Traditional Medicinal Practices of a Sardar Healer of the Sardar (Dhangor) Community of Bangladesh

Introduction

I ndigenous people are defined as people who have “originated or occurred naturally in a particular place.” Tribe is defined as “a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a leader.” The number of either indigenous communities or tribes in Bangladesh has been a matter of considerable debate even to this present day. While a dozen or so major tribes have been recognized by the government (not indigenous communities), the actual number of tribes (including the smaller ones) has been put as nearly 80 by some anthropologists. ¹ The differences of opinion seem to stem from the fact that a number of smaller tribes have to a major extent assimilated with the mainstream Bengali population and have adopted the latter's language, religion, and overall culture. Alternately, some of the tribes have so far declined in population and live in isolated pockets throughout the country, that they are not distinguished in government censuses as to be ethnically separate.

The Sardar community of Bangladesh is one such community; there has been debate about whether they belong to any tribe or indigenous community. They claim to be an indigenous people. However, according to historical sources, they were brought to what was then Bengal about 200 years ago by the British administration from what are now Chennai (Madras) and Kanpur regions of India. ¹ The main purpose behind their translocation was to serve both the British administration as well as the local rich to do menial tasks such as sweeping streets, cremation and burial of dead bodies of humans and animals, cleaning of latrines, and sundry other tasks, which other community people or mainstream population were very reluctant to do. They were called by various names such as “Dhangors” or even more derogatory, “Mathors,” although currently they react to being called by such terms, and instead mention themselves as the “Sardar” community, a term meaning “leader”. The Sardars form the lowest order of the Hindu caste system and are regarded by the upper caste Hindus as “untouchables,” as their work is considered as “unclean.”

At the time of partition of India between India and Pakistan in 1947, the Sardars used to be common in Dhaka city, the major town of what was then East Pakistan. Later on, following the independence of erstwhile East Pakistan into Bangladesh in 1971 and with the advent of modern sanitary facilities and cleaning systems, the Sardar community became dispersed into a number of small communities in various parts of the country, including Dhaka city. Three different Sardar communities can still be found in Bangladesh; they refer to themselves as the Madrasi, Kanpuri, and the Bengali language–speaking communities. They also claim to belong to different sects such as Hela, Domare, and Balmiji. The Sardar community in Dhaka and for the most part, the rest of the country, has practically lost their traditional practices, especially the practice of their traditional medicinal system. Although still regarded as being somewhat of a lower order of people whenever identified, they have nevertheless assimilated with the mainstream population and now live in modern housing and send their children to public schools and colleges, especially in Dhaka city.

Ethnomedicinal surveys have been conducted among various tribes for the last few years, and some of the results have been documented. ^{2 –8} The Sardars represented an interesting community to study because almost nothing is known about their traditional medicinal practices. Furthermore, it was evident that they had to develop and have their own traditional medicinal practices, because of practical necessity as possibly from time immemorial they were shunned by the other classes (castes) of people of the mainstream population (the Hindus, who formed the majority population in India from ancient times), who regarded them as “unclean.” Also, because of dispersion and assimilation with the general population in present times, the Sardar community might be fast losing knowledge about their traditional medicinal practices and becoming more attuned to allopathic doctors. A preliminary search revealed the presence of a Sardar community in Muktipara area, which is on the outskirt of Chuadanga Sadar, a small rural town of Chuadanga district, Bangladesh. Further information gathering revealed the fact that the community was very exclusive in nature, comprising about 50 households that were all inter-related and that still followed their ancient customs and had their own traditional healer, whom they visited for treatment and advice for treatment of their ailments. This was advantageous, for it suggested that the traditional medicinal practices of the healer in all probability still followed age-old practices. The objective of the present study was to document the traditional medicinal practices of this Sardar community of Chuadanga district.

Materials and Methods

The present survey was conducted among the Sardar community of Muktipara, which lies on the outskirts of Chuadanga Sadar town in Chuadanga district of Bangladesh. The community comprised around 50 households, who were all inter-related in a near or distant manner. The community kept almost exclusively to themselves, their main occupation being sweeping the streets of the town and doing menial labor for the people of the town. They had one traditional practitioner, namely, Sri Gokul Sarkar, who catered to the medical needs of the community. The age of the practitioner was 48 years, and according to him, he had been practicing for the last 25–26 years. The present survey was conducted between June 2010 and February 2011. The Sardar community members described themselves as Hindus of the “Harijan” class, but their religious customs differed from the main Hindu community. Essentially, they were devotees of the goddess Kali. Although living in proximity with the Bengali-speaking Muslims and Hindus, they were distinct from them and kept mostly to themselves. However, they spoke Bengali. Two of their customs included making their own wine and hunting rabbits in the nearby forests to provide them with a meat source.

Informed consent was first obtained from the practitioner and the households. Interviews were conducted with the help of a semistructured questionnaire and the guided field-walk method of Martin ⁹ and Maundu. ¹⁰ In this method, the informant would take the interviewers on guided field-walks through areas from which he collected his medicinal plants, point out the plants, and describe their uses. All information was double-checked with the practitioner in later evening sessions. Plant specimens were photographed and collected on the spot and brought back to Dhaka for identification by Mr. Manjur-Ul-Kadir Mia, ex-Principal Scientific Officer and Curator of the Bangladesh National Herbarium. Animals, bird, snail, fish, and earthworm species as mentioned by the Sardar traditional medicinal practitioner were identified from appropriate reference books on those species. ^11,12 Permission was obtained from the practitioner and members of the Sardar community to take and publish photographs of the practitioner, Sardar woman, and medicinal plants. It was ascertained during an interview of the practitioner that his knowledge was derived from his father and grandfather, who also served as traditional medicinal practitioners to the community.

Results

The Sardar traditional medicinal practitioner used various methods for treatment of both physical and mental stresses. For the sake of convenience, these methods have been divided into four tables in this article, which are overlapping to a certain extent in terms of nature of the materials (plants, animals) used in the oral or topically administered formulations or amulets. Table 1 presents ailments treated essentially with medicinal plants or plant parts to which occasionally ingredients like petroleum jelly, sulfur, rock salt, or shilajit were added. The latter is a thick, sticky tarlike substance with a color ranging from white to dark brown that oozes out from the Himalayan Mountains due to the sun's heat and is considered to have medicinal properties. Shilajit is known to contain at least 85 minerals as well as triterpenes and aromatic carboxylic acid, humic acid, and fulvic acid. Table 2 presents ailments that were treated with animal parts with an occasional addition of plant parts. For animals, a broad spectrum of life-forms has been included including mammals, bird, fish, tortoise, ant, and earthworm. Table 3 presents ailments for which wearing an amulet containing various ingredient(s) was advised. Finally, Table 4 presents ailments for which the practitioner felt that incantations were necessary. It is to be pointed out that amulets advised by the practitioner contained plant or animal parts; even one incantation was advised to be uttered over a plant part. Thus, as mentioned before, the various methods employed by the practitioner for treatment of diseases were overlapping.

Altogether, a total of 42 plants distributed to 30 families have been listed in Tables 1 –4. Table 1 lists 16 formulations for ailments such as skin diseases, rheumatic pain, sciatica, dyspepsia, diabetes, low density of semen, kidney problems, jaundice, cardiovascular disorders, debility, hysteria, bedwetting, oral infections, infections of the tooth, and osteoporosis, as well as an abortifacient. Table 2 lists ailments treated, which included paralysis, rheumatism, infertility in women, leukorrhea, and skin diseases. Table 3 lists physical ailments such as diabetes and waist pain, as well as mental stresses such as fright, hysteria, “protection from evil eye,” and “vashikaran.” The latter literally means to subjugate another person in a mental manner or to bring another person under one's own influence. While this does not sound like an ailment, this practice was done as an aid to weak persons (weak in the physical or financial sense) whom another stronger person wanted to dominate. Since under these conditions the weaker person would be under undue stress, which can lead to physical ailments or psychosomatic disorders (arising out from mental stresses), this was considered as an ailment and amulets were advised to be worn by the weaker person. The particular amulet was supposed to exert an influence over the domineering person and would cause the person to perform act in conformity with the weaker person's wish, in this case, the wish being not to harm the weaker person in any manner. Table 4 lists two incantations; the first was to stop undue crying in children (crying without cause being considered an ailment), and the second was to vashikaran someone else.

Taken together, it may be said that medicinal plants formed the primary repertoire of the Sardar practitioner. Nonplant (i.e., animal products) in the formulations (Table 2) included eggs of black carpenter ants (Camponotus irritans pallidus); oil from the Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica gangetica); red earthworm (Amynthas alexandri); excreta of rock pigeon (Columba livia), Black Bengal goat (Capra hircus), and Indian elephant (Elephas maximus); and egg sac of tree snail (Cyclophorus pearsoni). In most cases, animal products were mixed with medicinal plants in the formulations. Honey, which along with oil of turpentine was used by the practitioner for treatment of asthma, has been included in Table 2 because it can be described both as an insect as well as a plant product. Other animal products included in amulets (Table 3) included bones from the common river terrapin (Batagur baska baska), tooth from the Bengal fox (Vulpes bengalensis), and the backbone of the fish, Epinephelus coioides.

Apart from amulets and incantations, formulations for various ailments were either topically or orally administered. No set rule was observed for topical or oral administration. For example, skin diseases had the leaves of Rauwolfia canescens, which along with other plant materials, sulfur, and petroleum jelly or coconut oil, were topically applied. However, roots of the same plant were orally administered for the same type of ailment. Overall, the formulations were complex in nature. The use of decoction of various plant parts with or without animal parts was widely followed. The use of oil or petroleum jelly in topical applications suggested an understanding that these materials can act as smoothing, moisturizing, or softening agents and help absorption of the product applied through the skin.

Fruits and leaves constituted the major plant parts used. Other plant parts used included roots, stems, barks, flowers, seeds, sap, fruits, and whole plants. Among animal parts, excreta or dung appeared to be most frequently used. Excreta of the rock pigeon, Black Bengal goat, and Indian elephant were used, respectively, for treatment of infertility in women, leukorrhea, and skin diseases. In all instances, excreta were mixed with various plant parts.

Discussion

The traditional medicinal formulations of the Sardar community demonstrated a certain complexity when viewed from two angles. First, treatment methods, as with most other tribal communities of Bangladesh, ^{2 –8} were not limited to medicinal plants only. Second, unlike most tribal communities, where a single plant part is usually used for treatment of a single ailment or even multiple ailments, the Sardar community practitioner relied on decoctions prepared from complex mixtures of plants and/animals in most of his formulations. An interesting feature was the use of the “three fruits” combination, namely, fruits of Phyllanthus emblica, Terminalia belerica, and Terminalia chebula. This is a famous Ayurvedic medicinal combination known as Triphala. The use of Triphala in at least six formulations suggests Ayurvedic influences. It may be noted that the Sardar community, according to a recent publication, ¹ arrived in Bangladesh from India about 200 years ago. As such, their traditional medicinal preparations in all probability must contain Ayurvedic influences, which is commonly said to be practiced in India for over 2000 years.

The Sardar practitioner prescribed Triphala (in addition to other ingredients) for diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, hysteria, osteoporosis, infertility in women, and leukorrhea. One of the fruits—that of Terminalia belerica—was also prescribed for low density of semen and kidney problems. A polyherbal formulation containing Triphala has been shown to exhibit anxiolytic activity, ¹³ which may be useful in cases of hysteria. The beneficial effects of Triphala in potential cardiovascular disorders have been shown by its hypolidemic activity in experimentally induced hypercholesteremic rats. ¹⁴ Antidiabetic activity has been reported for methanol extract of Triphala and its individual components. ¹⁵ Swertia chirata, another plant used in the antidiabetic formulation of the Sardar healer, has also been shown to exert antidiabetic effect through its bioactive constituents. ¹⁶

The practitioner used sulfur along with plant parts in treatment of skin diseases such as scabies and eczema. The addition of plants such as Calotropis gigantea and Rauwolfia canescens probably added to the healing effect of sulfur, a recognized treatment for scabies. It is to be noted that sulfur was not added when the skin diseases were itches and boils. A further noteworthy feature was that in the first instance when sulfur was present, the application was topical, while in the second, the application was oral although the same plant, R. canescens, was used as an ingredient in both cases. Excreta of rock pigeon as well as dung of Black Bengal goat was observed to be used orally for treatment of infertility in women and leukorrhea, respectively. Dung from the Indian elephant was used topically with other ingredients including sulfur for treatment of scabies and eczema. Such administrations of excreta or dung, especially oral, raises questions on its hygienic and safety values, but the patients seemed to accept these treatments without any complaints. It is to be noted that in Indian cultural traditions, cow dung is highly regarded by the Hindus and taken on a fairly regular basis with cow urine and cow milk for supposed health benefits. The use of oil obtained from the Gangetic dolphin for treatment of paralysis and rheumatism has raised conservation concerns in recent years; however, this dolphin species used to be extremely common in the rivers of Bangladesh even 5 decades ago.

Use of amulets and cultural rituals for disease treatment has been described before. ¹⁷ Traditional remedies usually employ a total or holistic approach to therapy, and as has been observed with the Sardar practitioner, may include wearing of amulets and use of incantations not only to soothe a patient's nerves but also to serve a possible therapeutic purpose through restoring a calmness of mind. Instances of such approaches in the present study are use of amulets for fright, “protection from evil eye,” and vashikaran. Since the patients believe in such amulets or incantations, it serves the purpose of restoring the confidence of the patient, and as such becomes a useful therapeutic tool. Incantations are chanted for undue crying in children and vashikaran. It is to be noted that the incantation advised for undue crying of children has a certain rhythmic note to it and may possibly act as a lullaby to crying children. Whether the incantation for vashikaran works or not is an open question, but can have a placebo effect on disturbed persons, who may think that a more powerful person is out to harm him or her. Animal-based (including reptiles) remedies have also been reported in complementary medicines from different parts of the world. ^{18 –22}

The formulations obtained in the present survey, especially the formulations with medicinal plant ingredients, merit further scientific studies. It has already been pointed out that several plants used by the Sardar practitioners have been validated by appropriate scientific research on their pharmacologic activities. A number of the diseases treated by the Sardar practitioner do not have known allopathic cures. Diabetes, for instance, is a debilitating disease affecting millions of people worldwide, for which there are allopathic treatments but not complete cure. If further scientific research can validate the use of medicinal plants by the Sardar practitioner for treatment of diabetes, that can alone prove to be a worthwhile objective achieved in the present study.