Indian nationalists peddle something worse than snake oil. It's the The Cow Dung Cure for Coronavirus.

Swami Chakrapani Maharaj, president of the Hindu Mahasabha—a century-old organization that advocates Hindutva (or "Hinduness")—declared that "consuming cow urine and cow dung will stop the effect of infectious coronavirus." The swami added that a "person who chants 'om namah shivay' and applies cow dung" on his body "will be saved." The Sanskrit chant is a salutation to Shiva, a Hindu deity.

The swami is a prominent figure in hard-line Hindu circles and has an ideological affinity with Mr. Modi.

Since the Hinduist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, ascended to national power in 2014, its views have infiltrated textbooks and even scientific discourse. Mr. Modi has suggested that ancient Indians had test-tube babies.