Indian yogi who claimed he could live without food or water dead at 90, report says
by Caitlin McFallPrahlad Jani, an Indian yogi who claimed he could survive without food or water, died at the age of 90 on Tuesday, according to a report.
Jani told the AFP in 2003 that he had the "elixir of life from the hole in my palate, which enables me to go without food and water."
He believed he was blessed by a goddess as a child, which enabled him to survive without basic necessities.
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Medical professionals have said it is impossible to survive for very long with no food and water without significant organ damage.
But Jani had a following of believers and attracted the attention of the medical community in 2010 when a team of doctors studied him at a hospital in Ahmedabad, a city in northwest India.
Jani was observed by a team of professionals who ran tests on his brain, organs and blood vessels. He was also reportedly watched on closed-circuit cameras to see if he would eat or drink at any time.
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The medical professionals reported that he did not use the restroom, eat or drink any fluids during his two-week observation with the team.
"We still do not know how he survives," neurologist Sudhir Shah told reporters after the experiment in 2010, according to France 24. "It is still a mystery what kind of phenomenon this is."
The results of the study have reportedly never been released or peer-reviewed.
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Jani’s body has been taken to Ambaji, a town where he built an ashram, and it will be laid to rest there for two days in order to allow people to come and pay their respects.
His body will be cremated Thursday, Jani’s neighbor Sheetal Chaudhary told AFP.