Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
An Indian entrepreneur is selling air fresheners, eye drops and toothpaste made out of cow urine and cow dung.
Abhishek Bajpai is the manager of a cow shelter, known as gaushala, in the town of Bithoor in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh which produces a wide range of products from the cows’ waste.
Local media report the shelter are selling air fresheners, incense sticks, soap, toothpaste, eye drops and pain-relieving oils made from cow dung and urine at the Magh Mela festival in the city of Prayagraj, also in Uttar Pradesh.
The Magh Mela is an annual festival on riverbanks near Hindu temples where pilgrims bathe and they are usually accompanied by fairs that bring people together.
Bajpai says that “people who believe in the medicinal properties of cow urine and dung are visiting our stall in large numbers” and says the shelter is working to have the products sold online.
He claims the eye drops can help improve users’ vision and says other products made from cow waste can help with indigestion, arthritis, cataracts, diabetes and lung infections.
The shelter is run with the help of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (Universal Hindu Council VHP), an Indian right-wing Hindu militant organisation based on the ideology of Hindu nationalism.
Bajpai says the products are now being made available at VHP sites all over India and the organisation reportedly promotes products which use cow urine as a key ingredient. The cow is considered a sacred animal in Hinduism.
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