow protection commission was set up to

protect the holy cows, and research conducted by

doctors involved in the project revealed that the

cows' urine had medicinal properties.

 

The idea of using it came from the central Indian

headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

(RSS), the powerful Hindu nationalist ideologues

behind the country's Bharata Janata Party (BJP),

where five scientists are researching its beneficial

effects.

 

Like all devout Hindus, RSS members believe that all

cow products are sacred. Ghee, or clarified butter, is

used in Indian cooking and to light lamps during

temple ceremonies, and milk is commonly poured

over sacred idols as an offering.

 

The healing properties of cow dung and cow's urine

are also mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. The

research conducted by doctors at the cow-protection

commission indicates that the urine can cure

anything from skin diseases, kidney and liver

ailments to obesity and heart ailments.

 

Although most Indian doctors view the medicines as

eccentric, several advocates of the treatment have

come forward in Gujarat, have come forward to

support the doctors' claims.

 

They include Vidhyaben Mehta, a 65-year-old woman

with a cancerous tumour on her chest who has been

taking cow's urine for the past three years. She says

she is no longer in pain and has survived in spite of

medical predictions that she would die two years

ago.

 

So enthusiastic is the Gujarat government about its

cows' urine medicines that it has asked the Indian

Institute of Management to compile a database of

traditional cures and verify the Hindu nationalists'

findings.

 

The academics have also discovered that cow's urine

is an extremely effective pesticide and plant fertiliser

and are now developing for human consumption

new drugs that contain the "gift of the cow".

 

Prof Anil Gupta at the institute said: "This isn't just a

religious thing. If it's useful we shouldn't stop it

simply because we think it has religious

connections."