Prahlad Jani

Prahlad Jani (Gujarati: પ્રહલાદ જાની), also known as "Mataji", (born Chunriwala Mataji, 13 August 1929) is an Indian sadhu who claims to have lived without food and water since 1940. He says that the goddess Amba sustains him.

Born Chunriwala Mataji, Jani grew up in Charada 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 that time, he chose to dress as a female devotee of Amba, wearing a red sari-like garment, jewellery and crimson flowers in his shoulder-length hair. Jani is commonly known as Mataji ("[a manifestation of] The Great Mother"). Jani believes that the goddess provides him a liquid sustenance or water which drops down through a hole in his palate, allowing him to live without food or drink.

Since the 1970s, Jani has lived as a hermit in a cave in the rainforest near the Gujarati temple of Ambaji, awakening at 4am each day and spending most of his time meditating.

Two observational studies of Jani have been conducted, one in 2003 and one in 2010, both involving Dr Sudhir Shah, a neurologist at the Sterling Hospitals in Ahmedabad, India, who had studied people claiming to have exceptional abilities, including other fasters such as Hira Ratan Manek. In both cases the investigators confirmed Jani's ability to survive healthily without food and water during the testing periods, although neither study was submitted to a scientific journal. When questioned six days into the 2010 experiment, the DRDO spokesperson announced that the study's findings would be "confidential" until results were established, and a further official press release by the team stated that any inside analysis information may be disclosed only at the discretion of the principal investigator, DIPAS. Uninvolved doctors and other critics have questioned the validity of the studies and stated their belief that, although people can survive for days without food or water, it is not possible to survive for years, especially since glucose, a substrate critical to brain function, isn't provided. The veracity of Mataji's claims has also never been independently confirmed with all tests being indigenously conducted.

...
Wikipedia