Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. 3(1), January 2004, pp. 105-115 Therapeutic uses of some seeds among the tribals of Gandhamardan hill range, Orissa R C Misra Regional Plant Resource Centre, Bhubaneswar 751015 Received 5 May 2003 The traditional use of seeds in different forms, viz. raw, seed-paste, powder, decoction, in- fusion or oil as medicines for ameliorating diseases is still prevalent among the tribal communi- ties inhabiting the forest areas of western Orissa. This investigation highlights manifold uses of 33 species whose seeds are used on a minor scale by the tribal inhabitants of Gandhamardan hill range for the treatment of various ailments. Keywords: Medicinal seeds, Tribal inhabitants, Gandhamardan hill range, Orissa. Majority of the people living in the coun- the medicinal uses of seeds. The study tryside, the rural backward classes and has been conducted in Gandhamardan hill the tribals inhabiting the forest areas de- ranges, a tribal dominated region close to pend on crude drugs of plants or plant the trijunction of Bolangir, Bargarh and products as effective remedies for amelio- Kalahandi districts. The hill range is an rating various diseases. Among the dif- unique forest ecosystem and it has been ferent parts of the plant being used by seen as a store-house of a rich variety of them, the seeds provide valuable drugs in indigenous, medicinal and aromatic various forms either as raw, seed-paste, plants5,7,14-16. The present report is an ac- powder, infusion, decoction or the oil count on 33 species of indigenous plants, extracted from seeds for use as service- the seeds of which are used as medicines able medicines. On the one hand, the for curing various diseases by the tribal seeds of various species are employed in inhabitants of Gandhamardan hills of medicines as antiseptic, laxative, cathartic Orissa. and also for various treatments, yet on the other, some of them are poisonous and Area of study may cause health problems. Many seed Lying between 20°42’ to 21°00’ N lati- drug species occur wild and very few are tude and 82°41’ to 83°05’ E longitude, cultivated on a commercial scale. the Gandhamardan hill range stands at the The medicinal uses of plants of Orissa border of Bolangir and Bargarh districts have been studied by several workers1-13, in western Orissa (Fig. 1). The hill range but there is no such exclusive report on extends over several kilometers in NE- 106 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL 3, No. 1, JANUARY 2004 Fig. 1 ─ Location map of Gandhamardan hill range SW direction which flanks Bargarh dis- Kandha, Gondo, Binjal, Mirdha, Bhumia trict in the north and Bolangir district in and Saura are predominant and they con- the south. The mountain system is delim- stitute the majority of the population of ited by Borasambar – Paikamal – the region. The Patnagarh and Kha- Manbhang in the north and Amarkol – prakhol blocks have the highest sched- Batipathar – Brahmani - Harishankar in uled tribe population i.e. 60,490 the south stretching almost parallel to the and constitute 22.17 per cent of the Nawapara - Padampur road. There are total tribal population of the district. In four blocks in the region, viz. Khaprakhol Bargarh district, Paikamal and Padma- and Patnagarh under Patnagarh subdivi- pur have tribal population of 32,613 sion of Bolangir district and Paikamal and and 22,141, respectively, which are Padmapur under Padmapur subdivision of two successive most tribal domi- Bargarh district. The study site covers an nated blocks in the subdivision consti- area of 970 sq km out of which the Gand- tuting 45 per cent of the total tribal popu- hamardan hills occupy 251 sq km. lation17. The hill range is inhabited by a large The tribal people inhabit the hilly number of tribal races of which Munda, tracts, slopes, foothills and plains such as MISRA: THERAPEUTIC USES OF SOME SEEDS 107 Satyama, Brahmani, Batipathar, Bora- method of trial and error, over centuries– sambar, Harishankar, Brahmantal, Malda, old experience, they possess fairly good Khaprakhol, Patrapali, Nrusinghanath, knowledge about various uses of plants. Nandupala, Dhandamunda, Paikamal and The folklore knowledge was gathered other areas. Few of them have adopted through subsequent conversations with Oriya language partially. On the whole, six local herbal practitioners. Many of the tribals are poor and lead a hard life. them used to carry on this profession as Many of them are landless labourers, their family creed. Some tribals were very small and marginal farmers, farm ser- suspicious and not readily prepared to vants, forest workers, earth diggers, divulge their secret knowledge while oth- woodcutters and hunters. These people ers appear to have a sense of fear among have either no assets or assets of very low themselves because they claim that they productivity, few relevant skills and no do not have any proper authorization to regular full time jobs or very low-paid practice herbal medicines. To elicit eth- jobs. Those who have settled in plains nobotanical information from them, two have adopted improved methods of rice methods were adopted such as (i) open cultivation. The staple food of the major- ended and semi-structured interviews for ity of the interior tribals consists of cere- qualitative data collection regarding their als, minor millets, roots, tubers/rhizomes, social status, cultural amenities and to bamboo shoots, leafy vegetables, date learn about traditional practices and (ii) palm, wild banana, mahua flowers and structured interviews using a series of wild fruits. pre-determined questions on plants whose seeds are used as drugs. Four of them ac- Methods of Survey companied as local guide at different During the field investigation, special times during the field investigation and efforts were made for collection of first were interviewed by showing them a hand information on folklore knowledge fresh plant material either in situ or of plants whose seeds are used as medi- freshly collected plants/plant parts. Com- cines. Eight intensive field exploration plete information was obtained on the trips were conducted in different areas of local name of the plant, medicinal uses of Gandhamardan hill range covering differ- seeds, specific quantities of ingredients or ent seasons of the year during 1986-89, additives if any, dosage, frequency and 92-93 and again in December 2000, each duration of treatment, food restrictions trip being of one to two weeks duration. before or after diet, etc. The uses were Frequent visits were made to various re- cross-checked and confirmed through mote localities including tribal settle- repeated queries. At few places more than ments of different ethnic groups to estab- one informant of different ethnic groups lish a friendly contact and rapport with were persuaded and similar comments the inhabitants. These tribal communities were obtained about the use of plant. The have very intimate relationship with the claims as reported by the tribals were plants of their surroundings. By the compared with important published litera- 108 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL 3, No. 1, JANUARY 2004 ture on medicinal plants of India18-23. The the medicinal plants of the region is ex- collected plant specimens were preserved ploited commercially at present. as herbarium materials and the seeds were The rapid destruction of forests in the sent for propagation in the garden of Re- hill range owing to indiscriminate felling gional Plant Resource Centre, Bhubanes- of trees, forest-fire, jhum cultivation and war. Proper identification of the plants over-exploitation of drug plants causes has been done with the help of regional severe damage to natural habitats24, thus floras and correct botanical names were threatening the very survival of several ascertained for each of them in accor- indigenous taxa. Therefore, many plants dance with the rules of International Code of this hill range have been reduced in of Botanical Nomenclature. number from their wild habitats and often represented by occasional/rare/vulner- Results and discussion able/endangered species25. Few seed drug The results of the investigation are pre- species like Embelia basal, Garcinia xan- sented in Table 1, which provides the list thochymus, Radermachera xylocarpa of 33 plant species whose seeds are used Symphorema polyandrum, Vernonia an- as medicines. The species are arranged thelmintica and Zanthoxylum rhetsa, etc. alphabetically with corresponding family are very scarcely distributed. within parenthesis. For each taxon, local Though the practice of traditional name, locality of collection, fre- health-care system is effective, safe and quency/habitat and medicinal uses of with few side effects, the application of seeds with modes of administration have such wisdom on herbal drugs is declining been provided. The abbreviations K, G, at a faster rate due to developed urban B, Mi, S, Mu and O within brackets with culture, negligence of tribal/rural com- local name represent different tribal dia- munity, forest habitat destruction and the lects such as Kandha, Gondo, Binjal, tendency to use allopathy. The informa- Mirdha, Saura, Munda and Oriya, respec- tion given in this report on therapeutic tively. uses/practices of plant seeds may provide In many cases fresh seeds are used. In new sources of herbal drugs and promote some species like Argyreia nervosa, Bu- awareness among the people to use them chanania lanzan, Butea monosperma, as remedy for health security. Thus there Clitorea ternatea, Diplocyclos palmatus, is an imperative need to explore such Gardenia turgida, Ricinus communis and valuable taxa not only for documentation Vernonia anthelmintica, the drugs are of precious traditional knowledge of the prepared from the seeds in suitable com- tribals but also for conservation of plant binations with other plant parts for im- genetic resources. These claims may also proving the efficacy. offer scope for potential herbal drug spe- The seeds are used only on a minor cies for their intensive phytochemical scale by the tribal inhabitants and none of screening and MISRA: THERAPEUTIC USES OF SOME SEEDS 109 110 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL 3, No.