Prahlad Jani

Prahlad Jani, also known as "Mataji", is an Indian sadhu born Chunriwala Mataji, August 13, 1929 in Charada, Mehsana district. He claims have lived without food and water since 1940, feeling no need for either and believing his body to be sustained through amrita provided by goddess Amba.

Early life

Born with the name Chunriwala Mataji, Jani grew up in Charod village in Mehsana district. According to Jani, he left his home in Rajasthan at the age of seven, and went to live in the jungle.

At the age of 11, Jani underwent a religious experience and became a follower of the Hindu goddess Amba. From this time, he has chosen to dress as a female devotee of Amba, wearing a red sari-like garment, jewellery and crimson flowers in his shoulder-length hair. Jani believes that the goddess provides him a lifegiving and invisible elixir which is in yogic tradition called amrit and which filters down through a hole in his palate, allowing him to live without food or water. According to ancient yogic texts (e.g. Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Ch.3. slokas 48-50) amrita is produced in the body of highly spiritually evolved human beings and is described as extremely beneficial for body and mind. Jani is commonly known as Mataji ("[a manifestation of] The Great Mother").

Since the 1970s, Jani has been living as a hermit in a cave in the rainforest near to the Gujarati temple of Ambaji. He spends most of his time meditating, awakening at 4am each day.

Investigations into Inedia abilities

2003 tests

In 2003, Jani spent ten days under strict observation by physicians at Sterling Hospital, Ahmedabad, India. The study was led by Dr. Sudhir Shah, a neurologist who investigated similar claims made by Hira Ratan Manek in 2000. Reportedly, during the observation, Prahlad Jani was given only 100 millilitres of water a day to use as mouthwash, which was collected and measured after use, to make sure that none had been consumed. Jani was reported to enter Samadhi state of consciousness almost daily during meditation. Throughout the observation, doctors say that he passed no urine or stool, and that urine appeared to form in the bladder, only to be reabsorbed. According to the hospital's deputy superintendent, Dr. Dinesh Desai, all tests showed Jani to be a "normal" person, with the exception of the abnormal hole in his palate.

Critics have observed that Jani was not engaged in strenuous exercise during the ten-day trial, and that longer trials were not recorded under similarly strict observation. The fact that Jani's weight dropped slightly during the 10 days has cast some doubt on his claim to go indefinitely without food.

The Indian Rationalist Association has criticised the Indian Ministry of Defence for agreeing to take part in the tests, and for being taken in by a "village fraud". Sanal Edamaruku of the Indian Rationalist Association reported that his requests to send an independent team to survey the room where Jani was held were denied, and that the Sterling Hospital had made several claims "without ever producing evidence or publishing research". The Indian Rationalist Association observed that individuals making similar claims in the past have all been exposed as frauds.

2010 tests

In April 2010, new tests were conducted on Prahlad Jani under the surveillance of 35 doctors and researchers at the Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Science (DIPAS), a part of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), including Dr. Sudhir Shah. The tests were again conducted in the NABH & NABL accredited facilities of Sterling Hospital in Ahmedabad, and a team of doctors from Ahmedabad of various specialties joined as co-investigators. Coordinating agencies including SRISTI, the government of Gujarat and other consulting doctors were also involved.

Dr. G. Ilavazahagan, the director of DIPAS, considered that the results of the observations could "tremendously benefit mankind", with the results having the potential to help "soldiers, victims of calamities and astronauts", all of whom may have to survive without food or water for long spells. The project was unable to secure commercial life insurance for Jani for the duration of the study, and was instead supported by government insurance.

Jani was kept for fifteen days, from April 22 until May 6, with tests being completed on Thursday at 3:30pm, and his elder brother was used as a genetic control in the study. The team studied Jani with daily clinical examinations, and periodic blood testing for haematology, biochemistry and hormonal studies. Also, periodic ultrasound examination, MRI studies of brain, chest, abdomen and MR angiography of different vessels, Doppler flow studies, EEG, NCV examinations and other relevant studies of different organ systems. During the study, a protocol of round-the-clock surveillance was followed, with the help of continuous CCTV (multiple cameras) and personal observation. Jani was taken out of the sealed room for tests and exposure to sun under continuous video recording. The observation protocol was approved by two independent and legally constituted ethics committees one at Delhi level and other at Ahmedabad level.

Jani's only contact with any form of fluid was during gargling and bathing periodically during the study beginning from 5th day of study. The doctors measured the fluid that was spit out. For the duration of the study, Jani reportedly did not eat, drink or go to the toilet once, and the doctors described him as "more healthy than someone half his age". Doctors admitted they expected to observe noticeable muscle mass loss, significant dehydration, weight loss and fatigue. Some believed organ failure might occur — yet the observation results showed none of the above. The doctors reported that the amount of liquid in Jani's bladder fluctuated, but he did not pass urine. His lung functions were normal. Dr. Urman Dhruv, senior physician at Medisurge Hospital, was of the opinion that Jani's body appeared to have undergone "some type of genetic transformation". In an updated report posted on the website of Defence Research and Development Organisation, the agency said Jani enjoys some extreme form of adaptation to starvation and water restriction, as evident from his serum leptin and ghrelin levels.

The study was not published in a scientific journal, but an intermediate press release was released, describing the tests carried out so far, and a later official DIPAS update announced that cell examination had shown that Jani's "peripheral blood mononuclear cells exhibit more tolerance to stress".

The research team are continuing to investigate nitrogenous waste passed through Jani's skin, gene expression studies, the possibility of recycling nitrogenous waste using ketones and reabsorption through the bladder. They are planning further, random observations of Jani over a period of time, and intend to answer questions of how metabolic waste material is eliminated from his body, and the sources of his energy and hydration.

Reactions

Dr. Michael Van Rooyen, director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative that focuses on providing famine aid, dismissed the observation results as "impossible", observing that the bodies of profoundly malnourished people quickly consume their own body's resources, resulting in liver failure, tachycardia and heart strain. He would expect a person living without food to die from heart attack or kidney failure. Van Rooyen felt that Jani must have been ingesting water somehow during the period of observation, in order to survive. A spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association remarked that the human body could survive on water alone, although not healthily, and that a person could not expect to meet their body's vitamin and mineral requirements without ingesting food.

Sanal Edamaruku provided a video in support of his 2010 criticism and claimed it to prove that "an official video clip revealed that Jani would sometimes move out of the CCTV camera's field of view; he was allowed to receive devotees and could even leave the sealed test room for a sun bath; his regular gargling and bathing activities were not sufficiently monitored and so on." The video clip linked as a proof to that statement is overlaid with Polish subtitles saying: ""Prahlad Jani “Bathing” 2003 -- nie podawano mu żadnego jedzenia, ani wody; nawet kiedy pozwalano mu na kąpiel, ilość wody była mierzona przed i po kąpieli", which means in Polish 'he wasn't given any food neither water; even when he was allowed to bath, the quantity of water was measured before and after the bathing'. The dates in Hindi comments to the episodes of alleged 'obstruction by devotees' are indicating 2003 as well, and the age of Prahlad Jani is shown as "65 साल से प्यासा", which means "...a 65 year old man..." (in 2010 he was over 71). He also accuses Jani of having had some "influential protectors", after Edamaruku was allegedly denied permission to inspect the project during its operation, despite being invited to join the test during a live television broadcast.

Television appearances

On June 26, 2006, The Discovery Channel aired a documentary called "The Boy with Divine Powers" featuring a five minute interview with Prahlad Jani and Dr. Sudhir Shah.