India Unplugged.
The Kodinhi Phenomenon. The Village of twins.
The setting.
Kodinhi is a quaint little village, close to the town of Tirurangadi, in Malappuram district of Kerala, India. The population of this village is around 2000 families (2008 survey) and most of the people here are Sunni Muslims. Before you read ahead, you need to know that according to statistics, Asian women in general are not physically disposed towards having twins, and as such, have recorded the least number of twin births at 4 per 1000.
Here is where it gets crazy.
This is certainly no secret, though it is possible that there are people who are not aware of this phenomenon.
Sometime in 1949, the first pair of twins were born in this village. And after that the number of twins born here just kept on increasing. At first I am sure, it must have been amusing. But the number of twins born every year showed a slight increase to the previous year and in 2008 there were as many as 250 sets of documented twins in the village, with 79 pairs within the age of 10 years. 250 sets of twins between a population of 2000 families, stretches the imagination a bit. This is only the official number. This being India, you can count on the fact that there are quite a few more out there who are not documented. This brings the average twin birth ratio to a whopping 45 per 1000. People of the village have observed that women who are around 5ft tall have the most chances of bearing twins. They also believe that there is a hereditary factor to twin births - a woman is more likely to bear twins if there has been a history of it in the family - maternally.
The funny thing is that this phenomenon is observed only in the village of Kodinhi. The other villages around Kodinhi have recorded no incidents of twin births.
A number of explanations have been offered, including the possibility of something in the water or in the air, that is responsible for this effect on the physiology of people living there. Diets and habits have been examined without much success. It is now being attributed to hereditary factors, but there is no conclusive proof.
In fact, women from Kodinhi who are married off to far away places, still give birth to twins, giving some credence to the idea of hereditary factors.
There are others.
This strange phenomenon is not isolated to Kodinhi. It seems to be happening at 2 other places on the planet. These are, Igbo-Ora, in Nigeria, and within a small isolated community in Candido Godoi, Brazil.
A diehard fan of mysteries that refuse to yield their juice, I have been an avid reader and a collector of documented, yet unexplained facts, for the last 25 years. I had no idea at the time, that one day I would be writing about it. Indeed, I never even thought i would be interested in writing itself, but here we are. There are many incredible facts out there, with the advent of the phenomenon called internet, but then there are some that are so unbelievable, yet true, that it is guaranteed to give the reader a serious case of mental indigestion. No these are not figments of the imagination, these are actual documented events and people that existed, and some still do today. So after some thought I decided to start with some easy ones, before I lead you along gradually deeper into to the labyrinths of mystery, mysticism and other marvels from the collective subconscious.
The Kodinhi Phenomenon. The Village of twins.
The setting.
Kodinhi is a quaint little village, close to the town of Tirurangadi, in Malappuram district of Kerala, India. The population of this village is around 2000 families (2008 survey) and most of the people here are Sunni Muslims. Before you read ahead, you need to know that according to statistics, Asian women in general are not physically disposed towards having twins, and as such, have recorded the least number of twin births at 4 per 1000.
Here is where it gets crazy.
This is certainly no secret, though it is possible that there are people who are not aware of this phenomenon.
Sometime in 1949, the first pair of twins were born in this village. And after that the number of twins born here just kept on increasing. At first I am sure, it must have been amusing. But the number of twins born every year showed a slight increase to the previous year and in 2008 there were as many as 250 sets of documented twins in the village, with 79 pairs within the age of 10 years. 250 sets of twins between a population of 2000 families, stretches the imagination a bit. This is only the official number. This being India, you can count on the fact that there are quite a few more out there who are not documented. This brings the average twin birth ratio to a whopping 45 per 1000. People of the village have observed that women who are around 5ft tall have the most chances of bearing twins. They also believe that there is a hereditary factor to twin births - a woman is more likely to bear twins if there has been a history of it in the family - maternally.
The funny thing is that this phenomenon is observed only in the village of Kodinhi. The other villages around Kodinhi have recorded no incidents of twin births.
A number of explanations have been offered, including the possibility of something in the water or in the air, that is responsible for this effect on the physiology of people living there. Diets and habits have been examined without much success. It is now being attributed to hereditary factors, but there is no conclusive proof.
In fact, women from Kodinhi who are married off to far away places, still give birth to twins, giving some credence to the idea of hereditary factors.
There are others.
This strange phenomenon is not isolated to Kodinhi. It seems to be happening at 2 other places on the planet. These are, Igbo-Ora, in Nigeria, and within a small isolated community in Candido Godoi, Brazil.
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