Practice of Traditional Medicine as a Means of Health Care System Prevalent among the Rabhas and Boros of Undivided Kamrup and Udalguri District of Assam

Abstract

Out of all the tribes inhabiting in Assam, the Boros or Bodos and Rabhas are the two major tribes living with a good concentration in both south and north bank of the river Brahmaputra. These tribes with diverse origins and rich cultural heritage have been living with various levels of development under different environmental conditions over ages. Usages of traditional medicine have been a prevalent practice among these tribes since long. In fact, practice of traditional medicine or practice of folk medicine among the tribal people is a common phenomenon. It also endeavors to find out the role of the traditional medicine men like Ojahs, Baidhyas, Kabiraj, Shamans in the implementation or practice and usage of traditional medicine as means of health care system among the tribal people. The primary objectives of the study are to find out the intensity of utilization of traditional medicine among the Bodos and Rabhas of Udalguri and undivided Kamrup district, to find out the types of herbs used by the medicine men and the local names of such herbs, sources of availability, to find out the folk psychology related with the use of traditional medicine, to find out the most widely practiced ethno-medicine and its related diseases and its extension of recovery, to find out the classes of family who are fully dependent on ethno-medicine and the responsible factors for their dependency and to find out peoples perception towards modern medical system in terms of their day-to-day treatment of common diseases.