Ahmedabad, May 26, 2020: A Jain ascetic, who claimed to have survived without food or water for 76 years, died on May 26 in the Gandhinagar district of Gujarat, western India.
Prahlad Jani alias Chunriwala Mataji, a breatharian yogi, died at his native village Charada, a statement from his disciples said. He was 90.
The ascetic with a large following in Gujarat used to claim that he didn’t need food or water because the goddess sustained him. Scientists had tested him in 2003 and 2010.
His disciples have taken Jain’s body to an ashram set inside a cave near Ambaji temple in Banaskantha district.
“His body will be kept at his ashram for two days to enable his devotees to pay homage. He will be given ”Samadhi” at his ashram on Thursday (May 28),” the statement added.
The devotee of goddess Amba used to wear a red saari (chunri) all the time and dress like a woman, because of which, he was known as Chunriwala Mataji.
Jani had left his parent’s house at a young age in pursuit of ”spiritual experience” .
His followers claimed that he had stopped taking food and water at the age of 14.
Jani made a small cave located near Ambaji temple his home at a young age and subsequently gained popularity as a yogi who survived only on air.
In 2010, scientists and doctors associated with the Defense Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS) under the Defense Research and Development Organization conducted a 15-day observational study on Jani to find out how he was living without food or water.
The DIPAS later stated that Jani had “some extreme form of adaptation to starvation and water restrictions.”
Source: ndtv.com