Himachal Pradesh is a state in India
that is located in the Western Himalaya and has an elevation that spans from
350 metres to 7000 metres above mean sea level. The area is known for its hilly
terrain (amsl). It spans a total area of 55,673 square kilometres over its
landmass. This hilly condition may be found in the North Western Himalayan
region between the coordinates of 30 degrees 22 minutes 44 seconds north and 33
degrees 12 minutes 44 seconds north, as well as 75 degrees 45 minutes 44
seconds east and 79 degrees 04 minutes 20 seconds east. It is home to a wealth
of natural resources as well as an extensive history of ethno botanical flora.
The Shivalik, also known as the outer Himalaya, the mid-hills, and the bigger
Himalaya, also known as the high altitude zone, are the three distinct
locations that combine to form the state of Himachal Pradesh. The greater
Himalaya is also known as the high altitude zone. The term "mid hill"
refers to the region of Himachal Pradesh that extends from a height of 1,500
metres to 3,500 metres above mean sea level. The Shimla district of Himachal
Pradesh is one of the numerous districts that are included in this region. In
addition to the plethora of medicinal and aromatic plants that can be found in
this neighbourhood, there is also an abundance of the historical knowledge that
is associated with those plants.
Since ancient times, the local
communities have relied mostly on endemic plants for their day-to-day
necessities, such as food, fodder, and cures for a range of ailments. This
dependence on endemic plants has continued until modern times. This reliance
may be traced all the way back to primordial times. The gathering and recording
of traditional wisdom has resulted in the invention of a number of major
medications that are now used in the modern world. Traditional knowledge is not
being passed down from older generations to more recent generations in the same
way that it once was, which puts the preservation of this information in peril.
As a consequence of this, doing ethno botanical research in order to maintain
traditional knowledge is absolutely necessary in order to successfully use
biological resources and safeguard them.
The district of Chamba may be found
in the most northwestern part of the state of Himachal Pradesh. It is located
in northerly latitude of 32 degrees 11 minutes 30 seconds to 33 degrees 13
minutes 06 seconds and an easterly longitude of 75 degrees 49 minutes 00
seconds to 77 degrees 03 minutes 30 seconds. Its surface area is estimated to
be 6,528 square kilometres. Mountains dominate the landscape everywhere you
look, with heights varying from from 600 to 6,400 metres over the whole region.
The Gaddis and the Gujjars are the two indigenous peoples who make up the
majority of this region's population (Figure 3). The Gaddis, who are a
semi-nomadic tribe, are the people who farm sheep and goats, and the Gujjars
are the people who reside in Siunta, Banikhat, and the portions of Himachal
Pradesh that border the plains. The Gujjars are the people who have lived in
these areas for generations. These nomads choose to live in the higher
elevations during the warmer months of the year and move down to lower
elevations when the temperature drops. These indigenous people are the
custodians of indigenous traditional knowledge that is tied to the ecological
resources that are situated within their local surroundings. Since a very long
time ago, they have been incorporating the usage of these resources into their
day-to-day operations in order to accomplish a wide range of goals. Because of
the region's wide range of climatic conditions and elevational gradients, it is
home to a remarkable variety of plant life. There are around two thousand
different kinds of flowering plants that may be discovered in this location. In
addition to conducting research on the floristic variety of the region and
conducting an inventory of the plant resources available there, many employees
were also responsible for documenting the traditional knowledge pertaining to
the plants. This was done in addition to conducting research on the floristic
variety of the region.
The work that is being done now is an
extra attempt to better such investigations and to make additions to the
exploitation of some of the plant species that have not been reported in the
past as coming from the research location. In addition, the present study was
initiated in the area with the purpose of discovering educated persons and
accumulating information on the utilization of medicinal plants. This was done
in the hope of improving future research.
Objective
- The
study was conducted to evaluate the traditional applications of plants as
medicines.
- To
research etna-medical plants in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand.
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
Study area
The site of the research may be found in the Pangi
valley, and its precise coordinates are as follows: 30° 48' North, 33° 13'
North, 76° 15' East, and 76° 47' East. There are three unique Forest Ranges
that can be found over the complete area of 1,503 km2 that make up the valley.
These ranges are the Killar, Sach, and Purthi ranges, and they are divided by
the Killar Range. In terms of its location, the tract covers the area of the
Chamba district that is located farther to the northeast. A protrusion known as
Trishul Dhar, which can be found to the north of it, serves as a barrier
between it and the Paddar area of Jammu and Kashmir. On the southern side, one
can find a ridge that links Ghor Dhar Jot and continues all the way up to
Dhandal Dhar, which is where it meets the range of Pir Panjal. This ridge can
be found connecting Ghor Dhar Jot to Dhandal Dhar. The eastern range extends to
the point where it touches the Zanskar range, which is a component of the
primary Himalayas.
Methodology
An exhaustive field survey of the entire Pangi
valley was carried out during the course of the research. The survey started at
the lower elevation of Findroo (2000 metres), continued on to Killar (2500
metres), Praygra (2560 metres), Dharwas (2710 metres), Chaloli (2900 metres),
Sural (3000 metres), Bhatori (3500 metres), Blasot Dhar (4400 metres), and
Chanat Dhar, and extended as high as 5000 metres in elevation above mean sea
level.
In order to make the process of identification
simpler, the collection of the voucher specimens took place during the
flowering and fruiting stages of the plant. This ensured that the specimens
collected were representative of the species. The collected specimens were
dried, assigned a field book number, and kept as a permanent record at the Herbarium
of the Department of Forest Products at the Dr. YS Parmar University of
Horticulture and Forestry in Nauni, Solan. This institution is located in the
state of Solan. The specimens were identified based on the field characters
that were observed and noted during the collection process. In addition, a
comparison was made with the specimens that are currently housed in the
Herbarium of the Department of Forest Products, and various floras were
consulted in order to verify that the specimens had the correct identity. It
was necessary to do this in order to guarantee that the specimens were of the
appropriate species.
Ethno botanical studies
In order to assemble information regarding the
ethnomedicinal importance of the plants that were collected, discussions were
held with local elders, hermits, shepherds, Vaids, and Gaddies. The local name
(or names) of the plants, the portion of the plant that was utilised, the
reason for which it was used, the manner of administration, and its therapeutic
capabilities are all included in this material. On the basis of the information
that was collected, a list of the plants and the traditional uses of those
plants was compiled.
RESULTS
AND DISCUSSION
The ethno botanical information of 45 plant species
belonging to 41 genera and 20 families that have been historically utilised by
the residents of the intended research region has been documented. These plants
have been used for a variety of purposes, such as food, medicine, and other
household items (Table 1; Figure 1). The knowledge that has been documented
ethno botanically about these plants also includes this information. In order
to treat a wide range of major and minor diseases that are common among the people
who live in and around this tribal territory, these plant species are sometimes
utilised routinely and other times just on an ad hoc basis. The indigenous
people of this region have a strong faith in the curative powers of these
plants, as well as those of Tantra and Mantra, which involve the recitation of
certain phrases in order to cast a spell; however, the knowledge of these
practises is only held by a select group of extremely elderly individuals.
There are certain hermits who have the solid conviction and opinion that when
they sit in meditation, the medicinal plants will talk with them and teach how
to utilise them. These hermits have this idea and conviction despite the fact
that they have no evidence to support their claim. This way of thinking and
believing has been handed down from one generation to the next. Similar studies
were reported on the traditional uses of fifty ethnomedicinal plants by the
tribal people of the Prakasam district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, as well
as on the use of fifty-four ethnomedicinal plants by the rural and tribal
people of the Shetrunjaya Hills in the state of Gujarat, and on some medicinal
plants of the Parvati valley in the state of Himachal Pradesh. All of these
communities are located in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and
Hima The majority of these plants, which were documented in the current study,
are used in their natural form since it has been established that they are
useful in treating a wide range of ailments, such as jaundice, fever, dysentery,
and so on. These plants are used in their unprocessed form. It has been
demonstrated on several occasions that people in different parts of the country
employ herbs that are indigenous to their region as a kind of complementary or
alternative medicine to treat a wide range of conditions, and this practise has
been recorded on multiple occasions.
Because they are physically located in closer
proximity to the natural world, those who live in tribal communities have a
greater understanding of the ways in which nature works. Studies conducted by a
variety of workers on the Gujjar tribe in the Saharanpur district of Uttar
Pradesh and on the Gaddis, a tribal community in the Kangra valley in Himachal
Pradesh also revealed that these people use herbal-based powders, paste,
aqueous extracts, decoctions, and other medicinal preparations to treat a
variety of illnesses in both humans and animals. The Gujjar tribe is located in
Uttar Pradesh, and the Gaddis are located in Himachal Pradesh (Khanna and
Ramesh, 2000; Singh and Kaushal, 2000). Additionally, it has been documented
that the local ladies and hamlets of Banjar, which is located in the Kullu
district of Himachal Pradesh, utilise the medicinal properties of 34 different
plant species (Natrajan et al., 2000). Dharchula regions of Kumon in district
Pithoragarh of Uttrakhand and on ethno medicinal applications of plant species
in Mizoram have also found similar results. Both of these studies were
conducted in Mizoram. These findings are likely to be relevant in the years to
come and play an essential part. These herbal treatments provide the body's
organs the strength they require to function correctly, and because they have
few negative side effects, they do not interfere with the operation of any of
the body's other subsystems. In contrast to modern medicine, which interferes
with a number of metabolic processes within the human body and frequently
results in undesired side effects that make the person more susceptible to
illness, traditional herbal treatment has recently gained popularity in
industrialised nations. This is because modern medication disrupts a number of
metabolic processes within the human body. There are still numerous living
groups of people in India that remain more or less isolated from the impact of
the modern world, despite the fact that India is one of the most significant
reservoirs of ethno-botanical riches in the world. These people continue to
live in close contact with vegetation and derive the majority of their daily
sustenance from the natural flora that surrounds them. As a consequence of
this, India is considered to be one of the most significant countries in the
world with regard to the maintenance of the globe's ethno-botanical variety.
Since the beginning of human culture, plants and
objects produced from plants have played a significant role in enriching human
culture. This has been the case since the beginning of human civilization.
There is a potential that ethnobotany was the first science to arise at the
same time as people began to develop or live on our planet. If this is the
case, it would make perfect sense. In times past, it was normal practise to
make use of medicinal herbs in their raw form, which included freshly squeezed
juice, paste, boiling extract, or powdered form. This was done in order to
obtain the maximum benefit from the plant. However, as a result of the
progression of civilization, these plants have gradually made their way into
medical practise in the form of easily ingestible preparations such as
decoctions, herbal tea, tablets, syrups, tinctures, and steam distillates,
amongst other things. These forms have made them more acceptable to the general
public.
CONCLUSION
In order to forestall the depletion of medicinal plant
resources and prevent their eventual extinction, the recent research suggests
that certain management actions should be carried out in collaboration with the
participation of local communities. These actions could be carried out via the
village administrative council, for example. These steps need to be followed in
order to protect the medicinal plant resources that are available. It is of the
highest significance to educate local residents on a comprehensive basis about
the sustainable exploitation of medicinal plant riches in hillside management
for plant resources. This may be accomplished by educating and training them in
the appropriate skills. In conclusion, the findings of the current study
recommend doing scientific validation and toxicity testing on the reported
medicinal herbs that have been utilised in traditional medicine to treat a
range of illnesses that affect cattle.
Conflict
of interest:
Authors
declares no conflicts of interest.