"Blessed by Amba": Faith or Fantasy?

[Guest guest]

>From the Kerala News website, comes this amazing story of an elderly

gentleman who claims Devi granted him the ability to live without

food or water. What do think? Is it a fact of science? A miracle of

faith? Or simply deception and fantasy?

 

MAN DEFIES LAWS OR NATURE, LIVES WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER

 

Ahmedabad, Nov 25, 2003 - Doctors here never stop gaping at 76-year-

old Prahlad Jani, who claims not to have taken a drop of water or a

morsel of food for the past 65 years.

 

His amazing lifestyle has transcended the boundaries of medial

science and become the talk of the town in the principal city of

Gujarat in western India.

 

Doctors at Sterling Hospital here have kept Jani under observation

for 10 days and found to their astonishment that he lives without

consuming food or water.

 

"Neither has he put a morsel of food in his mouth, nor has he

demanded water. His body too does not perform vital functions like

passing urine and stool," said Urman Dhruv, secretary of the

Association of Physicians of Ahmedabad.

 

"On November 12 we put him in a special room and kept him under

constant observation with the help of video cameras, but this man

seems to have some superhuman strength to defy hunger and thirst."

 

The association, a body with over 400 members, in association with

the New Delhi-based Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied

Science, is heading the research on Jani at Sterling Hospital.

 

Doctors say Jani's ability to live without food or water is

superhuman, but he says his strength springs from the blessings of a

goddess.

 

"I was blessed by Goddess Amba while visiting her cave in Ambaji

when I was eight years old," he claims.

 

Call it fantasy or faith, Jani claims to have seen Goddess Amba in

one of the caves at Ambaji, a Hindu pilgrimage site near Rajasthan

border, 120 km north of here.

 

Since his childhood, he made that particular cave his home.

 

According to Dhruv, nearly 100 doctors of the association have

examined Jani in the past 10 days.

 

"A panel of doctors -- including physicians, cardiologists,

neurologists, a neurosurgeon, a gastroenterologist, an

endocrinologist, a diabetologist, a nephrologist, an uro-surgeon, an

ENT surgeon, a psychiatrist, an opthalmologist, a genetic

counsellor, a radiologist, sonologists and many more - have examined

him," said Dhruv.

 

"We have deputed a team of doctors and security personnel on round-

the-clock duty around his room," said V.N. Shah of Sterling

Hospital.

 

Jani agreed to avoid bathing during the examination period but was

given 100 ml of water every day to wash his mouth that was collected

and measured.

 

According to doctors, Jani has not passed urine since his admission

to the hospital and lived without food or water.

 

"Jani has not passed urine since he was brought here on November 12.

He has not taken anything by mouth or by any other route - not even

water during this period," said Dhruv.

 

"All his body parameters are within the normal physiological range.

Initially, the project was to continue for seven days but his health

allowed us to extend it."

 

Tests have showed that Jani's body has shown evidence of formation

of urine, which seems to be reabsorbed from his bladder wall.

 

"Through studying the various functions of his body, we are trying

to understand a new dimension in medical science and help mankind,"

said neurologist Sudhir Shah.

 

The committee of doctors is yet to conclude their research.

 

"We hope to come out with our findings into the causes of Jani's

resistance to hunger and thirst very soon," said Dhruv.

 

By Sukrat Desai, Kerala News

Source: http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?

action=fullnews&id=1242