Consensus of the 'Malasars' traditional aboriginal knowledge of medicinal plants in the Velliangiri holy hills, India

Abstract

There are many vanishing cultures that possess a wealth of knowledge on the medicinal utility of plants. The Malasars of Dravidian Tamils are an indigenous society occupying the forests of the Western Ghats, South India. They are known to be exceptional healers and keepers of traditional aboriginal knowledge (TAK) of the flora in the Velliangiri holy hills. In fact, their expertise is well known throughout India as evidenced by the thousands of pilgrims that go to the Velliangiri holy hills for healing every year. Our research is the first detailed study of medicinal plants in India that considers variation in TAK among informants using a quantitative consensus analysis. A total of 95 species belonging to 50 families were identified for medicinal and general health purposes. For each species the botanical name, family, local name, parts used, summary of mode of preparation, administration and curing are provided. The consensus analysis revealed a high level of agreement among the informants usage of a particular plant at a local scale. The average consensus index value of an informant was F IC > 0.71, and over 0.80 for some ailments such as respiratory and jaundice. Some of the more common problems faced by the Malasars were gastrointestinal disorders, respiratory illness, dermatological problems and simple illness such as fever, cough, cold, wounds and bites from poisonous animals. We also discovered several new ethnotaxa that have considerable medicinal utility. This study supports claims that the Malasars possess a rich TAK of medicinal plants and that many aboriginals and mainstream people (pilgrims) utilize medicinal plants of the Velliangiri holy hills. Unfortunately, the younger generation of Malasars are not embracing TAK as they tend to migrate towards lucrative jobs in more developed urban areas. Our research sheds some light on a traditional culture that believes that a healthy lifestyle is founded on a healthy environment and we suggest that TAK such as that of the Malasars may serve toward a global lifestyle of health and environmental sustainability.

Therapeutic use of plants by local communities in and around Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary: implications for protected area management in Bangladesh

“…In general, trees are the commonest medicinal plants in rural Bangladesh -as evident from several studies (e.g., Miah & Chowdhury 2003;Mukul et al 2007;Chowdhury et al 2009a). As rule, protected areas have a rich floral diversity, and in Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary a total of 606 plant species were recorded during the period 1998-2000 in a floristic survey (Uddin 2001 , Mujib Nature Reserve of Jordan (Hudaib et al 2008), Satchari National Park of Bangladesh (Mukul et al 2007) and Velliangiri holy hills of India (Ragupathy et al 2007), respectively.…”

“…This situation drives them to look for other optionssuch as medicines, predominantly from plants, the popularity of which was unveiled by Elliot and Brimacombe (1986); they are relatively cheap, safe and generally easily available. The literature includes many examples of adopting plant-based traditional medicines by the lowincome people all over the world, e.g., India (Murthy et al 2005;Valiathan 2006;Ragupathy et al 2007), Ethiopia , Amazonia (Shanley & Luz 2003), Brazil (Almeida et al 2006), Jordan (Hudaib et al 2008; Al-Qura'n 2009), Turkey (Uzun et al 2004), Cameroon (Focho et al 2009), Bhutan (Nawang 1996), South Africa (Matsabisa et al 2009). Now people in developed countries are turning to traditional medication systems that involve the use of herbal drugs and remedies.…”

An Introductory Ethnobotanical Investigation on Zingiberales Used by Malavettuvan and Mavilan Tribe’s of Kasaragod District, Kerala.

“…A high value Fic indicates the agreement of selection of taxa between informants, whereas a low value indicates disagreement (Ragupathy et al, 2008). The Fic values in the present study ranged from 0.69 to 1 (Fig 1 & Table 3).…”

Quantitative ethnobotanical study of common herbal remedies used against 13 human ailments catergories in Mauritius

“…The product of FIC ranges from 0 to 1. High value of FIC is indicative of agreement of selection of taxa between informants, whereas a low value indicates disagreement (Singh et al, 2012b;Ragupathy et al, 2008). A likely explanation might be that Mauritius is an island where much importance is given to family ties.…”