"Indian yellow" was a bright yellow pigment first used by Dutch artists but later by all painters until the early 20th Century. It was fluorescent and, as a result, produced a particularly vivid hue when the painting was seen in sunlight.
It was purportedly made from the urine of cattle in India which were fed on an exclusive diet of mango leaves. The production was banned in 1908 on the basis of cruelty, as the mango leaves contained urushiol, the active agent found in poison ivy, and bovines on this diet were both very uncomfortable as well as extremely malnourished. For a practice to have been banned as long ago as 1908 on the basis of cruelty, it must have been cruel indeed.
The pigment has now been replaced by a substitute manufactured in boring chemical plants.
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