Interactions with the herb growers and traditional healers of Chhattisgarh, India associated with useful medicinal herb Asgandh (Withania somnifera)

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

Although it was not reported by early workers but in different parts of Chhattisgarh, Asgandh grows naturally. The interactions with forest officer at Marwahi, natives of Doomar Village and healers of Gandai region confirmed the natural occurrence of Asgandh in Chhattisgarh. According to them, the occurrence is rare and in isolated patches and fortunately, the traders are not aware of its natural occurrence. During my ethnobotanical surveys in different parts of Chhattisgarh, I have not seen naturally growing Asgandh herb. The traditional healers are also aware of its natural occurrence, and they prefer native herb for their treatment as compared to herb purchased from local herb shops. In areas where the natural occurrence of Asgandh is not reported, the healers are dependent on local herb shops for this herb.

The Indian names of Asgandh
Languages/Regions/Countries	Names
1) Bengal	Ashvagandha
2) English	Withania radix, Withania root, Indian Ginseng
3) Hindi	Asgand, Furir
4) Marathi	Askandha
5) Sanskrit	Ashvangandha
6) Tamil	Asuragandi
7) Telugu	Asvagandhi, Penneru
8) Urdu	Asgandanagaori

In these areas, many traditional healers have discovered other indigenous herbs as promising alternative to Asgandh. These healers have poor faith in herbs available for sale in local herb shops. They are aware of adulteration. This is really surprising that the owners of local herb shops are also not aware of natural occurrence of Asgandh in Chhattisgarh. They purchase this herb from neighbouring states Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The Asgandh from Nagore holds a reputed position among Ayurveda experts of India. In reference literatures related to different systems of medicine in India, Asgandh from Nagore region is considered as best. Possibly they were not aware of medicinal potential of Asgandh found naturally in Chhattisgarh . Many traditional healers of Chhattisgarh, specialised in use of Asgandh, claims that Asgandh from Chhattisgarh is equally effective as the Asgandh of Nagore. I have not seen any scientific report confirming their observations and experiences. The Mandsaur region of neighbouring state Madhya Pradesh is well known for Asgandh cultivation and marketing.

The scientists of Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur are actively involve in promotion of Asgandh as promising medicinal crop for their farmers. They have developed many improved varieties as per international demand and standard and also on the basis of suggestion by herb growers. The Asgandh growers of this state are adopting the improved farming practices developed by these scientists. They have published many important and valuable literatures on Asgandh both in English and Hindi. During my visit to Chindwara for attending a National Seminar on herbs, I got an opportunity to meet Dr. J. N. Pandey, actively involved in Asgandh research. The innovative herb growers of Chhattisgarh have also found this crop beneficial and following the package of practices developed by the scientists of neighbouring state, they started its commercial cultivation. After seeing the enthusiastic farmers, the scientists from Chhattisgarh got aware and started research (?) on this important crop You will be surprised to know that within three to four years, the innovative Chhattisgarh farmers have developed many improved farming practices according to their climatic and edaphic factors and now the scientists are learning from these farmers and publishing research papers in their own credit .The varietal development programme focused on Asgandh has yet not been started in any research institute of Chhattisgarh. The innovative farmers engaged in Asgandh cultivation have complaint that the varieties from neighbouring states are not performing well in their conditions and many insects are attacking the standing crop.

The varietal development programme is very essential and there is a strong need to start this programme without any more delay, as the area under Asgandh is increasing very rapidly in Chhattisgarh. In this varietal development programme, the native Asgandh species found in wild can play a vital role. In the state, many in-situ and ex-situ conservation programmes are in progress but unfortunately, Asgandh in not in list of herbs on which these programmes are focused. As you are aware, in herbal cultivation the emphasis should be given on quality not on the quantity. Unfortunately, the improved package of practices developed by the scientists of neighbouring states, support the use of chemical inputs. This is true that these agrochemicals are contributing in the production to greater extent but harming the quality also. The international exporters very frequently complaint about the pesticide residue in the products of cultivated origin. Initially, when the seeds were limited, this production concept has helped the growers to multiply the seeds with the help of agrochemicals in relatively less time but when the export started, the use of agrochemicals became a curse. I personally feel that there is a strong need to focus the future research programmes on organic farming of herbs including Asgandh. I am proud to write that the innovative herb growers of Chhattisgarh engaged in commercial cultivation of Asgandh have developed organic farming practices and they are using it successfully in their fields . This is bitter fact that the use of organic inputs in case of Asgandh results in less production as compare to crop grown chemically but as these growers are engaged in marketing of this herb, they are getting higher prices for their produces. These higher prices are compensating the loss in terms of lower production. When I asked the traditional healers about cultivation of herbs, they simply answered that please go to forest and observed the herb in nature from germination to maturity, you will get the complete details about nature’s research and experimentation.

According to them, the herbs present in surroundings of any specific herb play an important role in contributing and enhancing the medicinal properties of that particular herb and if in commercial cultivation, the same herbs germinate in crop fields with the cultivated herb, do not consider them as weeds and never try to root out (even disturb) them. After adopting this process, one can definitely get desired medicinal properties in cultivated herbs. Working with the herb growers of Chhattisgarh, we have observed, the truth of the traditional healer’s saying. Through this article, I would like to request humbly to the researcher to think on this aspect seriously and sincerely, as it is a recommendations and experiences of the "Real scientists". In Chhattisgarh as per recommendations in published literatures, the herb growers start its farming after the August month. This is good to see that many traditional healers are cultivating this herbs in order to fulfil their requirement of herb. Many Ayurveda experts are also following them. Farmer cum Ayurvedic practitioner Mr. Hemant Verma is one of them. He is cultivating this herb in Siliyari village near to the capital city Raipur. I purchase bulk quantity of powdered roots from him every year and use it for family and friends. As it is cent percent pure, every winter the friends pressure me to provide more and more quantity of Asgandh root powder. Asgandh is popularly known as Indian Gingseng among world community. As medicinal herb, detailed information of medicinal properties and uses of this valuable herb are available in reference literatures.

Before describing traditional medicinal knowledge about this herb in Chhattisgarh, I am describing reported medicinal uses and its botany. All parts of Asgandh are used as medicine but the roots are used most frequently. According to Ayurveda, roots are bitter, acrid, tonic, alterative, anthelmintic, aphrodisiac, emmenagogue, and useful in treatment of inflammations, psoriasis, bronchitis, asthma, consumption, ulcers, scabies, marasmus of children, insomnia, senile debility, leucoderma, lumbago, arthritis and related troubles whereas leaves are applied on tumours and tubercular glands. According to reference literatures, it is a branched erect undershrub having 0.3-1.5 meter height, branches terete, hoary tomentose; Leaves ovate, entire, minutely hairy , base dentate; flowers greenish or lurid yellow, usually about five to gather in a sessile umbellate cyme; Fruits berry red, smooth, 6mm diam; enclosed in inflated calyx, slightly five-angled; seeds yellow, somewhat scurfy. In Chhattisgarh, the traditional healers advise the patents having poor vitality to take bath from decoction prepared by boiling the whole herb (before flowering) in water. This bath is taken once in a month preferably on Sundays. The healers suggest the female patient to use the whole herb at flowering stage for bath. According to them, this special bath is very useful for pregnant woman. The use of whole herb decoction for special bath is not reported by early workers. In areas where it is hard to get Asgandh in wild, the traditional healers suggest the patient to dip a piece of root (dried) in water bucket and two hours after dipping use the water for bath. After bath taken with medicated water, in general there is no permission to use clean water to wash the body to remove the medicated water. The patients suffering from sex related diseases are advised by the traditional healers to wash the male genitals with the medicated water.

Many healers informed me that it is a good remedy for piles also. For hair growth dried root powder is used in combination with other herbs. The decoction is prepared and hairs are washed with this decoction. The traditional healer of Mudpar village informed me that since generation they are preparing the Herbal Mala using Asgandh roots. This herbal Mala is useful for small children having the problem of enuresis. In order to make the children free from fear, the natives request the healers to prepare this Herbal Mala. The healers perform special "Pooja" (worship) to prepare the Herbal Mala. The odd numbers of root pieces are used in this herbal Mala. The blue string is used to prepare the Mala. In early days, when most of the areas were covered with dense forests, and natives have to travel long distance through these forests having wild animals, the natives were using the Asgandh roots tied around the wrist for protection. For this protection, they were using the red string instead of blue string. Now a days it is out of practice and only old natives are aware of this use. Scientifically it is hard to explain how Asgand root tied around the wrist was capable of protecting the natives from wild animals. When I asked this question to the healers, he laughed and replied that the use of Asgandh root both internally make the body enough stronger to run and climb on trees to get protection from wild animals.

The traditional healers of Chhattisgarh suggest the natives to use the root powder of Asgandh during winter season in order to get enough resistance to fight the diseases whole year. In generally they recommend one teaspoonful of powder twice daily with water (if milk suits, it is best). During this use, the healers advise to avoid intercourse in order to get the desire effects in less time. The patients having troubles due to sexual abuse, are advised by the healers to take powder with ghee. Although many healers suggest that one can use the powder round the year, but most of the healers specialised in use of Asgandh are not in favour of using herb round the year. According to healers, the powder with milk is good remedy also for the patients suffering from rheumatism and gout. I have experienced the miracle effects of root powder as tonic. Many natives use it in name of sex tonic and ignoring the instructions of traditional healers, indulge in sex. According to healers, these natives are wrong and use of Asgandh with Saiyam (patience) results in more beneficial effects. Many healers suggests the patients to apply the Asgandh root powder with sesamum oil on male genitals, half an hour prior to intercourse, in order to get long retention and delayed ejaculation. In India, Asgandh root powder based many massage creams are available. The traditional healers of Chhattisgarh informed me that the root powder in combination with other herbs can be used externally for breast enlargement. As the natives are very conservative and never use this combination, its use is becoming extinct in Chhattisgarh. In response of my articles, I receive many queries related to herbs useful for breast enlargement.

I have mentioned in my previous articles that the traditional healers and natives also use the oil prepared from Red velvet mite (Rani Keeda, (Trombidium sp.) externally for breast enlargement. Through this article, I would like to request humbly to the Indian researchers to evaluate the efficacies of these important herbal combinations and inform the local administration. Their research results can help us to develop the village level small cottage industries to prepare the herbal combinations based on the traditional knowledge for troubles like cancer, hepatitis AIDS etc. Asgandh as spontaneously growing herb in home gardens are preferred by the natives but they never plant this herb themselves.