Japanese woman comes out of 72-hour-long samadhi

ALLAHABAD: Yogmata Kiko Ikoba, a Japanese disciple of a former IAF pilot who is now an ascetic, on Sunday came out of a 72-hour trance praying for world peace in an unventilated underground chamber at the Ardh Kumbh mela.

She went into the samadhi in a nine-feet by nine-feet chamber on January 18 after performing Hindu rituals for world peace and Indo-Japanese friendship.

After completing her feat, she was conferred the honorary title of 'Mahamandaleshwar' by the Joona Akhara group of ascetics.

Her guru, Somnath Giri, is credited with a similar samadhi for 33 days. He is popularly known as Pilot Baba as he was earlier a wing commander in the Indian Air Force and a recipient of Vir Chakra thrice.