Traditional Medicine of the Nicobarese
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Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. 9(4), October 2010, pp. 779-785 Traditional medicine of the Nicobarese Chitralekha Verma, Shashi Bhatia* & Shuchi Srivastava Department of Anthropology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh E-mail:[email protected] Received 29.08.2008; revised 06.05.2009 Medical beliefs and practices play an important role in every culture. All cultures have a set of ideas for defining and treating disease and ways of prescribing cures. The paper deals with the traditional system of medicine prevalent among the Nicobarese of Car Nicobar Island. The aim of the study was to cover all the aspects related to their traditional system which includes their traditional beliefs and practices regarding health and sickness, home remedies, magico-religious treatment and plant folk medicine. Although Tsunami has caused total destruction of the medical infrastructure, tremendous loss to the villages many of which are almost washed away, but this vast knowledge of ethnomedicine certainly is a most valuable thing to treasure before it gets lost with the passage of time. Keywords: Traditional medicine, Ethnomedicine, Nicobarese , Car Nicobar Island IPC Int. Cl. 8: A61K36/00, A61P1/00, A61P1/06, A61P1/10, A61P1/16, A61P13/00, A61P15/00, A61P19/00, A61P29/00, A61P31/00, A61P39/02 Medicine has been practiced one way or another since tribal societies are giving way to the outside world, man became a cultural animal. Health is of universal and other medical systems. It may not be possible to interest and concern 1. Health status of different find a community thriving on its own medical system communities particularly the tribal groups is with no impact of the modern medicine. There has influenced by their way of life including their social been a wide spread of modern medical system but at and economic conditions, nutrition and living the same time, indigenous system co-exist with deep conditions, dietary habits, housing, education, child rooted belief in curing and giving possible raring practices, socio-religious beliefs, taboos and explanation behind the cause of disease and illness. superstitions, etc. The set of medicines consists of The study deals with the ethnomedicine of the these cultural practices, methods, techniques and Nicobarese of Car Nicobar Island. People of the substances, embedded in a matrix of values, archipelago have been endowed with many natural traditions, beliefs and patterns of ecological blessing in terms of health, congenial tropical climate, adaptation, that provide the mean for maintaining soil for rich plant growth and herbal drugs. There are health and preventing or ameliorating disease and reports on indigenous people of Car Nicobar on injury in its members 2. Ethnomedicine refers to those various aspects of their life culture and beliefs and practices relating to disease which are the environment 5−14 . In spite of so much interest in the products of indigenous cultural development; and are island, the studies on the ethnomedicine are quite few. not explicitly derived from the conceptual frame work At Car Nicobar, the studies related to ethnomedicine of modern medicine 3. Ethnomedicine also refers to the are limited to plant folk medicine only, which reveals study of traditional medical practice. Traditional only single aspect 15,16 . The aim of the study was to medicine include all kinds of folk medicine, collect empirical data on the entire traditional system unconventional, medicine and indeed any kind of of medicine of the Nicobarese of Car Nicobar. therapeutic method that had been handed down by the tradition of community or ethnic group 4. As tribal Andaman & Nicobar Islands is a Union Territory communities are insulated from the impact of wider consisting of 293 islands (of which 39 are inhabited) world, there is every probability that it would have its situated in the Bay of Bengal and lying in an arched own medical system. But in the contemporary world, string stretching between 6º and 14º North latitude _________ and 92º and 94º East longitude. Its administrative *Corresponding author headquarter is Port Blair. The Union Territory 780 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL 9, No. 4, OCTOBER 2010 consists of two districts, Andaman and Nicobar. The them. Along with it, they believe in sorcery and evil head quarter of Nicobar district is Car Nicobar (study eye also. There were many superstitions and taboos in area), which is the most northerly island of the group Car Nicobar related to their traditional beliefs and and is 228.8 km from Port Blair and about 120 Km practices pertaining to health and sickness. 10º Channel, which separates it from little Andaman. Car Nicobar stretches between 9º00' and 9º20'N Results latitude and 92º30' and 92º50' E longitude and has an Traditional system of medicine was studied under area of 126.90 sq km. The people of Car Nicobar have home remedies, magico-religious treatment, and adopted a form of Roman script for their language, treatment based on plant folk medicine. The practice called the Car Nicobarese script, is an Austro-Asiatic of self treatment was prevalent there. They took self sub family language like Munda and Mon-Khmor treatment for common cough, cold, fever, cut, burn, languages once widespread in Burma and Malaysia 17 . stomachache, body pain and other simple ailments The Nicobarese have yellow brown skin, straight (Table 1). Some of the self treatments used by coarse hair, scanty beard and body hair, thick lips, Nicobarese of Car Nicobar include leaves of fuk oblique and Mongoloid type eyes, internal epicanthic (Sterculia rubiginosa ) used in cough; leaves of lurong fold, receding type of chin, well marked cheekbone, (Morinda citrifolia ) used in stomachache, cuts, shovel-shaped incisors and and of short stature. In wounds, body pain and fever. Leaves of mu-pet general, with their attenuated Mongoloid characters, (Ephorbia hirta ) used in cuts and wounds; leaves of the Nicobarese show resemblances more towards the bitter gourd ( Momordica charantia ) used in Indonesian – Malays than to the classical Mongoloids stomachache. Leaves of likup ( Ocimum sanctum ) in farther North in the main land of Asia. It appears that cold and cough; leaves of banana ( Musa paradisiaca ) the people of Car Nicobar are racially closer to the mixed with tari (local preparation of alcohol made Proto-Malays, while the people to their South are from coconut) used in fever. The mixture is taken closer to the Deutero Malays 11 . orally and applied on the body also. Blood of hen mixed with grinded raw coconut ( Cocos nucifera ) is Methodology used in asthma; silver wires (traditional jewellery) are The fieldwork was conducted during November tied in headache, arm ache and leg ache (Fig. 1). The and December 2000. A sample of 300 individuals was magico-religious treatment is very much prevalent selected which included both males and females. The among the people of Car Nicobar. Mostly in case of respondents were selected from four villages out of those diseases, for which they assign that supernatural fifteen villages which represented the entire tribe as causes are responsible, they go for magico-religious the life style, traditions and customs were almost the treatment. Magico-religious treatment among them same in all the villages. The four villages selected could be observed by treatment by Witch Doctors were Big Lapathy (Jayanthi) Mus, Small Lapathy, and (Tamiluonos ); treatment by the doing prayers from Kinmai. The data was collected by both the primary fathers of Churches; and treatment by Muslim priest as well as secondary sources followed by interviews. or maulvi. In Car Nicobar, the witch doctors are called Along with it, several elderly tribal men and women, tamiluono or totorong , who possess the power to local witch doctors ( tamiluono or totarong ), priests recognize evil spirits control and drive them away. and other related people were also interviewed Israil who lived in mus village of Car Nicobar and (Fig. 2). Traditional doctors were accompanied to Ivy in the village Kinmai were two very well known interior forests to identify and collect the medicinal and famous tamiluounos of Car Nicobar at the time of plants. Enquiries regarding the Nicobarese names of study. Leaves of Huyua , a medicinal plant were plants with their uses and methods of use were ground and mixed with cosmetic powder and red wild recorded. Besides interview, observation technique flowers. The tamiluono and other relatives of the was also used. Besides these, some case studies were patient go to the forest interior to call and entice back also recorded, relevant photographs were taken, and the spirit of the sick. After huyua was mixed with field notes were prepared. Among the Car Nicobarese, coconut oil and applied, the sick man gained normal there was a universal belief in evil spirits. In this health thereafter. Ivy, another tamiluono , who context, they worship and appease only those specialized in magico-religious treatment, had very supernatural powers which can do some harm to good and vast knowledge of local herbs used them to VERMA et al .: TRADITIONAL MEDICINE OF THE NICOBARESE 781 Table 1 ―Plants used by Nicobarese of Car Nicobar in folk medicine ―Contd. Ailments Plant / Local name (s) Family Uses Allergy Phyllanthus amarus Schum & Thonn. Euphorbiaceae Leaves mashed and mixed with coconut oil are kin-fil-ha- yööm smeared on body. Phyllanthus fraternus Webster. Euphorbiaceae Leaves mashed and mixed with coconut oil are kin-fil-ha- yööm smeared on body. Anti-abortion Ardisia solanacea Roxb. Myrsinaceae Mashed leaves are tied in cloth which is dipped in min-kūön boiling water; leaf decoction is given to women with complaints of frequent abortion. Anti-emetic Macaranga indica Wight. Euphorbiaceae Leaves are slightly warmed, squeezed in water kin-rul and drunk. Also taken, when pork is eaten as it causes vomiting sensation. Phyllanthus emblica L. Euphorbiaceae Pounded leaves are used against vomiting.