Abstract
Many countries and cultures inherited knowledge of plant medicines to cure diseases and health problems from time immemorial. Field survey work and the registration of patients on a daily basis for a number of 129 randomly selected days, mainly in Thoubal district from January 2006 to October 2006 were conducted, alongside the collection of plants up to April, 2008. Recorded patients belonging to these communities included communities 514 Muslims: 390 Meeteis: 159 Tribals. Male and female were in a proportion of 614:548. The present study deals with 13 plant species, under 14 genera belonging to 13 families closely associated with 12 categories of treatment of diseases and human health problems. The plant parts/plants employed are categorised as leaves (L), 7 times; whole plant (WP), 2 times and Fruits (F), Whole plant without root (WPWR), Seeds (S), Bulbs (B), Roots (R); 1 time each. Category of illnesses and health problems and number of patients recorded were - Bone dislocation, fracture & other bone related problems (BDFOP 402); Ligament (LG 86); Kidney stone and kidney related problem (KSAP 47); Joint, body ache &associated problems( JBAP 37); Gastric problems (GST 35); Diabetes(DBT 35); Leiman or Bad Womb (BW 30); Dhatu or Piles & Constipation (PC 27); Phunba and Lengba or Congestion of chest (CC); Asthma (AST 16); Stomach and associated problems (SAP 14); Heart weakness (9); Liver problems (LP)(9); Lack of blood & Blood problem (LBBP 8); Chakmangba or post-birth lack of appetite female case (PBLAFC 8); Paralysis (P6); Female white discharge (FWD 4); Irregular Men’s Cycle (IMC 4); possessiveness due to black earth (PBE 4); Gall bladder stone (GBS 4); Fever (2) and others (OTS 366). The investigation of the traditional medicinal practices of Muslim herbalists in Manipur vis a vis finding along potentiality of the practical know how of indigenous medicinal knowledge. Comparative study of some plants for their useful aspects in solving health problems had been discussed in the paper.
Highlights
Herbs have been used by all cultures since time immemorial and are inseparable part of the growth of civilizations
India has a rich heritage of Indigenous knowledge/traditional medicine on (IK/TM) from plants that grow widely in forest and hill regions
The Muslim herbalists were included in the present study to successfully record the plants, parts used, doses of medicinal preparation, how to use, collection of plants, etc
Summary
Herbs have been used by all cultures since time immemorial and are inseparable part of the growth of civilizations. China, Japan and South America use herbs for healing many ailments on a day to day basis (Amzat and Ali, 2008). Most of these plants were discovered and identified for their curative qualities by the indigenous people and are referred to as Ayurvedic, Unani, Chinese, Oriental medicine etc. India has a rich heritage of Indigenous knowledge/traditional medicine on (IK/TM) from plants that grow widely in forest and hill regions. All these medicinal plants and their produces have found their use and are required by pharmaceutical industries (Pandey et al, 2007)
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