Annual Fish Prasadam in Hyderabad: Thousands Swallow Live Fish to Cure Asthma
Every year lakhs of people suffering from asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory illness visit Hyderabad with a hope of a miraculous cure. The Telangana government has made elaborate arrangements for the ‘Fish Prasadam’ exhibition held in Hyderabad. A herbal yellow paste is prepared with a secret formula and stuffed inside a live Murrel fish which is 2 to 3 inches long and slipped into the throat of the patient. The Baithini Goud family, who have been administering the fish medicine since 1845, say the cure is scientific.
An asthma patient is administered a traditional fish medicine in Hyderabad. Every year thousands of asthma patients arrive to receive this fish therapy from the Bathini Goud family, a secret formula of herbs, handed down by generations only to family members. The herbs are inserted in the mouth of a live sardine, or murrel fish, and slipped into the patient's throat. (Image: AP)
Asthma patients from different parts of India rest in the open after arriving in the city for the annual fish therapy session that begins in Hyderabad. Thousands of asthma patients are expected to swallow a live three-centimetre-long fish stuffed with a medicinal paste in the hope that it would give them relief from nagging respiratory problems. (Image: AP)
An asthma patient waits with a live fish to be administered 'fish medicine' in Hyderabad. (Image: AP)
An elderly asthma patient waits with a live fish to be administered 'fish medicine' in Hyderabad. (Image: AP)
Asthma patients from different parts of India rest in the open after arriving in Hyderabad for the annual fish therapy session. (Image: AP)
Asthma patients queue-up before being administered a traditional fish medicine in Hyderabad. (Image: AP)
Asthma patients from different parts of India rest in the open after arriving in Hyderabad for the annual fish therapy session. (Image: AP)
Asthma patients from different parts of India rest in the open at the Annual Fish Prasadam camp in Hyderabad. (Image: AP)
Asthma patients from different parts of India rest in the open after arriving in the city for the annual fish therapy session, in Hyderabad. (Image: AP)
