Doctors who decided to verify a septuagenarian's claim of not having eaten food since the age of ten have been unable to dispute him.
Prahlad Jani, a 76-year-old sadhu from the pilgrim town of Ambaji in north Gujarat, claims he neither ate nor drank anything for the past 66 years. He managed to fight hunger and thirst after being blessed by Mataji (Goddess Amba).
"Mataji blessed me at the age of 10 with energy in the form of Amrut from my upper jaw to sustain me and since then I have never felt the need for food nor water nor have I fallen ill," Jani claimed. "I will continue to live like this till she commands."
The Association of Physicians of Ahmedabad (APA) constituted a panel comprising a physician, cardiologist, neurologist, neurosurgeon, gastroenterologist, diabetologist and an ENT surgeon to verify his claim.
The panel placed him under observation for 10 days and subjected him to tests, including sonography twice a day, at the Sterling Hospital in Ahmedabad.
In the end, hospital authorities confirmed that Jani not only refrained intake through the mouth or any other route but he also did not excrete, while under observation.
"His bladder did produce 400ml of urine during the day, but by the next day it was absorbed by the bladder itself," Dinesh Desai, a doctor at the hospital, said.
"Though no normal person can continue without passing stool or urine for more than seven days, Jani is absolutely normal and shows the same physiological process like any other person. He is fit and fine," Dr V N Shah, a member of the APA, said.
He has now been discharged from the hospital but doctors intend to keep a track of him.
The New Delhi-based Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS) also intends to conduct research on the septuagenarian.