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The festival that might make you wretchHyderabad, India

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If you’re suffering from asthma, consider joining the thousands of pilgrims who gather every year at Hyderabad in India to take part in a mass fish-guzzling ceremony. The Bathini Mrugasira Fish are stuffed with a special secret medicinal paste, apparently given to a local family by a holy man more than 150 years ago. The family continues to administer the herbal cure to patients for free, claiming their asthma will be cured after just three years’ of treatment.

The only catch? You’ve got to swallow the live fish whole so it can loosen the phlegm as it wriggles down your throat.

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not sure?

If you get there late you’ll miss the crowds – the fish ceremony runs for 24 hours and is busiest on the opening morning
Learning a bit more about local culture

The heavy crowds
The fish is supposed to be taken on an empty stomach which might make it harder to keep down

get there

Head to the Exhibition grounds of Nampally, Hyderabad. Take a bus and walk from the Nampally Railway Station, buses are frequent. It’s available in early June annually, open from 8am for 24 hours.

price guide

Five rupees or US$0.07 cents per fish.

difficulty

Swallowing live fish leaves most gagging.

contact

Bathini Fish
bathinifish.com

need to know

There’s no actual proof that this treatment assists asthma sufferers.

Tags: festival, india, wellness

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get there

Head to the Exhibition grounds of Nampally, Hyderabad. Take a bus and walk from the Nampally Railway Station, buses are frequent. It’s available in early June annually, open from 8am for 24 hours.

love

If you get there late you’ll miss the crowds – the fish ceremony runs for 24 hours and is busiest on the opening morning
Learning a bit more about local culture