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Ethnobotanical
Leaflets 13:1453-67, 2009. Medicinal Plants
Used in the Health Care System Practiced by Traditional Vaidyas in
Alaknanda Catchment of Uttarakhand, India P.C. Phondani1*,
R.K. Maikhuri1 and N.S. Bisht2 1G.B. Pant Institute of
Himalayan Environment and Development, P. Box 92, Garhwal Unit, Srinagar -
246 174, Uttarakhand, India����� 2H.N.B. ������� Corresponding author1*- prakashphondani@gmail.com,
pc.phondani@rediffmail.com Issued 01
December, 2009 �Abstract The present
study documents the indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants used in the
Alaknanda catchment of Uttarakhand state in Key words: Medicinal plants, Health care system, Traditional Vaidyas,
Alaknanda catchment. Introduction ��������
Uttarakhand is one of the hilly states in the Indian Himalayan region.
Because of its unique geography and diverse climatic conditions it harbors
the highest number of plant species known for medicinal properties among all
the Indian Himalayan states (Kala et al., 2004). The majority of the
human populations in Uttarakhand state (78%) live in rural areas. There are
very few primary health centers in the states. Each primary health center
caters more then 31,000 people although the stipulated norm of 20,000 is
expected for the hilly region of Uttarakhand (Samal et al., 2004).
Therefore, the inhabitants of Uttarakhand are still dependent on the Vaidhyas
(traditional herbal practitioners) for treating disease due to isolation and
relatively poor access to modern medical facilities (Maikhuri et.al.
1998; Kala, 2002a, 2005). The Medicinal and
Aromatic Plants (MAPs) and their products have a very long history of being
utilized and traded in the lower Himalayan region and plains of Traditional system of medicine is a wise
practice of indigenous knowledge system, which has saved the lives of poor
people around the globe. Traditional knowledge system is of particular
relevance to the poor in the following sectors: agriculture, animal husbandry
and ethnic veterinary medicine, management of natural resources, primary
health care and preventive medicine, psycho-social care, saving and lending,
community development, poverty alleviation, etc. (Maikhuri et al., 2000).
According to an estimate of the world Health Organization about 80% of the populations
of developing countries rely on traditional medicine, mostly plant drugs, for
their primary health care. One important common element of complementary or
traditional medicine is that they encourage and elect self-healing. The traditional health care systems, including Ayurveda, were
transmitted from generation to generation by �Gurukula� mode of instruction (Kala, 2002b). In most cases,
the knowledge base was kept strictly within the family circle. The
apprentices lived with and learnt at the feet of the masters who maintained a
conventional oral tradition. The disciples prepared the medicines,
administered them and nursed the patients according to the instructions
received from the masters. The texts were sacred, and most of the texts were
learnt by heart. Only after several years of learning and experience could
the apprentices become practitioners themselves. Knowledge and experience
were transmitted gradually, but completely, at a pace determined by the
master. The disciples did not attend any formal schools or undergo a
specific, prescribed curriculum. Their claim to practice was dependent on the
intimate knowledge, which was passed on for many years by the Guru while he
was treating each individual case to the disciple. Therefore, an urgent need
for a comprehensive analysis and documentation of indigenous knowledge based
traditional health care system of hill societies inhabited in remote and an
isolated Study area The river Alaknanda has its source in
the Satopanth and Bhagirath kharak glaciers, which rise from the eastern
slope of Chaukamba peak (7138m.) of Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand
state. In its course of 141.5 km it drains approximately 11000 km2 area.
The catchment of Alaknanda river extends between 290 58' 34"
to 310 04' 20" N and 780 34' 31" to 800
17' 54" E. The dendrite pattern of drainage basin of Alaknanda has a
maximum width of 171.63 km (N-S) and minimum width of 161.60 km (E-W) along
the Saraswati-Vishnuganga. It narrows down towords west and tapers off at
Devprayag making confluence with the river Bhagirathi and forms the holy The present
study was carried out in 35 villages of three prominent valleys such as
Nandakini valley (1450-2750masl.), Berahi valley (1650-3000masl.) and Pinder
valley (1500-2900 masl.) of the high altitude regions of Chamoli district in
Alaknanda catchment of Uttarakhand (Fig.1). All the study villages is
situated in 3-24 Km distance away from the road head where the primary health
care center is rare or in very poor conditions. In these valleys the major
economic activities of the people is collection of non-timber forest
products, Agriculture, Animal husbandry and Turism. The
tribal and non-tribal population of these areas depends on traditional system
of medicine for curing different ailments they suffer from, and famous
for its rich biodiversity, cultural, tradition and mythology.
Fig. 1. The location of
Study area in Alaknanda catchment of Uttarakhand. Methodology An extensive literature survey (Kala, 2002; Maikhuri et al.,
1998; Gaur, 1999) was carried out to gather information on locality, local
names, altitude range, habitat, and plant parts used for curing different
ailments by various ethnic communities of the study area. The information
related to ethnobotany of traditional communities was collected using
questionnaires, Interviews and group discussion in the fields was carried
out. Extensive field visits was made with traditional herbal practitioners to
gather information on the identity and occurrence of medicinal plants and
mode of their utilization. Randomly selected households in the study site
were surveyed to gather information on dependency of herbal and allopathic
system of treatments and perception of local people on the basis of gender in
different age groups, preferred to visit Vaidyas for curing ailments
(Kala, 2004b). The information related to quantity/dosage of medicine
prepared from different medicinal plants and prescribed to the patient for
particular period of time was obtained from the traditional herbal
practitioners. The data obtained was analyzed carefully in MS Excel spread
sheet were utilized to make simple calculations, determine proportions and
draw graphs. The plant
species collected was maintained in to herbarium
specimens, and were identified with the help of flora books (Gaur, 1999;
Naithani, 1985) literature, and taxonomical experts of the HNB Garhwal
Central University Srinagar. Specimens of each species identified were
brought to the G.B. Pant Institute (Garhwal Unit) herbarium for scientific
identification where they were subsequently deposited. This study was carried
out between April 2007 to March 2009. Results and Discussion
The results showed the immense knowledge
of these communities, who use as many as 100 plant
species belonging 51 families are extensively being used for medicinal
purposes for curing 60 common ailments. Out of 58 plant species is used to
cure more than one disease and maximum plant parts in the preparation
of remedies in the study area are used underground parts (27%) leaves (22%),
fruits (13%), seeds (9%), whole (7%), bark (5%), flower (3%) and other (14%)
of medicinal plant species contributes in curing a verity of diseases. In
addition to this, out of the total medicinal plants used majority of them
belonged to herbaceous community (60%) followed by trees (24%), shrubs (8%),
climber (7%) and creeper (1%), collected by
them from the forest and alpine meadows since time immemorial (Table 1). However, remaining plant species are
used for vegetables, fruits, fuel, fodder etc. Table 1. Medicinal plants used for curing various ailments
by traditional Vaidyas of three different valleys in Alaknanda
Catchment.
Approximately 70% population of these
three prominent valleys was found dependent on herbal treatment and rest 30%
population was dependent allopathic treatment for
curing 60 common ailments. However, to cure the rest of the diseases,
maximum people preferred to visit Vaidyas (local medical
practitioners). It was found that besides Vaidyas, every elder both
man and woman in the villages had sound knowledge about medicinal values of
some plant, especially those species which are very oftenly used for common
diseases like cough, cold, fever, viral fever, headache, stomachache,
diarrhea, dysentery, minor wounds and cuts.�
This could be said as wisdom of age because the younger were poor in knowledge
of medicinal plants but still they had faith in the efficacy of these
medicines.����������� The three
prominent valleys of the Alaknanda catchment were surveyed regarding
percentage of people preferred to visit Vaidyas for curing their
ailments. It was found that maximum 69%
veteran of female category in Berahi valley prefers to visit Vaidyas
followed by 68% veteran of female category in Pinder valley and 66% veteran
of female category in Nandakini valley for curing ailments. The percentage of young and male gender
visiting Vaidyas is very less in all the valleys as compared to adult
and veteran of female gender for curing ailments (Table 2). The
dependency of local people on herbal and allopathic system of medicine was
worked out. It was observed that in all three valleys poor family still depend
more on herbal systems and preferred to visit Vaidyas (traditional
herbal practitioners) for treatment compression to rich family. It was also
noticed that for some particular diseases/ailments poor family visit to
allopathic treatment as they� known that
Vaidyas or Ayurvedic system of treatment will take more time for cure.
Similarly for particular diseases even rich family also depend on herbal
system either due to remoteness or easy access to Vaidyas (Fig. 2).���������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������� Table 2. Perception of local people (more than 40%) on the basis of gender in
different age groups preferred to visit Vaidyas for curing ailments.
Fig. 2. �Dependency of local people on herbal and allopathic system of treatment
in three different valleys of Alaknanda catchment. ����������� �People preferred to go Vaidyas to
diagnose their problem although they know some medicinal plants themselves.
They said the effectiveness of the herb was connected to the knowledge of the
exact nature of diseases.� They also
added that dose response differs from person to person and also for the same
person from time to time because the cause and effect varies. It was found
difficult to extract indigenous knowledge base particularly related to
medicinal plants from these communities. Even Vaidyas do not pass
information to their family members. The younger generations show no interest
in learning about this indigenous knowledge preferring modern medicine
instead.� Thus most of the young people
are ignorant regarding the use of medicinal plants in curing ailments,
however, they do know about the importance of these plants with respect to
market. �The use method of the plants varies
according to the nature of the disease.�
In some cases most of the plant species are not used alone but are
mixed with other herbs in specific amounts. The medicines are mostly consumed
in a powdered form, as the local people believe this form is considered to be
more effective then any other form i.e. as pills, tablets etc. In majority of
the cases, a decoction of leaves, stem, fruits and root/tuber is drunk or
rubbed on the body to cure a disease or diseases. Most of the decoctions were
made just by crushing the plant parts with the help of the mortar and pestle,
but some were made by boiling plant parts with water, decanting of the liquid
and drinking after cooling. Some plant decoctions were used directly on the
wound or the infected part of the body.�
In some cases the patient is bathed in the decoction made by boiling
with water. Generally bathing with the decoction was found common to cure
skin diseases.� Paste of some plants
was plastered to set dislocated or fractured bones or muscular pain.� Some of the diseases like headache, cuts,
wounds, burns, boils and skin disease were treated through external
application. It was also found that garland made of either the root or the
stem was also worn to cure diseases like fever.� In these garlands the numbers of species of
the plant part remain fixed.� Some
herbs are taken empty stomach for its best results and in others there are
some restrictions of food for the period of medication.
Conclusion �����
����� �The documentation of
indigenous knowledge and evaluation of the use of plants for a variety of
purposes assumes greater significance not just to store it, but also to keep it
alive and make it available for future use because of rapid socio-economic
and cultural changes that are taking place across the tribal community of the
region. This implies maintaining the ecosystems or natural habitat as well as
the socio-cultural organizations of the local people. However, this would
conflict with the autonomy of the people introduced. It seems that the only
alternative is to carefully record the knowledge and insights of the people
living within these societies.��������������� Knowledge of herbs, traditional practices and wisdom is in the hands
of the older particularly the local medical practioners known as Vaidyas.
However, this wisdom, and certain medicinal plants, their distribution,
important attributes, harvesting and management practices and the extraction
of useful properties from them are fast disappearing due to various reasons.
Some of the reasons are a lack of interest from the younger generation,
abandonment of apprenticeship with Vaidyas which has broken the
continuation of knowledge flow to the younger generations, deforestation and
illegal collection, which has significantly reduced the availability of herbs
in their natural habitat. The so-called scientific outlook has demoralized
local practioners and the drastic change in lifestyles and food habits have
necessitated the need to look for alternative methods of relief. Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to Dr. L.M.S.
Palni Director, G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development,
Kosi-Katarmal Almora for providing necessary facilities. We are grateful to
all traditional herbal practitioners for their kind co-operation and active
participation in this study. The authors are also thankful to the National
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