Ethnobotanical Leaflets 14: 889-910, 2010.

Use of Ethnomedicinal Plants by Natives of Bargarh District of Orissa, India

Alok Ranjan Sahu¹, Niranjan Behera ²* and S. P. Mishra ²

¹ Biotechnology Unit, School of Life Sciences, Sambalpur UniversityJyoti Vihar, Burla  – 768019, Orissa

² School of Life Sciences, Sambalpur University Jyoti Vihar, Burla  – 768019, Orissa

*Address of correspondence: E-mail: nbehera2001@yahoo.com

Issued: August 01, 2010

Abstract

A study on the native uses of ethnobotanical species was carried out in the Bargarh district of Western Orissa in India with the major objective of identifying different ethno medicinal plant species and also to understand their ongoing management and conservation. Through questionnaire and personal interviews, a total of 209 ethnobotanical species used by tribal and nontribal communities were documented, used in curing different types of diseases and many of them are used as edible food plants. This rich traditional knowledge of local people has an immense potential for pharmacological studies. Moreover such study is useful for identification of ethnomedicinal plants of a region for developing strategies for their conservation and sustainable harvest of useful plant parts. A conservation strategy of such ethnomedicinal plants through sacred groves and in convention has been discussed in this paper. 

Keywords: Ethnomedicine, medicinal plants, tribal.

Introduction

            From time immemorial mankind is using plants, plant parts and its product for healing different human ailments. In this modern age also it is being rampantly used by the under privileged and libel people all over the world. Knowledge regarding the therapeutic use of plants is passed from generation to generation. Documentation of such information is scantly, which is highly essential for listing its efficacy and further purification of it by the pharmaceutical industry. Moreover, these herbal products are more safe and human friendly as compared to the artificial synthetic medicines. India is very rich in phytodiversity. In India, more than 43% of the total flowering plants are reported to be of medicinal importance (Pusphangadan, 1995). The indigenous habitual knowledge which is transmitted to generation to generation is disappearing very fast due to our modern technology based transformed culture and in different and apathetic altitude towards use and conservation of traditional knowledge and skill. Realizing the fact, in recent year’s attempts has been made by the researchers to be record such information and conform the traditional beliefs. It has been reported that in developed country like USA 50% of the best prescribed drugs are based on natural products harvested from tropical region of Africa, Asia and Latin America (Behera, 2003). Till now nearly 8000 species of plants having ethnobotanical importance have been recognized (Anon., 1994).

            Orissa is one of the tribal dominated state of India. As many as 62 different tribes constituting 22.6% of the total state population are reported to inhabit in different geographical pockets of the state. They mostly depend and only on herbal products as medicines. The efficacy of many such herbal medicines has not been listed due to lack of documentation. In the present paper attempts have been made to document such information for further use by the researchers to conform the efficacy and purify the active ingredients from such plants.

Study Area

           Bargarh district, one of the 10 districts of Western Orissa lies between 20⁰ 43' to 20⁰ 41' North latitude and 82⁰ 39' to 83⁰ 58' East latitude. It is bounded on the north by the state of Chhatisgarh and on the east by the district of Nawapara (Figure-1). The major rivers in the district are tributaries of Mahanadi River, Ong (Ang), Jira and jhaun rivers. There are natural springs at Nrushinghanath at the foot of Gandhamardhan hills of Padampur subdivision forming streams flowing in cascades down the steep hill side. The Barapahar (literacy, 12 hills) are the main hill range in Bargarh district covering an area of 777 Sq Km. and attaining a height of 2,267 feet (691.1 m) at the peak of Debrigarh, one of the few hills of the range offering good ground flora and fuana. The total geographical area of Bargarh district is 5837 Sq km., out of which 269.329 Sq km of the area is covered by forest. Although agriculture is main occupation of the tribal people, they are mostly dependent on forest and forest based resources for supplementing their livelihood and health care. The physiography of the district gives a perfect platform for the tribal in sustaining their ethno cultural identity. The soil is red, red black and alluvium type. The district enjoys a tropical monsoon. The forests are dry deciduous and moist type. The district is inhabitat by tribes like Sahara, Binjhal, Kondh, Gond, Munda, Kuli, Oran, Kisan, Mirdha, Kharia and Parja. Out of these, Sahara, Binjhal, Kondh and Gond are the predominant tribes. Although modern system of medicine has influenced the people, still these people not only earn their livelihood from the forest but also go on forest for medicines for the treatment of different diseases.

Figure-1. Maps show the study area.

Materials and Methods

            A literature survey was carried out on the study area before the field worked started (Sen and Behera, 2008; Das and Mishra, 2000; Hemadri, 1991; Panigrahi, 1990) Most of the works were based on taxonomic surveys. Very few works were in the field of ethnomedicinal studies. The study area was visited frequently and close interaction were made with the senior tribal people practicing herbal medicines. The information regarding the use of plants and plant products were collected from them during the interaction. Some of the elderly people practicing such medicines did not easily reveal the truth directly, so indirect methods adopted to extract directly or indirectly.  Moreover common tribal people were also contacted to know about their common ailments and healing methods. All information thus collected were scrutinized and compiled in a tabular form.  

Results and Discussion

            The study provides information about ethnomedicinal use of 209 different plant species by native of Bargarh district of Orissa (Table -1). In Table 1  plant species have been arranged alphabetically with their correct botanical name. The local name in local language is followed by family within parentheses, parts use with their medicinal uses. Of these documented species, as many as 182 species (155 genera and 65 families) belong to dicot and the 27 species (23 genera and 9 families) belong to monocot (Table 2). Thus the study clearly reflected the relative importance of angiospermic dicots as the ethnomedicinal plants in the area. Analysis of the habitat wise distribution of these species indicates that majority of the species (77 species) are herb. The number of species under tree, shrub and climber are 69, 36 and 27 respectively (Figure-2).

Table -1. List of Plant species along with their medicinal uses by

the natives of Bargarh District, Western Orissa.

Figure – 2:  Habitat wise distribution of Medicinal Plant Species used by the natives of Bargarh in Orissa.

Fig. 3: Distribution of Plant Species for different parts used in medicinal purpose by the natives of Bargarh District, Orissa

Table – 2. Diversity of ethnomedicinal plants of Bargarh District, Orissa

            The plant parts used for medical preparation are bark, flowers, rhizomes, roots, leaves, seeds, gum and whole plants. In some cases the whole plant including roots was utilized. The most frequently utilized plant parts are leaves (87) followed by the bark (56), root (53), seeds (27), fruit (25), whole plant (19), secondary products (16) and flowers (14) (Fig. 3).

            The paper presents a brief account of the uses of various ethno medicinal plants parts against the diseases like gastro intestinal disorder (constipation, diarrhoea, dysentery, gastric, stomachache), skin diseases (blood purification, scabies, tumor, itching), gynecological disorder (gonorrhea, menstrual problems), skeletal diseases (pain on limbs, gout, rheumatism, arthritis), jaundice, piles, bronchitis, diabetes, neurological diseases, snakebite, ophthalmic infection, cardiovascular diseases (tuberculosis, chest pain) and malaria by the people of Bargarh district and highlights the need for further investigation on biochemical and pharmaceutical aspects.

Conclusion

          A number of organizations within India are concerned with maintaining India’s Traditional Medicine Systems. In addition, there is a wide spread development network, and established pharmaceutical industry and a wealth of botanical experts in the country. Until now, however, there has been little effort to document the volume and impact of national or international trade in India's medicinal plants (Ganesan and Kesavan, 2003). According to the latest figures, it costs around 800 million dollars to put a new drug on the market. When companies manufacture a product based on TK and convert it into a medicine, they “acquire” a product which is worth a few hundred million dollars (Jain, 1986, 1995). A USA based top pharmaceutical companies like MERCK, RANBAXY and SHAMAN are the classical examples. Such is the enormous potential hidden in these plants gifted by Nature. (Ahmad, Khan and Qureshi,  2003).

            After lengthy discussions with the local doctors practicing siddha, Ayurveda and unani (Indian alternative medical systems), it was learnt that these plants listed by the authors in this investigation are very much used by them in making various formulations for a variety of ailments. From the enumeration study, it is obvious that the tribes of similipal bioreserve, who either work as labourers or cultivate crops such as Paddy, Mandia, Jhoar and mostly depend on forest and the forest products to sustain their livelihood. (Saeed, Arshad, Ahmed  and Ishaque,  2004). The tribals inherit rich traditional knowledge about the flora and apply this knowledge for making crude phytomedicines to cure infections as simple as cold to as complicated as cancer. These crude herbal medicines are based not only on traditional knowledge but also on rituals and beliefs. For instance the treatment given by the herbal healer for a patient suffering from jaundice is paste of a particular herb and onion along with a copper coin tied religiously around the shoulder and it is believed that it has a magical cure. Another remarkable feature of the study was the presence of sacred groves in all the hamlets. Sacred groves are one of the most important and essential bio-resources of the country. (Mukherjee 2004). It represents an ancient Indian system of conservation tradition, protected by the local people out of reverence and respect, fear and sentiment for Nature and incarnation of Nature. It is observed with a sad note that this traditional knowledge which formed the basis for origin of not only alternative medicine but also paved way to evolution of a gamut of new and novel modern medicines, is facing slow and natural death as these communities are eventually oriented more towards modern medicine as they believe it gives a quick remedy, while it is paradoxical to see the modern world of late, focusing more on alternative medicine which has herbal base predominantly. Presently, very few elders in the tribal community practice herbal cure, while the young and current generation knows little or nothing about the traditional herbal medicines.

            Traditional health care practices of indigenous people pertaining to human health care termed as ethnomedicine. Ethnomedicine is the mother of all other system of medicine. Recently the importance of these traditional medicines has been realized world wide as some of them proved to be very effective (Marini – Bettolo, 1980) and some other prescriptions of these traditional halers may be of benefit to human kind when through scientific analysis is conducted into their properties. The study revealed that whatever knowledge on plants exists with the people of Bargarh District, they are on fast declining because lack of interest to local youth to learn the traditional knowledge from the old herbal healer. The highly interesting finding for gynecological disorder, antimicrobial and antimalarial activity require further research, while the efficacy of the various indigenous practices will need to be subjected to pharmacological validation. Therefore, greater efforts are required to document traditional knowledge of the local people so as to prepare a comprehensive account of it, when will open new vistas in plant research which is much safer, less costly and ecofriendly.

Acknowledgement

       The authors are especially thankful to the tribal and local healthhealers of Bargarh district for their cooperation and voluntarily shared a wealth of their accumulated knowledge regarding the ethnomedicinal practices of their communities and for their hospitality.

References

1. Aminuddin & Girach, R.D.; Ethnobotanical studies on Bonda tribe on District Koraput (Orissa), India, Etnobotany, 3 (1 – 2) (1991) 15.
2. Das, P.K and Mishra, M.K (1988) - Some medicinal plants among Kondhas around Chandrapur (Koraput), J. Ecol. Tax.Bot. 12:103-109.
3. Das, P.K and Mishra, M.K 1987, Some medicinal plants used by the tribal of Deomali and adjustment areas of Koraput district, Orissa, Indian J. for, 10:301-303.
4. Dash, S.S. & Mishra, M.K.; Taxonomic survey & systematic census of economic plants of Narayanapatna hills of Koraput district, Orissa, J. Econ. Tax. Bot., 23 (2) (1999) 473
5. Girach, R.D., Medicinal plants used by Kondh tribe of district of Phulbani (Orissa) in Eastern India, Ethnobotany, 4 (1-2) (1992)53.
6. Hemadri, K. 1991 Medico-Botanical Exploration of Phulbani and Koraput district of Orissa, Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha, New Delhi, Inida.
7. Jain, S.K.1991. Some magico-religious beliefs about plants among Adibasis of Orissa. Adibasi 12: 38-44
8. Mishra, R.C; Medicinal plants among the tribals of upper Bonda region, Koraput (Orissa), J. Econ. Tax. Bot, Addl Ser, 10 (1992) 275
9. Pandey, A.K., S.K. Varma, N. Pandit and L.A.K. Singh (2000) medicinal plants of Simlipal Biosphere. Reserve Journal of Indian Botanical Society 79 (Supp.): 52-53
10. Panigrahi, G.; Gandharmandan Parbat, Orissa – A potential source of important indigenous drugs – II, In : Environment & Sustainable Development, by S. N. Patro, (Orissa Environment Society, Bhubaneswar), 1990, 68.
11.  Pattanik, C.; Reddy, C.S.; Murthy, M.S.R. and Reddy P.M.; Ethnomedicinal Observations among tribal people of Koraput District, Orissa, India, Research J. of Bot. 1(3) : 125 – 128, 2006.
12. Rout, S.D., Panda, T. & Mishra, N.;2009 Ethno-medicinal Plants Used to Cure Different Diseases by Tribals of Mayurbhanj district of North Orissa, J. Ethno-Med, 3(1): 27-32
13. Sahoo, A.K. & Mughal, V.; Less known ethomedicinal plants of Phulbani district of Orissa, India, Ethnobotany. 7(1-2) (1995) 63
14. Sarkar Nandita, Rudra Sova & Basu, S.K.; Ethnobotany of Bangriposi, Mayurbhanj, Orissa, J. Econ. Tax. Bot., 23(2) (1999) 509
15. Sathpathy, K.B. & Panda, P.C.; Medicinal uses of some plants among the tribals of Sundergarh district, Orissa, J. Econ. Tax. Bot., Addl Ser, 10 (1992) 241
16. Satpathy, K.B. & Brahman, M. ; Some interesting phytotherapeutic claims of tribals of Jaipur district (Orissa), India, J. Econ. Tax. Bot., 23(2) (1999) 467
17. Saxena, H.O. & Brahman, M. ; The flora of Orissa, (Regional Research Laboratory, Orissa and Orissa Forest Development Corporation Ltd.), 1994-96, Vol: I-IV
18. Saxena, H.O. & Brahman, M.;1990. Ethnobotany of Gandharmandan hills – some noteworthy folk medicinal uses. Ethnobotany 2: 71-79.
19. Saxena, H.O., Brahman, M and Dutta P.K. (1988) Ethnobotanical studies in Similipahar Forests of Mayurbhanj District (Orissa). Bulletin of Botanical Survey of India. 10 (1-4): 83-89.
20. Sen, S.K. & Behera, L.M.; Ethnomedicinal plants used by the tribals of  Bargarh District to cure Diarrhoea and Dysentery, Indian J. Traditional knowledge, Vol. 7 (3), July 2008, pp. 425-428
21. Tripathy, N.K. and Behera, N. 2003; Ethnomedicinal plants of Harishankar area in Bolangir district of Orissa. J. Sci. Techno.; Sambalpur University, XIV & V (A): pp. 58-63
22. World Health Organization, 2002-2005; WHO Traditional Medicine strategy Report, Document WHO/EDM/TRM/2002.1