Hundreds flocked to the Indian city of Hyderabad, Telangana, on June 9, the day of Mrigasira Karthi, which marks the beginning of the rainy season, to treat their asthma and respiratory diseases in a very unusual and controversial way.

Participants swallowed live snakehead murrel fish as an alternative method to reduce or eliminate respiratory issues. Before doing so, herbal medicines were placed in the mouth of the animal. Vegetarians who want to join the event are usually given a concoction of various herbal ingredients.

This method must be followed for four consecutive years in order to obtain results according to the Bathini family, who prepares the recipe.

This year, 500,000 people joined the event. The free programme opened on June 9 at 8 am and continued until June 10.

The controversial ritual has raised concerns among the scientific community and challenged in court by the Indian Medical Association.

Scores of people with a belief that taking the fish prasadam on Mrigasira Karthi day helps combat respiratory ailments thronged the venue in Hyderabad,This prasadam is a fiercely guarded recipe of the Bathini family and is a yellow paste that is stuffed inside the mouth of a live murrel fish. This live fish is then swallowed without drinking water. The family claims that the procedure must be followed four times or four years along with three herbal tablets to be taken orally every fortnight.

Dating its legacy of the ‘fish medicine’ distribution to the 1840s, when the Bathini’s patriarch was told the secret herbal recipe by a sage, the family this year estimated participation of 500,000 takers. While vegetarians are given a herbal concoction mixed with jaggery, for others, a live fishling stuffed with the secret yellow formula is pushed down the throat and the jaws locked.

Hundreds of thousands of People from across age groups, faiths, and regions continued to throng the venue and wait in queues for the brief procedure.The free distribution programme was opened for all from 9th June 8 a.m. continued till 10th June 8 a.m.Ending a three-year hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions, Hyderabad’s Bathini Goud family resumed its popular annual fish ‘prasadam’ distribution programme for people with asthma and respiratory illnesses this year.