Right-wing Hindutva supporters have been promoting cow urine as a cure for chronic diseases, including cancer, heart ailments, kidney disorders and mental illnesses, while dismissing scientific methods on the grounds that modern science is not advanced enough to understand all the properties found in it.
This assertion took centre stage at the four-day “Gau Mahakumbh” in Jaipur, which began on Thursday and has been billed as a cow-based global summit and exhibition, according to The Wire.
At the exhibition, stalls featured bottles of cow urine-based medicines claiming to treat everything from fatty liver and asthma to kidney failure, with volunteers asserting that in the future, people would keep cows at home because urine and dung would acquire commercial value.
Organisers, who described the gathering as a platform to showcase the potential of cow products, presented brochures listing a range of ailments they believe can be cured, covering cancer, gynaecological disorders, obesity and skin diseases, even though no scientific validation was provided.
Advocates of Hindutva ideology involved in gaushalas explained that they were committed to spreading awareness of the supposed benefits of cow products, and they linked the growing interest to political changes and increased government support in recent years.
Several stalls displayed concoctions prepared from cow urine, labelled as treatments for heart disease, bone pain, kidney ailments and respiratory infections, and volunteers readily handed them over to visitors seeking cures for chronic conditions.
The event was organised by Devraha Baba Gau Seva Parivar, a unit of Rudrashivam Livestock Association, and was attended by senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including a former governor, state ministers and legislators, signalling strong political backing.
Alongside medicines, other products derived from cows, such as ghee, milk, fertilisers, notebooks, stationery items, and artwork made from dung, were also sold, while machines for cow dung processing attracted buyers interested in commercial applications.
In the seminar section of the event, speakers criticised modern science as destructive and argued that ancient knowledge rooted in Sanatan traditions provided holistic solutions, maintaining that cow products were central to health and environmental balance.
They asserted that Ayurveda contained all essential medical knowledge since creation and dismissed the relevance of European or American scientific validation. According to them, the periodic table remained incomplete because it had yet to identify elements present in cow urine, and they claimed that mixing polluted water with cow urine could purify it for drinking within 24 hours.
Despite the repeated claims, none of the participants presented verifiable cases of recovery from life-threatening diseases through cow urine consumption, nor did they cite clinical trials or peer-reviewed research.
Assertions that dung plaster prevents radiation or urine sprinkling repels snakes were advanced without evidence, and when asked about scientific testing, speakers rejected it as inadequate for the properties they believed were inherent in cows.