Consensus of the 'Malasars' traditional aboriginal knowledge of medicinal plants in the Velliangiri holy hills, India.pdf

Journal of Ethnobiology and

Ethnomedicine

Bio Med Central

Research

Consensus of the 'Malasars' traditional aboriginal knowledge of

medicinal plants in the Velliangiri holy hills, India

Subramanyam Ragupathy †1 , Newmaster G Steven* †1 ,

Murugesan Maruthakkutti †2 , Balasubramaniam Velusamy †2 and

Muneer M Ul-Huda 1

Open Access

Address: 1 Floristic Diversity Research Group, OAC Herbarium, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada and 2 P.G. and Research

Department of Botany, Kongunad Arts and Science College, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

Email: Subramanyam Ragupathy - ragu@uoguelph.ca; Newmaster G Steven* - snewmast@uoguelph.ca;

Murugesan Maruthakkutti - murugesan1879@yahoo.com; Balasubramaniam Velusamy - vbalu61@yahoo.co.in; Muneer M Ul-

Huda - mulhuda@uoguelph.ca

* Corresponding author †Equal contributors

Published: 27 March 2008

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2008, 4 :8 doi:10.1186/1746-4269-4-8

Received: 28 November 2007

Accepted: 27 March 2008

This article is available from: http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/4/1/8

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ,

which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

There are many vanishing cultures that possess a wealth of knowledge on the medicinal utility of

plants. The Malasars of Dravidian Tamils are an indigenous society occupying the forests of the

Western Ghats, South India. They are known to be exceptional healers and keepers of traditional

aboriginal knowledge (TAK) of the flora in the Velliangiri holy hills. In fact, their expertise is well

known throughout India as evidenced by the thousands of pilgrims that go to the Velliangiri holy

hills for healing every year. Our research is the first detailed study of medicinal plants in India that

considers variation in TAK among informants using a quantitative consensus analysis. A total of 95

species belonging to 50 families were identified for medicinal and general health purposes. For each

species the botanical name, family, local name, parts used, summary of mode of preparation,

administration and curing are provided. The consensus analysis revealed a high level of agreement

among the informants usage of a particular plant at a local scale. The average consensus index value

of an informant was F IC > 0.71, and over 0.80 for some ailments such as respiratory and jaundice.

Some of the more common problems faced by the Malasars were gastrointestinal disorders,

respiratory illness, dermatological problems and simple illness such as fever, cough, cold, wounds

and bites from poisonous animals. We also discovered several new ethnotaxa that have

considerable medicinal utility. This study supports claims that the Malasars possess a rich TAK of

medicinal plants and that many aboriginals and mainstream people (pilgrims) utilize medicinal plants

of the Velliangiri holy hills. Unfortunately, the younger generation of Malasars are not embracing

TAK as they tend to migrate towards lucrative jobs in more developed urban areas. Our research

sheds some light on a traditional culture that believes that a healthy lifestyle is founded on a healthy

environment and we suggest that TAK such as that of the Malasars may serve toward a global

lifestyle of health and environmental sustainability.

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Background

There are many vanishing cultures that possess a wealth of

knowledge on the utilization and conservation of plants.

Much of the traditional aboriginal knowledge (TAK) [1-3]

concerning new drugs was discovered before the middle

of the last century [4], but has risen again in the last dec-

ade [5]. New fields have developed such as the "econom-

ics of identity", which bridge the economics of aboriginal

and scientific classification [6]. The recent interest in this

area of research is partly driven by society's interest in

healthy lifestyles, which supports a rapidly growing $230

billion dollar market force in USA alone [7]. The World

Health Organization [8] estimates that 80% of the world's

population relies on traditional healing modalities and

herbs. Many cultures still maintain traditional medical

systems based on TAK and researchers are exploring cul-

tural health and success based on TAK [7,9-11]. These tra-

ditional cultures believe that a healthy lifestyle is founded

on a healthy environment and some recent research on

local or traditional ecological knowledge (LEK or TEK)

has improved natural resource conservation and manage-

ment policies for modern society [3,12-16].

The study of ethnobotanical research is deeply rooted

within India. There are many examples of medicinal eth-

nobotanical surveys conducted in India in the past that

have recorded many botanical remedies among many

aboriginal groups: Malasars [26]; Malamalasars [27];

Malayalis [28-31]; Irulas [22,23,32-34]; Gonds [15];

Koysd, Konda reddis, Valmikis, Koyas, Chenchus, Lam-

badis, Jatapus, Savaras, Bagatas, Kammaras, Khondas,

Nukadoras, Porjas, Jatapus [35]; Paliyar [36]; Kanikar

[37]; Todas, Kotas [38,39]; Kattunayakas [40]; Apatani

[41]; Chellipale [42]. Although there are many descriptive

qualitative surveys of TAK, to our knowledge, there are no

ethnobotanical studies within India that consider varia-

tion in TAK among informants using a quantitative con-

sensus analysis.

Aboriginal knowledge about plants needs to be reliable

and repeatable if it is used as a bridge in scientific inquiry

with an application to medicine and society-at-large. Trot-

ter and Logan [43] presented a quantitative method to

evaluate consensus among informants in order to identi-

fying potentially effective medicinal plants. In the last 20

years since Trotter and Logan's [43] publication there has

been limited research from several countries: Peru [44];

Indonesian Borneo & Timor [45,46]; Northeastern Brazil

[47,48]; Mexico [5,9,49]; Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Gua-

temala [50]; Southern Belize [51]; Kenya [52,53]; Mali

[54]; Ethiopia [55]; Tanzania [56,57] and the Canadian

Arctic [58]. This body of literature suggest that there is

considerable variation in consensus factors and how this

technique has been implemented. Moerman [59], Phillips

and Gentry [44] and Heinrich [5] readapted Trotter and

Logan's [43] factor of informant consensus factor (F IC ) in

order to quantitatively evaluate the degree of selection of

certain plants for a particular utility (e.g., ailment). One of

the traditional intentions of F IC is to test the homogeneity

among informants' knowledge [43]. In fact some

researchers use consensus analysis to test falsifiable

hypotheses concerning informant selection and use of

plants [53,44]. Many other researchers have employed

consensus analysis as a decision making factor [5,48] to

examine the variation in TAK of cultivars by traditional

aboriginal farmers [49], weighing the relative importance

of TAK [60], identifying discrepancies in ratings [50], esti-

mating the competence of informants [61,62,50] and eth-

nopharmacolgical surveys [54,48,47,55].

India is rich in its ethnic diversity of which many aborigi-

nal cultures have retained traditional knowledge concern-

ing the medicinal utility of the native flora. Southeast

Indians have been known to put a great emphasis on tra-

ditional knowledge systems and practices, which is sup-

ported by their vast intra-ethnic diversity [17]. India has

over 537 different aboriginal and other ethnic groups con-

stituting approximately eight percent of the country's pop-

ulation [18,19]. Traditional knowledge systems including

various medicinal plant utilities appear to vary according

to local population domain [20]. Documentation of these

local knowledge systems concerning medicinal plants

may have high impacts from a bioeconomic point of view

[6]. Tribal communities living in biodiversity rich areas

possess a wealth of knowledge on the local utilization and

conservation of food and medicinal plants [18,21]. This

traditional knowledge, which developed over years of

observation, trial and error, inference and inheritance, has

largely remained with the aboriginal people [22,23].

However, these cultures and their associated botanical

knowledge may be in peril and may even become extinct.

Migration from one area to another in search of improved

livelihoods is a key feature of human history. Many abo-

riginals in India migrate to access emerging opportunities

and industrialization. This widens the gap between TAK

and modern knowledge associated with workplace and

social skills of the developed mainstream populations. It

is a fact that as traditional healers who value TAK are

becoming very old; younger generations exhibit a lack of

interest in TAK with a trend toward migration to cities for

lucrative jobs. TAK in India is declining [24,25].

The theoretical importance of our study is to test consen-

sus (reliability/repeatability) of TAK within one ancient

culture; the Malasars of the Velliangiri hills in the Western

Ghats of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India. We chose to

work with the Malasars of India, because 1) there are

known to be exceptional healers and keepers of TAK of the

flora in the Velliangiri holy hills [63] and 2) there is lim-

ited research on the Malasars TAK [64]. We hypothesize

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that consensus of TAK of specific plants used for different

illness categories are high indicating reliable and repeata-

ble TAK among informants at a local scale (within one

localized aboriginal group – Malasars of the Velliangiri

hills), because it has been used within their culture with-

out interruption for many generations. Scientific inquiry

demands repeatability in order to substantiate claims of

medicinal utility within any aboriginal culture. Alterna-

tively, consensus of TAK may be low at local scales [51]

because of i) unreliable TAK, ii) informant bias, iii) local

remedies; certain villages may have unique uses for plants,

iv) variability in local ethnotaxa; certain communities

may have found variants or ecotypes for some plants that

result in unique qualities that are of particular use at only

a local scale, iv) use of pharmaceutical supplements; the

availability of modern pharmaceuticals for a particular

ailment may result sporadic use of traditional remedies

and v) availability of multiple remedies; there may be

groups of plants and therefore several remedies available

that are preferentially selected by individual healers for

various utility (e.g., healing some ailment), thus indicat-

ing the potential biological activity for a group of plants

[59]. These groups may represent Linnaean taxa (i.e.,

genus or family) that share similar biological processes, or

aboriginal classifications may group plants (e.g., 'chedi' or

'kodi' etc.) that serve a similar utility [65,25].

and 'Mariamman'. 'Mallung' is represented by a stone

encircled by a wall, serving as a temple, where goats and

cocks are offered as sacrifice. The Malasars believe that

neglectful respect to the 'Mallung' can lead to the death

and injury of people by attacks from tigers/elephants/wild

buffalo. They are non-vegetarians and eating the meat of

all categories of wild birds and animals. They have accu-

mulated extensive knowledge of plant and animal utility,

which may be attributed to their long association with the

rich flora of the hills and their socioeconomic system,

which relies mainly on non-timber forest products such as

the harvest of native fruits, turmeric, ginger and honey

(Figure 1). Farming is not a common occupation and is

limited and primitive. More recently, many young 'Mala-

sars' work as 'coolies' in the forest operations, employed

as agricultural labourers.

Biogeography

The Velliangiri hills forms a major range in the Western

Ghats that is rich in biodiversity and largely untouched by

development because of its cultural and religious impor-

tance (Figure 2) [69]. It is popularly known as "Thenkai-

laya malai" (in Tamil), the holy hills of southern India;

"Kailaya malai", which is located close to the Himalayas,

is the holy hill of northern India. The Velliangiri Andavar

temple and the cave of "Panchalingas" are popular pil-

grimages within the Velliangiri hills. Hundreds of pil-

grims visit the Velliangiri Andavar temple bare foot every

new moon. It is a dangerous trek through grasslands and

forests with wild bisons, elephants and poisonous snakes.

This concludes with a 10 km hike up the steep hillside

through a tropical moist deciduous forest with many

The Malasars and their land

Ethnography

Murugesan [63] and Murugesan et al [66] previously

described ecosystems and aboriginal communities for our

area of study. The Malasars (etymology in tamil – mala =

hill; saras = people who live in and depend on the hills)

are an aboriginal community who reside in the forest of

the Velliangiri holy hills. They are traditionally hunter

gathers. In the Velliangiri hills their settlements were situ-

ated near Poondi. The Malasars are considered the 'lords

of the hills'. Luiz [67] and Jakka [68] stated that there is no

information regarding the origin and early history of the

Malasars. They appear to be an original aboriginal group

of the hills in the earliest of records. The isolation pro-

vided by the hills and inaccessible forests preserved some

forms of old dialects of the Dravidian language family

( Official records of the Directorate of Tribal Development,

Tamil Nadu ). The Malasars are restricted only to Tamil

Nadu and the adjacent State of Kerala. The Malasars are

considered to be part of the Dravidian family, which are

known to speak Telugu, Malyalam and Tamil in South

India, of which the 'Malasars' speak only Tamil and

Malayalam. Their lifestyle and dialogs are influenced by

surrounding habitats (mountain) and the mainstream

people who make a pilgrimage to the hills. They reside in

hamlets known as 'pathis' formed of huts made of

thatched bamboo and plastered with mud. The Malasars

have their own deities, some of which are 'Mallung', 'Kali'

Figure 1

Malasars medicinal plant market place.

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Malasars medicinal plant market place

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thorny shrubs. Devotees hike bare foot as they believe that

animals will attack them if they wear shoes. The pilgrims

start walking up the hill early in the morning and climb

down before dark (Figure 3). We participated in a floristic

investigation that revealed considerable diversity (1715

species of angiosperms including 439 endemics) within

the Velliangiri holy hills [63,66]. It is astonishing that this

relatively small (48 sq. km.) holy reserve contains over

half of the angiosperm diversity as defined during com-

prehensive surveys of the large (5520 sq.km.) Nilgiri Bio-

sphere Reserve [70-75,63]. Field biologists must adhere

and respect these religious customs, which places a restric-

tion on how far they can explore in one day. This may

explain why botanists have not fully explored the richness

of this unique flora. In fact there are only a few historical

botanical collections from the Velliangiri hills made by

Raju and Rathinavelu (in 1932), Sebastine (in 1959),

Vajravelu (in 1972) and Chandrabose and Karthikeyan

(in 1978). During our recent floristic surveys (2003 –

2007) of the Velliangiri hills we increased these collec-

tions considerably and discovered several new species to

science while working with the knowledgeable elders of

several local aboriginal communities [66].

The study site (longitude 6° 40' to 7° 10' E and latitude

10° 55' to 11° 10' N) is located within the Velliangiri holy

Figure 2

Location of the study site in the Velliangiri hills located on the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Westen Ghats, India

(Map modified from Kodandapani et al [69]).

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from Kodandapani et al [69])

Location of the study site in the Velliangiri hills located on the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Westen Ghats, India (Map modified

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2008, 4 :8

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Surveys of informant TAK of medicinal plants were used

for the consensus analysis. Local traditional healers hav-

ing practical knowledge of plant medicinal utility of the

Velliangiri hills were interviewed during April 2003 – Jan-

uary 2007. During the course of the study, about 18 field

trips were conducted in the study area totalling 120 days.

Surveys were conducted by a stratified random selection

of informants, based on methods suggested by Schultes

[81,4], Jain [18] and Bernard [76].

Figure 3

Pilgrims walking with bamboo poles through jungles.

Successive free listing was used to interview 80 knowl-

edgeable informants providing data for the consensus

analysis. Knowledgeable informants were selected follow-

ing standard interview protocols [76,82,83], which

included verification whether these informants were tradi-

tional healers within their communities (Figure 4). We

interviewed over 120 informants of which we chose 80

knowledgeable informants equally distributed among

four different age categories; elders, middle aged, teenag-

ers, <10 years. During this interview we documented all

possible information about a specific plant and then

sorted this information according to utilitarian perspec-

tive, local name or ecology. The informants were given

limited time and there was no differentiation among gen-

der. We also asked the informants to group the plant spec-

imens into different illness categories. We requested all

informants to collect specimens of the plants they knew or

to show the plant species on site. Interviews were con-

ducted in the regional language, Tamil. The question-

hills, which forms a major range in the Western Ghats in

the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The research was conducted

among seven hills with altitudes ranging from 520 m –

1840 m, which is bordered by the Palghat district of Ker-

ala on the western boundary, the plains of Coimbatore

district to the east, the Nilgiri mountains to the north, and

the Siruvani hills on the southern boundary (Figure 2).

The annual rainfall is quite variable in the hills (500 mm

– 7000 mm) with temperatures ranging from 0°C during

winter to 41°C in the summer. Many seasonal rivers such

as the Neelivaikal, Mayar or Andisunai traverse the hilly

landscape. The "Noyyal" river originating from Velliangiri

hills is one of the major tributaries of the Cauvery, which

irrigates about 100,000 of hectares of agricultural land in

the plains. The Velliangiri hills watershed feeds into the

Siruvani dam, which is the only drinking water for

150,000 people in the urban centre of Coimbatore.

Methods

Ethnobotanical survey and consensus analysis

The interview protocols, data confirmation and field

observation were all followed as suggested by Bernard

[76]; Etkin [77]; Pelto and Pelto [78]; Alexiades [79]. To

elucidate community domains and determine differences

in knowledge among the 'Malasars' people, we cross

checked with other Malasars respondents. With the help

of the headman, we were able to record information on

the local customs, habits and beliefs, information on the

surrounding area and individuals who are knowledgeable

of the local flora [80].

Figure 4

Aboriginal elder sun drying and selling medicinal

bulbs.

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Pilgrims walking with bamboo poles through jungles

Aboriginal elder sun drying and selling medicinal bulbs

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