Curative Practices Adopted by the Tribals of South-West Rajasthan

Abstract

India is blessed with various climatic zones rich in its flora and fauna. In India, Rajasthan is a state with mixed climatic conditions rich in medicinal plants diversity. Plants have been in use as medicines since time immemorial. In a society at various layers everybody bears his own personalized belief in practices concerned with health and diseases. Curative practices adopted in any section of population find support in terms of age old practices and customs which control community’s health seeking attitude. Most of the tribal people of South-West Rajasthan have faith on local plants for curing various ailments. Plant based medicines are cost-effective and also have no side effects. Much work has been also been carried out on ethno-medicinal plants of South-West Rajasthan used for treatment of various ailments by different tribal communities and researchers in Rajasthan. Present research article highlights some of the important medicinal plants used by tribal communities of Girwa tehsil of district Udaipur, South-West Rajasthan with their therapeutic use in day-to-day life.

Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION

Rajasthan is the largest state of India by area which covers about 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It lies between 23º3’ to 30º12’  North latitude and 69º30’ to 78º17  East longitude. The Aravalli Range and the lands to the East and South-East of the range are generally more fertile and better watered. The Northwestern portion of Rajasthan is generally sandy and dry while the western part of Rajasthan is dry and infertile and the South-western part is hilly and wet. The climate of Rajasthan keeps varying throughout the state.

South-West region of Rajasthan is rich in traditional medicinal plants. Traditional medicine flourished in India for a quite long time but with chemical revolution and boom in synthetic medicines, the faith in and use of traditional medicines has gradually declined. But, after facing COVID pandemic, faith and belief on traditional medicinal plants have revived and gained importance. In rural areas, many communities like Kathodi, Bhil, Garasia, Damor, etc., are still dependent on indigenous folk practitioners for remedy of their ailments.

In many studies conducted so far  it has been indicated that disease and health ideology among tribes of South-West Rajasthan specially in Udaipur division have little faith in established systems of professional medicine wherein, treatment for a variety of ailments involve strong cultural and social dimensions. In present investigation focus has been  be on prevalent local plants used by tribal communities of Udaipur district. The traditional healers of Rajasthan have commendable knowledge of the medicinal virtues of plants that grow around them. The information about medicinal properties of plants is being carried from generation to generation in the tribal communities.

They know from their experience that which plant part or extract is useful as a drug and this knowledge is passed orally to the descendants. Due to modernization, the knowledge of tribal and rural people with traditional healing practices using wild plants is disappearing fast. So, there is a need to conserve the knowledge through study, research and documentation of precious medicinal plants used by tribal and rural people.

II. MATERIAL AND METHODS

Tehsil Girwa of Udaipur district was visited several times and met with local people of tribal communities to know about the medicinal system they follow for various ailments. Sometimes, tribal people hesitate to talk but some of them have good knowledge about the plants used as medicines by them. During surveys personal interview were conducted with them and other traditional healers. The information was collected from different sects of tribal communities and documented further.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Vast literature consulted show that plants have been used as medicines from the age of Vedas. Early people were depending on forest resources for food, fodder, wood, timber, non-timber products, as well as, medicines [10]. Modern man has become dependent on allopathic medicines due to quick results but it has unwanted side effects also. Now, people have inclined towards plant-based medicines in their natural and processed forms [4]. According to some earlier workers plants have been used as traditional medicines for many years [3], [6], [8], [1]. In India, 2500 plant species have been reported to be used by traditional healers [9].  Medicinal plants play an important role in conventional healthcare system, as various allopathic drugs are derived from medicinal plants [7]. Scientific investigations on medicinal plants have been underway in various countries due to their vast therapeutic potential and are also used as an alternative therapy in various healthcare systems [2].

As is today  tribal people of South-West Rajasthan also are unaware of modern medicines or we can say that they have no or little faith on allopathic medicines. For most of their ailments like fever, cough and cold, asthma, injuries, wounds, swellings, bone fractures, skin diseases, burns, ringworms, toothache, etc. They use local medicinal plants in the form of dried powder of plant part, extract, paste or plants which are taken orally as decoction or chewed to get relief without having side effects. These ethno-medicinal plants contain different types of alkaloids, terpenoids, phenols, phyto-sterols, flavonoids, tannin, etc. The tribals and rural folk follow herbal curative practices and have deep faith in their old treatise and traditions.

In present paper widely used species of the plants by tribals of South-West Rajasthan have been indexed which are used by tribals as curative agents of various ailments. The high diversity of plant families in the study area can be deduced from the presence of approximately 35 different families.

Locals utilize different plant parts like bark, fruits, root bark, leaves, pulp, seeds, rhizome, decoction of pods, latex of fruits, husk, corm and in few  species whole plant is useful, e.g., Leucas aspera  of family Asteraceae. Plant parts, modes of preparation and application play a significant role in herbal medicine [11]. While extraction from fresh material  is considered more useful to avoid microbial fermentation [12]. Following plants mentioned in the table no.1 have been proved to be useful in treatment of varied ailments like general body pain, chest pain, cough and cold, cuts and wounds, diabetes, digestive disorders, skin diseases, child delivery pain, insomnia, kidney stone, mental issues, muscular ache, bronchitis, menstrual disorders, amoebic disorders, etc. Some plants parts have anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and blood clotting properties. Leaves and seeds of Withania somnifera are used as an effective nerve tonic.

The use of medicinal plants belonging to the families Rutaceae, Lamiaceae, Zingiberaceae, Leguminosae, Asteraceae, etc. in the tehsil Girwa of Udaipur suggests that the plant species are well known to tribal communities for their medicinal properties. The knowledge acquired by tribal communities need wide propagation among general population of the region, as well as, throughout the country.

Table 1. List of important  medicinal plants used in South-West Rajasthan,Udaipur District tribal area  villagers for various ailments on all times.

Conclusion

The current study reported important ethno-medicinal plants practiced in human healthcare by the tribal people of tehsil Girwa of Udaipur, South-West Rajasthan. Like other rural people they also rely on ethno-medicinal plants to cure their diseases. It is due to their traditional culture, easy availability and cheaper sources. The above information on the various ethno-medicinal plants would definitely prove to be useful for general population, researchers, scientists and pharmacologists. Tribals have abundant knowledge about local plants of medicinal value which needs to be preserved and forwarded for the beneficence of society. These plants have been screened for their phytochemicals and other active compounds present therein but it still needs deeper investigations which will prove utmost exploitation at commercial level in modern systems of medicine. Their clinical trials for therapeutic action will help greatly human race with target attack on specific and newer diseases.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2023 Premlata Vikal, Vandana Baghela, B. R. Bamniya. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.