We have discussed the subject of urine therapy before. And, as I did then, I again apologise for the vulgar title of my post – but it describes urine therapy just perfectly. My new post is based on what I recently found on a website that is entirely devoted to this strange form of treatment:
Around 4 am, workers at the Keeshav Shrusti Go Shaala at Bhayander, in India, head to the tabelas (cow sheds) to collect the first urine of their 230 cows. They collect 200 litres of gomutra (cow urine), which is then sent to a production unit where it is filtered, bottled and then shipped across the country to be sold at high prices.
The popularity of alternative medicine and a back-to-nature rush has meant that those seeking gomutra as the cure for all ailments — it is touted as a cure for cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, psoriasis among others — has spurred a rise of gomutra products in the Indian market.
A year ago the Indian ‘Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’ even initiated projects to study the anti-cancer and anti-infection properties of various cow products including cow urine and dung. Last September, Maa Gou Products (MGP) approached BigBasket to distribute its range of cow-urine based products, ranging from floor cleaner, tooth powder, balm and face pack.
Today there are several sites that have been set up specifically to sell cow products. For instance, the one-year-old vendor portal www.gaukranti.org. The site, which retails a range of products, gets 40 per cent of its revenue from cow urine.
But, not all cow urine bottles are the same or tout the same solutions. Some are used as cleansers; Mumbaikars will recall the Kandivli ccorporator who suggested that KEM Hospital be cleansed daily with cow urine. Some others are meant specifically for weight loss.
GoArk, for instance, is a weight loss product made by boiling cow urine in an iron pot to which a vapour condensing device is attached. The main difference lies in the source of the cows. Goseva GoArk is prepared from the GIR cow’s urine and GouGanga is from mixed Indian breeds. Bos Indicus, the breed indigenous to the subcontinent, is to be preferred. One expert explains: “foreign breeds such as the Jersey cow have been subjected to genetic modification.” He says that once the gomutra is collected it is filtered around eight times through a piece of cotton cloth. The distillation process, he says, helps ensure that there is no ammonia so that the shelf life is increased. Typically, it’s good to be used up to two years after bottling. The demand for gomutra — whether as a medicine, a face pack or a floor cleanser — is now rising beyond India. There even have been inquiries from the UK, US, Australia and even Arabic countries.
So, watch this space!
16 Responses to Taking the piss again? The story of urine therapy in India
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No need to apologise for the language, I feel. One or two people on the site may wish to involve the police however. It could be seen by some as ‘racist’ to criticise the washing down of hospital wards with urine, cows’ or any other variety.
It may not catch on very quickly in the West anyway, since Shirley MacLaine has probably drunk most of it already.
I suppose if you’re completely stuck for a bottle of plain old bleach, concentrated urine might well be a better cleaning agent than river water due to the ammonia content. That said, cow piss almost invariably comes mixed with copious quantities of cow shit too, and considering cows are nothing but bacterial breweries on legs you don’t even want to think about what’s in that, never mind find out for yourself first-hand (I’ve worked in dairies; take my word for it).
Of course, such speculations are almost certainly entirely irrelevant here, because I’m going to guess that what these Indian piss peddlers are really up to has nothing to do with using naturally-generated ammonium solution as an ersatz bleach and everything to do with the relatively modern nationalist Hindu fixation on cattle as downright magical objects to be mandatorily venerated by all and not questioned or criticized in any way by anyone. So, all about the power and profit – up to and including the actual pain of hideous death for all its heretics and unworthies – should fit in seamlessly with every other AltMed Religion then.
I am reminded of this article with the same name from the 1978 November 29 issue of World Medicine:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/medical-education/reprints/1978WorldMedicine-TakingThePiss.pdf
How sad that things seem to have actually got worse in the intervening 4 (nearly) decades!
May I ask – how is ‘gauk’ in http://www.gaukranti.org. pronounced?
And ‘GoArk’?
Possibly – ‘quack’?
Sir, it is ‘GauKranti’, ‘Gau’ means Cow and ‘Kranti’ means revolution. It is a step to let people aware the benefits of cow by means of cow products.
For ‘GoArk’, Go also means Cow and Ark means Urine. It can also be written as ‘GauArk’.
Prof. Ernst, may I congratulate you on your extreme forbearance in not yielding to the temptation to write “Urine for a treat”?
It seems just as stupid and pointless as the Chinese “virgin boy eggs”.
This frankly insane site http://www.urinetherapy.in/Index.aspx claims to cure everything with urine.
Mr Teapot-
I checked the site you mentioned.
It is indeed packed with most wondrous claims, and testimonials, which as we know are-despite what the nay-sayers and fuddy-duddy scientists claim- just as valid as science.
Indeed, the site requests progress reports from users of what-being from Yorkshire-I shall choose to call Tiddle Treatment. I can’t find the response address though. I should like to ask the gentleman if it has to be your own toddle that’s used, or could I avail myself of my friend who regularly returns from the Fighting Cocks with a bladder full?
Indeed, thus sated, would I in turn become intoxicated?
I think I’ve hit on something here. I don’t think for a second that it’s what was intended, but with beer prices these days it would mean that two people could get puddled at half the price. Just don’t do it while you’re actually in the pub!
The only cow products I like to consume are milk and meat.
dear self-proclaimed jokers of remotest oblivion ( particularly when it comes to subjects like yoga and ayurveda), the world would rather be immeasurably obliged if you applied all your resources to keep your grazing jaws shut for a while at least when the world is all ears to grasp a word or two from the mother of all sciences called traditional wisdom. . .
Sadhu-Right-oh! Can I do it after me tea though?
Albeit I have to say that if your ‘ancient wisdoms’ worked to any degree, 1. Proper medicine would have adopted them decades ago, and 2. There’d be far fewer ill people in India.
@ Sashu
I remember Morarji Cola on which we had so many jokes and laughter. I dont understand when the waste of body that should be disposed, is being consumed 🙂 Cow Urine smells yuck, yuck 🙂 All this Ayurveda, Yoga, Urine therapy is totally bunks. They don’t work at all.
Instead of Cow Urine, the Gola is tastier 🙂
I use my Urine for 17 years, never visited a doctor for medical treatment for 15, have not taken health supplements for a decade at least. Does not recall when was the last time I had a fever or was seriously ill. Previously with lots of money spent on vitamins, I would fall sick with flu at least three imes a year, with high fever, aches, cough, etc.
My haemorrhoids are gone. I am age 68 and not in fear of cancer, Alzheimer disease, diabetes and dozens of aging illnesses. I do 100 push-ups a day, still active in business, doing physical work, etc. I have no need to lie. UT has greatly benefitted me. I am devoting my life now to Investing for Charity, creating work for the Young in Africa. My e-mail is [email protected]. Eddie Leong
prosit!
My story from the last 17 years is much the same as yours (apart from the push-ups), but I never drink my own urine. Hmm… how can this be possible?!
I’ve eaten jam every day for the last 18 years. Never had a cold in all that time.. Surely even dimwits can draw a conclusion.
AND HERE IS A TRUE STORY:
my grandmother smoked 2 packets/day and never had lung cancer.
ergo: SMOKING PREVENTS LUNG CANCER.