Ethnobotanical
Leaflets 10: 239-242. 2006. Agia Vaital: The Peoples Belief About Natural Fire in
Forests and its Link with Pygmaeopremna herbacea (Roxb.) Mold. in Kaushal Kumar*, A. K.S. Rawat, Ch. V. Rao and Subha Rastogi* Ethnobotany Laboratory National
Botanical Research Institute, Issued Abstract Tribal, forest dwellers and rural people of Chhotanagpur
plateau in Keywords: Pygmaeopremna herbacea;
Agia Vaital;
forests fire; Chhotangpur Plateau Introduction Indeed, Agia Vaital is a folklore word and used by the forest dwellers, tribal and rural people for the sudden flaming of fire in forests. The meaning of Agia Vaital is the evil spirit who creates fire in forest. It is also a myth and belief among forests dwellers that the Van Devi (goddess of forests) sometimes becomes wrathful due to cruel harvesting of forest products, cutting of young plants and hunting of tigers, elephants, deers, birds and other wildlife. She gives order to Agia Vaital (own devotees spirit ) to create fire to prohibit the human entry in forests to perform a critical situation for wildlife to immediate leave the forests, run away to another forests and safe places to save own life. There are many mythic stories about Agia Vaital and Van Devi in tribal and rural folk. According to the observation of some tribal and rural people the starting process of Agia Vaital is also due to the rubbing between two bamboos in the high velocity of wind. The other causes of forests fire are likes coal burning, pieces of fired smoking materials thrown by any person in dried leaves, stone friction etc. Since ancient period, the forest fire is known as Davaagni in Indian subcontinent. It may possible that the Sanskrit name of forest fire i.e. Davaagni is used for Agia vaital in folklore. Pygmaeopremna herbacea in Chhotanagpur plateau Pygmaeopremna herbacea (Roxb.) Mold. (Verbenaceae) is widely used in ethnomedicine
in Jharkhand and adjacent state of Chhotanagpur
Plateau in However, its utilization pattern in Chhotanagpur plateau in the state of Jharkhand, and Chhatisgarh is much interesting. Almost all tribal communities residing in the region know about this important medicinal plant and they use it in primary healthcare for the treatment of rheumatism, arthritis, gout, atrophy, cholera and sexual disability. The tribal names of the plant in Plateau are viz. Kadamet, Kadachandi, Phinjamun (Santhal), Aganyo (Sauria Paharia), Gatia (Mal Paharia), Ote atil ba (Oraon), Hora chalu, Ote atil ba (Munda), Sande Saber, Gitia (Kol), Girahbat (Ho), Tholkobat (Asur), Gathiabat (Baiga) and Kamraj (Gond). The medicinal woody rootstock is also sold by the tribal medicine men in tribal and rural market among indigenous people. Mythical Agia Vaital During our extensive field survey in Jharkhand to collect the samples of woody rootstock for bioprospection of ethnobotanical plants of Jharkhnad state the valuable information gathered from the tribal, rural and forests dwellers of Chhotanagpur plateau that sometimes blaze of fire have been seen in the plant. Pygmaeopremna herbacea is a stem less herb or undershrub from a woody rootstock. A voucher specimen (no. 225814) of the plant has been collected and deposited in NBRI, Herbarium. The flowering branches of the plant is 2.5-10 cm long, leaves 5-14x 3-6 cm, in rosettes of 2-3 pairs, lying flat on the ground or closely appeared, sessile, obovate, obtuse and cuneate at the base, flowers white or greenish-yellow, in peduncled cymes arranged in terminal. The woody rootstock is mostly brown in colour and 0.5-2 x 0.3- 1.5 cm in size continuous ca 0.5-9 cm interblend. The flowering & fruiting period of the plant is August to December. After the end of January the herb started to dry and the beyond the fruits dispersal the dried leaves are closely attached in stiff soil. In hot day, mostly in the month of May in the warmed soil in contact of dried leaves of the plant strike due to any cause creates fire. This fire is as a myth and belief of the region known as Agia Vaital H. H. Haines, a conservator of the forests
of Conclusion There are some plants like Anaphalis
triplinervis Cl. (Asteraceae), Balanites
aegyptiaca (L.) Del. (Simaroubaceae), Calophyllum inophyllum
L. (Clusiaceae), Cousinia
thomsonii Cl. (Asteraceae), Lycopodium
clavatum L. (Lycopodiaceae)
etc. are used for making fire (Jain, 1991) for domestic purpose by the tribals in India.
The Pygmaeopremna herbacea is not used for domestic fires and our
observation is not related with the above information. The natural fire
sometimes created in the forests of hilly tracts during hot days in summers
and very close arrangement of leaves in plant on ground may help in flaming.
Due to destruction of natural forests and over exploitation and the above
kind of natural fires in forests, the plant it has become rare in the
forests. Therefore, there is a need for ex-situ conservation and
protection of this valuable medicinal plant for sustainable utilization. The
information related to fire burning in Pygmaeopremna
herbacea would be useful for the precautionary
steps taken by the foresters. There are any chemicals which are inflammable
should also be investigated. I there are not above chemicals then the factors
associated to because fire may scientifically interesting for observation. The ethnobotanical information gathered from the field
pertaining to the plant presented here for further studies. AcknowledgmentsWe
are thankful to Director, NBRI, References Haines, H. H.1925. The Botany of Bihar and Orissa, Jain, S.K. 1991. Dictionary of Indian Folk Medicine and Ethnobotany,
Deep Publications,
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