Quantitative ethnobotany of traditional Siddha medical practitioners from Radhapuram taluk of Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu, India

Chellappandian, M.; Mutheeswaran, S.; Pandikumar, P.; Duraipandiyan, Veeramuthu; Ignacimuthu, S.

doi:10.1016/j.jep.2012.07.014

Cited by 44 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…A significant number of traditional practitioners were found to be above 71 years of age (16%). This trend appears similar to that noticed in other studies and indicates decline in the number of practitioners as one goes down the age groups [35-38]. Discussion with the practitioners revealed the perception of lack of interest towards traditional practices in younger generation.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Earlier studies from the same region [12,14], within the country [35,36,38], and elsewhere have also suggested lower percentage of female practitioners [37,39,40]. The reason behind this could be the patriarchal society and patrilineal inheritance in this region, where medicinal practice is mainly passed on to male children who are considered heirs of the families.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 78%

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Non-codified traditional medicine practices from Belgaum Region in Southern India: present scenario

Upadhya

Hegde

Bhat

et al. 2014

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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BackgroundTraditional medicine in India can be classified into codified (Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy) and non-codified (folk medicine) systems. Both the systems contributing equally to the primary healthcare in India. The present study is aimed to understand the current scenario of medicinal practices of non-codified system of traditional medicine in Belgaum region, India.MethodsThe study has been conducted as a basic survey of identified non-codified traditional practitioners by convenience sampling with semi structured, open ended interviews and discussions. The learning process, disease diagnosis, treatment, remuneration, sharing of knowledge and socio-demographic data was collected, analysed and discussed.ResultsOne hundred and forty traditional practitioners were identified and interviewed for the present study. These practitioners are locally known as “Vaidya”. The study revealed that the non-codified healthcare tradition is practiced mainly by elderly persons in the age group of 61 years and above (40%). 73% of the practitioners learnt the tradition from their forefathers, and 19% of practitioners developed their own practices through experimentation, reading and learning. 20% of the practitioners follow distinctive “Nadi Pariksha” (pulse examination) for disease diagnosis, while others follow bodily symptoms and complaints. 29% of the traditional practitioners do not charge anything, while 59% practitioners receive money as remuneration.Plant and animal materials are used as sources of medicines, with a variety of preparation methods. The preference ranking test revealed higher education and migration from villages are the main reasons for decreasing interest amongst the younger generation, while deforestation emerged as the main cause of medicinal plants depletion.ConclusionPatrilineal transfer of the knowledge to younger generation was observed in Belgaum region. The observed resemblance in disease diagnosis, plant collection and processing between non-codified traditional system of medicine and Ayurveda require further methodical studies to establish the relationship between the two on a more objective basis. However, the practice appears to be at crossroads with threat of extinction, because of non-inheritance of the knowledge and non-availability of medicinal plants. Hence conservation strategies for both knowledge and resources at societal, scientific and legislative levels are urgently required to preserve the traditional wisdom.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 78%

Non-codified traditional medicine practices from Belgaum Region in Southern India: present scenario

Upadhya

Hegde

Bhat

et al. 2014

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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“…The role of women in traditional medicine is similar in many Islamic cultures, where specific ethnomedicinal knowledge remains customarily a male-exclusive domain, as for example found by Chellapandian et al [25] and Keusgen et al [34]. Among our informants there was only one elderly woman.…”

Section: Diversity Of Medicinal Plants Their Uses and Custodians Ofsupporting

confidence: 53%

“…At first, the ethnobotanical information collected was converted into use reports (UR). One UR corresponds to the event where the informant (i) mentions the use of a species (s) for the treatment of an ailment category (u) [25]. In the present study, if an informant used a particular species for the treatment of more than one health disorder belonging to the same ailment category, it was considered as one UR [26].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical ethnobotany of herbal practitioners in the Turkestan Range, southwestern Kyrgyzstan

et al. 2016

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This study recorded and analyzed traditional knowledge of medicinal plants in the Turkestan Range in southwestern Kyrgyzstan, where ethnobotanical knowledge has been largely under-documented to date. Data was collected through participant observation and both semi-structured and in-depth interviews with 10 herbal specialists. A total of 50 medicinal plant taxa were documented, distributed among 46 genera and 27 botanical families. In folk medicine they are applied in 75 different formulations, which cure 63 human and three animal ailments. Quantitative ethnobotanical indices were calculated to analyze traditional knowledge of the informants and to determine the cultural importance of particular medicinal plants. Ziziphora pamiroalaica, Peganum harmala, and Inula orientalis obtained the highest use value (UV). The best-represented and culturally important families were Lamiaceae, Asteraceae, and Apiaceae. Gastro-intestinal system disorders was the most prevalent ailment category. Most medicinal plants were gathered from nearby environments, however, species with a higher cultural value occurred at distant rather than nearby collection sites. The findings of this study proved the gap in documentation of traditional knowledge in Kyrgyzstan, indicating that further studies on the traditional use of wild plant resources could bring important insights into ecosystems' diversity with implications to human ecology and biocultural diversity conservation in Central Asia.

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“…IAR was calculated as follows: IAR= (n r -n a) / (nr -1), where, n r : total number of citations registered for species s, n a : number of illness categories that are treated with this species. This value ranges between zero (when the number of illness categories equals the number of citations) and one (whereby all the participants agree upon the exclusive use of the species for the particular illness) (Chellappandian et al, 2012).…”

Section: Quantitative Ethnobotanical Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Mahomoodally¹

2015

Afr. J. Trad. Compl. Alt. Med.

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Background and aim: Mauritius is a tropical multicultural island with a long-standing use of herbal remedies. The present ethnobotanical survey was geared towards documenting and preserving local knowledge pertaining to common medicinal plants (MP) used as therapeutic agents in Mauritius. Methods: Interviews were conducted among local people and herbalists (n=318). Also, 7 quantitative ethnobotanical parameters (variety of use (VU), relative frequency of citation (RFC), informant consensus factor (F IC ), fidelity level (FL), index of agreement on remedies (IAR), relative importance (RI) and cultural importance index (CII)) were calculated for MP used. Results: A total of 87 plants belonging to 45 families were reported to be used in formulating herbal remedies among which 3 endemic plants have been documented. Mentha piperita was found to be the most used plant against gastrointestinal diseases with an RFC index of 0.55. Holy basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum) had the highest RI value (RI=2.00), being cited for 9 different ailments. Therapeutic properties of some herbal remedies reported correlated to some extent with those of previous studies while others have open potential perspectives for further research as their chemistry and pharmacology have not been published. Conclusion: From the information obtained, it can be suggested that the Mauritian population still relies heavily on MP for their primary health care. Nonetheless, further research is needed to investigate the possible active constituents that could be the basis of an evidence based investigation to discover new drugs.

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Quantitative ethnobotany of traditional Siddha medical practitioners from Radhapuram taluk of Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu, India

Cited by 44 publications

References 28 publications

Non-codified traditional medicine practices from Belgaum Region in Southern India: present scenario

Non-codified traditional medicine practices from Belgaum Region in Southern India: present scenario

Medical ethnobotany of herbal practitioners in the Turkestan Range, southwestern Kyrgyzstan

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

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