Healing Traditions of Southern India and the Conservation of Culture and Biodiversity: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

A comparative study on regional traditional healing and community wellness provision in collaboration with traditional healers was conducted in three distinct ecological regions in the southern Western Ghats, India. The study led to the collection of data, from fourteen healers, on their healing systems, local afflictions and modes of treatment, community roles of healers, and adaptations of the respective populations to their environments via traditional healing. Key points emerging from these qualitative data include a general consensus among healers which preliminarily illustrates intact healing traditions, a keen healer and community interest in programming focused on the conservation of biodiversity and culture for sustainable, traditional wellness promotion, and that in sustaining health there must be healthful environmental surroundings.