n
Ayurvedic medicine. A sick man is held over a cow's hindquarters so that the cow's urine streams onto his face.
Folk medicine 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. 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. His widely sold book inspired the writing of (
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 (drinking one's own urine) and 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. 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.
COVID-19 Cow urine and dung is believed by some in India to protect against
COVID-19. 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. 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. 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. 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.
As a floor cleaner A floor-cleaning fluid called Gaunyle is marketed by an organisation called Holy Cow Foundation.
Maneka Gandhi,
Women and Child Development Minister, has proposed that Gaunyle be used instead of
Phenyl in government offices. In May 2015,
Rajendra Singh Rathore, Medical and Health Minister of
Rajasthan, inaugurated a cow urine refinery in
Jalore.
In farming Cow urine has been used as a fertilizer, such as
jeevamrutha that adds
cow dung,
jaggery,
pulse flour and
rhizosphere soil to the mixture. == See also ==