Traditional Herbal Practices by the Ethnic People of Kalahandi District of Odisha, India

Abstract

To record ethnobotanical information from a hill-dwelling aboriginal tribe of Odisha. Gathering information on medicinal uses of plants by moving door to door for conducting personal interviews with socio-economically backward tribals (aborigine people) of Niyamagiri hill area of Kalahandi district, Odisha state, India and recording the accumulated knowledge with the snowball technique. Plants were identified by the users on forest floor and were botanically classified. This communication consists of uses of parts of 111 plant species belonging to 105 genera of 59 plant families, against 68 human ailments, diarrhoea, dysentery, scabies, intestinal worms, gastrointestinal disorders, venereal disease, gynecological disorders, gingivitis, rheumatism, joint pains, wounds, cut injuries, mouth troubles, ear diseases, acute eye infections, foot inflammation, foot crack and eczema, particularly. These plants are used as herbal healing sources, as a part of cultural practice of aborigines down the ages. Among these plants, many are specific to the climate identified zone of the hilly forest patches of the district. The present record of ethnomedicinal data indicated that the backward local ethnic people use plants from their surroundings, as healing sources for all possible ailments.