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Ethnomedicinal Knowledge Among the Tonchongya Tribal Community of Roangchaari Upazila of Bandarban District, Bangladesh

Md. Shahadat Hossan
Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Development Alternative, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh.

Prozzal Roy
Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Development Alternative, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh.

Syeda Seraj
Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Development Alternative, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh.

Sadia Moin Mou
Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Development Alternative, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh.

Mirza Nipa Monalisa
Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Development Alternative, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh.

Sharmin Jahan
Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Development Alternative, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh.

Tania Khan
Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Development Alternative, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh.

Auditi Swarna
Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Development Alternative, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh.

Rownak Jahan
Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Development Alternative, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh.

Mohammed Rahmatullah
Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Development Alternative, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The Tonchongyas are a small tribe residing in particularly the Roangchaari Upazila (sub-district) of the Bandarban district in Chittagong Hill Tracts Region of Bangladesh. They have many things in common with the predominant tribe of the region, the Chakmas, and it is sometimes said that the Tonchongyas are an off-shoot of the Chakma tribe. The Tonchongyas, however, claim themselves to be a different tribe. We have previously conducted an ethnomedicinal survey of the tribal practitioners of the Tonchongya tribe residing in Keyaju Para in Bandarban district in Bangladesh. Another community of this tribe was located in Roangchaari Upazila and more precisely in the villages of Bottoli Bazaar, Faruk Para, and Roangchaari Bazaar. It was of interest to conduct an ethnomedicinal survey among the tribal healers of this community to get a more complete coverage of the medicinal practices of this tribe, as well as to compare the medicinal practices of the two communities of the same tribe but residing in different areas. The eight tribal medicinal practitioners (TMPs) of the presently surveyed community used a total of 54 medicinal plants for treatment of a diverse variety of ailments. Ailments treated included common ailments or symptoms like coughs, cold, fever, urinary tract infections, gastrointestinal disorders like diarrhea or dysentery, pain, abscess, and skin diseases. But some of the ailments treated were more complicated like malaria, rheumatism, elephantitis, epilepsy, otitis, otalgia, hepatic disorders, gall bladder stones, and kidney diseases. Some plants were used as aphrodisiacs while other plants were used for treatment of esoteric disorders like mental sickness due to ‘possession by ghosts or evil spirits’. Allopathic medicine can gain a lot from investigations into the medicinal plants of the Tonchongyas, and discovery of new medicines from extensive research with these plants may prove beneficial not only in having new treatments of diseases like malaria, but also treatment of possible psychological disorders like ‘possession by ghosts or evil spirits’. The present survey also demonstrated large differences in the medicinal plants used and ailments treated by the TMPs of the Tonchongya community in our earlier survey. The differences highlight the importance of conducting ethnomedicinal surveys among all communities of Tonchongyas to obtain a comprehensive knowledge of their medicinal practices and whether such knowledge may have been influenced by interactions with other tribal communities residing in nearby areas.

Keywords: Medicinal plants, Tonchongya, Roangchaari, Bangladesh

Location: Roangchaari Upazila of Bandarban district, Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Development of Host and Medicinal Plants

Commodity: Medicinal Plants

Objectives:

We have previously conducted an ethnomedicinal survey of the tribal practitioners of the Tonchongya tribe residing in Keyaju Para in Bandarban district in Bangladesh. Another community of this tribe was located in Roangchaari Upazila and more precisely in the villages of Bottoli Bazaar, Faruk Para, and Roangchaari Bazaar, also in the Bandarban district. It was of interest to conduct an ethnomedicinal survey among the tribal healers of this community to get a more complete coverage of the medicinal practices of this tribe, as well as to compare the medicinal practices of the two communities of the same tribe but residing in different areas.

Methodology:

The area of study comprised of (I) Bottoli Bazaar, Roangchaari Upazila, Bandarban district, (II) Faruk Para, Roangchaari Upazila, Bandarban district, and (III) Roangchaari Bazaar, Roangchaari Upazila, Bandarban district. The Tonchongya communities residing in the afore-mentioned three villages had eight practicing TMPs or Vaidyas, whose details are given below.

1. Binot Chawndo, age 50, male, Bottoloi Bazaar 2. Roro Chawndro, age 56, male, Bottoli Bazaar 3. Lalliun Khum, age 42, male, Faruk Para 4. Laramthiprun, age 54, female, Bottoli Bazaar 5. Lunjum Chawndrao, age 66, female, Bottoli Bazaar 6. Salmubi Kasha, age 40, male, Bottoli Bazaar 7. Shoshivushan, age 79, male, Faruk Para 8. Zumlian Ampli, age 34, female, Roangchaari Bazaar

Informed consent was first obtained from the TMPs. The TMPs were told individually in details of the nature and purpose of our visit, and informed consent obtained to mention their names and any information obtained in any national or international publications. Several of the TMPs were quite fluent in the Bengali language, the language spoken by the mainstream population of Bangladesh including the interviewers. Other TMPs were not so fluent in the Bengali language, and conversations with them, as well as detailed interviews, took place through the Headman of individual Tonchongya communities, who by and large could all speak and understand fluently the Bengali language. Interviews were conducted with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire and the guided field-walk method of Martin (1995) and Maundu (1995). In this method, the TMPs took the interviewers on guided field-walks through areas from where they obtained their medicinal plants, pointed out the plants and described their uses. Plant specimens were photographed and collected on the spot, dried, and later brought back to Dhaka for complete identification by Mr. Manjur-Ul-Kadir Mia, ex-Curator and Principal Scientific Officer of the Bangladesh National Herbarium.

Source of Information: American-Eurasian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 6(4): 349-359, 2012 ISSN 1995-0748

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

To conclude, the use of various plant species used by the Tonchongya TMPs in this survey (for treatment of various disorders) show unique features in the sense that such uses have not been recorded with the other Tonchongya community surveyed previously. A short analysis of ethnomedicinal uses of various plant species by a number of tribes in India (which is adjacent to Bangladesh) also shows that the presently surveyed Tonchongya community uses plant species for treatment of different types of disorders than that noted for other tribes of India. It is therefore important to conduct ethnomedicinal surveys among all communities of the same tribe (even though they may reside in adjacent areas) to get a comprehensive picture of the traditional medicinal practices of the whole tribe. Also gathering of such detailed information opens up new pathways for scientists to study various pharmacological properties of any given plant species.

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