From tape worm to toad – the Australian woman’s headache solves the puzzle about the headache of Tolkāppiyar and the name of Therayār

A few days ago livescience.com published a news report about  a rare case of a young Australian woman diagnosed of the presence of tapeworm larvae in her brain causing headache and blurred vision. She has to undergo brain surgery to get rid of the larvae formed into a cyst.

The shocking effect of this news apart, there is a surprise element too in having a parallel to a similar diagnosis but of a ‘toad’ developing inside the skull of – Tolkāppiyar”!!

Tolkāppiyar, as many may be aware, was the grammarian of the 2^nd and 3^rd Sangam Assemblies. The name is generic and applied to specific persons who composed the Grammar works during the Sangam ages. The Tolkāppiyar I am referring to was the first Tolkāppiyar, the half-brother of Paraśurāmā, who lived in Rama’s time. His original name was ‘Trunadhumagni’, born to Jamadagni and a tribal woman, according to ‘Bogar 7000’, a text by Bogar Siddhar.  

Tolkāppiyar  was a disciple of Agastya (of  Rama’s time) who shifted to Kodagu sometime after Rama met him , to do a 12 year penance at the water of Kaviri, entrapped on top of the mountain, now called Brahmagiri. A massive destruction by water had happened just then in the Indian Ocean causing the olden Tamil lands of the 1^st Sangam period get submerged, and Agastya was preparing himself to establish the Tamil Sangam Assembly at the new capital at Kavātam.

In this endeavor he was accompanied with Trunadhumagni (Tolkāppiyar) and another one who came be known as “Therayār” – a name linked to ‘Therai’ or toad! This name has a connection to Tolkāppiyar who was suffering from headache for nearly 10 years, the cause of which turned out to be similar to what is found in the Australian woman.

The non-stop headache that Tolkāppiyar was suffering from was brought to the notice of Agastya. After thinking about the possible causes, he found out that a toad must have migrated from his nose to his head.

(Bogar 700)

What is meant here is that the fertilized egg of a toad had gone through his nose. As a Siddha, Tolkāppiyar must have been practicing many kriyas of yoga one of which happens to be cleansing the nasal path by doing ‘Jala Neti’ The water poured through one nostril is expelled through the other.

At times if not properly done the water could go through the sinus paths into the head region. Since Tolkāppiyar was said to be suffering for 10 years, he must have got into trouble in the initial days of practicing this kriya. At that time an unfertilized egg must have entered into system through the water he used for Jalaneti.

Nowadays sterilized and salted lukewarm water is used for this Kriya. Perhaps this is being insisted after a history of stray instances of headaches connected with Jalaneti. In earlier days they might have just taken river water for doing this kriya, and Tolkāppiyar’s was perhaps one of the earliest rare cases of getting into trouble by an organism getting into his body. Toads having a life span of 10 to 12 years and upto 50 years, and accustomed to remaining trapped inside moist holes in rocks - this incident of a toad found inside the skull of Tolkāppiyar sounds plausible.

The remedy could be got through brain surgery only! Bogar describes it in a very crude and simple way, which I am just giving here. Agastya had opened his skull and saw a toad sitting underneath! On seeing something happening around it, the toad had further withdrawn inside. Seeing this a disciple of Agastya brought a bowl was water in front of the toad. By its nature of affinity to water the toad jumped into the bowl!

The cause of the headache gone now, Agastya closed the opening he made and caused it to heal by his herbal medicine. The headache of Tolkāppiyar was gone forever. The delighted Agastya praised this disciple for his presence of mind in removing the toad. For this reason this disciple came to be called as ‘Therayār’ the “Toad-man’

All these days, I was perplexed by this incident and questioning myself of hypocrisy in accepting some verses of this text while rejecting certain others such as this. But now after having read the report in live science and probed further, I am getting convinced of the veracity of this incident given by Bogar Siddhar.

Today this problem is known as Neurocysticercosis caused by a specific strain of tape worm larvae that enter the body of the person who eats pork infested with this worm. Livesicnce reported in 2018 that more than 2000 persons are hospitalized every year in the USA for this problem caused by eating infected pork that is under-cooked. The eggs do not seem to get destroyed so easily in cooking it seems. Once inside the body they may hatch inside the intestines. The released larvae may go anywhere in the body, including the brain. Once they settle down in the brain, depending on the part of the brain, neurological and other problems occur with headache as a prominent symptom.

This problem is found endemic in developing countries and contacted by those travelling to those countries, says the report. The Australian woman became newsworthy for being the first one to get it indigenously in Australia.

My interest in this issue lies with the justification it offers for a similar problem experienced by Tolkāppiyar – and reported in Bogar 7000. The text is very clear about how a living organism got into his head, i.e. through his nose. A Siddha (disciple of Agastya) coming to get a name connected with toad cannot be dismissed as fictional. Now the entire incident doesn’t seem fictional after coming to know about larvae settling down in the brain. This must make us accept the other information in Bogar 7000, of the knowhow on skull surgery.

It must be noted here that Therayār is well known for works on medicine and health. Even this text contains information herbal preparation for varied uses. The other facet of this text is that it gives information on birth, works and end of many ancient sages including Vyasa and Valmiki. I am led to say that Dandakaraya vana of Rama’s times was home of many sages who happened to be siddhas of exemplary and unusual power.

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From

https://www.livescience.com/woman-australia-tapeworm-larvea-brain.html?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9160&utm_content=LVS_newsletter+&utm_term=2988647&m_i=uxOFnOrmIhn0z2K0ub2IA3zFGEhzH20U2qDbHPz__CuR6AwhG5VErm8d6v3Z6TJxTpksnhxFPE0tbW357R44QupokLOEPJGq2I2mpquuuE

Woman's odd headache was from tapeworm larvae in her brain

By Rachael Rettner - Senior Writer 3 days ago

 

A young woman in Australia was found to have tapeworm larvae lurking in her brain — a very unusual diagnosis considering she had no risk factors for the condition, according to a new report of the case.

Indeed, it's believed to be the first "locally acquired" case of the disease in Australia, that is, in someone who hadn't traveled out of the country, the report said.

The 25-year-old woman went to the hospital after experiencing headaches for a week, according to the report, published Sept. 21 in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. She was no stranger to headaches — she had experienced migraines with visual "auras" on a regular basis since the age of 18. But her latest headache seemed different. It didn't go away when she took painkillers, which usually cured her headaches. And her visual symptoms were more severe, with her vision becoming blurry at times.

An MRI of her head revealed a single brain lesion, which doctors suspected was either a brain abscess or tumor. But when doctors performed brain surgery to remove the lesion, they got a surprise. The lesion was really a cyst, and it wasn't made of human tissue. Further tests revealed that the cyst contained tapeworm larvae.

The woman was diagnosed with neurocysticercosis, a parasitic disease that occurs when a person ingests microscopic eggs from a pork tapeworm (Taenia solium). When the eggs hatch, the larvae can travel throughout the body, including to the brain, muscles, skin and eyes, where they form cysts, according to the World Health Organization.

After the cyst was removed, the woman did not need further treatment for the infection.

This tapeworm is common in developing nations, including countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The life cycle of the Taenia solium parasite usually requires pigs to have contact with human feces, and so infections are most often found in areas with poor sanitation practices in which pigs come into contact with human feces, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But in Australia, all previous reported cases have been among people who either immigrated to the county or traveled to areas where the disease is endemic before returning to Australia. (Similarly, in the United States, nearly all cases occur in people who have immigrated from areas where the disease is endemic.)

Exactly how the Australian woman caught the disease is a mystery. She was born in Australia and had never traveled overseas. However, people can catch neurocysticercosis from close contact with a person who is infected with the pork tapeworm. (Tapeworm carriers can pass on the parasite if they don't wash their hands properly, because the tapeworm eggs pass in the feces.) However, the woman did not report having a previous or current contact from an endemic area.

The woman did work as a barista, and so the authors speculated that she may have been exposed through her job, which entailed "ongoing casual contact with people from a variety of geographical regions." But if this did happen, it would be a very rare event, given the countless numbers of people who work in the Australian hospitality industry who haven't caught this infection, the authors said.

Still, given the ease of travel between countries, it is perhaps not surprising that "sporadic infection can occur in people who would otherwise be considered at no or very low risk of infection with T. solium," the authors said.

The Australian woman's case is similar to that of a New York woman who was diagnosed with neurocysticercosis last year. The woman, Rachel Palma, also developed the disease without having any risk factors, Live Science previously reported.

The authors of the new report hope their case raises awareness about the possible risk of locally acquired cases of neurocysticercosis occurring in non-endemic countries.

Originally published on Live Science.