Ethnomedical Importance of Traditional Medicinal Plants among the Indigenous People of Kanchanpur Subdivision of North Tripura District

Abstract

Aim: Documentation of local health traditions (LHT) during the Medico-ethno Botanical Survey (MEBS) by the Regional Ayurveda Research Institute (RARI), Itanagar, was conducted in the remote forests and rural areas of Kanchanpur subdivision of North Tripura. Rural and tribal populace residing in the nearby forest locality is dependent largely on the traditional system of medicine for the treatment and management of health disorders. Materials and methods: The MEBS team documented LHT claims from the tribal and rural populace living in natural forest by discussion and interview with traditional healers as per the provided LHT format, followed by recording of the global positioning system (GPS) location, digital photography of the healer and raw drugs used in formulations. The team also collected the raw drugs sample for identification. Results and discussion: The MEBS team documented a total of 21 folk claims with 4 polyherbal and 17 single herb formulations collected from the Kanchanpur subdivision, North Tripura, along with digital photography of traditional healers and plants used in formulation. The properties of all 17 single herbal formulations were compared and correlated with the Ayurvedic literature. Conclusion: The documented LHT of Kanchanpur subdivision, North Tripura, will benefit in treatment of health-related issues. Properties of plants enlisted in the documented LHT from the local healers are compared and correlated with claimed health conditions to derive significant clinical relevance. The enlisted traditional claims of single herb formulations are pertaining to diseases like udarashula, amlapitta, sutikasrava, mushkavriddhi, kasa, jwara, pratishaya, katishula, twak vikara, uccha raktachapa, vrana, and sarpa damstra can be proposed for clinical trials to achieve the conventional line of treatment. Further it is necessary to study the herbs used in LHT to understand and validate the novel biomolecule for its high potential in treatment and further utilization in Ayurvedic formulation for the benefit of mankind.