Our knowledge
Our knowledge has been passed on to us through our family traditions some of which go
back five generations, from Sadhus (ascetics and teachers), from our experience, sharing
with other healers and dreams. Each one of us is able to treat the most common aliments,
and specializes in certain areas. Wherever possible, we refer patients to those of us who
have the expertise with treating specific ailments. We treat: eczema, scabies, impotence,
hernia, piles, lucoria, heart problems, boils, bleeding, infertility, migraine, fever, snake
and scorpion bites, mental disorders, arthritis, inflammation, diabetes, jaundice, paralysis,
gastritis, diarrhea, ulcers, kidney stones, asthma, anemia and bone fractures. The women
among have knowledge of birthing and also focus on pre-natal and postnatal care.
Whilst we have overlapping knowledge, and use similar plants, we have specific
knowledge and often use them for different ailments. We primarily rely on locally
available medicinal plants and herbs, but as practitioners of the Siddha tradition we also
rely on the curative properties of minerals and metals that we purify. We also have ethnoveterinary knowledge that proves important to our communities that are not served by
veterinary practices. We each see between 5-10 patients each per week.
In addition to our specialized knowledge, women pass much household knowledge to
each other, from grandmothers, to mothers and on. It is common for our households to
grow some medicinal plants and/or collect them locally.
Our values: bio-spirituality, ecological practices and selflessness
We believe that plants are
sacred and the effectiveness of
our plant based medicines is
integrally
linked
to
us
respecting the plants and caring
for them.
Sustainable harvesting: We
have a specific way of
collecting our medicinal plants.
We collect them in the early
morning on Tuesdays, Fridays
and Sundays, or during the full
moon. We find that the
curative properties of the plants
are at their peak when they are collected at dawn. The day before we collect the plant, we
pray to the plant and we tie a thread that has been dipped in Turmeric around the plant.
The next day we chant a mantra up to 108 times before harvesting, using only our thumb
and little fingers to pick the leaves and fruit to ensure that we cause as little harm to the
plant as possible. One of the mantras we chant is: om mooli, maha mooli, jeeva mooli, un
uver, un udalilinirka, swaha which is translated from Sanskrit as: ‘O great living plant,