Sorry tale of Odisha's first Siamese twins Radhika and Doodica
Historian explains how Radhika and Doodica were cremated in secret, abroad.
Bhubaneswar: An Odisha historian has unraveled the sorry tale of the state’s first known Siamese twins (conjoined twins) who were taken abroad in 1893, inducted into a circus troupe, underwent separation surgery in France and finally died in the foreign land.
Worse still, the twins — named Radhika and Doodica — were given secret burials. According to renowned historian and researcher Anil Dhir, the twins were born in 1888 to Khestra Nayak of Haopara village in Dhenkanal district. For the poor parents, the deformed kids were a liability. Moreover the birth of these conjoined twins was seen by the superstitious villagers as a symbol of divine wrath.
There are various newspaper accounts of these twins — famously known as “Orissa Twins” — having toured the Americas, Europe and England. The sisters had a decade long stint, exhibiting themselves as freaks in different exhibitions.
The twins’ family was ostracised by the community and in sheer desperation the father tried to forcefully separate them. However some local officials prevented him and the local Mahima cult sadhus took them under their protection. It was those sadhus (seers) who named the girls.
Word of the freaks got around and was reported in the English press in 1892. London showman Captain Colman sent his agent to Odisha, who convinced the monks to hand over the twins for their better treatment. There is even proof that an Odia lady, probably an aunt, accompanied the twins. They sailed for America to take part in the Chicago Fair of 1893, after stopping for a week in London.
The British Medical Journal carried a report on the twins in its on June 1893 issue, citing “the two little girls, nearly four years old, are apparently perfect in every respect, except that from the ensiform cartilage to the umbilicus they are united together”.
“They were a big draw at the Chicago Fair and this drew the attention of P.T.Barnum of the famous Barnum and Bailey Circus. They twins were soon a part of the ‘The Greatest Show on Earth,’ mentions Mr Dhir in his latest article – ‘The Famous Orissa Twins.’ “The sisters were shown on colourful posters and postcards as the ‘Orissa Twins’ or ‘Hindu twins,’ and were big crowd pullers wherever the shows went,” says the historian.