Volume : IV, Issue : VII, July - 2015

Traditional Knowledge of Plants: Unconventional wisdom of an Ethnobotanist of a Khunti village.

Ajay Kumar Srivastava, Reena Bhattacharjee, Neha Kiro

Abstract :

 The village Bichna is located in the Khunti district of Jharkhand state which lies in the north eastern part of the Deccan Plateau. This village is flush with flora and fauna at its diverse best. An octogenerian herbalist, Mr. James Kiro was a reknowned for his magnanimous knowledge of plants and their unconventional potentials as herbal cures. For instance, use of Moringa plant parts in the treatment of twenties of diseases including eye sores, papaya in sprain, Mustard in the treatment of block in the nose due to cold, cold, feel heavy in the head, back pain, epilepsy, Garlic in ulcer, banana stem juice in vomiting, mango in body pain, jackfruit in tuberculosis, etc. He had a similar list of about thirty common plants using which he cured about all the diseases of people in the locality. The idea behind the present work is to keep the good work of Mr. Kiro and similar other traditional herbalist alive even after these wise men go away and to apprise the society and younger generations of this knowledge and give them the confidence to go for a traditional way to good health. The reason for the present study are manifold. One, the outside world is oblivious of their wisdom. Two, the extent of their knowledge on food and medicine supplementing plants would mean a lot to the outside world. Above all since the knowledge passes orally only, it is under threat. Thus eventually perhaps, they will be taken over by the spree of modernization of the outside world and lose all the knowledge or they would lose their existence fighting the outside world.

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Article: Download PDF   DOI : 10.36106/ijsr  

Cite This Article:

Ajay Kumar Srivastava, Reena Bhattacharjee, Neha Kiro Traditional Knowledge of Plants: Unconventional wisdom of an Ethnobotanist of a Khunti village. International Journal of Scientific Research, Vol : 4, Issue : 7 July 2015

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