8. PLANTS, ANIMALS AND THEIR PRODUCTS UTILIZED AS TRADITIONAL MEDICINES IN BHILALA TRIBE OF DISTRICT DHAR OF MADHYAPRADESH INDIA - A PRELEMINARY SURVEY by ALKESH MUWEL, ARUN KHER AND KAMLA SHIVANI

Abstract

The present ethnomedical study describes the traditional knowledge related to the use of different plants and animals as medicines by the Bhilala tribe of two villages (Chouki and Bhamori) of Dhar district. The field survey was conducted in-between September to December 2015 by performing interviews with 19 Senior citizens who provided information about the uses of plants, animals & animal-derived products. The paper highlights uses of 25 ethno-medical plants traditionally utilized by the Bhilala tribe in different diseases of human being as well as livestock and in zootherapy a total of 19 animal species including insect species were recorded and they are being used for different ethno medicinal purposes. These plant species are distributed over 22 genera and 17 families of plants and 18 genera of 16 families of animal species.The zootherapeutic knowledge is mostly based on animal body parts. Like bones and urine of several animals as shown in table-2 these are being used commonly in epilepsy, stammering, diarrhoea, earache, etc. This tribe also knows the use of wild animals such as Lepus nigricolis, Rusa unicolor,Viverra zibetha in epilepsy and other diseases.
KEY WORD: Bhilala Tribe, Ethnomedicinal - Plants, Zootherapy administration.