Healers Of The Forest: The Tribal Cures That Time Is Forgetting

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Centuries before modern medicine entered the forests of India, the tribal communities of Madhya Pradesh were already practicing healing arts armed not with stethoscopes and syringes, but with bark, roots, rituals and divine faith in nature.

Today, as India races ahead in biotechnology, a team of ethnobotanists, forest experts and tribal scholars is trying to protect the last embers of this disappearing wisdom.

A recent six-month interdisciplinary study led by Sanjay Vyas (Govt. Holkar Science College), P.C. Dubey (Ex-PCCF, Forest Dept.), Makhana Damore (tribal healer, Jhabua) and Dr Shweta Hardia (Govt. College, Rau) has documented an ancient but endangered pharmacopeia still used by the Bhil, Baiga and Gond tribes in districts like Mandla, Dindori, Balaghat, Seoni and Alirajpur.

‘These tribal communities aren’t just forest dwellers—they are botanists, pharmacists and conservationists rolled into one,’ Vyas said. ‘They carry centuries of orally transmitted knowledge, using nature to heal everything from snakebites to diabetes.’

But this knowledge is vanishing. As tribal youth migrate to cities, the oral traditions that sustained generations are eroding. The study warns of an irreversible loss—a heritage as old as the Mahabharata and as vital as a vaccine.

The team conducted field visits, oral interviews and hands-on learning with tribal elders. What they found wasn’t just data it was a living library of remedies, rituals and respect for ecology, passed down from healer to disciple, mother to child and clan to clan.

Plants and their tribal use

These remedies are part of a larger philosophy where forest and faith are inseparable and conservation is not policy, but prayer. From sacred groves guarded by myth to marriage rituals involving specific leaves, the forest is embedded in tribal identity.

‘This isn’t just about medicine, it’s about memory, land and legacy,’ PC Dubey said. ‘The world is just waking up to sustainability. Our tribes have lived it for 1,000 years.’

The research team now advocates for national recognition of tribal healers and integration of this knowledge into mainstream medical research and forest policy. If preserved, this could be India’s green gold. If ignored, it may become our most shameful loss.

Published on: Tuesday, July 15, 2025, 11:57 PM IST