Nampally Court Wants "Secret" Of Fish Medicine

The Nampally Court has ordered Bathini Goud Brothers, of the Bathini fish "medicine" fame, to reveal the secret ingredients of the wildly popular cure for asthma.

Legend has it that the medicine, which is basically a live fish with a herbal paste stuffed in it, has been administered for free since 1845 in Hyderabad, after a toddy distributor named Veeranna Goud received the secret of a "miracle cure" for asthma from a holy man, but only after Goud promised to keep the formula within the family, and completely free of cost.

The day of Mrigishira Karthi, which generally falls on the 7th or the 8th of June every year, has been fixed for the mass administration of this "medicine" every year at Exhibition Grounds.

For the past few years, the credibility and the safety of this puported cure for asthma has been under question, especially because the method of taking it, i. e., swallowing a live murrel fish, is especially unhygenic and distasteful.

The Jana Vignana Vedika, a rationalist group working for greater scientific awareness, filed a petition at the Nampally City Civil Court regarding the same. The petition was accepted by the court, which directed the Bathini Brothers to disclose the composition of the medicine to health officials, and also to work on keeping the annual "event" much cleaner. They have also ordered them to use the word prasadam instead of medicine to describe it, as a "secret" cure for asthma has no scientific basis behind it.