Cow Urine: An Elixir or a Liquid Fit for the Drain?

COW URINE: AN ELIXIR OR A LIQUID FIT FOR THE DRAIN?

This comprehensive essay on cow urine is being serialized on this website. The first part dealt with the traditional usage of cow urine in alternative systems of medicine, particularly Ayurveda. You can visit Part I of this essay: Cow Urine: Tradition, Beliefs, and Scientific Evidence.  In the present part (Part II), the author deals with popular beliefs and misinformation associated with the consumption of cow urine, and also its criticism. The subsequent parts of the essay will deal with the commercialization of cow urine, research findings, and inferences that can be drawn from the available scientific research and arguments.   

PART II
Belief, Misinformation, Derision

PART II
Belief, Misinformation, Derision

Manoj Pandey 

Till a few decades back, the Indian economy was primarily agriculture-based, and cow-rearing was one of its important constituents. Since religion was an integral part of the Indian – say, Hindu – way of life, the cow attained an exalted position as Gau-mata (=cow, the mother). The products obtained from it, easily available and useful as they were, became integrated with not only the livelihood but also rituals. Of them, cow urine received special recognition for its cleaning and therapeutic properties. 

If the cleansing and medicinal properties of cow urine came to be recognized through tradition, the Rishis of the Ayurvedic system of medicine put their seal on these properties through their observations and research.  
 
Over centuries, the use of cow urine as a traditional medicine as well as a part of religious rituals has kept on declining, especially in urban areas. One reason appears to be the non-availability of cow urine in cities. Then, the educated and urban population tends to question old practices. Now that the allopathic system of medicine is prevalent almost everywhere, people avoid traditional medicines, especially the ones they are uncomfortable with. 
 
However, the pendulum has swung to the other side in the recent past. The rise of Hindu nationalism in the last about three decades has led to an extraordinary adoration, even glamorization, of ancient beliefs and traditions, including those related to cow urine. 

The consumption of cow urine has faced criticism from non-Hindus, mainstream scientists, rationalists and those who find the practice unhygienic. The unusual promotion of cow urine has given a handle to these critics, who are, of late, showing a new level of aggression not seen earlier. 

Dominated by extreme views, the subject is crying for a dispassionate scrutiny. For that to find ground, we must first expose the hollowness and extreme bias of both sides. I hope, you are with me on this.

WHEN BELIEF AND PROMOTION MERGE WITH MISINFORMATION

There are millions of believers - those who believe in the medicinal properties of cow urine and take cow urine and its products routinely or as part of some medicine. They promote it among their family members and friends by sharing their beliefs and experiences. 

However, there is a section of believers who promote it with aggression and with an intention that goes beyond helping others with an easily found and inexpensive medicinal substance. The aggression is mostly emotional, often borne out of exhibitionism. Many staunch believers are those for whom anything ancient has to be unquestionably good. 

There are many others, who promote its usage aggressively for their gains, mostly social, political, and commercial. Some of them may not even have a genuine faith in the therapeutic properties of cow urine, and they may themselves not consume it. Such proponents are aggressive on the media and on social media, wanting to emerge as the flag-bearers of the believers. They amass a huge following on social media and in real life, Cow urine is just one of their exhibits chosen for mass impact. 

As we know, social media is the worst form of mass communication when it comes to broadcasting and re-broadcasting fake news (making it viral). Not surprising that cow urine has fallen prey to a high level of misinformation on social platforms.

To substantiate their claims about cow urine, the originators of misinformation draw from Hindu scriptures, spurious research, genuine research edited to suit them, and fallacious arguments.  

On the web and social media, even in books and research papers, one comes across exaggerated, even baseless, facts and arguments. Without the capacity to appreciate and assimilate genuine Ayurvedic wisdom, they misquote Ayurveda to substantiate their claims.  For example, cow urine is said to treat five thousand diseases - a figure beyond the imagination of medical scientists and doctors. Though Ayurveda does not say so, cow urine is often flaunted as a remedy for diseases due to all three doshas (vata, pitta, and kapha), even calling it the only substance available on earth to have such a unique property. 

Many such self-proclaimed experts on cow urine say that it contains Nitrogen and this element is responsible for its invigorative properties. Stretching the argument further, they say that it is particularly useful for muscle growth and blood formation. (For those who have lost touch with science, Nitrogen element constitutes 78% of air and is found in urine and stool, fertilizers, manure, etc. Nitrogen compounds are essential for our bodies, but only in the form of biologically useful compounds such as proteins and enzymes.)

One argument often heard is that the urine of desi cows contains gold, and this metal, being precious, is like an elixir for human health. 

During the COVID-19 epidemic, when a cure for the disease was not in sight, cow urine caught the fancy of social media and was dubbed as a ‘miracle liquid’ that cured the disease from the root. In some cities, even gau-mutra parties were organized where cow urine was served and publicly consumed, attracting more people towards cow urine.  

If you examine the comments made on social media posts making extreme claims, you will find a large number of people eager to lap up every piece of misinformation to support their own hesitant belief. There are others who add to the falsehood by giving concocted evidence and sharing false experiences, making the juggernaut of misinformation stomp ahead with more force.
A good number of public personalities have also shared their views about the medicinal properties of cow urine. While a few share facts and personal experiences, others make highly exaggerated claims, playing to the gallery.
 
Recall an evocative speech made by Oscar Fernandes, a Minister and political stalwart, in Parliament some years back, explaining how regular consumption of cow urine cured his cancer. Akshay Kumar, the Bollywood star known for his exceptional fitness, has publicly stated that he regularly takes cow urine. Pragya Singh Thakur, a Member of Parliament, has said that even though she suffers from many chronic health issues, she is able to maintain herself due to regular use of cow urine. 
But some public figures go much beyond that.
 
Some years back, the then Education Minister of Rajasthan claimed that “the cow is the only animal that can inhale and exhale oxygen.” This was later echoed by the Uttarakhand Animal Husbandry Minister and has been used by many YouTubers to support their hypotheses. 

The ‘Founder and Chief Surgeon’ of KJ Hospital in Chennai, supposedly an important medical institution, attributes special pollution-removing properties to cow urine, explaining that it traps toxic carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and particulate matter from the air.

Some time back, a Union Minister stated that cow urine and dung have the capacity to neutralize radioactivity.

A prominent political leader of West Bengal has said that sun rays falling on the hump on the back of desi cows produce gold, which then flows into the milk. Some prominent religious leaders and social media influencers are seen listing out the deadliest diseases one can think of, and claiming that these can be cured by regularly drinking cow urine for a certain number of days. 

The list of such claims is long. Let me wrap up this section by drawing your attention to two types of videos on cow urine that are popular on YouTube these days. In one type of videos, the YouTuber extols the virtue of cow urine by listing out all the major Ayurvedic scriptures and enumerating the diseases in which cow urine is supposed to be effective - and this list runs into hundreds. In trying to look like a genuine expert, the YouTuber tells how and in what quantity the urine is to be consumed, and if not consumed that way, it might harm the body. So as to make his talk more convincing, he adds a concocted mythological story in which cow urine was taken by some deity to come out of a curse, and then it was revealed to humanity.  

The second type of videos use chemical fakery and fallacious similes to convince people of the great cleansing power of cow urine. You might have come across videos in which a dirty liquid is shown in a glass jar, and the liquid becomes crystal clear when cow urine is added to it. The narrator claims that the same type of magical cleaning of impurities present in the blood happens when we consume cow urine. In reality, the jar contains betadine, a commonly available medicine, which contains iodine and is yellowish in colour. When urine is added to betadine, a chemical present in the urine (Sodium Thiosulphate) neutralises the iodine, thus rendering it colourless. The gullible video watcher immediately laps up the new-found proof of the magical cleansing properties of cow urine, oblivious to the fact that any other urine, even his / her own urine, would do the same trick. 

WHEN CRITICISM TURNS DERISIVE, VITRIOLIC

Now look at the other extreme. 

If the promotion of cow urine reaches crass levels, the criticism often crosses levels of decency and borders on sickness. The sense of discomfort, even ugliness, in consuming an animal’s urine is understandable, coming from those not attuned to the traditional Indian culture, whether in India or abroad, whether Hindus or non-Hindus. This attitude (like those of passive users of cow urine) is non-confrontationist, turning into criticism only when faced with arguments in favour of cow urine.

A large number of Hindus – urban, young, modern – who are not sentimentally attached to the cow, consider the consumption of cow urine as an undesirable, even abominable, orthodox vestige. Most non-Hindus seem to have the same opinion about the consumption of cow urine. 

You will come across such arguments from this section of critics, which stem from their own culture and worldview: drinking an animal’s excreta is below human dignity; urine is a waste product of metabolism and has been discarded by a living being, so it cannot be useful; and cow urine has chemicals that can harm the body.

Those that need to be exposed are not the above ones, but those with an ulterior agenda. Foreigners who hate India and/ or Hinduism for different reasons find the consumption of cow urine an easy target and treat it with utter contempt. One of the most malicious expressions used for disparaging a Hindu, in India or abroad, is that he/ she is a ‘cow-urine drinker’. There is another section of critics, who, for social and political reasons, aggressively oppose the consumption of cow urine. Their vitriolic stance is also more ideological and cultural than related to human health. Prominent among such critics are the followers of Dravidian political parties of Tamil Nadu. 

One segment of critics of cow urine, a highly aggressive one, needs special treatment here. It consists of people calling themselves the champions of scientific temper and terminators of pseudo-science. 

Such people become hyperactive on the media and social media with their knives out, the moment someone shares his thoughts or experiences supporting the consumption of cow urine as a medicine. Please note that, irrespective of whether their stand is valid or not, some of them earn their reputation and/ or earn their living by being aggressive against whatever does not suit their line of thinking. Some of them are extremely intolerant of ancient and traditional wisdom, including the alternative systems of medicine; they are not ready for a dispassionate study based on alternate systems of examination and analysis.

One can expect a more severe backlash from them when anyone from the scientific community supports the use of cow urine for therapeutic use, even its use for cleaning purposes. 
You would recall the recent case of an IIT Director inviting controversy in Tamil Nadu for saying that cow urine had healing properties. Though he stated this while attending a social function in his personal capacity, his being in a State where the ruling party is an avowed critic of mainstream Hinduism led to a huge controversy over his statement. Prominent political leaders criticized him for ‘propagating pseudo-science’, some even calling for his removal from the post.

When the CEO of Zoho, a prominent IT company, mildly supported the IIT Director on social media, a prominent YouTuber, The Liver Doc, responded with unduly sharp comments. A harsh critic of Ayurveda, the YouTuber doctor claims he has treated numerous patients who had acquired those diseases from the use of Ayurvedic medicines.
 
You would agree that a “My way or highway” attitude, which does not tolerate whatever does not conform to their version of ‘modern science’, is as unscientific as pseudoscience. When the votaries of scientific temper start berating and abusing even those engaged in research related to ancient practices, that is a sign that this end of the spectrum is even more unethical, more harmful than the other extreme.

Who is right – the blind promoter or the sick muckraker? Sentiments and slogans do not make the truth. They actually make it difficult to uncover the bona fide facts. 
Others who need to be exposed are those who sully the truth with greed and intellectual depravity, which we shall do in the next part of the discussion. 

To be continued. Next part: When greed and spurious research contaminate urine.

This article has been contributed by Manoj Pandy. He does not like to call himself rationalist but insists on scrutiny of apparent myths as well as what are supposed to be immutable scientific facts. Several of his previous articles can be seen under Vigyan and Swasthaya categories on this website.