Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Cow dung (Bos taurus), of the Bovidae (Mammalia) family. The cow, kept at pasture; the drug is her dung, taken fresh; native range: wherever the cow is kept; the classics ask for it fresh, from a healthy cow at pasture. Globally recognized as gomaya in Sanskrit, gobar in Hindi, and cow dung in English. The part used is the fresh dung — expressed to a juice (gomaya svarasa), or burnt to ash (gomaya bhasma). A soft, fibrous, olive-green to brown mass, warm and moist when fresh, with a strong grassy-fermented odour; the pressed juice a thin cloudy green fluid.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
COW DUNG
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- cow dung
- Scientific name
- Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758
- Family
- Bovidae (Mammalia)
Form
- Part used
- the fresh dung — expressed to a juice (gomaya svarasa), or burnt to ash (gomaya bhasma)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna virya)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- krimighna (destroys worms), vishaghna (counters poison), kandughna (allays itching), shothahara (reduces swelling), and kushthaghna
Cautions
- Toxicity
- the classical internal use of the raw juice is not a modern practice — fresh dung carries enteric pathogens (including Escherichia coli and Salmonella) and, when applied to wounds, tetanus spores; external and internal use of the raw material cannot be recommended on modern grounds
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