A ritual held for free by the Bathini Goud family.
By Sreekanth A. Nair
Amid controversies surrounding the rationale of swallowing fish for curing respiratory problems, a ritual of ‘fish prasadam’ was performed in Nampally, Hyderabad, on Wednesday.
According to a report in The Times of India, about 40,000 people attended the function and swallowed the 2-3 inch long live sardines or murrel fish smeared with a yellow herbal paste in expectation of curing asthma. People from different parts of the country lined up at the Exhibition Ground in Hyderabad.
The Bathini Goud family that administers the ritual claims that the herbal paste has special medicinal values that can solve respiratory problems. The yellow paste is inserted into the mouth of live fish before distributed for swallowing.
According to the Bathini brothers, a holy man revealed the ingredients of the medicine to their great grandfather in 1845 on two conditions that it should be distributed free of cost and the formula must not be revealed.
Each year, tens of thousands of people arrive at Nampally to take the fish along with the paste which is believed to have some medicinal values.
“I heard it works wonders for asthma patients and I brought my brother along as he has been suffering a lot lately,” Manju V, a resident of East Godavari told The Times of India.
For vegetarians, separate medicines are prepared with jaggery and they need to take it for a long time.
The patients should take the medicine distributed at the venue three times in a period of 45 days. They must follow a strict diet prescribed by the Bathini Goud family to get the desired result.
The ritual is observed on the day of Mrigasira Karti, the beginning of monsoon according to the Hindu calendar.
However, the prasadam has always been subject to controversies with many groups calling it unscientific. Some people had approached a court saying that the paste contains heavy metals that could lead to serious health issues.
The family says that they had conducted lab tests as per the directive of the court and it was proven that there was nothing harmful in the paste.
“This is scientific. People have taken our samples to labs in Japan, Germany and got them tested. The concept is that when live fish moves, wagging its tail and fins through the throat, it clears all congestion. Thus, providing cure to asthma,” Harinath Goud, a senior member of the family told News 18.
Responding to the controversy, eminent scientist PM Bhargava told News Minute, “It is a joke. Looking at the condition of certain self-proclaimed god men and god women in the country, it is no surprise to me that the event occurs year after year.”