TRIBAL HERBAL MEDICINES FOR COMMON DISEASES
The tribals in Kerala’s hill areas (mostly in Wayanad and Attapadi regions in Wayanad district) are treasure of secretive and time tested knowledge in healing various ailments with simple herbals. In many cases they will not disclose the identity of the herbals. They will procure them (mostly found in high range), prepare and directly supply to the patients. It is interesting and educative to have a look at some of them which are commonly available and which they have disclosed to the outside world.
Dog Bite
a) A burning piece of wood is placed on the bite-spot and water is slowly poured on it. b) Applies the paste of betel leaves on the bite-wound and bandages. c) A piper regum leaf is smeared with coconut oil and heated on fire till the colour is changed to dark brown and placed on the bite-spot. d) Two green chillies and a betel leaf are grinded to paste and diluted in a cup of water and given to the patient to drink. e) Three drops of bitter gourd juice apply on the bite wound.
Rabid Dog Bite
a) The sap of split cucumis prophetarum is dropped to the wound. b) The ground leaves of inchnocarpus frutescens in a cup of rice washed water is given once in a day for 21 days. c) 25 ml juice of Black plum (syzygium cumini) is given once in a day for one month. During this period tamarind, salt and chillies are prohibited.
Spider Bite
Two teaspoon juice extracted from mix of some quantity of raw turmeric, garden rue (ruta graveolens) and basil (ocimum sanctum) is given twice a day for 3 days and applied some juice on the bite-wound.
Rat Bite
Consume 25 gm paste made of basil and raw turmeric in equal proportion diluted in a cup of water for 3 days.
Scorpion Bite
Apply paste made of tobacco powder and lime in equal proposition.
Asthma
a) Give a table spoon of juice made from Malabar nut (adhatoda vasica) leaves mixed with honey. b) Give 15 gm paste of solanum torvum leaves diluted in a cup of water thrice a day.
Bronchial Asthma
a) Consume 25 gm paste made of tuber or roots of Alstonia. b) Consume 15 gm powder made of stones in bamboo and river fishes (both are found very rarely) thrice a day.
Abdominal Pain
a) Drink 25 ml juice made from the bark of Erythrina indica. b) Consume 15 ml paste made of gooseberry and currey leaves (Murraya koenigii) before food. c) Give 3 ml juice of bitter gourd leaves. d) Drink 25 ml curry leaves juice. e) Consume 15 ml juice of jungle bitter gourd (momordica dioica) leaves. f) Drink 15 ml paste made of Euodialuna diluted with 25 ml water. g) Consume 25 ml juice of Basil (ocimum sanctum) leaves. h) Consume 25 ml warm juice made of Malabar nut (Adhatoda casica). i) Consume 15 ml paste made of the bark of jungle hibiscus (hibiscus rosasinenhsis) mixed in 50 ml water. j) Consume 25 ml juice made from Erithrina indica bark added with a pinch of salt.
Abortion
a) Consume 50 ml paste made of the bark of teak (tectonia grandis) mixed in a cup of water twice a day. b) Drink one tablespoon of ground stomach portion of a porcupine.
Alchoholism
Consume 25 gm paste made of tamarind, onion and inner portion of the fructified plantain in equal proposition twice a day.
Allergy
Apply curd on the affected portions in the body.
Anaesthesia
Apply on the head the ground of the bark of Fig (Ficus racemosa) and bandage.
For Breast Milk Increase
a) Consume 25 gm paste made of Papaya bark added with some sugar twice a day. b) Consume curry made of drumstick leaves. c) Consume 25 gm paste made of Fig (Ficus racemosa) or Alstonia Scholaris twice a day. d) Consume curry made of drumstick and crab with enough coconut.
Body Building
a) Consume 15 gm paste made of whole Mimosa-pudica mixed with a cup of water in the morning in empty stomach. b) Drink 25 gm paste made of the tuber of Asparagus (Asparagus racemosus) mixed with one cup of boiled rice water.
For Complexion Improvement
Apply paste made of raw turmeric all over body except head before one hour of bath. Follow it up daily.
Blood Purification
a) Drink dark-catechu water after boiling daily. b) Consume 10 gm paste made of Hemidesmus indicus mixed with milk daily.
Blood Formation
a) Consume 15 gm paste made of Ichnocarpus fruitescens with raw turmeric in equal proportion daily. b) Consume 25 gm paste made of Hemidesmus indicus added with milk daily.
Boils
a) Apply paste made of tamarind leaves. b) Apply paste made of Beophytum sensitivum.
Burns
a) Apply the juice of brinjal leaves. b) Apply the mixture made of honey and ghee in equal proportion. c) Apply the paste made of tender shoots of tapioca plants. d) Apply the paste made of tender leaves of chilly plants. e) Apply the paste made of raw turmeric boiled in coconut oil and boiled coconut oil. f) Apply the paste made of gooseberry leaves. g) Apply the paste made of mud taken from inside the anthill and fried in coconut oil and the coconut oil used for frying. h) Apply cow dug and buffalo dug mixed in equal proportion. i) Apply the powder made of burned coconut shells and outer rind of tamarind.
Cold
a) Inhale the steam from boiling water mixed with tender shoots of Alstonia scholaris. b) Drink boiled water mixed with ground crab and cumin seed.
Constipation
a) Apply the paste made of raw turmeric. b) Apply the paste made of tamarind leaves and raw turmeric in equal proportion. c) Apply the paste made of the bark of drumstick tree and raw turmeric.
Cough
a) Consume 10 gm powder of fried Malabar nut leaves added with crystal sugar intermittently. b) Consume intermittently mixture of powdered pepper and honey. c) Eat about 10 pepper immersed in honey for 3 hours 4-5 times a day. d) Chew the bark of the gooseberry tree for few minutes.
Corns
a) Cut the corn till blood is seen and apply the paste made of Fig fruit and bandage with cotton cloth or gauze. b) Cut the corn till blood is seen and apply the paste made of the sap of swallow wart (colatropis gigantia), honey and burned jungle onion in equal proportion and bandage with cotton cloth or gauze.
Easy Child Delivery
a) Apply the paste made of ground teeth of wild boar on the abdomen. b) For vaginal tear, apply the paste made of Bael tree (Monocholonia vaginalis) c) Apply some quantity of juice extracted from 3 pieces of root of palmyna palm (borassus flabellifer) on head top and drink the balance when labour pain starts.
Heel Cracks
a) Apply the powder of burnt leaves of lotus mixed with coconut oil. b) Apply fig’s fat.
Tooth Ache
a) Inhale the steam from the boiled water mixed with mango tree leaves. b) Bite a heated Asparagus (Asparagus racemosus) tuber. c) Apply the paste made of Strobilanthus sp. and raw turmeric in equal proportion on the face close to the site where pain persists. d) Apply the paste made of raw turmeric and Basil leaves in equal proportion on the face close to the site where pain persists.
Ear Ache
a) Heat few leaves of Vanda tesselato, found on jack tree, covered in plantain leaf on steam till the colour of the leaves turns dark brown and extract juice from it and pour 3-4 drops in the ear. b) Drop in the ear 3-4 drops of juice made from jungle grapes leaves. c) Put in the ear 3-4 drops of juice made from brinjal leaves. d) Drop in 3-4 drops of juice of red Chryranthemon in the ear.
Eye Ache
a) Put 3-4 drops of breast milk in each eye. b) Drop 3-4 drops of juice made from the leaves and flowers of East Indian Rosebay. c) Drop 3-4 drops of extract from the leaves of Bisphytum.
Eye Wound
a) Drop 3-4 drops of breat milk in the eye. b) Drop 3-4 drops of breast milk added with some ground Rubia Cordifotia. c) Put 3-4 drops of the juice of Vernonia Cineria leaves.
Eye Sight Reduction
a) Put 3-4 drops of garlic extract in each eye. b) Put 3-4 drops of extract of solanum torvum in each eye.
Eczema
a) Apply the paste made of leaf and root of teak tree. b) Apply the paste made of massef and sidarombifolia. c) Apply one’s own urine.
Infentile Eczema
a) Apply cold after boiled coconut oil mixed with 25 gm leaves and flowers of hibiscus. b) Apply the oil prepared of 25 ml gingerly oil, 25 ml neem oil and 25 ml castor oil added with the paste of 4-5 betel leaves and boiled. This may be applied before going to the bed and take bath before sun-rise. c) Apply coconut oil after boiling it with smashed coconut tree roots. In 100 ml coconut oil 25 gm roots may be used. d) Boil 100 ml coconut oil added with 25 gm paste of Leucas leaves and apply the same. e) Smear the body with goat urinated mud atleast before one hour of the bath. f) Smear the body with the paste made of roots and leaves of jungle basil (ocimon canon) in equal quantity.
Epilespsy
a) Eat little bear fat in empty stomach in the morning. b) Apply bear fat in whole body.
Conjectivitis
Drop 3-4 drops of extract from the leaves of biophytum.
Hair Loss Prevention
a) Apply on the head boiled and cold coconut oil added with dried and powdered dung of bison. Take at the rate of 100 ml coconut oil for 25 gm dung for preparation. b) Use ground hibiscus leaves as shampoo. c) Apply cold after boiled coconut oil added with ground hibiscus flower and juice of eclipta prostrate. The ratio is 100 ml oil : 25 gm hibiscus flower : 25 eclipta prostrate.
Fracture & Contusion
a) Apply the paste made of rind of the mango tree and raw turmeric in equal proportion on fractured area and tie with a cotton cloth. Repeat it daily. b) Apply the paste made of dhal, leaves of Mussaenda frondosa and Mimosa pudica in equal proportion added with some lime and an egg white on fractured area and tie with cotton cloth or gauze. Repeat it daily.
Head Ache
a) Grind onion on cow-dung smeared rough surface and apply the same on the forehead. b) Drop 2-3 drops of betel leaves’ juice in each nostril. c) Apply the extract of small tomato leaves on forehead and scalp. d) Apply the paste made of tamarind leaves on forehead. e) Apply on forehead the paste made of onion added with rock salt. f) Apply on forehead the paste made of eucalyptus. g) Apply on forehead the juice made of the leaves of basil. h) Apply on forehead the paste made of garlic and leaves of mimosa pudica in equal proportion added with some breast milk. i) Apply the paste made of raw mustard and garlic in equal proportion on the forehead.
Heart Burn
a) Consume 15 gm paste made of neem leaves mixed in a cup of butter milk. b) Consume 15 ml juice of bitter gourd mixed with 15 ml juice of solanum violacam. c) Consume 15 ml paste made of conch flower (clitonia tarnatea) diluted in a cup of water. d) Consume a tablespoon of warm cow ghee mixed with equal quantity of garlic juice in empty stomach in the morning.
Haemorrhage
a) Consume 25 gm ground bark of gooseberry diluted in a cup of water. b) Consume 15 gm ground bark of Fig (ficus racemosa) and 15 gm black-plum (syzygium umini) mixed in the sap of plantain flower.
Jaundice
Avoid salt, tamarind, chillies, tubes and fats during the treatment.
a) Consume 15 gm paste made of phyllanthus amarus as a whole diluted in a cup of milk or tender coconut water in empty stomach in early morning. b) Consume in empty stomach in early morning 25 ml juice made from the leaves of cotton tree and root of jungle grapes in equal proportion. c) Consume 15 gm paste made of Laucas aspera diluted in a cup of cow milk. d) Consume 25 gm paste made of the bark of jungle mango diluted in a cup of goat milk thrice a day.
Leuccorrhoea
a) Consume 50 ml extract of coconut flower (before shell opening stage) diluted in 25 ml honey. b) Consume 25 ml fluid oozing from the roots of Fig tree. c) Drink 15 gm paste made from the roots of conch flower diluted in a cup of milk.
Toe Nail Ingrowing
Pour 2-3 drops of the milky sap of swallow wart (calatropis gigantia) on the affected part of the nail.
Leg Injury by Stones & Throns
a) Drop 2-3 drops of the sap of swallow wart on affected part and see thorn comes out. b) Apply paste made of the rind of cash tree and bandage. c) Pour hot coconut oil on the injury. d) Apply the paste made of raw turmeric and Cynadon dactylon in equal quantity.
Intelligence
Consume 25 ml extract of the leaves of Bacopa monnieri added with 25 ml milk in empty stomach in early morning.
Mumps=
Apply the paste made of 5 gm jaggery and a leaf of Datura (Datura stramonium) twice daily.
Pimples
a) Apply the paste made of 25 gm onion added with some lime juice before going to bed. b) Apply the paste made of tender arecanut. c) Apply the paste made of the leaves of basil.
Oedema
a) Apply the paste made of the bark of Moringa oleifera, cumin seed and leucas aspera in equal proportion. b) Smear with the paste of cycle pettata. c) For leg oedema, wash the legs in hot water and apply the paste made of swallow wart and yellow oleander root in in equal quantity. d) For face oedema, apply the paste made of neem leaves after washing in hot water.
Urine Retention
a) Eat boiled leaves of Amaranthus spinosus. b) Apply the paste made of Amaranthus spinosus around the umbilicus. c) Drink a tablespoon of juice of curry leaves. d) Drink 15 ml extract of Apsaragus.
Ringworm Infection
a) Apply cashew oil. b) Boil 100 ml coconut oil added with 25 gm paste of henna (Lawsoniainarmis) and 25 gm raw turmeric and apply.
Piles
a) Apply the paste of jungle coriander (Erygium foetidium). b) Eat goose egg fried in neem oil along with night food daily. c) Consume 15 ml neem oil daily.
Rheumatism
a) Consume 10 ground flakes of garlic mixed in a tablespoon of coconut oil. b) Apply the paste made of Datura (Datura stramonium) leaves all over the body atleast before one hour of bath. c) Apply the paste of Eucalyptus leaves on the body as a whole atleast one hour before bath. d) Eat boiled old horse gram.
Snake Bite
a) Rub cut raw turmeric on the bite-wound. b) Drink milk added with ground root of lotus. c) Consume one tablespoon extract of Eclipta prostrate added with 2-3 gm asafoetida after heating. d) Apply the paste made of Cynadon dacylon, Garlic and Calamus (Acorus calamus) in equal quantity on the bite wound. e) Drink mixture made of ground bark of neem tree (25 gm in a cup of water). f) Chew 20 currey leaves with little salt. Keep the remains in the mouth for 2 hours.
Threadworm Infection
a) Consume one teaspoon juice of curry leaves. b) Eat raw papaya. c) Consume the paste made of 10 neem leaves mixed in some water in empty stomach early in the morning. d) Drink milk added with 10 gm powder of the tuber of cyperus rotendus.
Sprain
a) Apply the paste made of raw turmeric and calamus (acorus calamus) in equal quantity. b) Apply raw turmeric paste mixed in the sap of erythrina indica.
Skin Diseases
a) Apply ground cacumis prophetarum over the body. b) Apply the paste made of the bark of jungle mango tree in goat’s urine on affected portions. c) Apply all over the body the extract of the leaves of Malabar tamarind (Garcinia Cambodia) mixed in equal quantity of rice washed water. d) Take bath in water boiled with the bark of gooseberry tree. e) Rub the paste made of basil all over body atleast one hour before bath. f) Apply the paste made of gooseberry roots mixed in buttermilk. g) Apply the paste made of swallow wart leaves and raw turmeric in equal proportion on affected portions.
Sore Throat
a) Apply the paste made of Malabar nut (garcinia cambogia) and garlic in equal quantity and some salt on the throat and hold some quantity in the mouth for some time. b) Eat onion with jaggery.
Vomitting
a) Boil a cup of water with 2 crushed cardomoms and drink. Repeat it periodically if vomiting persists. b) Make paste of the leaves of Mussaenda frondosa and give 10 gm mixed in 50 ml every half an hour.
Mouth & Intestine Ulcer
a) Eat Malabar tamarind (garcinia cambogia) with garlic and some salt. b) Chew ripe or dry gooseberry. c) Drink butter milk mixed with the paste made of Bishop’s weed. d) Apply the sap of plantain locally. e) Apply dried and powdered coriander leaves mixed with salt.
Uterine Hemorrhage
a) Drink 50 ml extract of unblossomed coconut tree flower added with two tablespoons of honey twice a day. b) Drink 25 ml extract of leaves of red jungle hibiscus twice a day. c) Consume 15 gm paste made of the root of white hibiscus.
Whooping Cough
Drink a cup of water boiled with 25 gm bamboo shoots and 25 gm horse gram thrice a day.
Worm Infection
a) Drink a cup of rice water mixed with a teaspoon of sap from the roots of Fig twice a day. b) Drink 50 ml warm water after having dissolved 10 gm asafoetida twice a day. c) Drink 15 ml juice extracted from bamboo shoots twice a day.
Wound
a) Apply the sap from plantain bunch. b) Apply the paste made of betel leaf, tender arecanut and lime in equal proportion. c) Apply lime. d) Apply the mix of tobacco powder, sugar and carbon from the oven. e) Apply the paste made of bamboo shoots and raw turmeric in equal proportion. f) Apply the juice of basil and tie the wound with the remains of the basil after extraction.
