HYDERABAD: Like every year, people in large numbers flocked to the Nampally Exhibition grounds for the renowned annual fish prasadam event. The 24-hour event started at 11 am on Saturday was inaugurated by Telangana Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar, Hyderabad Mayor Vijaylaxmi Gadwal, Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, and many other Congress leaders.
Around 50,000 tokens were sold by the state fisheries department till 7PM, since the event started. Around 1.5 lakh live murrels were also arranged by the fisheries department from Nalgonda and Kaikur (Andhra Pradesh) for the fish medicine.
“We have also deployed 350 people for the event, who are working on a shift basis of eight hours. A total of 16 counters were set up to sell tokens and another 32 for fish medicine distribution,” Shanker Ratod, Additional Director of the department, told TNIE.
As a tradition, the prasadam is administered by the Bathini Goud family in the form of a herbal paste. The paste is stuffed into the mouth of a living fish and then squeezed into the throat of a person. It is believed to have medicinal properties that could cure ailments such as asthma and bronchitis.
People are charged `40 to buy the fingerling fish, after which members of the Bathini family give them the fish medicine. Parents were seen encouraging their children, several of them under 10, to swallow the offering.Prasadam is of three types: Machli (fish stuffed with yellow paste), Kaarti (similar to fish prasadam but with fewer ingredients), and Bellam (jaggery).
According to Bathini Amarnath Goud, his great-grandfather Bathini Veeranna Goud started the tradition in 1845 and it is being continued. He says,”A guruji gave him the formula to make the herbal paste, but only after making him take an oath that he would provide it for free of charge,” to TNIE.