Indigenous Healthcare Practices among the People of Himalayan Region of Jammu and Kashmir

Abstract

In ancient Indian philosophical books like Ramayana, Vedas and Puranas have 
explained about the richness of the medicinal plants of Himalayan region. The indigenous people 
of Himalayan region acquire knowledge of various medicinal properties of several herbal plants 
and their uses to cure various diseases with the help of herbal healers and elders. These herbal 
plants form the basis of indigenous or traditional systems of healthcare used by the majority of 
remotely located people. At the same time, over-harvesting, degradation of medical plants, and 
losses of traditional medical knowledge in local communities are common problems in these 
resource areas. To keep in mind about the medical utilization and preservation of this traditional 
treasure of knowledge, the investigator has selected this topic with the aim to utilize the herbal 
plants in healthcare practices and to preserve it for the future generations with the help of 
education because education is the only way to aware, utilise and preserve such healthcare 
practices among the indigenous people. For the collection of data, interview schedule has been 
used by the investigator. In the present paper, it is observed by the investigator that indigenous 
people of Himalayan region uses more than 40 valuable herbal plant species that were identified 
with their relevant information and documented with regard to their botanical names, family, 
local names, utilization and parts used by the local regional people for different human ailments. 
The common diseases treated by the herbal practitioner were asthma, digestive problems, skin 
burning, cough, cold, snake bite, chicken pox, fever and diabetes.