Documentation and Assessment on Knowledge of EthnoMedicinal Practitioners: A Case Study on Local Meetei Healers of Manipur

Abstract

The traditional medicinal healersof the state Manipurare generally known as Maibas for male health practioner and Maibis in case of female health practioner. Since time immemorial they are involved in prescribing folk-medicine with the help of herbal-medicine or mystic incantation. An investigation on 41 local Maiba and Maibi of Meetei community of Manipur is carried out to find reliability of their knowledge, and tested if these were related significantly to age, literacy, hesitation, results of their treatment, doses and to document such know ledges based on a total of 205 locally available medicinal plant spp. belonging to 87 families used for treating 18 major diseases classes. Traditional medicinal practioners were also interviewed to gather information regarding knowledge of folk medicinal system, diagnostic system of ailments, classification of folk medicinal system, nomenclatural system and uses of medicinal plants found in Manipur as a remedy for various primary health complaints. In the present study three types folk medicinal system were recorded. The diagnostic system is bases on pulsation and symptoms. Nomenclature of medicinal plants was made in with reference to its medicinal value and traditional culture for easy identification. The Meetei forefathers put several norms for do and don'ts of eating food plants accordingly to the season and its consequences. Most of the species (72.20%) were wild species and the part used for medicinal properties were above-ground (83.41%) amongst which leaves (27.80%) were mainly harvested. Concoction mode of preparation (21.46%) is the most common way of preparation and gastrointestinal ailments (13.170%) constitute the major ailments treated. About 55.60% of the medicinal plants collected were taken orally taken internally for treatment of various primary health ailments. For some ailments like jaundice, snake bites, dog bites and stone cases, etc , more than 90% of the Manipuris preferred folk medicine rather than modern medicine. Age interval 56 and above constitute 70.7 % of the informants of which majority of them are excellent professionals (46.3 %) in the field of medicine of which almost 48.8% of them are illiterate. Again, age 35 - 45 were persons who have good knowledge of folk medicine but lacks experience, 46 - 55 have mixed type of folk medicine knowledge where as age above 56 have a good experience and better knowledge except some who have limited knowledge of folk medicine as they are following their parents footsteps only or due to their expertise is meant for treatment of a very few diseases only. Statistical analyses showed that there was significant correlation between the age of the informant and his knowledge of plants on folk medicine. According to our statistical analysis, spearman correlation showed significant correlation (Spearman correlation test, r = 0.5435, at 5% level of significance) between the education level of traditional healers and the number of species reported. Majority of herbal healers learnt their knowledge of folk medicine from mangtak (43.9%), it is from followed by forefathers (24.4%) and senior herbal practioners as guru (24.4%) later other few learnt from literature. An excellent herbal practitioner could be characterized by aged (56 years and above) old experience, educated, who were accustomed with the use of wild plants, whose forefathers were herbal practitioners, who had gained high confidence of doses and cure, and with good knowledge of folk medicine and plants.