Tribal Medicinal Plants: Documentation of Medicinal Plants Used by a Mogh Tribal Healer in Bandarban District, Bangladesh

Plants have possibly been used as drugs by human beings since their very advent. For one, plants are plentiful and were easily available to early hominids; they may have discovered the therapeutic efficacy of plants through trial and error or through watching the behavior of the great apes and monkeys. For instance, wild chimpanzees in Uganda have been reported to ingest plants with bioactive properties including effectiveness against skin infections and intestinal parasites [1]. The same phenomenon has been observed with wooly spider monkeys inhabiting Intervales State Park in Brazil [2]. Many phytochemicals are currently being used as drugs in modern medicine and others are waiting for approval [3]. Some of these phytochemicals are taxol, vinblastine, vincristine, quinine, artemisinin, curcumin, silibinin, ellagic acid, and withaferin A. Traditional medicines can be utilized in the discovery of allopathic drugs. In one study, out of 122 modern drugs, 80% were found to be related to folk medicine and these compounds originated from 94 plant species [4]. However, to learn from traditional medicinal systems one has to visit practitioners of those systems for there are many variants of traditional medicinal systems in various countries. Even in a small country (in area) like Bangladesh, a number of forms of traditional medicinal systems exist, the three most predominant ones being Ayurveda, Unani and homeopathy. Two other forms of traditional medicinal systems also exist in Bangladesh, namely folk medicine and tribal medicine. Although both medicinal systems use plants as their main sources of therapy, selection of plants for any given disease varies widely between individual folk medicinal practitioners (FMPs) and individual tribal medicinal practitioners (TMPs). It is therefore important to document the practices of as many FMPs and TMPs as possible, because neither FMPs nor TMPs follow any fixed text books or manuals and do not need any formal training to practice.

Documentation of tribal medicinal practices requires ethnomedicinal survey of TMPs. The same applies to FMPs. Such surveys can not only lead to new drug discoveries, but also aids in the documentation and conservation of medicinal plants. We had been conducting such surveys for a number of years [5-26]. Although work has been done among various tribes of Bangladesh, much still remains to be completed. The Moghs (also known as Marmas) are the second largest tribal community inhabiting various areas of three districts of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region in the southeast part of Bangladesh. They reside mainly in hilly forested parts of Bandarban, Khagrachari and Rangamati districts. They are descendants of the Arakanese people who lived in the Arakan region of neighboring Myanmar and settled in Tripura State of India and CHT possibly in the 16th century. The objective of the present survey was to document the phytotherapeutic practices of a Mogh TMP.

The Mogh tribal healer named Ong Thoai Ching practiced among the Mogh tribal community residing in Bandarban town of Bandarban district and adjoining areas, Bangladesh. Bandarban district is located in between in between 21°11’ and 22°22’ north latitudes and in between 92°04’ and 92°41’ east longitudes with an area of 4479.03 sq km. The TMP was male, around 50 years of age (estimated, he did not mention his age) and practicing by his own admission for over 20 years. The TMP claimed to have arrived in Bangladesh from Myanmar about 30 years ago and decided to settle on the outskirts of Bandarban town where it appeared he was quite well known among both Marma (Mogh) and Bawm tribal communities. Contact was initiated with the TMP through three Mogh and one Bawm community member known to one of the authors (AH). Prior informed consent was initially obtained from the TMP. The TMP was informed as to the nature of our visit and consent obtained to disseminate any information provided including their names both nationally and internationally. Actual interviews were conducted in the Bengali language, which was spoken fluently by the TMP (however with a heavy accent) as well as the interviewers. The interviews were conducted with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire and the guided field-walk method of Martin [27] and Maundu [28]. In this method the TMP took the interviewers to his home garden, where he cultivated a substantial number of medicinal plants for therapeutic purposes. The TMP showed the interviewers a number of plants and described their therapeutic uses. All plant specimens shown by him were collected on the spot, pressed, dried and brought back to Dhaka for identification by a competent botanist. Voucher specimens were deposited with the Medicinal Plant Collection Wing of the University of Development Alternative.

The TMP showed the authors ten plants, which he used frequently. The plants were distributed into ten families. The TMP used the plants to treat various disorders like tumor, gastrointestinal disorders, paralysis, pain, fever, convulsions, leucorrhea, and antidote to poisoning and as a muscle relaxant. The results are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Plants and formulations of the Mogh TMP

Of the various plants, three plants namely Cissampelos hexandra, Prunus amygdalus, and Mitragyna parvifolia appears to be plants rarely used in ethnomedical practices of Bangladesh. C. hexandra is a synonym of Stephania hernandiifolia (Willd.) Walp. Tribals in Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal, India use the roots of the plant to treat urinary diseases [29]; the TMP used the plant for acidity and abdominal pain. Fruits of P. amygdalus are considered in Unani medicine to be memory enhancer and nervine stimulant [30]; the TMP used root and bark as muscle relaxant and to treat fever. The plant is not a common plant in Bangladesh; the TMP might have grown the plant especially in his home garden. The Tharu tribe of India use leaves of M. parvifolia in hemorrhoids, colic, flatulence, dyspepsia, myalgia, fever, skin diseases, wounds and ulcers; bark and roots in fever, colic, muscular pains, burning sensations in the stomach, coughs, edema and blood disorders [31]. The TMP used the roots of this plant for fever and body ache. Anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive properties of ethanolic extract of dried leaves of the plant have been reported [32].

Interestingly, the tubers of Colocasia esculenta were claimed by the TMP to heal tumors. A tumor was defined by the TMP to be abnormal swelling without pain in the external surface of the body. Anti-metastatic effects and anti-cancer effects on colonic adenocarcinoma cells in vitro have been reported [33, 34]. Leaves of Moringa oleifera were used by the TMP to treat paralysis. Hemispheric cerebral ischemia due to the occlusion of middle cerebral artery develops contralateral paralysis and sensory loss, leaf extract of the plant has been reported to give cerebroprotective effect [35].

Although the number of plants provided by the TMP was limited, the plants appear to merit considerable potential for further scientific research as to their pharmacological activities and phytochemical(s) identification, which in turn can lead to discovery of lead compounds and efficacious drugs.

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

No conflict of interests.

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