About 140 members of the Kannatthu family in Alappuzha, Kerala have webbed hands. The anomaly which has persisted in the family for two generations has attracted some media attention in recent times.
Though the medical condition, syndactyly can be surgically treated the family members are not too keen on it.
65 year old Jagadamma who is a part of the family said to the newspaper, The Times of India that the webbed hands have the appearance of a snake’s hood. The family’s ancestral home has a grove considered sacred where snakes are objects of worship. So, the peculiar condition is considered as a blessing.
In fact, the family members encompassing 68 year old woman to a 3 year old child recently gathered together at the ancestral home for paying homage to the snakes. Pujas are conducted to honour the snakes once every year when members of the family who live in different places-some outside the state would come together. In the most recent puja, around 50 of the family members with webbed hands gathered.
Another family member, the 66 year old K M Bhargavan spoke to the Times of India about the ‘reason’ for the medical condition. The story, Bhargavan says was told to him by his grandfather. It was about a feud that existed between the Kannatthu family and another family regarding property boundaries. Apparently, it was after the other family cut down a tree in the sacred grove that children in the Kannatthu family began to be born with webbed hands.
The members of the other family were afflicted by an illness which made them leave the place. Bhargavan adds that they don’t know of the story is true or not.
Another member of the Kunnathu family relates how when his daughter recently gave birth to a baby with webbed hands, her husband’s family was disappointed at first. But when they were told the whole story, they also began seeing it as a divine symbol.
Girish Kumar, 48 year old, webbed handed and a JCB driver says that he has never faced any physical issues and can work like any normal person. Earlier, he used to work as a fitter and welder. He says that he considered the webbed hands as a blessing.
A similar sentiment was expressed by another family member, 41 year old Aravindakshan K.P. He works in the government health department.
Image credits: Times of India