"Indian doctors warn against cow dung as COVID cure"
"there is no scientific evidence for its effectiveness and that it risks spreading other diseases."
"some believers have been going to cow shelters once a week to cover their bodies in cow dung and urine in the hope it will boost their immunity"
"even doctors come here. Their belief is that this therapy improves their immunity and they can go and tend to patients with no fear,"
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indian-doctors-warn-against-cow-dung-covid-cure-2021-05-11/
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indian-doctors-warn-against-cow-dung-covid-cure-2021-05-11/
"In Hinduism, the cow is a sacred symbol of life and the earth, and for centuries Hindus have used cow dung to clean their homes and for prayer rituals, believing it has therapeutic and antiseptic properties."
India is thought to use as much as 400 million tons of cow dung for cooking fuel alone each year, with approximately 30 percent of rural fuel production dependent on animal waste.
But rapid urbanization in India means that more and more people are moving from rural areas to cities that don't rely on cow dung for fuel. That's leading to new demand for cow dung in urban areas—and thanks to sites like Amazon and eBay, cow patties are just a click away. The cakes are selling out around Hindu festivals, when people burn the cakes for ritual fires
"
Apart from poverty and lack of lavatories, one of the reasons often cited to explain open defecation in India is the ingrained cultural norm making the practice socially accepted in some parts of the society.
"Just building toilets is not going to solve the problem, because open defecation is a practice acquired from the time you learn how to walk
"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-27775327
"
India will be free of open defecation only when "every Indian household, every village, every part of Indian society will accept the need to use toilets and commit to do so", she says.
"In India, where Hindus have long worshipped cows as sacred, cow dung cakes have been used for centuries for fires, whether for heating, cooking or Hindu rituals. Across rural India, piles of drying cow dung are ubiquitous."
"demand for the cow dung cakes spiked during the recent Diwali festival season, a time when Hindus conduct prayer ceremonies"
"
there is a lot of demand for cow dung cakes," said Agarwal, referring to rituals performed
"
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-cow-dung-patties-are-selling-like-hot-cakes-online-in-india/
Does their religion and culture passed down teach this or would an adopted Indian person still practice this stuff even if they were not raised to act this way
I would suggest something about a widespread variation of their culture and religion is related to this
By the way people have claimed that many of the physical exercises in Yoga actually came from Europe not India and that they combined it with the religion & tried to market it to Westerners
Many Jews in yoga industry
