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Ethnomedicine of the Thakurs
By Niklas Wagner
Caesarstr.31
50968 Koeln
Germany
Email : niklas.wagner@koeln.de
Ethnomedicine of the Thakurs
1. Introduction
1.1 Ethnomedicine
1.2 Indian Ethnobotany
1.3 Anthropology
2. Ill health Concept
2.1 Social
2.2 Supernatural
2.3 Natural
3. Nature and Role of Medicinal Practitioner
4. Therapies
5. Health Seeking Behavior
6. Case studies
7. Conclusions
1. Introduction
This Paper deals mostly with the Book "Medicinal World of the Tribals - Explorations in Illness
Ideology, Body Symbolism and Ritual Healing" by Robin D. Tribhuwan. I will focus on the
concepts of Ill Health and the Ethnomedicinal Pathway, which Tribhuwan develops to describe
the disease etiology and the health seeking behavior of the Thakur community. I will use the
Ethnomedicinal Pathway on some illness episodes I collected myself.
But first let me define the field of Ethnomedicine and its position in Anthropology.
1.1Ethnomedicine
The Oxford dictionary defines medicine as, “An art of restoring and reserving Health”. Every
human society has developed ways and means to cope up with diseases, thereby creating a
system of medicine. (Hughes: 88)
Tribhuwan follows Hughes Definition of Ethnomedicine as, "Beliefs and Practices relating to
disease which are the products of indigenous cultural development and are not explicitly
derived from the conceptual framework of modern medicine." (Hughes: 88)
1.2 Indian Ethnobotany
Ethnobotany deals with the relationship between humans and plants. Ethnobotany includes
study of foods, fibers, dyes, tans, other useful and harmful plant, taboos avoidances and even
magico-religious beliefs about plants. (Pandy 489)
In India scientific work on the local medicinal traditions is mainly done by scientists with
taxonomic botany background. Their main interest is in listing the local and scientific plant
name with their uses. They are mostly concerned with the concrete relationship between plants
and humans such as food, medicine, house building, agricultural operations and other domestic
uses. Thus most data on medicinal systems of India and their treatment are listings of medicine
and technology used connected with the disease for what they are used as treatment and
statements about the objective effect.
(Tribhuwan 251)
1.3 Anthropology
But there is also an Anthropological perspective on medicine. It includes what Pandy calls the
abstract relationship between humans and plants, which includes faith in the good and bad
powers of plants, taboos avoidances, sacred plants, worship and folklore. (Pandy 489)
According to Tribhuwan: "Medicinal Anthropology encompasses the study of medicinal
phenomena as they are influenced by social and cultural phenomena and social and cultural
phenomena as they are illuminated by their medical aspects" (Lieban 1034, 1073)
For Tribhuwan the job of an Anthropologist is to document and understand ethnomedical
phenomena as defined and understood by the natives from an emic perspective. For in-depth
analysis of medical culture more is needed than mere listing of medicinal plants and description
of therapeutic practices from an emic perspective. One should look for the deeper meanings
and symbolic beliefs regarding health and disease.
In his book The Medicinal World of the Tribals Robin Tribhuwan describes the Ethnomedicine of
the Thakur tribe in Maharashtra. In the 1981 census they numbered 323191 in Maharashtra.
They are divided into two endogamous sections the Ma and the Ka Thakurs, which are both
scheduled Tribes. Tribhuwan made his field studies in three villages of Karjat, Tehsil and in
Raigarh district. Their villages are located outside of those of Hindu castes. They cultivate rice,
nagli and vari and work as laborers in the field, forests or road construction. They are patrilineal
and virilocal or neolocal where married brothers do not live together.
The main objective of Tribhuwan is to show with his book, that through the view of a symbolic
medicinal anthropology, one can get a deep view in not only the medical symbols but in turn
the symbolical system of the whole culture as medicine is interwoven with all other aspects of
culture.
Any domain of social life is build in implicit frame work of meanings and that these meanings
are not confined to a single area of social sphere but cross cut different institutional structures
and provide the whole social system. (Tribhuwan22, 23)
I think that the state of sickness lets oneself reflect on what normally seems given and so not
focus of everyday attention, so medicinal Anthropology is a good way to understand the
worldview of the studied people, Young writes.
"Serious sickness interrupts everyday routine and the more or less uncritical acceptance of life.
It turns people into metaphysicians and philosophers." Young 276
But Tribhuwan wants also to illuminate the whole medicinal system of the Thakurs.
Following the theoretical Base of (Lieban 1042) who defines the areas of Ethnomedicine as
disease classifications, etiology, nature and role of ethnomedical specialists, ethnomedical
therapy, he divides his study exactly in this manner. His sound knowledge of the Thakur culture
is illuminated through these different aspects.
I shall first describe 1. Disease classifications 2. Etiology (thoughts regarding the cause of
Disease) and 3. Body symbolism (bodily images as perceived by the natives in different social
contexts) of the Thakurs, under the concept of Ill-health. Then I shall describe the
Ethnomedical specialists in the Thakur culture and later explain their therapy forms.
2. Ill health Concept
The WHO defines it as "A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not
merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Lieban 1055
So there is physical mental and social health. The modern Biomedicine is mainly concerned with
the micro organic agents as a cause for sickness. Mental health is the domain of psychology
and finally the social part of health is that with what the anthropologists are concerned with.
Lieban 1031
Tribhuwan puts together all the findings of his study and mainly of his literature review in the
concept of ill-health. The state of ill-health is not merely a malfunctioning of biological and
psychological processes, but a symbolic and meaningful expression of human conflicts, social
indifferences, grudge, jealousy, deviance, hatred, cultural disorder etc. that exist at a social
level.
State of ill-health occurs due to Disruption and Disharmony of Man’s relationship with
The State Of Ill-health: A Conceptual Model
MAN
Family members & relatives other
clan members with members of
KA with MA Thakurs
OTHER SOCIAL GROUPS
With other tribes
With other caste groups
With political groups
DEITIES
Clan Gods and Goddesses
Village Gods and Goddesses
Deities of other social groups
EVIL SPIRITS
Male and female spirits of same tribe
Spirits of other tribes and castes
Spirits of birds and animals
Male ancestral spirits
ANCESTRAL SPIRITS
Female ancestral spirits
COSMIC FORCES AND
BEINGS
Sun
Moon
Earth
Wind
Lightening
Fire
Light
Planetary spirits
Sky
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
Heat
Cold
Diet
Dryness / Moisture
Others (insects, snakes etc.)
Or other way around, “It is a condition, which signals the disruption of culturally ordered
harmonious relationship of a man with his family, clan members, members of other social
groups, with spiritual, supernatural, ancestral, natural and cosmological forces and beings”. In
other words a state of ill-health depicts man's disrupted natural and socio-cultural order.
(Tribhuwan, 1998: 297)
In the following I describe each part of the diagram more closely:
2.1 Social
Ill health can communicate a disrupted relationship in social order, consisting of relatives,
members of clans of same or different tribe or caste. The body becomes a victim of disease,
because of conflict itself or through the use of good evil means. Tribhuwan connects here
Thakur ideology of social relationship, hierarchy and interaction to the field of ill-health.
Disruption of Thakur Relationship with Other Tribes and Caste Groups
Thakurs categorize all social groups they interact with into Dev and Davan jatis (castes). Dev
from Sanskrit Deva-God and Davan-Daemon. This is done on basis of social hierarchy, dietary
habits, occupational and regional functions, rules of social interaction, economic and social
status and language.
They consider themselves as of the lower Davan jatis, and are dependent on the Dev jatis
economically and in religious rites. Dev jatis are seen as incarnations of the ten planetary spirits
(Baya’s), which are described later in this paper. Each Baya is connected to and named after
one of the ten Dev jatis.
Davan jatis are seen as the origin of evil spirits, evil eye, witches and sorcerers.
Healing of illnesses caused by the social realm is done symbolically through rituals addressing
the supernatural beings symbolically connected with the group of people seen as cause.
(Tribhuwan 75 - 76)
Evil eye
The evil eye is power that emanates from the eye of someone who is jealous of, or hating
someone else and strikes victims objects or the victim himself. It is important to acknowledge,
that the person casting an evil eye may not be consciously doing it.
Thakurs believe that anybody can cast evil eye. But there are some groups who are especially
suspected. For example, barren woman are believed to cast evil eye on fertile woman and
newborn out of jealousy. Hence, they are excluded from many rituals and are stigmatized.
Davan Jatis are thought of being experts in it. Thakurs think of the other Davan jatis as source
of evil eye. From the view of the Dev jatis as Thakurs are also Davan jatis they are seen as a
source. Other persons suspicious are Bhutalas and Bhutalis translated by Tribhuwan as
Sorcerers and Witches. (Tribhuwan 65 - 69)
Witchcraft and Sorcery
A Witch in Evans Prichard's definition is someone male or female who harms others by mere
spiritual force, intentionally or unintentionally. However, a sorcerer needs to perform rituals,
cast spells or give bad medicine to harm people. So evil eye would fall under the category of
witchcraft. For Tribhuwan the difference between Sorcerers and Witches is the one of sex. He
uses these two different words to translate male and female form of one Word Bhutala/i.
Butalas and Bhutalis after Evans Prichard’s definition, practice witchcraft as well as sorcery,
because they also use rituals using any bodily substance of the victim to cast a spell, tasteless
powders to be sipped into the food of the victim, chanting of evil mantras or charmed objects,
like a lemon as symbol for the victims soul which is pierced with thorns. (Tribhuwan 69 - 71)
Menstruating woman
Menstrual blood according to the Thakurs is dark, evil, hot and corrosive with reference to the
penis and is thus impure and polluting. A man having sex with a menstruation woman or people
who consume food made by one are believed to get leprosy. During this period women are
social outcasts, they do not interact with their family or the members of the tribe. They do not
work at all and get food in separate dishes. (Tribhuwan 64)
Breach of social pollution taboos.
Tribhuwan refers here to the taboos of menstruating and barren woman. See therefore the
Subsections evil eye and menstruating woman.
But he gives an other example. As kathkaris another tribe is viewed to be inferior and unclean
because of their dietary habits. Food cooked by them causes stomach upset for the Thakurs.
(Tribhuwan 79 - 80)
2.2 Supernatural
Disruption of man's relationship with deities (Failure to perform divine duty)
Thakurs live in fear of their deities. They pray to them mainly to avoid harm rather than in
expectation of something good. Illness can come as result of not performing worship and other
rituals as duty towards the divine, but also as punishment for wrong doing. Sometimes Illness
is seen as visitation of a deity.
The hierarchical classification of their Gods is as following (Tribhuwan 76):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Sun as most supreme
Mother Earth: Goddess of fortune and fertility
Moon and Water (Brothers of Sun), the Sisters of Earth: 9 Bayas, Lightning and Fire.
Village Gods
Other deities
Clan Gods
Ancestral Spirits
Disruption of human relationship with cosmic entities and forces.
Thakurs believe in 10 planetary spirits, which are Mother Earth and her 9 sisters called Bayas.
The Bayas are unmarried or barren as opposed to mother earth, who has the Sun God as her
husband.
Thakurs believe that they enter the body of a human which failed to perform a religious duty or
made a general moral fault. They come to warn the Thakurs and bring them back on the right
way. In form of heat they enter through one of the ten openings. 1. Eyes 2. Nose 3. Ears 4.
Mouth 5. Soul (atma) 6. Wrist pulse 7. Naval 8. Urethral or Vaginal 9. Pulse of the feet 10. Anus.
Every opening is symbolically connected with one of the 10 planets. The blood becomes hot and
erupts in small pox, chicken pox, boils, body sores etc. When someone is possessed by a baya
his body gets a divine status. The whole village sings songs to praise the baya and asking her
to forgive their wrong doings and depart from the body for seven to fourteen days. (Tribhuwan
72)
Besides the Bayas there are other cosmic deities which also need to be worshiped. Sun, Moon
and Water are to be seen as Godly brothers, while Lightening and Fire are sisters. They are
supreme powers, if not worshipped they can cause disease. Evil forces in the cosmos are the
giants, that reside in south, these bring illness and death. Thus south is considered in contrast
to the other directions as an evil direction. (Tribhuwan 75)
Deviance from cultural set norms in order of house construction and design
A traditional Thakur house resembles the cosmos, a house hat is not build in the traditional way
is evil and invites sickness, misfortune and troubles. (Tribhuwan 77)
Evil Spirits
Thakurs believe that bachelors and spinsters who die become evil spirits staying on earth
because of unfulfilled sexual desires. Bachelors become either Munjas, white spirits, or Khais,
black spirits. Spinsters become Hadelis hairy spirits wearing a green sari. They Trouble the
humans in two ways:
Possession of evil spirit
Headache, fever, shivering and abnormal behavior are believed to be symptoms of a possession
of an evil spirit. In treatment the Bhagat asks ritually to the spirit why he has possessed the
patient and than fulfills his demands so that the spirit leaves the persons body. (Tribhuwan 58)
`
Sexual intercourse with spirits
Sexual intercourse of a woman with a Munja leads to an albino child. Sex with a Khais leads to
a congenitally deformed child. Both are killed as they are believed to be evil and harmful for the
mother and the Thakur society. (Tribhuwan 60)
Good Ancestral Spirits
Failure to perform ritual duties and worship to the ancestral spirits may result in possession and
illness. The treatment resembles that of evil spirits. (Tribhuwan 72)
2.3 Natural
Loss of Basic bodily equilibrium due to entry of excessive heat or cold
The Thakurs believe in a hot colt dichotomy. The health of the body depends on equilibrium of
these two. Factors that interrupt this equilibrium are:
A. Consumption of too hot or too cold diet.
Too hot temperate food is bad for the stomach. Too spicy food leads to diarrhea or dysentery.
Too cold temperate food causes cold, cough and pneumonia. This can also affect the child
through the breast milk of his mother. All food and medicinal herbs are classified in hot or cold
not depending on temperature but as intrinsic quality. Conditions caused by hotness are treated
with cold herbs or cold water; respective conditions caused by coldness are treated with hot
herbs or water.
B. Exposure of the body to cold or hot environment
As Working and walking in the hot sun, exposing oneself to too hot environment, entry of hot
breeze in the body through the nostrils or getting caught in the rain.
(Tribhuwan 78 - 79)
Wrong combination of diet
Thakurs believe that taking fish together with curd causes Leucoderma. Other combinations of
food are avoided because of their classification in the hot-cold system. So after eating banana
(cold) one needs to eat something hot like bread before one can drink water (cold). (Tribhuwan
81 - 82)
Disruption of human relationship with flora and fauna
Certain animals such as Tiger, Snake and Peacock are worshiped as gods by the Thakurs. The
same as for the other deities counts for them. Wrath falls on the Thakur if they are not
worshipped. For example then the Tiger eats their cattle. Octimum sanctum and Calotropies
gigantia are symbols of fertility and Mother Earth, if they are worshipped upon in a ritual
context the cause sterility. Bauhinia racimosa symbolizes sun on Dasera festival day, if it is not
worshipped than it also can cause illness. Ficus religiosa and benyamina are seen as abodes of
evil spirits; disturbing them leads to possession and illness. (Tribhuwan 80 - 81)
3. Nature and Role of Medicinal Practitioner
There are certain ethnomedical specialists in the Thakur culture. They are well respected by
other members of society and play a dual role. Not just as medicinal practitioner but also as
farmers.
The Definition of a Shaman after Michael Harner as, “Man or woman who has direct contact
with the spiritual world through a trance state and has one or more spirits at his/her command
to carry out his/her bidding for good or to cure persons affected by other spirits or by own
violations.”
Tribhuwan uses the word Shaman for the local healers called Bhagat and Bhagatin. While the
female Bhagatin falls in trance, the male Bhagat uses a ritual. He spins a metal pot filled with
water, while chanting a Mantra which lists all possible 24 supernatural pathogenic agents. When
the pot stops the pathogenic agent mentioned is the one responsible.
The Thakur "Had Vaidu" Tribhuwan calls Bonesetter, is someone who provides treatment for
mechanical injuries such as sprains, broken bones as massaging and branding. He has sound
knowledge about positions of bones and blood vessels.
"Vaidu" is a Herbalist, someone who uses different parts of Plants and Animals for preparation
of internal and external applied medicine.
A "Mantrik" is a Herbalist who is specialized on snake bites and scorpion stings.
A "Sunie" - Midwive is always female. She gives advice and medical aid to expectant mothers,
assist deliveries, treats illnesses of new mother and child and also gives advice for their
nutrition. Her assistant is called Potdhari. (Tribhuwan 279)
4. Therapies
Therapy in Ethnomedicine ranges from home remedies to herbal, mechanical and magicreligious provided by medicinal specialists (Lieban 1044)
As examples of mechanical therapy found in indigenous societies Tribhuwan gives Trephining,
bone setting, removal of ovaries, cesarean section, laprotomy Unlectomy. (Tribhuwan 251)
The Plants used in chemical Treatment are abundant the Foundation of Revitalization of Local
Health Tradition talks about 8000 Plants that are used for medical purpose by the different
traditional systems of medicine of India alone. (www.frlht.org)
Tribhuwan states that depending on the division of the causes of illness into natural, social and
supernatural/spiritual, the therapy is chosen. If the cause is a natural, therapy will be a nonmagical herbal treatment. If the causes lie in the social, supernatural or spiritual realms the
therapy has to be magico-religious.
After Glick Tribhuwan says that many times when mechanical or chemical therapies are
employed, magico-religious treatment may also be an essential part of the treatment, or it is
seen as incomplete. (Tribhuwan 285)
Ritual Healing
Tribhuwan names the entire process of healing in ethnomedicinal context as ritual healing. He
defines a ritual as, “Rituals are a set of stylized bodily actions (which may include iconic
symbols such as acts, objects, words, gestures, prayers, songs, chants and other things)
performed in a culturally defined place, situation or context by certain actor/s only,
encompassing basic rules to accomplish given tasks or goals in any social sphere with a given
cultural frame of reference.” (Tribhuwan 253)
The process of ritual healing here is defined as culturally prescribed normative actions or
ritualized forms of behavior of medical practitioners, patients and other participants historically
designed in order to compromise with the pathogenic agents (social, natural, spiritual, ancestral,
cosmological, supernatural) so as to reconcile the disrupted cultural order in order to restore
the health of the patient. (Tribhuwan 300)
5. Health Seeking Behavior
Tribhuwan reduces the health seeking behavior of the Thakur into a flow diagram. By
comparing illness episodes of Thakurs with other Tribals of Maharashtra the Kathkaris Warlis
and Bhils, he comes to a generalized pathway that claims to be applicable for every other
culture also.
The Ethnomedicinal Pathway describes the various phases a Patient Passes to get cured. The
actors besides the patient are family heads, village elders, relatives and medical specialists.
(Tribhuwan 274)
ETHNOMEDICAL PATHWAY: A CONCEPTUAL MODEL
Initial Diagnosis and
Presenting Illness
Natural
Causes of
Illness
Village elders
and friends
Cultural
Family elders
and relatives
Decision to choose a therapy
Allopathy,
Homeopathy or
Ayurveda
Ethnomedical
Specialist
Home Remedies
If not cured
Payment in Cash
Shamans, Priests, Herbalists,
Midwives and Bonesetters
Shift in therapy
Diagnosis and Interpretation of
the cause of illness
If not cured
Ethnomedical Therapy
Shift in therapy
Kind
Herbal, Mechanical and
Magico-Religious
If not cured
Thanksgiving Rituals and
Ceremonies
Cash
The first step in the ethnomedicinal pathway is the process of initial diagnosis which tries to
clarify the origin and cause of the illness. Here mainly the patient and his family are the actors
of searching the meanings and symbolic elements involved in the etiology of illness. On times
relatives and village elders are involved. Physical symptoms and suspected social situations and
contexts are looked upon when suggestions on the cause of illness are made by the actors.
(Tribhuwan 276)
Tribhuwan categorizes the causes of illnesses into natural and cultural causes and a
combination of both. As natural causes he lists environmental factors as they are perceived in
context of an indigenous system of knowledge given here the example of hot/cold dichotomy.
Cultural causes are defined as perceived or attributed to the intervention of culturally
recognized supernatural, spiritual and magical pathogenic agents, as well as social conflicts.
(Tribhuwan 277)
An Ill Person can ignore the disease or decide between many different forms of therapy. The
therapies recognized by his culture range from home remedies to herbal mechanical and
magico-religious specialists. Besides this there are homeopathic, allopathic and ayurvedic
therapies available.
After the classification of the cause of illness the decision makers choose a therapy considering
following questions: What type of disease is it? What are the pathogenic agents associated with
it? What were the situations and contexts in which the disease occurred? How serious is the
disease? What are the symptoms associated with it?
When the Illness is believed to have natural causes it will be treated with non magical therapy
for example within the system of hot/cold dichotomy or by herbalists. Illness which cause is
linked to supernatural or magical interventions treated has to be treated in this manner,
ritualistic by a Bhagat or Bhagatin. Social causes are also treated through ritualistic means with
supernatural symbolism.
Tribhuwan cites Glick that many times both therapy forms are employed, because the
treatment is otherwise seen incomplete. (Tribhuwan 279)
The next phase is again one of diagnosis, this time through a medical specialist. Methods of
Diagnose differ from culture to culture and can be even seen by the members of one group as a
ethnical boundary marker, as I found out in an Interview with a Warli boy. Tribhuwan highlights
this by listing of the methods of medicinal practitioners of 4 different tribal groups in
Maharashtra.
For example a Shaman confirms the actual cause of the illness through consulting divine
entities by performing diagnostic rituals and/or by getting into trance. A Bhagat (Shaman/Priest
of the Thakur) uses a metal pot filled with water and a little ash that he turns while he is
reciting a mantra listing the 24 possible pathologic agents which could be responsible for the
illness. When the metal pot stops turning the just mentioned pathogenic agent is responsible.
A female Shaman of either the Thakur, Warlis, Bhils or Kathkaris goes into trance to get this
information. Whereas the Herbalists of this tribes use checking of pulse and other aspects of
the body and ask the patient about the etiology of his illness, to diagnose the illness.
(Tribhuwan 279- 285)
Once the Healer has found the cause he applies the Therapy, which is the next step in the
Ethnomedicinal Pathway. Therapy was described above.
One of the main thoughts of the Ethnomedical Pathway is the mechanism called Shift of
Therapy: When one form of therapy does not lead to the expected outcome the patient may
change the form of therapy and choose an other form of therapy or an altogether different
medicinal system.
This can continue until the outcome is acceptable.
Tribhuwan mentions four following factors which promote the shifting: (Tribhuwan 286)
1. Prolonged duration of the disease.
2. Serve pain caused by the disease or health program.
3. Cultural events, situations, actions, circumstances, places etc. in which the disease may have
occurred.
4. Suggestions and advice by others regarding the origin and cause of the illness.
Lieban 1057
When the Patient returns to normal health again the healer is paid or there may be a thanks
giving ritual, directed towards the pathogenic agent or the curer. Mostly in case in which the
medicinal practitioner is not supposed to earn anything with his healing activity, through this
ritual he is gifted something. For example a bottle of liquor, a coconut or even a feast.
(Tribhuwan 289)
6. Case studies
While we visited Warlis in Thane District near Dahanu in the Village Patilpada and on occasion
of a Tribal Exhibition in Pune Dr. Tribhuwan and me collected some Illness episodes to see if his
model is applicable on them. I quote three of them here.
Muru Torad of Thakur Tribe 38 years old, married, has two Sons and two Daughters and lives
in the village Nagewadi in the Taluka Karjat Jila Raigad. His occupation is bamboo craftsman
and cultivator.
His Daughter Gautan 5 years old not jet going to school had fever. On the first four days the
illness was ignored. On the fifth day she started crying a lot so he took her to a Bhagat. He
diagnosed through the metal pot technique that an ancestral male spirit was responsible for the
severe fever, because Muru had forgotten to worship him. He smeared holy ash on the
forehead of the child and told to take it orally on the 6th and 7th day. On the 7th day a Chicken
was sacrificed to the ancestral spirit. The blood was thought for the spirit the meat became a
meal for the Bhagat. Because she was still not better on the 8th day Muru took her to a private
allopathic doctor in Karjat 24 km away. He gave her injections and Medicine. On the 9th day
she was much better.
This illness episode shows clearly how a prolonged illness, and serve pain, which is expressed
trough the steady heavy crying of Gautan, leads to shift in therapy. The pleasing ritual for the
ancestral spirit has also an good outcome for the Bhagat a chicken as income for his efforts.
Avind Arjun Lakhan of Warli Tribe 17 years old comes form the village Kahandolpada near
Dahanu Thane and has one Brother and two Sisters. His Father is for half of the year cultivator
and the other half daily wage laborer.
He had stomach ache on the first day so his mother gave him a crushed root mixed with water.
As it was not getting better he went on the third day to a Bhagat. He diagnosed through a
divination technique using a rice pan and rice that there was no supernatural cause. So he gave
him a decoction of a Root. Avind took it for four days, once a day and was cured. For thanking
the Bhagat the Family gave him a Coconut.
Here the principle is getting clear what comes naturally is treated naturally.
Also on shift from home remedies to a medicinal specialist is seen.
Arun Devajikove of Gond Tribe (unmarried, age 26, education 3rd Standard)
Suffered from what my translator translated with schizophrenia.
For this Interview the translator was not Dr. Tribhuwan but Dr. Tush, an ayurvedic practitioner
who comes form a family of herbalists of the Thakur tribe, which should not be confused with
the Thakur tribe.
At the first day Arun got afraid of people that were not members of his family and saw snakes
everywhere, which other people did not see. On same Day he went to the Hospital. There in the
night he dreamed, that a former friend with whom he had now a serve conflict, told him that he
put something in his drinking water to harm him. At the next day. The Doctor in the hospital
told him that they can not help him and relatives suggested he should see a Vaidu. Arun said,
the Vaidu did not need to diagnose, because he is in direct connection with the supreme and so
knows everything, The Vaidu gave him a herbal pack, that he had to wear around his neck as a
talisman and told him to not leave his home for 21 days. On the 3rd day he was feeling already
better, but he completed his 21 days staying at home.
The Vaidu did not expect any specific amount of money, he told him to give as much as he
would like. He gave him 250 Rs.
Here the shift in therapy occurred because of the failure of the selected therapy to help the
patient and the suggestion of relatives. The cause of the disease revealed itself delayed in
vision or dream of the patient himself, this possibility is not mentioned by Tribhuwan. This
cause also attributed to the shift of therapy as the cause was of black magic type and when
known initially would have led the decision to search for supernatural help of a Vaidu, who in
Gond culture has a direct connection with the supernatural.
7. Conclusions
Ill health concept shows the Thakur culture in difference to bio medicine which recognizes only
the physical causes. Causes of illness are seen in the relationship an individual has, with his
different levels of his social surroundings. Through following the hints that came up in the
research towards the Ill-health concept Tribhuwan investigated the cultural parts of religion,
moral and social world of the Thakurs.
Tribhuwan concludes with saying:
This study has made an attempt to unravel the symbolic and meaningful aspects of
ethnomedicine of the Thakurs as a symbolic system not in its own right, but as a representation
of the cultural whole.
An attempt has been made in this study to show how medical symbols (acts, words, objects,
ideas, relationships, colors, songs, chants etc.) stand for, suggest and reveal cultural realities
other than themselves. That the Domain of ethnomedicine is not confined to a single area of
social life but represents not only the Thakur culture but also is part of the greater Hindu Caste
system.
(Tribhuwan, 1998, 291)
The symbolism of cultural parts is interconnected into a greater whole underlying the whole
culture. So the meanings forms a continuum.
In Indigenous cultures man is frequently thought of as continuous with both the social and
nonsocial aspects of his environment Hughes 88
The division of the causes of illness in social, natural, Spiritual, ancestral, cosmological,
supernatural and natural vs. cultural are etic categories.
After describing the emic perspective on Thakurs ethnomedicine throughout the book,
Tribhuwan takes again the etic Perspective in forming the concepts of Ill-health and
Ethnomedicinal Pathway.
The Ethnomedicinal Pathway was fitting on the Illness episodes investigated trough my own
interviews. A category of finding the cause of the illness, which was not described in the Model,
namely through a dream of the ill person, was found.
Literature:
Young, Allan 1982 The Anthropology of Illness and Sickness in Annual Reviews of Anthropology,
No 11, 257- 285
Tribhuwan, Robin D. 1998 Medicinal World of the Tribals - Explorations in Illness Ideology, Body
Symbolism and Ritual Healing, Discovery Publishing House, New Delhi
Lieban, Richard 1973 Medical Anthropology in Honigman, JJ ed Handbook of Social and Cultural
Athropology Rand Mcnally and Company, Chicago
Hughes, Charles C. 1968 Medicinal Care: Ethnomedicine in Sills, David L. International
Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences The Macmillan Company & The Free Press 87 - 93
Glick, Leonad B., 1967, Medicine as an Ethnographic Category: The Gini of the New Guinea
Highlands in Ethnology, Nr. 6, S. 31 - 56,
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. 1037 Witchcraft, Oracles and magic among the Azande. Oxford:
Clarendon Press
Pandey, B.P. 1978 Economic Botany S. Chand & company LTD. New Delhi
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