A Guru's Gruesome Medicine

File under: Satscams

Hindu health guru Swami Ramdev is about to get burned in an emerging scandal in India. It seems he haunted the cremation grounds for the finest bits of human skull, as well as procuring various kinds of animal testicles, which he then added to his ayurvedic remedies:

Karat said tests found that he used “testicles of certain animals, dried and powdered to prepare medicine for impotency.” She said she came to know in June-July last year that herbal Ayurvedic medicine prepared by Divya Yog Pharmacy, Rishikesh, Uttranchal, owned by Ramdev, contained animal and human bones.

There was a time in India when an orthodox Brahmin would have lost everything were they found to have ingested animal parts, making Ramdev's crime that much more heinous.

With the Ministry of Health and the media beating on his door, Ramdev could be looking at a precipitous fall from grace if he is found to have violated public health laws. Or maybe not. The skulls and testicles thing sounds spectacularly transgressive to us. Too bad that effect was lost on the unwitting tantrikas who thought the remedy was going to help them get it on better, instead.

Update: Here's the BBC's take on the Ramdev brouhaha.