Bizarre as it may sound, but now ‘organic’, ‘hand-made’ and nicely ‘packed’ cow dung produced in India is available in all shapes and sizes online.
Some of the established online retailers such as Amazon and eBay are even shipping these products overseas.
In Australia, you can buy a packet of 20 cow dung cakes for $20, while a 200ml bottle of cow urine is readily available for less than $15.
Interestingly, Amazon is extensively using the Hindi word for dung which is ‘Gobar’ to market it to its Indian customers.
Ebay is selling cow urine online Source: Ebay website
The trick of trade to tackle competition is also being applied in full swing as some of the sellers are offering free shipping and doling out heavy discounts on these products to attract more and more buyers.
Packaged cow dung available on Amazon Source: Amazon website
As the name suggests, cow dung cakes are made of cow poop which is then mixed with hay and dried in the sun.
In Hinduism cows are worshipped, the sacred animal’s dung has been used for centuries as fuel to light fires for cooking, heating and is also widely used in some Hindu rituals. The dung in its dried powdery form is also used as a building material and manure on agricultural land.
The urine, meanwhile, is widely used in traditional Indian medicines.
Cow dung is used as a fuel, manure and for rituals in India Source: Pixabay
Retailers in India claim the demand for cow dung increases around Diwali festival season when Hindus perform prayer rituals in their homes and offices.
38-year-old teacher from New Delhi, Megha Sahni claims that the availability of cow dung online has made her life easier.
Ms Sahni told SBS Punjabi that “we often use cow dung which is essential to conduct a hawan (a ritual burning of offerings) at our home ahead of Diwali, because the whole purpose is to purify the house".
“Earlier, I used to send someone all the way to Dallo Pura (a village near Delhi) to fetch cow dung days before Diwali. I’m so glad it’s now just a click away”-Mrs Megha Sahni.
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced plans of creating an online platform for selling cow dung and agricultural waste under its waste to wealth scheme.
According to a government report, India has the highest cattle population of around 300 million in the world that produces an estimated 3 million tonnes of dung every day.
