A Rajasthan high court judge asked the central and state governments to declare the cow as India’s national animal and ensure that those who kill it be given life terms. Justice Mahesh Chandra Sharma also listed 11 benefits of cow urine.

“I spoke with conscience. Our religious texts tell us how important cow is. Even its dung and urine are beneficial to us”, he told Hindustan Times.

A selection of what Sharma said, in possibly his last order before he retired on Wednesday:

1.It is believed that 33 crore gods and goddesses reside inside the cow and the animal appeared along with goddess Laxmi during the churning of ocean in Hindu mythology.

2.Cow is the only living being which intakes oxygen and emits oxygen and the animal is a hospital in itself.

3.Cow urine keeps the liver, heart and mind healthy, and increases the immunity of the body. It also slows down ageing.

4.Drinking cow urine rids one of sins of the previous life.

5.According to a Russian scientist, coating the walls of the house with cow dung will protect the inhabitants from radiation.

6.The cow, through its horns, absorbs “cosmic” energy.

7.Consumption of cow milk prevents cancer from entering the blood cells.

8.Cow dung known to have killed cholera germs.

9.Cow dung can generate 4,500 litres of biogas every year. If biogas is generated from the cow dung of all cow progeny in the country, the country can save 6.80 lakh tonnes of firewood and save 14 crore trees from being cut.

10.Cow is the only mammal whose large intestine is 180 feet long because of which the cow milk has Kerotin which produces vitamin A in human bodies.

11.Mooing of cow kills the pathogens in the air.