The KURUBA TRIBE and their Medicinal Knowledge AND TRADITIONAL FOOD HABITS.
Dr.H.M.Maralusiddaiah Patel,Anthropological Survey of India,Manav Bhavan,Bogadi,Mysore-5700026,INDIA
Introduction :
Globally, about 85.00 per cent of the traditional medicines used for primary health case are derived from plants. Form the time immemorial mankind has been in search for plants, animals and pains, deformities aliments and diseases that affect some of the unfortunate members of our society.
The history of medicine can be linked with the remote past. Although modern medicine, or Allopathy has been accepted by a few position of the population of the world. Only in recent years has these been a new look at natural remedies, home remedies and simple ways of using plant materials which are so easily available in one’s own backyard or in the neighbourhood.
The plant kingdom has many plants with properties that are conductive to health to secure the best results from the use of plants as remedial agencies; they must be used consistently over a sufficient period of time.
The Kuruba of Karnataka a dominant community in Karnataka. They are distributed in all most all districts and they are traditionally shepherds and still majority of them are practicing their occupation.
The Kurubas identity some of the plants and trees which are having medicinal values. Now I am trying to give some of the common plants and trees which are used by them regularly.
Some valuable traditional knowledge and medicinal plants names are not disclosed by them may be kept very secret, such as in cases of applications of plants for therapeutic uses. If they disclose the name of the medicine it won’t work, that is why we are not getting most of the important medicinal names and uses . They will show the roots tuber ,leaves and bark and they won`t tell the names that is the secret.
(1)Curry Leaf : In Kannada it is known as Karibevina Soppu it is very popular tree which is found in the backyard, of almost all South Indian home as the strong smelling leavers are used regularly to flavour curries.
Medicinal Use :
(a) It is used to cure eruptions on the skin
(b) Used to cure Dysentery
(c) Used to reduce or eliminate fever.
How to Use :
(b)The bark, root and leaves are crushed and applied externally to cure skin eruptions.
(c)Leaves are to be eaten raw for the cure of Dysentery.
(2)Kanagalu : English term – Oleander
(a)Externally used as an insecticide.
(b)Used for skin eruptions like herpes, a viral skin disease and
(c)Antidote for snake bite
(d)The flower is used as a general insecticide to kill lice and other insects.
(3)Kamala : Lotus
Medicinal Use :
(e)Used to soothe and relieve inflammation in the case of piles.
(f)Used for Dysentery and indigestion.
(g)Promotes the flow of urine.
(h)Cheeks excessive bleeding during menstruation.
How to Use :
(a)The roots of the Lotus are recommended for piles, Dysentery and indigestion.
As a paste, it is used for ringworm and skin problems.
(b)The seeds are indicated to cheek vomiting and to help promote flow of urine in children.
(4)Mulberry : Kannada – Hippunerala.
Medicinal Use :
(i)Lowers body heat.
(j)Used to expel worms from the body.
(k)Is nutritive.
How to Use :
(a)Ripe fruits is nutritive and laxative.
(d)The bark of the tree is for expulsion of worms.
(e)Fruits are used for the body cooling.
(f)Fruit juice is used for convalescents and for anaemic.
(5) Cowhage : Kannada – Nasugunni : It is an slender hairy climber. The branches are long with alternative regular leaves.
Medicinal Use :
(c)Promotes the flow of urine and gives tone to the body.
(d)Helps the nervous system and takes care of facial paralysis.
(e)Used for thread worms.
How to Use :
(a) The decoction of the root will take care of urine flow and facial paralysis.
(b) The hairs on the pods are given to treat thread worms.
(6) Drumstick : Kannada – Nugge Mara
Medicinal Use :
(l)For urinary problems.
(m)To reduce inflammation.
(n)For dental caries.
(o)For cough.
(p)Four wounds and eye diseases.
How to Use :
(a) The bark of the root promotes the flow of urine.
(c)The hot decoction of the bark is used to forment infamed parts.
(d)The paste of the root mixed the salt is applied to inflammatory swellings.
(7) Opium poppy : Kannada – Afim or Bangi
Medicinal Use :
(a) Used as a tonic to give strength and vitality.
(d)Used as an appetizer and a digestion.
(e)Used as pain reliever.
(f)To get sleep.
How to Use :
(a) The decoction of the fruit is used to take care vitality and strength.
(b) Leaves paste is consumed to get sleep.
(8) Emblic Myrobalan : Kannada – Nellikai
Medicinal Use :
(q)Used to expel gases.
(r)To get relief from stomach pain.
(s)As a tonic,
(t)To reduce the fever.
(u)Used for asthma, bronchitis.
How to Use :
(a)The fruit and seeds used for all the disorders like gases to get free from stomach pain and to reduce fever.
(9) Phyllanthus : Kannada – Kiranelli
Medicinal Use :
(e)Promotes the flow of urine.
(f)Promotes menstrual flow.
(g)Helps in eliminating stone in the Kidney and gull stone.
(h)Wonderful remedy for the early stages of jaundice.
(i)Used for diabetes.
How to Use :
(b)The leaves and seeds are used as a decoction for diabetes.
(c)The leaves and seeds juice is used for jaundice.
(10) Water lettuce : Kannada - Akashagange
Medicinal Use :
(b)Used for Bladder complaints: Kidney diseases, Anaemia and Dysentery.
(c)Used for the treatment of Piles, Tumours, Boils and Chronic skin diseases.
How to Use :
(b)The leaves are used for the treatment of Anaemia, Blood in Urine and Dysentery.
(c)The juice of the leaves mixed with Coconut oil for Chronic skin diseases.
(11) Sandalwood : Kannada – Shriganda
Medicinal Use :
(d)Used to calm the nerves and has a cooling effect.
(e)Used as disinfectant.
(f)Promotes the flow of Urine.
(g)Used as a tonic for the Heart.
How to Use :
(b)In chronic bronchitis.
(c)Oil is used for skin diseases like : Scabies, use pimples.
Globally, about 85.00 per cent of the traditional medicines used for primary health case are derived from plants. Form the time immemorial mankind has been in search for plants, animals and pains, deformities aliments and diseases that affect some of the unfortunate members of our society.
The history of medicine can be linked with the remote past. Although modern medicine, or Allopathy has been accepted by a few position of the population of the world. Only in recent years has these been a new look at natural remedies, home remedies and simple ways of using plant materials which are so easily available in one’s own backyard or in the neighbourhood.
Influences on the food culture of the south
South India was exposed to a variety of enriching influences during its development. There was a connection with Africa through Gujarat when the seas were at a considerably lower level than now and a land bridge existed. This influence is reflected in the great similarity of the tools in use in both places some 250 thousand years ago. Pottery head-rests found at T. Narsipur and Hallur, dated about 1800 BC, suggest a possible connection with Egypt. So does the discovery, by Flinders Petrie, of Indian figures among moulded clay heads showing various racial types in an Egyptian tomb from 500 BC. Equally old finds of ragi (Eleusine coracana), bajra and jowar at sites in upper and central Deccan are strongly suggestive of communication between the two areas. Animals now extinct in India, like the giraffe, bison, antelope and ostrich are depicted in stone age paintings; their bones also show up in excavations, all of which strongly suggests that a land connection with Africa must have existed. Affinities in cultural traits, artefacts and linguistic features further underline the connection from prehistoric to more recent times. Transfer of food plants (like those noted above) besides certain Hibiscus species like the lady’s finger and the ambadi, some gourds, and the tamarind can all be traced to this connection.
Food is also one means of tracing a link between south India and south-east Asia. The coconut is from New Guinea, and the banana, betel leaf, areca nut, sago palm and certain yams have certainly flowed into south India from the same direction.
Archaeological food finds in south India
Brahmagiri in Karnataka provides evidence of food production by 2300 BC.3a about 2100 BC, by radiocarbon dating, there existed in many places in south India professional cattle-keepers who herded up to a thousand animals in pens, in which the accumulated dung was periodically burnt, leaving behind great mounds of ash that have been recently excavated. Meat and milk must therefore have been food items in wide use. Nagarjunakonda, even by 2000 BC, shows evidence of some food cultivation, and by 1500 BC there are plenty of charred animal and fish bones, and hoeing implements and quartz microliths that generally reflect agricultural pursuits. In fact, by abut 1800 BC, excavations at several places show cultures that are fully agricultural: Utnur, Narsipur, Tekkalakota, Paiyampalli, Adichanallur, Cuddapah and Hallur. The cereals found were ragi, the panicum samai, bajra, jowar and kodhra (varagu), while pulses included horsegram (kulthi) and mung. Probably these neolithic cultures of the south had also developed cotton, and its weaving into cloth.
By 750 BC the megalithic culture is in evidence all over south India. The use of iron was known, and the horse was in regular service. The staple food was rice, but grains that could be ragi were found in a megalithic site in Kodagu. Cattle, sheep, goats and the domestic fowl were used as sources of meat. Huge tanks were built by bunding to supply both domestic and irrigation water that made possible the growing of rice.
Rice shows up archaeologically in rather late finds, between 1600 and 1300 BC in the upper Deccan, and only around 1000BC in the more southern sites. But once it came in, rice took a strong hold. Certainly it dominates the Tamil literature that appeared from about the start of the Christian era .
The prevalence of meat-eating
No less than 250 animals are referred to in the Vedas, and 50 of these were deemed fit for sacrifice and by inference for eating.Some of these were raised domestically, like cattle of all kinds, and swine. Professional hunters who lived near the jungles, which were widespread in those days, regularly captured game for the market using bows, arrows, poisoned darts, spears, javelins and blowpipes. Ruses were used to capture animals, alive or dead. Fowlers waited at the edges of a lake or pool and trapped birds, with nets or with their feet, using bird calls and decoys to lure their prey. Fishermen captured both fish and turtles (whose flesh and eggs were much esteemed) using hooks, nets and basket traps.1a The market-place had different stalls for the vendors of the meats of various animals: gogataka (cattle), arabika (sheep), shukharika (swine), nagarika (deer), shakuntika (fowl) and gidhabuddaka (alligator and tortoise).2 The abattoirs for domestic animals had specific names, like garaghatanam (beef) and shukarasanam (swine).2 Neither ducks, nor the eggs of poultry find mention in these transactions.
The emergence of prohibitions and the spread of vegetarianism
Despite the huge variety of meat, and its wide range of consumption, the thoughtful Aryan, right from the start, had begun to question the taking of life for food, with particular reference to the bounteous and gentle cow. The sacrificial cow had always been a barren one; according to the Atharvaveda, it was destined ‘for the gods and Brahmins’. The funeral ceremonies of the Asvalayana Grhyasutra demand the sacrifice of a cow. Yet even the Rigveda has a whole hymn to nutrition (pilu) in which only vegetable foods are listed, and carries two verses in praise of the cow, Aditi, the sinless’. The word gau is used for the cow, and the term aghnya (‘not to be eaten, inviolable’) is employed no less than sixteen times, in contrast to three references to the bull, using the masculine form aghnya with a short terminal ‘a’ Some composers of the Rigvedic verses at any rate considered the whole bovine species as inviolable. Yet in the Shatapatha Brahmana when the eating of beef is declared a sin, the imposing Upanishadic sage Yagnavalkya bluntly states: ‘That may well be; but I shall eat of it nevertheless if the flesh be tender (amshala).
In the later Dharma literature, starting with the Dharma Sutras, various ingenious prohibitions begin to appear. Vasishta excludes milch cows and draught oxen, but considers them fit for religious sacrifice, and Gautama and Apasthamba have similar injunctions. Baudhayana exacts penances for killing even an ordinary cow, and stricter ones for a milch cow or draught ox. There is a clear thread here of utilitarian needs rather than just humanitarian ones. The Manu Smriti in no less than 54 verses has a very long list of forbidden meats, including all carnivorous birds, birds which strike with their beaks or scratch with their toes, web-footed birds, those which dive, and those which live on fish. Both the village cock and the village pig are not allowed, yet nowhere is beef expressly prohibited; in fact the slaying of bovines (gohatya) is a lesser sin (upapataka) than the drinking of spirituous liquor (mahapataka). Yet it is clear that the injunctions against killing the milch cow or draught bull, which were originally economic in origin, have grown into a larger concern for the taking of animal life.
The battle of the Vedic sacrifice, it has been said, was really won by the Buddhists and the Jains. Buddha himself favoured non-injury and was strongly opposed to ritual sacrifice, yet even he permitted his followers animal flesh on occasion if the killing had been unintentional. The emperor Ashoka in his edicts non only preached non-killing powerfully but himself practised it.
Every community that lives in India has a district food ethos. Most of these, however, have been influenced by Aryan beliefs and practices. Originally starting from the north and northwest of India, Aryan ideas gradually expanded all over the country subsuming earlier practices and exerting a strong influence even on those cultural beliefs that appeared later, whether from within or without.
The idea of food
Food in Aryan belief was not simply a means of bodily sustenance; it was part of a cosmic mortal cycle. The Taittiriya Upanishad states:
From earth sprang herbs, from herbs food, from food seed, from seed man. Man thus consists of the essence of food…From food are all creatures produced, by food do they grow…The self consists of food, of breath, of mind, of understanding, of bliss.
And the Bhagavad Gita says: ‘From food do all creatures come into being’. In the great Aryan cosmic cycle, the eater, the food he eats and the universe must all be in harmony. All food on being ingested was believed to give rise to three products. The densest of these is faeces which gets excreted; the product of intermediate density is transmuted into flesh, and the third product, the finest and rarest, is manas, which is thought or mind. Prasad, which is the left-over of food that has been offered to the gods, is thought to be pure rasa or essence that leaves no residue and maintains man’s spirituality. Built on such exalted premises, the Hindu ethos of food has indeed a unique range and depth.
The classification of food
Food materials were classified into various vargas, which correspond fairly closely to the divisions in use today: sukhadhanya (cereals), samidhanya (pulses), shakna (vegetables), phala (fruit), supyam (spices), payovarga (milk products), mamsavarga (animal meats) and madhyavarga (alcoholic beverages).3 However, in ritual terms a different concept prevailed. Rice, wheat, barley and lentils were all raised with the help of the plough, and were therefore termed anna or kristapachya. Food materials that grew without cultivation (akristapachya) like wild grains, vegetables, and fruit, were broadly termed phala and fell into a different category.
Kaccha and pucca foods
Orthodox sects such as the Kanyakubjas of Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh have been carefully studied because they still observe these distinctions with particular.1.2 Even elsewhere, however, they are fairly universal, if slightly blurred. Literally kaccha means imperfectly cooked and pucca the opposite, but ritual usage goes beyond this. Both are of course fully-cooked foods in a modern sense.
Pollution and food
Concepts of pollution are intimately woven into cooking and eating practices. It would be unthinkable for a cook or housewife to taste any dish during the course of its preparation. Water must never be sipped from a tumbler, but poured into the mouth from above, since one’s own saliva is polluting. Water used for rinsing the mouth must be cast out, never swallowed. In many rituals, sprinkling with water has a strong connotation of purification: on the leaf before eating, or during a penance, or a temple ritual, or over a corpse. Even a bath should be taken in flowing water, or by pouring water over oneself, never in a small quantity of still water, let alone in a tub. Eating on plates and cups made of banana leaves, or disposable leaves of palash and banyan stitched together with slivers of hay or cane was intended to prevent cross-pollution.