Ethnic Plants of the Tharu Community in Nepal. Indigenous Knowledge on Plant Resources

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

LIST OF SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
1.2 Statement of problem and Status of ethnobotanical study of Tharu People in Nepal
1.3 Rationale of the study
1.4 Description of area
1.4.1 Location and Physiology
1.4.2 Climate
1.4.3 Resources
1.4.4 Irrigation
1.4.5 Soil
1.4.6 The People
1.4.7 Vegetation
1.5 Socio- Cultural Life of Tharus
1.5.1 Background
1.5.2 Language and Household Structure
1.5.3 Occupation and food
1.5.4 Religious beliefs & Practices
1.6 Objectives
1.7 Limitations

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Background and History of ethnobotany in Nepal

CHAPTER III: MATERIALS AND METHOD
3.1 Ethnobotanical data collection
3.1.1 PRA Method
3.1.2 Interview Method
3.2 Plant collection
3.3 Pressing and drying specimen
3.4 Herbarium Preparation
3.5 Identification of Specimen
3.6 Secondary data collection
3.7 Presentation of data

CHAPTER IV: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Statistical analysis of flora
4.2 Description
4.2.1 Dicotyledons
4.2.2 Monocotyledons

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND RECOMME- 40 NDATION

REFERENCE

APPENDIX I

PLATE- 1, 2 and 3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly, we are grateful and thankful to Central Campus of Technology, Dharan, Tribhuvan University, for providing the opportunity for this project.

We are thankful to Mr. Ganesh Tamang, Head of the Biology Department, Central Campus of Technology, Dharan, and Prof. Dr. Dhan Bahadur karki, Campus Chief, and also Dr. Dil Kumar Limbu, Assistant Campus Chief, Central Campus of Technology, Dharan for providing all facilities during my work.

We would like to express my heartly thanks to Prof. Dr. Sashi Nath Jha, P.G Campus, Biratnagar for the identification of the specimen and good suggestion.

We are thankful to all my respectable teachers; Assist. Prof. Savitri Shrestha, Mrs. Amrita Lawati for their good suggestions and successful directions.

We want to express my thanks to Mr. Om Nath Khatiwada and Mr. Uma Maskey for providing me valuable books, journals, suggestion and constant encouragement during this research.

We want to thank Mr. Pritam Chaudhary, Mr. Tej Narayan Chaudhary, Mr. Domai Chaudhary, Mrs Meena Chaudhary for helping me to collect plants from Sivnagar village of Ramdhuni Municipality.

Finally, we acknowledge all the people who helped us directly or indirectly in providing valuable suggestions during our research.

Shiv Nandan Sah

ABSTRACT

Ethnobotany refers to the study of ethnic plant of particular people living in particular place. Ethnobotany accommodates list, details and description of all those plants regarding with their various uses. Current study has been done in the Ramdhuni-2, Sunsari district in Tharu community. It aims to study about ethnic Plants of Tharu people, their various uses, and socio-cultural aspect of Tharus and explore those plant uses. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Interview method were used for the collection of ethnobotincal data from the study area.

In the present study, 37 plants species were collected from the study area under 25 families. Out of 37 plants 32 was found to be dicot and 5 was found to be monocot. 37 species was distributed in 25 families under study. Indigenous Tharus of Ramdhuni-2 were using these plant speceis for various purposes, such as medicine, food, fodder, ornaments, materials etc. Among those plants 25 plants are used as medicine, 21 plants are used as fodder, followed by 10 plants as food and edible fruits and so on. Among 37 species, trees and herbs (29.72%) were dominant upon grasses, shrubs, climbers and creepers, followed by shrubs (21.62%).

Among 37 species, 24 species were used for their leaves. However, stem (16 species), whole plant (6 species), fruits (5 species), roots (4 species), twigs (4 species), bark (3 species) and flower (3 species) were also used for various purposes by Tharu people. Among 37 total species, 29 species are found to be useful having more than one use values. It was found that 78.3% of plant species recorded under more than one use category which dominates single use category plant, i.e. 21.6%

Hence, it was found that many plant species were used for different purpose by Tharu people. They were using those plant species for medicine, food, fodder, ornament, material etc which needs to be more explored. So, more researches should be conducted for the further exploration of ethnic plants of Tharu community in Nepal.

LIST OF SIGNS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE- 1: Description of several sector of Ramdhuni-2

TABLE- 2: Floristic analysis of study area

TABLE- 3: Life form of studied plants

TABLE-4: List of families represented in the study area with their respective number of genera and species

TABLE-5: Used categories of plants with the number of species

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Nepal is located between latitude of 26°22N and 30°27N, and a longitude of 80°04E and 88°12E. Nepal is approximately 880 km long and has an average width of 190 km. It encompasses an area of 147,181 sq. km (147,516 sq. km, New 2020) and ranges in altitude from as low as 60m in the plains of the Terai to 8848m at the crest of Mount Everest. It has extreme topographical differences and comprises almost all climatic zones of the world. With the increasing altitude, the vegetation changes from the tropical sal forests in Terai and inner Terai to sub-tropical deciduous mixed forests in lower middle hills where in the upper middle hills (above 2000m) temperature and conifer forests occur. The moist sub-alpine and alpine forests are found between 2700m and 4400m. However, above 4900m to the snow line there is a discontinuous cover dwarf perennial herbs.

Nepal's rich botanical heritage has been renowned and botanical explorations became more extensive and intensive after Nepal opened her frontiers to foreign explorers and mountaineers during the early 1950s. Plant specimens collected from Nepal are deposited in a number of international herbarium of UK, Japan, USA, France, India etc. Hara et al. (1978, 1982) enumerated ca. 5150 species of flowering plants from Nepal, belonging to 1475 genera and 207 families, and the list is elaborated to 5833 species by (Koba et al. 1994). According to Shrestha et al. (2000) and Magar (2008), Nepal include about 10,167 plant species, of which over 7000 are flowering plant and over 1600 species are medicinal and aromatic herbs.

The term ethnobotany is derived from the word “ethnos” and “botanikos”. Ethnos refers to human aspects of biological relationships, people's culture, and a cultures collective body of beliefs, aesthetic, language, knowledge, and practices. Botany refers to the study of plants from the tiniest fern or blade of grass to the tallest or oldest tree. Ethnobotany is the study of plants of particular ethnic people living in particular area. It has started along with the evolution of human beings. Plants and people are in continuous inter­relationship and interaction according to their need (Harshberger, 1896; Martin, 1995).

Nepal is multiethnic and multilingual country. Population of Nepal as of the census day (June 22, 2011) stands at 26,494,504 showing population growth rate of 1.35 per annum (CBS, 2011). There are 126 caste/ethnic groups speaking 123 languages as mother tongue (CBS, 2011). Nepal is rich in ethnobotanical information and there are many plants of ethnobotanical values used by various ethnic community and many studies have been carried out in this aspect. The main aim of ethnobotany is to document the knowledge about plants that have come from generation and use the knowledge for benefit of society. Its importance has been realized that it brings numerous less known or unknown plants on light which have potential wider use. Ethnobotany includes the investigation and evolution of knowledge of life, customs, beliefs and history of those particular tribal people. Ethnobotany has direct interaction between plant and people. It comprises study of region’s plant and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local people and their culture. It documents the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for many aspects of life such as plants as medicine, foods, and clothing. Hence, ethnobotany simply means investigating plants used by primitive societies in various parts of the world.

One of the major ethnic communities in Nepal is “Tharu” communities. The Tharu people have existed in Nepal since, 18th century and regarded as the “Sons of Forest” (Bhatta, 1977). The Tharu people cover around 6.6% (1,737,470) population of Nepal (CBS, 2011). They are scattered in every nooks and corners of Nepal and have different languages. Tharu language is spoken as mother tongue by 5.77% (1,529,875) of Nepalese people. However, different Tharu language is spoken by Tharus of different places of Nepal. For e.g. The Tharu of chitwan have their own language, The Tharu of Dang have their own language while, and The Tharu of sunsari have their own language. It is believed that they are originated from chitwan. The Tharu people have direct interaction or relation with plants and animals. The Tharu people themselves had told that they are a people of forest. In Chitwan, they have lived in the forests for hundreds of years practicing a short fallow shifting cultivation. They plant rice, mustard, corn, lentils, but also collect forest products such as wild fruits, vegetables, medicinal plants, and materials to build their houses; hunt deer, rabbit, and wild boar, and go fishing in the rivers.

The Tharu people are so concern about their cultures, norms, values, festivals, tradition, dress etc. We can relate The Tharu people with ethnobotany in many aspects. In 18th century, The Tharu people were inhabitat, who used to celebrate their festivals in traditional way, which comprise many holy plants such as “Tulsi, Peepal”. Tharu people are closely related to plants and are using plant species for their daily life activities.

Hence, ethnobotanical survey of Tharu people have been conducted in the topic “Documentation of Indigenous Knowledge of Tharu Tribe of Ramdhuni- 2, Sunsari District on Plant Resources” to collect ethnobotanical data and information related to plants and Tharu people.

1.2 Statement of problem and Status of ethnobotanical study of Tharu people in Nepal

As we know that ethnobotany is the study of the ethnic plant of the particular ethnic group. In Nepal various tribes of people live which encompasses several rituals, norms, values, beliefs etc. In those norms, values, beliefs, several plants are included with their importance. In Nepal Tharu people are living since the history of Nepal is known. These people have their own culture, rituals, beliefs, etc where they use the various plants which are of various religious and medicinal importance. Although the central and western parts of Nepal have been botanically explored in detail, however the eastern Nepal is poorly studied due to several reasons. But the study of ethnobotany in the context of Tharu people has been studied in rare. This research is highly significant because the research will cover the area in Ramdhuni municipality that has been studied very poorly in the context of plants species.

This research carries the motive of raising the status of ethnic plants of Tharu people and their uses in various activities. This would help people to get correct benefit from those important beneficial plant species which were still unknown till these days. Main aim of this study is to enlighten the importance of the ethnic plant of tharu people which they have been using yet and to flourish the medicinal plant of the Tharu culture which is in the curtain of darkness and still need to be known in the world so that it would be use commercially which will help the people by their problems. Nowadays, these local resources are been used by other multinational companies and taking all the credits and profits. So for the information of those important resources this project is performed so they would get correct right and authorities. This study is done in the small village of Ramdhuni municipality which is dominated by the Tharu society. This study is done because till now nobody has given attention in the importance of local level plants of Tharu tribe. Even these local people do not know the value of their plant resources. To enlighten them with respect to their ethnic plant and their uses this study has been done.

1.3 Rationale of the study

Ethnobotanical knowledge encompasses both wild and domesticated species. Domesticates are species that we humans have selected over time from the wild species, then named and trained to optimally produce for us: food, fibers, medicine, materials and more. The study of ethnobotany is of great importance for the aid it gives to a proper understanding of the interrelations of all the several traits and of the whole material and intellectual culture of a people in its entirety.

Ethnobotany has great significance in the particular society or ethnic group. Tharu people are known due to their own cultural norms, values and beliefs which directly depend upon the primitive plants which is a part of ethnobotany. It means that Tharu people are known due to their primitive use of plants. Ethnobotany also helps to increase and flourish their local plants to outside their boundary. They can use their primitive plants commercially and gain the economic profit. Primitive plants help to complete their cultural norms, values and rituals. They use their primitive plants for medicine, food, fodder, ornaments etc. They are also getting benefit with cosmetics, drink, beverages, clothing, timber, condiments, and fuel and so on. As we know that people born, grow and then die. In the context of Tharu people those ethnic plants are used from birth to death. These are some of the significance of ethnobotany with respect to Tharu people.

1.4 Description of the investigated area

1.4.1 Location and physiology

Ramdhuni municipality lies on 87T0 E latitude and 26°42 N longitude in sunsari district (Ramdhuni municipality). Ramdhuni municipality occupies 91.7km2 of the area of Nepal. Ramdhuni-2 is the investigated area where study is done. The altitude ranges upto 185m from the sea level. The average annual rainfall of the Raamdhuni-2 is 1100mm.

Ramdhuni-2 and its adjoining areas are selected as study area. Ramdhuni municipality is surrounded by Inaruwa and Barahkshetra municipality in south and north side respectively while Duhabi and Itahari in South-east and North­east respectively.

1.4.2 Climate

The climate of Ramdhuni-2 is hot and more or less similar to the climate of Terai region. In this municipality extreme maximum temperature is noticed to be 42.5°C (July 01, 1987); extreme minimum temperature is noticed to be 15°C while average maximum temperature is 34.2°C and average minimum temperature is 24.1°C. Extreme rainfall in 24 hours: 113mm, (July 07, 1986).

1.4.3 Resources

In terms of natural process, Ramdhuni-2 has a one canal which is locally named as sunsari- morang canal, which is originated from chatara main canal. No any parts of Ramdhuni-2 is covered by the jungles, but we can see the small forest of bamboos, sisau etc which are personal. Many parts of the municipality are covered by agricultural lands. Ramdhuni-2 consists of Agricultural farm, where many Tharus of Ramdhuni-2 get working oppurtunities.

1.4.4 Irrigation

The irrigation is canal system. Sometime irrigation is done by the help of pumpset. Cultivated fields are irrigated by sunsari-morang irrigation project, which is mainly originated from chatara main canal.

1.4.5 Soil

The soil of the study area is a part of alluvial plains of northern subcontinent and is made up by the tributaries of Ganga. Most of the parts of Ramdhuni-2 contain alluvial which is perfect for cultivation.

1.4.6 The people

Population of Ramdhuni-2 is 6,826 out of which 3,370 are females and 3,456 are male. Population of male and female are distributed around equally in this area. There are 1298 houses located in this ward. Most of the Brahmin, Chhetri, Rai, Limbu, Newar, and Kami are immigrants but Tharus are indigenous people of this area.

1.4.7 Vegetation

The vegetation of Ramdhuni-2 is dominated by wet monsoonic deciduous type and falls under tropical climate. There is no natural forest except some private sisoo and bamboo forests.

The trees observed within the Ramdhuni-2 and its adjoining areas are Bauhinia purpurea, Acacia auriculiformis, Azadirachta indica, Melia azedarach, Mangifera indica, moringa oleifera, Dalbergia sissoo, Delonix regia, Pithecellobium dulce, Prunus persica, Psidium guajava, Phyllanthus acidus, Phyllanthus emblica, Artocarpus hetrophyllus, Artocarpus lakoocha, Ficus benghalensis, Ficus religiosa, Butea monosperma etc.

The shrubs observed within study area are Triumfetta rhomboidea, Caesalpinia pulcherrima, Cassia occidentalis, Lawsonia inermis, Sambucus hookeri, Artemisia vulgaris, Nyctanthes arbor-tristis, Calotropis gigantean, Ipomoea aquatic, Ipomoea carnea, Solanum aculeatissimum, Duranta erecta, Lantana camara, Colebrookea oppositifolia, Ageratum conyzoides, Morus australis, Acorus calamus etc.

The herbs observed within the study area are Argemone Mexicana, Drymaria cordata, Achyranthes aspera, Amaranthus spinosus, Amaranthus viridis, Chenopodium album, Mimosa pudica, Leucas indica, Centella asiatica etc.

Climbers observed within study area are Momordica charantia, Cucumis sativus, Luffa aegyptiaca, Piper nigrum, etc.

Common grasses of study area are Cyperus rotundus, Cyperus iria, Pycreus flavidus, Chrysopogon aciculatus, Dicanthium annulatum, Imperata cylindrical, Cynodon dactylon, etc.

One of the parasites studied in the study area is Cuscuta reflexa. Most of the plants we have studied are almost terrestrial.

Table- 1 (Description of several sector of Ramdhuni-2) Source: Author

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

1.5 Socio-cultural life of Tharus

1.5.1 Background

Tharus are one of the major ethnic groups living in Nepal. Tharus are distributed all over the Nepal since 18th century. For example Chitwan, Dang, Jhapa, Sunsari, Morang etc are the major residental place of Nepal. Population of Tharus in Nepal is 1,737,470 which is about 6.6% of population of Nepal. It is also listed that some of the Tharus lives in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarkhand of India.

1.5.2 Language and household structures

Main language of Tharu people is Tharu language, and inspite of Tharu language they prefer Nepali to speak. Tharu people in different parts of Nepal and India do not share the same language. Several speak various endemic Tharu languages. In western Nepal and adjacent parts of India they speak hindi, urdu, etc. while in eastern part Tharus speak a variant of Maithili. However, there are linguistic barriers between these dialects standing in the way of communication between Tharus from different regions. They also speak Nepali language.

Before Tharus used to prefer living in Badaghar or Dohomala which is long house with big families of many generations, sometime 40-50 people. All household members pool their labor force, contribute their income, share the expenditure and use one kitchen.

1.5.3 Occupation and food

Tharus are agricultural tribe people. Tharu people had been serving in other houses as Kamaiya for several years. They work in agricultural land to grow crops (paddy, wheat, mustard, maize, jute, rice etc). Some are landless labours. The staple food of Tharus is rice. It is generally taken twice (morning/evening). In breakfast they prefer bitten rice, puffed rice etc which they generally call Kalau in their language. Most of them are non-vegetarian and prefer to eat meat of pig, goats, ducks etc. The liquor Daru is also preferred by Tharus. They also prefer a snail like creature called Ghungi which is rich in calcium and iron.

1.5.4 Religious beliefs and practices

In the 1st of Baisakh they celebrate New Year as Siruwa. In Siruwa they cook Kachri, Bari, Baigni etc which they love to eat. In Ashadh, when they finish planting their rice they celebrate by preparing and cooking pudding rice which they call Kadpakhar. They believe Tihar as a festival of lights, so they light of candles, Chirkha where they use Imperata cylindrica as a major burning element. In Bhaitika brothers put tika from the sisters and get a promise of love and secureness from brothers. Juglans regia is the major part in Bhaitika and garland of Aegle marmelos. In the 1st of magh they celebrate Maghi by meeting their relatives, cooking different dishes of fish, and Bagiya which is made of rice flour. They celebrate Jitiya where married woman goes to their parent’s home as similar to Teej in Nepal. They celebrate Holi as Faguwa, where they play with colours, eat meats, get together with their friends and families, some have Daru for fun and enjoyment. In every cultural, religious day and festivals, Tharu smear their courtyard and houses with the help of the heterogeneous solution of cow dung and water.

1.6 Objectives

- General objective

(1) To provide the overview of ethnobotanical study of Tharu community.

- Specific objective

(1) To know about the ethnic plant of Tharu people.
(2) To understand the socio-cultural life of Tharu.
(3) To explore the plants being used by Tharu of Ramdhuni-2 for medicines, food, timber, fodder, fuel, cultural rights, and other creative needs.

1.7 Limitation of the study

In the present study we met the several limitations. Due to the limitation of time and funding we could study the plants species only within the Ramdhuni- 2 Sunsari. If we had the time and funding limit we could further explore our study in another area.

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Background and History of ethnobotany in Nepal

Since, the dawn of civilization, human beings have been using plants in different ways. In 1895, an American botanist called Harshberger coined the term ‘ethnobotany’. Since then, interest in this field has been growing. Ethnobotany is now considered as multidisciplinary science of applied botany. Nepal is one of the compatible countries in the world for the study of ethnobotany because Nepal consists of people of different cast and ethnic who have their differents norms, values and beliefs with respect to plants species. Among all the cast and tribes the Tharu people are one of the unique tribes which have been living in Nepal since 18th century. The origin of the Tharu people is not clear but surrounded by myths and oral tradition. The Rana Tharus claim to be of Rajput origin and have migrated from the Thar Desert to Nepal’s Far Western Terai region. In Nepal, traditional knowledge acquired by experience and observation, which is communicated mainly by word of mouth that has formed the basis of Nepalese ethnobotany. Ethnobotany has not yet been fully documented in Nepal, although it is of significance both for preservation of rural heritage and for the modern utilization of potential wild plant resources. Biological resource in Nepal includes an enormous diversity of flora and fauna within a small geographical area due to the great variation in topography, altitude and climate. However, these valuable resources have been exploited by multinational companies rather than local producers because of rapid globalization process in the world.

Ethnobotany is relatively new field in Nepal, as it is in many other developing countries.it has taken its own way of development, depending on local tradition and other differences. Many people in Nepal have given their contribution in the field of ethnobotany. They have written their name in the history of ethnobotany in the context of Nepal. Banerji (1955) published a paper on medicinal and food plants of eastern Nepal which is considered as the starting of ethnobotanical study in Nepal. B.D pandey presented a paper on Nepalese medicinal plants. In 1980 Manandhar published a book with 50 species of medicinal plants that are export commodities from Nepal. Most of the plants recorded were from the alpine vegetation. Manandhar has reported 43 drug plant used by Tharus of western Nepal (Manadhar, 1985) and 95 species used by Tamangs of midlands (Manandhar 1991).

Department of medicinal plants published a book “Medicinal plants of Nepal” (1970), providing medicinal information of 393 species (Anonymous, 1970). Malla and Shakya (1984) compiled a list of 630 medicinal plant species from Nepal along with distribution. Dobremez (1976) has also described the medicinal plaants of eastern Nepal. Manandhar (1980b) also studied some less known medicinal plants of the Rasuwa district along with their specific use, mode of preparation and dose. Manandhar (1982) studied the ethnobotanical study of Nuwakot district. Bhattarai (1987) described the traditional pharmaceutical practice in central Nepal of the urban population in the Kathmandu valley, describing 59 plant species with mode of preparation, dose, route of administration etc. Manandhar (1987a) has reported about traditional medicinal plants used by tribes of Lamjung District, Nepal. Manandhar (1989c) has described traditional phytotherapy of Danuwar tribes of Kamalkhoj in Sindhuli district. Bhattarai (1992) described ethnomedicinal uses of plants in Karnali zone. He has reported 62 plants species including their local name, family, use and mode of preparation and doses. Sapkota (1994) described 46 medicinal plants species with their distribution, uses, and dose of Palpa district. Siwakoti and Varma (1996) described 212 species of medicinal plants from the Terai of eastern Nepal with their local name, habit, plant parts for medicinal purposes. Siwakoti and Siwakoti (1996) studied ethnobotany of Satars of Jhapa district, Nepal. They reported 122 species for medicinal uses and 177 species for edibles along with brief description, mode of preparation, uses etc. Siwakoti and Siwakoti (1998) recorded 76 species of plants which were ethnomedicinally used by the Limbu tribe of Morang district.

Moreover, various ethnic communities in Nepal are still giving continuation to the use of plants for their living. Several researchers have been contributing in the field of ethnobotany of Nepal. Balami (2004) has described 119 medicinal plants used by Newar community of Pharping village, Kathmandu, Nepal. Similarly, Acharya and Pokhrel (2006) have recorded 98 medicinal plant species known from Bantar communities of Bhaudaha, Morang. Rijal (2011) reported 435 useful plant species, used by Chepang communities for 485 different purposes in Shaktikhor VDC, Chitwan. Uprety et al., (2011) recorded 96 ethnobotanical plants used by Magar ethnic group along the bank of Seti­river, Tanahun. Thapa (2012) documented 75 species of medicinal plants used by Magar of Salija VDC, Parbat.

Some of the research has been conducted in the context of the ethnic plant of the Tharu people. Ethnobotanical note on certain medicinal plants used by Tharus of Dang-Deokhuri district was prescribed by Manadhar (1985). The economic condition of Tharus and utilization of plants as medicine, mode of preparation and dose were also described. Dangol and Gurung (2008) have described 71 plants which were identified to be of medicinal use to the Tharus. Acharya and Acharya (2009) have recorded 45 medicinal plants used by Tharu Community of Parroha VDC, Rupandehi district, Nepal. Singh and Hamal (2013) have recorded 60 medicinal plant species used by Tharu and Magar communities of Western Nepal against dermatological disorders. Singh (2017) has recorded 46 ethnomedicinal wild plant species belonging to 31 families and 44 genera.

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