The family did not dare to conjoin finger surgery for fear of the gods penalty

140 members of the Kannathu family in India live with deformities that conjoin their fingers from the moment they were born.

Finger sticking is a fairly common form of birth defects of the hand with an incidence of 1 / 1,000 newborns. That is when two or more fingers stick together without separating into separate fingers as usual. Finger sticks can simply be attached to soft or complex tissue rather than sticking with bones and nails. This malformation may be inherited or spontaneous in the early stages of pregnancy when the fingers form.

It is worth mentioning that, conjoined deformities can be completely cured by surgical intervention but none of the Kannathu family , living in a small village in Alappuzha, Kerala state, South India, want to do that.

Over the generations, the members believed that the fingers were attached to each other because they suffered a divine curse . Therefore, if they separate their fingers, they will have to suffer the anger of the gods.

Everyone in the family is not affected much because of the finger stick, only regret not being able to wear rings.(Photo: Caters News Agency).

Sarasu Kannathu, 70, the oldest woman in the family, said that although the fingers are stuck together, everyone still lives and lives normally without any difficulties. Many people have advised members to go for treatment, but they have a feeling that if surgery, disaster will happen.

There was a case in which a member of the group went for surgery to separate his fingers, but he suddenly became deaf for a while later. That further reinforced people's belief that 'gods' were angry and no one wanted to follow this man's "crash" .

Lakshmi, another member, said: 'I can cook , cut vegetables, wash clothes, use farming tools and even sewing, I have never encountered any trouble. Because I was born like this since I was born, so I had to learn to live with that, but I couldn't wear a ring. '

According to Sarasu, this situation first appeared in the Kannathu family about 90 years ago. She had heard her grandfather recount that a man in the family cut down a tree in the sacred forest. That action made the spirit angry so since then, the newborn babies in the family have conjoined fingers.

Sarasu believes that the next generation may still be influenced by the 'curse' , but the Kannathu family still accepts and takes pride in it.

In order to appease the gods, the family members of the Kannathu family often hold a large annual prayer service at home.