MORE than 400,000 asthmatics each swallowed live fish with special herbal medicine in the fishes' mouths in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad yesterday.
It was Mriasira Karti, the auspicious day for Hindus when the Goud family of hakims or medicine men provide the unique asthma treatment.
Sceptical medical doctors and high society ladies from Bombay and Delhi jostled each other at the modest Goud house in Hyderabad's old city yesterday to ingest the live fish, three inches long, containing the special powder.
Dr Datta Ray, a medical consultant from Calcutta, said he had come for the third time as his asthma had improved vastly after two previous visits.
Vegetarian patients were administered the powder without the fish while children were given it mixed with sugar.
After taking the medicine, patients have to follow diet restrictions and return for two more sessions. There are no charges for the powder although it costs 400,000 rupees (£8,000) to make and the Goud family charges no fee. The fish, however, have to be purchased in the local bazaar for a few rupees.
The Gouds, consisting of five brothers in the current generation, have practised their secret asthma cure for over 150 years. One of their ancestors was reportedly given the "magic powder" formula in 1845 by a mendicant believed to be a descendant of Chakhra, the founder of Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine.
Scores of "asthma special" trains have been organised by Indian Rail to ferry asthmatics to Hyderabad. Flights have also been laid on.
