Interactions with the local herb vendors of Chhattisgarh, India

Research Note - Pankaj Oudhia
© 2001,2002,2003 Pankaj Oudhia - All Rights Reserved

It is good to observe that herb vendors are still active in different parts particularly in rural areas of Chhattisgarh. These vendors purchase the herbs used in treatment of common diseases from primary herb collectors and sell it to village to village. I have found these vendors expert in the field of herbs. They sell the herbs as well as, if necessary, suggest the patients how to use these herbs and upto what time ? Although these herb vendors are not the traditional healers by profession but I have put them in my list of traditional healers. Most of the vendors walk on foot or use bicycle and travel lot of distance to sell the herbs. As the tourism is increasing in Chhattisgarh, now one can see these vendors near to picnic and tourist spots selling herbs to tourists. The tourists take interest in interacting these vendors. I am worrying and praying that they should not become a "Tourism symbol of Chhattisgarh" like the traditional healers. Most of the vendors are genuine tribal youths but many of them are not genuine and they are giving false herbs to the visitors. These false vendors are limited only to the tourist places. It any vendor supply wrong herbs in any village, the villagers never permit him to even enter the village. These vendors are vital link between the primary herb collectors and the traditional healers. During my surveys, many healers complained that the number of vendors is decreasing very rapidly in state.

The Indian names of Chitrak (Plumbago sp.)
Languages/Regions/Countries	Names
1) Bengal & Hindi	Chita, Chitrak, Chitra
2) Gujarati	Chitaro, Chitrak
3) Kanarese	Chitramula, Vahni
4) Malyalam	Tumbakoduveli, Vellakoduveli
5) Marathi	Chitramula
6) Oriya	Chitamulo, Ogni
7) Telugu	Agnimula
8) Tamil	Chitramulam

The rich natives of Chhattisgarh, take regular services from these vendors because these vendors always keep some rare items and herbs like white flowered Bhatkatiya (Solanum xanthocarpum), Hathajodi, Baghnakha etc. In many ancient literatures, it is clearly mentioned that keeping these rare items in cash locker increases the money several folds. The rich natives purchase these items at fairly high prices because it is general belief among them that the bargaining can reduce the potential of herbs and items. This belief forces the vendors to contact rich natives rather than the traditional healers. In rich families, tensions are common. The herb vendors supply many herbs and herb parts and suggest the rich natives to keep these in specific direction and upto specific time, in order to get rid from tensions. I have observed that the rich natives have deep faith in these vendors, even today. During interactions with these vendors, I got the information of many endangered and valuable herbs in dense forests of Chhattisgarh. I have never seen these herbs earlier in my life . These vendors generally avoid to visit residential colonies in urban areas because of bad experiences in past. After any robbery or theft, the local police harass these vendors and write false reports against them. Many herb vendors regularly visit to my home and supply me rare herbs, for my experiments. As my mother and family friend’s purchase pure honey for their daily use, these vendors supply pure honey regularly. Many times these vendors, collect the honey for us from the trees of our home gardens. These vendors are supplying pure honey since 20 years and they have never cheated us. They also provide the Char seeds (Buchanania lanzan), top quality, during the season. I always prefer to pay more to the vendors as compared to market price and also suggest the family friends to do so because from market one can never get this fine quality, even paying any cost. I have noted that in most of the planning related to bio diversity and medicinal herb conservation programmes, the planners ignore this important stake holder. This stake holder knows the secrets of herb collectors and also of traditional healers. While travelling different parts, he get practical experiences about the effects of herbs and also the efficacy of it. These vendors are precious resources for the taxonomists, botanists, conservationist, agronomists, doctors, researchers etc. In present article, I am describing some herbs an its uses, as told by the herb vendors of Chhattisgarh, India. I have interacted over 500 herb vendors till today and I can write and will write, a separate article on each herb vendor of Chhattisgarh. Here I am describing some common uses.

In general, the herb vendors keep the herbs frequently used in the treatment of common diseases, with them. Indrayan is one of these herbs. The herb vendors keep the fruits and roots with them. The vendors prescribe this herb for the treatment of jaundice, rheumatism, woman troubles, boils and enlarged spleen. According to them, the natives of Chhattisgarh are well aware of these uses and they frequently buy this herb from them. In general, the vendors avoid to recommend this herb because overdose of this herb causes problems in stomach and patients blame the vendors for this. In urgency the vendors, give this herb in front of them and advise the patients that they will repeat the dose in their next visits. The vendors informed me that the roots are useful in treatment of Jaundice. The roots are given with gud (Jaggery). It is general belief in Chhattisgarh that the patients suffering from spleen related disease should plant Indrayan herb in their home gardens and sit daily (atleast two hour) near to this herb. For siting morning time is preferred. The vendors also sell the herbal mala made up of Indrayan roots for these patients. The natives have deep faith in this treatment. There is a need to search the science behind this. In reference literature, the use of Herbal mala is not described. I would also like to describe a special "Totka" perform by the natives. The natives take several pieces of Indrayan roots and after saying the patient’s name repeatedly they throw away each piece of Indrayan root. The patients observe silently this process. It is general belief that this process helps the patients to get rid from this trouble. The traditional healers of Chhattisgarh are also aware of this belief. The traditional healer of Jagdalpur, told me that this process is performed to develop confidence in patients, or in other words, we can say it is done to reactivate the vital force of patients. If there is no harm from this belief, I personally feel, that the natives should not be pressurised to stop it in the name of blind faith, what many organisations of so called educated social workers are doing in Chhattisgarh. The herb vendors informed that the roots of Indrayan are useful in treatment of painful boils common in childhood. The native apply the juice of roots with cow urine externally on boils. In many parts, the natives add the leaves of Neem (Azadirachata indica) and Bakain (Melia azedarach) in this combination. The roots are very popular among old villagers suffering from different types and stages of rheumatism and gout. It is general practice in Chhattisgarh, to boil the roots in water and to expose the affected parts in fumes. The natives use its roots in combination with other herbs for the treatment of these troubles successfully. The vendors informed that many traditional healers use this herb for treatment of woman troubles but they are unable to explain how these herbs are used. I am describing the botany of this herb, I have noted from reference literatures. It is an extensively climbing annual; stem thick, angular; young shoots wolly; tendrils bifid; leaves 7.5-20 cm long, deeply divided or but moderately lobed, somewhat hairy; flowers large, monoecious, solitary; Corolla sub campanulate, 5-partite, yellow within, greenish outside, lobes obovate-oblong, 5 - nerved; Flowers upto 25 cm diameter, sub globose, smooth, greenish, waxy coated; flesh juicy, red or yellowish white; seeds usually margined; flowering time in varies between October to January in Chhattisgarh conditions. Indrayan holds a reputed position in different systems of medicine. According to Ayurveda, the roots and fruits of Indrayan are cooling, purgative, anthelmintic, antipyretic, carminative and cures tumours, ascites, ulcers, leucoderma (Safed Dag), ulcers, asthma, bronchitis, urinary discharges, jaundice, enlargement of spleen, tuberculous glands of neck, dyspepsia, anaemia, constipation, throat diseases, elephantiasis etc. The scientific name of Indrayan is Citrullus colocynthis (Family : Cucurbitaceae).

Chita is found in isolated patches in Chhattisgarh. The herb vendors collect this herb from neighbouring states Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. The roots and barks are commonly used as medicine in Chhattisgarh. The herb vendors, regularly visiting my home have suggested me the unique use of Chita herb. The vendors suggest me to take a earthen pot and paint the aqueous paste of Chita roots inside the pot. After this, boil the fresh cow milk and fill this pot with milk. Convert milk into curd and from curd prepare whey. According to the vendors this whey is best tonic for stomach troubles and good remedy for piles particularly the bleeding piles.. I have tested this method several times and found it effective. Although it is not an easy method but after experiencing its miracle effects, no one hesitate or feel tired, to complete this process. According to the herb vendors, during their visits to different parts, due to change in water, very frequently they face the problem of diarrhoea. In these cases, they use the bark of Chita with whey internally to avoid and to stop the diarrhoea. They informed me that the natives and many traditional healers of Chhattisgarh are aware of this use. As Chita is not a common herb in Chhattisgarh, the traditional knowledge about this herbs is very limited. Many healers are aware of its uses but due to lack of material they are using local alternatives. In Madhya Pradesh, many herb growers have started the commercial cultivation of Chita. There is a routine demand of this herb in national and international drug markets. The scientists from Jawahar Lal Nehru Agricultural University, Jabalpur, India have done good work on commercial cultivation of this herb. To encourage the farmers, they are organising field demonstrations at farmer’s fields time to time. As the description of Chita is coming first time in my articles, I would like to describe its botany and reported medicinal uses in reference literatures. The scientific name of Chita is Plumbago zeylenica L. (Family : Plumbaginaceae). According to reference literatures, Plumbago is a straggling shrub; Leaves ovate, acute, abruptly attenuated into a petiole; flowers in dense branched spikes; rachis pubescent or glandular; Corolla lobes obovate; Anthers bluish - purple fruits capsule, oblong and pointed. Flower time varies between July to September in Chhattisgarh conditions. According to Ayurveda, root and root - bark are bitter, hot, carminative, and alternative and useful in treatment of intestine troubles, piles, diseases of liver, itching, anaemia, ascites, bronchitis etc.

Nagkesar is also not commonly found herb in Chhattisgarh. The herb vendors collect or purchase this herb from Gandhmardan hills, in neighbouring state Orissa. The vendors informed me that the traditional healers of Orissa use this herb very frequently in treatment of many common diseases. The traditional healers of Chhattisgarh are not much aware of its uses. The vendors told me that they regularly supply this herb to the traditional healers of Bastar and Bagbahera region. The vendors are also not aware of its medicinal uses. According to them, the healers use this herb for the treatment of bleeding piles. They uses many method for preparation of drug. The herb vendor from Bagbahera described one method. According to him, the healers advise the patients to put Nagkesar in water whole night and next morning take the herb with pure honey for quick relief in bleeding piles. It is also useful for burning sensation in soles of both legs. Many healers prepare oil from Nagkesar. This oil is used for treatment of itch and rheumatism. Many vendors sell this oil also. The scientific name of Nagkesar is Mesua ferrea (family : Gutifereae).

These herb vendors are very important for us. We cannot ignore this important resource person in our planning. These days I am preparing a directory of herb vendors of Chhattisgarh with complete details and contact address. I am not adding the name of Mr. Ramcharan in this list. Mr. Ramcharan met us last week, when we were coming back from herbal farm at Pondsri. At Simga, when we were taking evening tea, Mr. Ramcharan approached us and showed me a piece of root and said it is Kaamraj. Keep this herb with you and your all Kaam will be completed successfully. In reality Kaamraj is related to Kaam (i.e. related to sex; in Hindi). Another meaning on Kaam in Hindi is work Kaamraj is used for Kaam (i.e. sex) not for Kaam (i.e. routine or daily work), but this vendor told us keep this, it will help you in completing all works. When we questioned thoroughly this man, we found that he was not a genuine vendor. For the piece of root, he was asking very high rate (500Rs.). When we checked the roots, it was the root of Chirchita ((Achyranthes aspera) not the Kaamraj. Fortunately this type of false vendors are less in number in Chhattisgarh. You will find more details in my coming articles.