BELGAUM: Dr Mahantesh Basavanneppa Ramannavar, Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomy of Sri B M Kankanwadi Ayurvedic College, Belgaum, will create a world record by dissecting the body of his father Dr Basavanneppa Sangappa Ramannavar, who died two years ago.
Dr Mahantesh will conduct the dissection at KLE Society's Sri B M Kankanwadi Ayurvedic College on November 13.
This will be the second time when a doctor will dissect the body of his relative. Sir William Harve of Kent (England) dissected the body of his sister to explain the human anatomy to his students in 1578.
It was the wish of Basavanneppa Ramannavar, a dentist and Ayurvedic doctor practising at Bailhongal, that his body be donated to the medical college where his son (Mahantesh) is serving, and that the body should be dissected by his son.
"I am fulfilling the last wish of my father who had wanted to make body donation a movement in Karnataka," Dr Mahantesh told Express.
When Dr Basavanneppa decided to donate his body five years ago, his relatives opposed the idea as they believed that the body should be either cremated or buried to obtain Moksha (salvation).
Dr Mahantesh recalls how his mother Sushiladevi (80), also an Ayurvedic doctor, supported her husband and silenced the relatives.
Dr Basavanneppa who had conducted 113 free dental camps in several villages of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala, died on November 13, 2008, at the age of 89.
The very next day his body was donated to Sri B M Kankanwadi Ayurvedic College.
Dr Mahantesh said that the body will be dissected on the second death anniversary of his father between 2 pm and 4 pm and the 2010 batch of BAMS students will witness the dissection. The body was exposed for 'surface anatomy study' several times.
My father's decision encouraged as many as 100 people in the district to donate their bodies for medical studies. He said the response from people forced him to float the 'Dr Ramannavar Charitable Trust' to create awareness on donation of bodies.
"100 people have registered with the Trust and five bodies have already been donated to medical colleges," he said.
Interestingly, the entire family of Ramannavar 14 people, including Dr Mahantesh, his wife Dr Surekha, three brothers, sisters-in-law, three sisters and brothers-in-law have decided to donate their bodies.