It is believed that consuming this for three consecutive years provides relief from respiratory ailments.
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00:00These people are gulping down live fish. They refer to it as fish prasadam.
00:05Every year, thousands come to Hyderabad's Nampali exhibition ground for this 170-year-old
00:09ritual on June 8, 2025 to receive a dose of these live fish. They believe it helps cure
00:14asthma and other breathing issues. The administrators first stuff the murail fish and then thrust it
00:19into patient's mouth. For vegetarians, the paste is given with jaggery. The ritual is practiced
00:24for 170 years and occurs during Mrigaseera Karthi. The fish was stuffed with a yellow
00:29herbal paste, set to work if taken for three consecutive years. Only the Baathini family
00:34knows the recipe. They claimed a saint gave it to them in 1845 and they distributed it for free.
00:39This year, the government supplied over a lakh fish and set up tight security.
00:43The medical community remains skeptical about Hyderabad's fish prasadam due to the lack of
00:47scientific evidence or clinical trials supporting its efficacy. Over the past 15 years, critics have
00:53raised concerns, calling it a fraud and warning that the herbal paste may contain heavy metals
00:57harmful to health. Critics called it a placebo, even a health risk. There's heavy metals in the paste,
01:03choking hazards, allergic reactions. Court-ordered lab tests were conducted with the Baithini family
01:08claiming that the results confirmed the paste's safety. Following criticism, they rebranded it from
01:13fish medicine to fresh prasadam to emphasize its spiritual significance. Still, thousands continued
01:18to believe and returned year after year in hope.