Uma Sharma
The Abhuj
Maria tribes are one of the main tribe of Chhattisgarh. They live in interior
forest of Baster division. Their farm produce suffices for hardly 5-6 months
requirements; for remaining 6-7 months every year, they have to depend upon
wild roots, fruits, flowers and leaves of wild plants. Fruits such as mango,
jackfruit, Jamun, guava, casewnuts provide food to tribes for about 2 -3
months. The determinants of the food pattern
of the individuals in a given society bound to vary from one society to other,
one area to other and so on. The non-vegetarian foods such as
pigs, mutton, chickens, fish, crabs, field rats are taken as and when
available. They take buffalo, goat and pork meat, though irregularly. They are
using trees without cutting them as twigs, fruits, fodder, finewood and for
meditional purposes as these trees are not only their kitchen but also their
hospital too so they are advocating ecofrindly mode of using forest.
There are evidences that tribes fully depended on forest
products, as they take Mahua, Kandmula, fruits kodo, kutaki, Jwar, seeds of
tamarinds, rice, sawa, macca. People of rural India are still dependent on
traditional medicines for their health care and treatment of diseases (Bhasin
and Bhasin 1994; Babu 1998). They take flour mixed with
tamarind seed and mango seeds. In rainy season, they make sweets from Mahua
with tamarind seed’s flour.They collect chiraunji, Gond, mahua, hara, bahera
amala from forest. Tribes have their dwelling on the hill-top, sub-mountainous
region or barren land, which is deprived of iodine, resulting in iodine
deficiency. This leads to various iodine deficiency disorders. The oil of wild
seeds ‘Tora’ is used for cooking and other purposes including applying on
injuries. A large number of plants
and animal used by tribal of Abujhmarh in Chattisgarh. At
the time of crisis they depend upon wild leaves, fruits and seeds of various
plants which can be eaten either raw or cooked. It has been observed that they
ate the ‘kasha’ either as fruit or as vegetables. Besides our own observation,
local doctors told that during difficult days, tribals depend upon it for days
together. ‘Sandeshra’ is another common fruit which satisfies both hunger and
thirst and other fruits are ‘Tammer’ and ‘Tamra’. Leaves of ‘Goinda’, ‘Rajara’,
‘Keria’ & ‘Sagara’, ‘Phangs’ and so on are also eaten in large quantity.
Grains of ‘Jhandra’, Tamarind are used to prepare Chapatti which is like wheat
Chapatti in taste. Due to a large dependency upon forest food not even a single
case of starvation is seen during all the five year of investigations. The
application of herbal medicines has been studied by Sharma et al., (2011)
Leaves of ‘jeera’, ‘sahajan’,
and ‘tamarind’ so on are also eaten in large quantity at the time of crisis.
Tamarids are used to prepare Chapatti which is like wheat Chapatti in
taste. Many tribal families depend on
forest produce for one meal and for second one on agricultural produce
throughout the year. The capacity of tribals is very limited to purchase of any
edible items or otherwise. In order to purchase petty things like oil, sugar
and salt, tribals had to sell: (1) a portion of the rice (2) jungle woods (3)
chirowjii, mahua and honey gathered from the forest. This indicated the extent
of purchasing power and economic conditions. In this connection, not even a single
respondent had admitted that they could afford to buy the basic essentials such
as cereals or pulses or vegetables even when they had nothing to eat by mony
they are fully depends upon the barter system in which they purchase any thing
by exchanging their forest materials collected by them. During crisis, they
depend upon forest products to survive. The routine dietary intake of tribes is
alike and their life style including associated beliefs in near and far
villages were not different. The routine diet remains more or less same and
slightly affected by the change of season. Though the concept of socially impressive
and nourishing food is widespread up till now their consumptions are subject to
the availability and linked with their economic condition. Most prevalent
method of cooking adopted by tribes is boiling and roasting practices followed
by fermentation and at this point they least use fuel and advocates the energy
saving techniques as they make their food once in a day and limited only to boil
the rice neither chapattis nor pulses are part of their food which consume
maximum fuel.
Gonds believe that any disease is
caused due to magico religious faith, malnutrition and environmental imbalance.
Halba-Gonds usually approach local man who is the traditional healers. These
healers also diagnose the disease through magico-religious method. Hlba-Gonds
are pluralistic in seeking treatment for various illnesses and diseases. People
of rural India are still dependent on traditional medicines for their health
care and treatment of diseases (Bhasin and Bhasin 1994; Babu 1998). The
ethanobotanical studied were carried out in different parts of India by various
workers as tribal have deep belief in their native folklore medicine for
remedies and they rely exclusively on their own herbal cure (Sajem &Gosai,
2006).
The
indigenous ethno-medical system of Maria is a complex one in the sense that it
encompasses a variety of practices that employ magic, plant and animal products
and even the allopathic medicines. It represents medical pluralism among this
tribe. The horizon of ethno medical knowledge of Maria is appreciably high, as
they have recognized a variety of diseases and correspondingly origin through
magico-religious causes are attributed to them. They have identified diseases
due to infection, malnutrition and functional anomalies of various organ
systems.
Suggestion
On
the basis of present study, it was suggested that the evaluation of medical
efficacy of these traditional medicines and herbs is very important and
warrants documenting such oral traditional knowledge that persists among tribal
communities. Besides local healers doctors of the Ram Krishna Mission and other
Missionary were consulted, Composition of homodrugs also cross cheked to short
out the right problems.
Few Medicinal fruits and
flowers a tribal lady in local market of Narayanpur interrogated by
Researcher
REFERENCES
1.
Bajpai, H.R., and Mishra, M. Problem and prospective of primitive
hill Korwa tribe. Vanyajati, 45(1), 1997, pp. 2-4
2.
Babu, K.S., Illness and health care in Madugala Mandal of Andhra
Pradesh Man in India,:1998, 255-268.
3.
Bhasin
M.K., Bhasin V Ecology and Health: The Indian Scenario. Kamala-Raj
interprises, Delhi, 1994.
4.
Sajem
AL, Gosai K., Traditional use of medicinal plants by the Jaintia tribe in North
Cachar Hills district of Assam, Northeast India. Journal of Ethnobiology
and Ethnomedicine, 2006, 2: 33-34.
5. Sharma Uma, Investigation
on dietary pattern of tribes and its impact on their health.2013, 122-123.
6. Sharma, H. and Kumar, A., Effect of plant
growth regulators and chemical fertilizers on plant growth and productivity of
Chlorophytum tuberosum and Pergularia daemia Journal of Medicinal Plants
Research 5, 2011, 2647-2651.
7. Sharma, M., Sharma, A. and Kumar, A., Ethnopharmacological
importance of Asparagus racemosus: A review. journal of pharmaceutical and
biomedical sciences 6, 1-2011
Dr.Uma Sharma
Assistant professor,
Department of botany,
Navyug
mahavidyalaya, Jaunpur, U.P. India.
Email:
umaramkrishna@gmail.com
