Ethnoveterinary practices and socio-cultural values associated with animal husbandry in rural Sunderbans, West Bengal

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1 Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. 8(2), April 2009, pp Ethnoveterinary practices and socio-cultural values associated with animal husbandry in rural Sunderbans, West Bengal Samares Kumar Das 1 & Hema Tripathi 2 * 1 Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension, College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Central Agricultural University, Selesih, Aizawl, Mizoram, 2 Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Uttarakhand hematripathi1@yahoo.co.in Received 24 August 2006; revised 17 September 2007 The study was undertaken to explore, understand and document the livestock and livelihood related social realities and their interlinkages in rural societies of Sundarbans. Four case studies were conducted in 4 purposively selected distinct villages under 4 blocks of Sundarbans. It was found that the rural inhabitants of study villages still had a traditional way of living though the impact of urbanisation was also visible in material culture and other aspects of life. Villagers invariably resorted to ethnoveterinary practices to get rid of the common ailments in the first place by themselves followed by fellow villagers having better knowledge in those practices. Few well recognised occupational ethnoveterinarians were found across the study villages. Ethnoveterinary practices were followed in paschimi / tuntiphola in cattle; foot and mouth diseases or other type of sore in cattle, buffalo, sheep and goat; delayed expulsion of placenta, abortion and dystokia in cow; pox in duck and chicken; loose faeces in cattle, goat and chicken; sprain or strain; cataract in the eye of cattle, etc. Importance of livestock in lives of local people in Sundarbans could indirectly be traced out from folk rhymes /games, festivals exist in the society and from behaviour of animals owners towards their stock. Mention of duck, chicken, meat, buffalo and sheep/goat were noticed in some folk rhymes chanted by the children folk while playing various indigenous games and plays across the study villages. Keywords: Ethnoveterinary practices, Folk rhymes, Socio-cultural values, Animal husbandry IPC Int. Cl. 8 : A61K36/00, A61P19/02, A61P27/00, A61P27/02, A61P29/00, A61P31/02 Unlike the West, animal husbandry in India is traditional based on socioeconomic considerations. Its immense importance to the rural society cannot be realized only by measuring the economic value. So, without considering the socio-cultural values and our understanding towards the role of livestock in rural life remains incomplete. Recently, research on indigenous practices/indigenous technical knowledge has got momentum. Ethnoveterinary practices are the part of indigenous practices followed in animal healthcare. It is operationalised as the knowledge and practices of local people with regard to the treatment of minor ailments/health problems/diseases in different species of livestock using different locally available materials. Traditional medicines are not only cost effective but are socially compatible and easily available. Rural people especially the tribes are the rich reservoir of ethnoveterinary knowledge and practices. Folk rhymes, games, festivals, etc. are also *Corresponding author the mirror of rural socio-cultural lives. Almost all aspects of rural social life are represented through these folk media. However, conventional research based on quantitative analysis of data generally overlooks these sources of information, thus remains largely unable to capture, subtle social realities. As such, case study could be help in capturing the social realities by allowing the researcher to retain the meaningful characteristics of real life events. Thus with the assumption that the role of livestock in the rural society could be realized through folk media of Sundarbans delta of India which is predominantly rural area, where folk media still play a crucial role in the lives of the rural inhabitants. No research has been endeavored on ethnoveterinary practices and focusing on the folk songs and rhymes associated with animal husbandry in Sundarbans delta in India, which is predominantly a rural area. A field research was undertaken in Sundarbans delta to learn about the indigenous veterinary practices and other sociocultural aspects associated with animal husbandry.

2 202 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL 8, No. 2, APRIL 2009 Methodology Sundarbans, spread over India (one third) and Bangladesh (two third), is the world s largest delta region, largest mangrove forest, and one of the few existing mangrove ecosystems in the world. About 90% inhabitants depend on agriculture as the mainstay of their livelihood 1. The field research was carried out in Sundarbans region of India spreading over the districts of North and South 24 Parganas of West Bengal, major portion being in the South 24 Parganas. Data was collected on 4 purposively selected villages from 4 blocks situated in different locations of the region. The 4 study villages were Bagulakhali (Basanti block), Moukhali ((Conning 2 block) Jemspur (Gosaba block) in South 24 Parganas and Samser Nagar (Hingalganj block) in North 24 Parganas districts. The criteria for selection of the villages were location, culture, transportation and communication facilities, livelihood, backwardness, title/caste, etc. Among the 4 study villages, Jemspur and Samser Nagar were the two mangrove forest fringe villages. Their livelihood heavily depended on estuarine river and mangrove forest besides agriculture and animal husbandry. Moreover, Samser Nagar was situated at Indo-Bangladesh border. Mainly scheduled caste population inhabited these two villages. Bagulakhali village s livelihood was dependent on agriculture mainly, besides animal husbandry while Moukhali village s livelihood depended on agriculture, animal husbandry and fishery. Bagulakhali was populated by people migrated from Bangladesh, whereas, Moukhali was populated by Muslims. A qualitative participatory case study design was used for the study with an anthropological approach to field research. The case study method was based on a participatory mode along with the principles of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) 2. Data was collected by staying at a villager s home. Tools of PRA were applied for generation, collection, and documentation of various issues of ethnoveterinary practices and other socio-cultural aspects related to the animal husbandry. Data was analyzed qualitatively, and reporting was done by translating Bengali into English. Results and discussion Ethnoveterinary practices with local name of the ailments/diseases/health problems, materials used for remedies, method of preparation, etc. are presented (Table 1). Cattle (desi), buffalo (swamp), sheep (garole), goat (black Bengal), duck (pati/peti/desi, muscuovy, china), chicken (barai, ranchi, desi), goose (two different races) were found in the study area. Primary purpose of cattle and buffalo rearing was to perform the agricultural operations. Other animals and birds served the purpose of savings, meeting small cash needs and family nutrition. Cattle, goat, duck and chicken were found to have a common herd composition in the study area 3. Villagers in rural Sundarbans invariably resort to ethnoveterinary practices to get rid of the common ailments in their livestock at the first place. Owner was always the first one to treat his animals using ethnoveterinary means followed by fellow villagers having better knowledge in those practices. However, a few well recognized occupational ethnoveterinarians were found across the study villages to which villagers commonly referred to. Such villagers were approached to give an account of ethnoveterinary knowledge and practices traditionally possessed and practised by them. Loosening of teeth and inability to feed properly was found common in the study area. It was probably due to continuous feeding of paddy straw (mostly dry) containing oxalates, which binds to calcium of the teeth forming calcium oxalates leading to depletion of calcium from teeth. To tackle this problem, a cow herd (daag-deoar-lok) comes every year from North 24 Paraganas district to Chunakhali for hot branding (daag deoa) in cattle. Folk rhymes/games, festivals Importance of animal husbandry in rural Sundarban s lives could indirectly be traced out from folk rhymes/games, festivals, etc. existing in the society and behavior of the countrymen towards their stock. Folk rhymes were invariably found to be an integral part of most folk games. Many folk games were being played by children chanting a number of rhymes. These folk poems were the folk mirror of socio economic, familial, cultural and environmental lives of the countrymen. Across the villages, the games like kanamachchi, jumping over the back, chokher-jal bulbuli, mala-go-mala, duto-shalik-namaskar, etc. were found to be played chanting rhymes. Across the study villages round the year villagers celebrate/observe a number of festivals. Festivals and rituals performed were found similar for Bagulakhali and Moukhali but were different than Samser Nagar and Jemspur. Though Poush Sankranti was observed

3 DAS & TRIPATHI: ETHNOVETERINARY PRACTICES OF RURAL SUNDERBANS 203 Table 1 Livestock ailments / health problems and ethnoveterinary practices Ailments/ health problems Species affected Description of the practices Ethnoveterinary practices Paschimi/tuntiphola sheep and goat To the villagers it connotes any types of swelling in the throat region irrespective of its cause, whether it may be due to haemorrhagic, septicaemia (HS), worm infestation or due to any other reason. A strip of rag adhered with the sticky latex of akanda (Calotropis gigantea) is placed and pressed around the throat of affected cattle like a garland. This is done for once at the appearance of swelling. Hot sand fomentation in the swollen region gives relief from the ailment, which is done twice/thrice per day till swelling subsides. Paste of kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) leaves is applied on swollen part followed by hot sand fomentation for 2-4 days. Enso or other type of sore sheep and goat Foot and mouth diseases (enso) can easily be recognized by seeing vesicular lesions (ghao) in hoof, cavity and tongue of the animal. Bark of Ficus religiosa, badi tree, Allium sativum and Acacia catechu are boiled or fried together. Fried materials are then pulverized and mixed with water. This preparation is used to wash oral cavity and hoof. Potassium permanganate in water is also used to wash oral cavity. These are applied twice or thrice a day. With this, vesicular lesions are gradually healed. Iodine is applied on sores after washing with potash water. Mixture of honey and boric acid is applied on sores twice / thrice per day. Soot (uchhali), common salt and chilli (paste/powdered) mixed with water is then rubbed on the sores once daily for around two days. Equal quantity of motihar tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), fruit of Terminalia bellerica Roxb., blue vitriol (tunte ) and decoction of heera fruit mixed together with small quality of alum. This mixture is applied on sores. The mixture appears black. Black powdered mixture is also very beneficial for cleansing teeth and interdentally space will be stained black. Swollen and painful hoof Delayed expulsion of placenta Cattle Hooves of cattle become swollen and painful with oozing serum and pus due to muddy condition during monsoon. Cow Washing the hooves with decoction of leaves of jibli (badi) and neem leaves gives effective results. Cow is fed with buds of marigold or genda (Calendula officinalis) just after 6 hrs of parturition. Placenta is expelled within 6 hrs of feeding. Feeding of luke warm water helps expulsion of placenta. Feeding of wild radish (ban mula)/ sugar cane leaves/ lal saak (dhuillya saak) are also effective. Feeding of ban mula after parturition is another practice followed to compensate post partum body pain. Pox Chicken & duck Recognized by seeing lesions on face, around eyes. Pox lesions are washed with warm twice/thrice a day for quick relief. potash water Contd.

4 204 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL 8, No. 2, APRIL 2009 Table 1 Livestock ailments / health problems and ethnoveterinary practices Contd. Ailments/ health problems Species affected Description of the practices Ethnoveterinary practices Loose faeces Cattle & goat - Paste of Acacia polyacantha leaves and immature sabeda fruit are fed to goat to control loose faeces. Loose faeces/ chunpaikhana Sprain/strain Fever and loose faeces in goat are also treated by feedin Babla and guava tree leaves. These are believed contain kasha (tannin), which tightens faeces. The leaves are fed when goats are in stall. Cattle are fed bamboo (Saeeharum bamboo) leaves to check loose faeces. Chicken Ranikhet disease (Chunpaikhana) in chicken is treated with feeding of boiled rice mixed with tamarind and turmeric. Feeding of chullu (alcoholic liquor) also gives good results. sheep, goat, duck and chicken Loose faeces, other than chunpaikhana are also treated with feeding of potash water, or Bikash malham mixed with boiled rice. Application of warm turmeric paste on the sprained/strained part bound with a rag helps in relief of pain. Application of paste of a herb, haarbhanga (bone breaking) on affected part bound by rag is effective. Warm paste of haarbhanga and dung may also be plastered on the affected part twice a day. Application of raw turmeric and lime paste on strained / sprained leg of duck / chicken bound with rag. Roots of ghora duar mura are tied with the affected leg of duck/ chicken. Cataract Cattle Upper and lower parts of the affected eye socket are rubbed well with mustard oil. Two sickles are burnt in dung cake fire to red hot, and upper and lower parts of the affected eye socket are branded simultaneously with each of the red hot sickles. Cataract disappears with the healing of brands. Loosening of teeth and inability to feed properly Cattle Villagers expressed that as a result of loose teeth due to age or other reason, cattle can not feed easily and properly leading to gradual emaciation. Cotton like substance is cleared out from gum of the teeth with a cotton containing common salt and mustard oil fixed on the tip of a red hot iron stick. Also roots of the teeth are seared and tapped with hot stick. Besides, tongue is scrapped and cheek is seared with S shaped mark and hot iron branding is done on either side of throat of the same animal. This practice is locally referred to as daag deoa, (give mark). This practice makes loose teeth strong. If this practice of daag deoa is done once every year, the animal again starts feeding properly and regains its lost health. across the villages, but livestock related rituals were not observed in either Samser Nagar or Jemspur. Villagers in Bagulakhali and Moukhali, however, show concerns for livestock on this holy day. Varieties of pitha (kind of an indigenous cake) with new rice are prepared on this day for household consumption. People show their debt of gratitude to their cattle by feeding them the very first lot of pitha. However, rituals of some kind showing respect and importance to livestock during Chaitra Sankranti

5 DAS & TRIPATHI: ETHNOVETERINARY PRACTICES OF RURAL SUNDERBANS 205 were found to be observed in all the study villages. The festival of Chaitra Sankranti is called Hoolbi in Bagulakhali and Moukhali villages. Interestingly, cattle are taken for bath followed by some sorts of rituals. In Bagulakhali and Moukhali, cattle are bathed with Turmeric-methi-honda paste rubbing on their body, which probably has antiseptic property. Fumigation using different locally available materials especially in Bagulakhali and Moukhali, actually acts as disinfestations of cattle shed for the year. Fumigation performed in Bagulakhali and Moukhali during Chaitra Sankranti is called as konwa jagano. Materials required for konwa jagano are leaves of neem, nisinda, and kanja, plant of kurmuta and honda. These are tied together with paddy straw to make a bunch. At least one such bunch is burnt in each of the places. Conclusion The villagers of the study villages invariably resorted to ethnoveterinary practices to get rid of the common ailments of their animals in the first place by themselves followed by the fellow villagers having better knowledge in those practices. However, few well recognized occupational ethnoveterinarians were found across the villages. Ethnoveterinary practices were followed in paschimi/ tuntiphola in cattle, in foot and mouth diseases or other types of sore, in delayed expulsion of placenta, abortion and dystokia, in pox in duck and chicken, in loose stool, in sprain/strain, in cataract, etc. A study on documentation and validation of some of the major livestock diseases/ailments and ethnoveterinary practices used in managing and treating them is needed. The study provides an insight into livestock related social realities that generally go unnoticed and may contribute to the formulation and implementation of a realistic extension education programs for improving the livestock related rural livelihood in the region. References 1 Chattopadhyaya H, The mystery of the Sundarbans, (A Mukherjee & Co Pvt Ltd,Kolkata), 1999, Mukherjee N, Participatory rural appraisal: Methodology and applications, (Concept Publishing Co, New Delhi), Das S K, Livestock and livelihood of rural inhabitants in Sundarbans region of West Bengal, PhD Thesis, (Division of Extension Education, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, UP), 2005.