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As the 2026 Char Dham Yatra begins, the mandate by the Gangotri Temple Committee in Uttarakhand to carry out a ritual test requiring devotees to drink panchgavya—a mixture of cow urine, dung, milk, curd, and ghee—to prove they are “true Hindus”, is back in focus.
Earlier in March, officials making the proposal had declared, “Jo gau-mutra piyega, uska swagat” (Those who drink cow urine are welcome).
This new diktat from the Gangotri Temple Committee follows the Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) formally banning non-Hindus from the 47 temples it controls. Actor Sara Ali Khan had become the first prominent victim of this policy, as those not Hindu by birth must now submit affidavits declaring, “I am a Sanatani, I believe in Hinduism.”
Khan, daughter of Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh, was symbolically targeted, echoing controversies around her 2018 film Kedarnath, which depicted a Hindu-Muslim romance against the backdrop of the 2013 floods.
The film foreshadowed Uttarakhand’s transformation into a 'Hindutva laboratory', where pluralism is discouraged, temple access restricted, and interfaith relationships contested.