TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF THERAPEUTIC USES OF ANIMAL RESOURCE AMONG INDIGENOUS TRIBAL COMMUNITIES IN WAYANAD DISTRICT, KERALA STATE, INDIA

Vinu Mary and Sadanand M Yamakanamardi * . Department of Studies in Zoology, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysore, 570006, Karnataka, India. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History Received: 05 February 2019 Final Accepted: 07 March 2019 Published: April 2019

Ethnozoology is a hybrid discipline that integrates both the natural and social science that examines the historical, sociological, anthropological, economical and environmental aspects of the relationships between humans and animals. The present study was intended to seek animal based resources with medicinal uses in the traditional healing system among the indigenous tribal communities in Wayanad District, Kerala State, India. Field survey was carried out from November 2016 to March 2017 by personal interviews through semi-structured questionnaires with tribal elders, healers and tribal families. The study recorded a total of 29 different species which are used for the treatment of 51 different ailments. Chordata occupied the highest uses (76%), followed by Arthropoda (10.3 %), Mollusca (6.8%) and Annelida (6.8%). Among Chordata, Mammals occupied a highest number of animals (44.8%), followed by Aves (10.3%), Reptiles (10.3%), Fish (6.8%), and Amphibians (3.4%). The findings showed that the traditional knowledge of animal derived medicines followed by tribal communities in Wayanad play an important role in their primary health care. The documentation of this indigenous traditional knowledge on ethnobiology will be helpful in the formulation of strategies for sustainable management and conservation of bioresources as well as providing potential for the novel drug discovery.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….... Introduction:-
India has vast faunal, floral, more over cultural diversity with many indigenous communities who are basically dependent on the traditional knowledge and traditional medicine for their health care. Ethnobiology describes how people of a particular culture and region make use of indigenous plants and animals (Padmanabhan, 2007). The science of ethnozoology is a sub-field of anthropology concerned with how human beings perceive, manage, classify and use animal species (Solavan et al., 2004). It also focuses on the ways in which animals influence the people they interact with and how man utilized animals for food, clothing, work, worship and companionship (Solavan et al., 2004). Zootherapy is a component of ethnozoology where the medicinal use of animals and animal derived products are studied. The healing of human ailments by using therapeutics based on medicines obtained from animals or ultimately derived from them is known as zootherapy (Holennavar, 2015). According to the zootherapeutic universality hypothesis, all human civilizations with a structured medical system will utilize animals as medicines (Marques, 1994). Animal based medicines have always played a significant role in the healing practices, magic rituals and religions of indigenous and western societies all over the world (Rosner, 1992). Of the 252 essential The loss of traditional knowledge represents the irreversible loss of information about different ways to manage natural resources. Most of the biodiversity associated with tribals have either disappeared or are on the verge of extinction (Vedavathy, 2002). Therefore, our immediate concern is to document the indigenous knowledge related to therapeutic use of animal species and to devise strategies to preserve and tap this rich knowledge in a more sustainable way for the benefit of mankind (Solavan et al., 2004).
Ethnozoological exploration and documentation among the ethnic groups are the need of present era, where chances of cultural mixing up and adoption of modern technologies in all fields of life are happening. Due to the rapid globalization, it is evident that the erosion rate of knowledge base among the tribal people is also high and chances for getting the knowledge documented for the welfare of entire humanity is of at most importance (Padmanabhan, 2007). Hence there is an urgent need to study about their zootherapeutic methods before it erodes due to the impact of modernization.

Study Area
Study areas are located in Wayand district, Kerala State ( Both statistical and question based survey was conducted in 5 houses belonging to each tribal community. The information was collected using a structured questionnaire. Questionnaire was consisted of questions related to their family details, animals utilized by them, purpose of use of those animals, their local name etc. A qualitative semistructured interview was conducted during field work. To take interview judgmental selection was used to identify tribal members who are aware about the animal medicine, identification, preparation and usage. Door to door visit was carried out to identify the key respondent and asked about the ailments for which the animal derived remedies were used and the manner in which the medicines were prepared and administered. Before each interview, permission was taken from the tribals to record the conversations and to take photographs. The length of each interview lasted for approximately two hours. The age of the tribals interviewed ranged between 20 and 85 years. The tribals had a belief that the efficacy of the medicine will be lost if it is revealed to outsiders. Some tribal elders hesitated to reveal the procedure of medicine preparation. Data collected from Non Governmental Organisations working for tribal developments were also used as a support. Most of the species are very common and were identified using standard zoological references available. Rare and threatened species are also identified and recommendations for the sustainable 312utilization of animal resources are suggested.

Ethnos
As per the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, 2002(Act 10 of 2003) vide Part-VII Kerala-Second Schedule notified in the Gazette of India, dated 8 th January, 2003, the Government of Kerala has enlisted 36 Adivasi communities in the state as Scheduled Tribes. There are 9 tribal communities in Wayanad District namely Paniyars, Kurichiar, Mullukkurumar, Kattunayikkans or Thenkurumars, Wayanad Kadars, Adiyar, Kunduvadiyar, Kanalaadikal, Uraly and Thachanadans. Three tribal communities are selected for the study namely ‗Paniyas', ‗Kurichiar', and ‗Uraly'. The etymological meaning of the term ‗Paniyars' indicates that they earn their livelihood from labour as the term ‗Pani' in Malayalam means ‗labour' (P. Somashekaran Nair, Paniyarude, Gothrangal). Thus the word ‗Paniya' literally means ‗labourer' or ‗worker'. Paniyas are the largest scheduled tribes of Kerala. The majority of the Paniya tribal population (71.95%) is found in Wayanad District alone. They are mainly settled in Wayanad. Some of them are settled in Malappuram, Kozhikode and Palakkad districts. The word ‗Uraly' means the ruler of a village. Uraly enjoy the right of cultivating the forest land. They are nomadic agriculturists. They are mainly found in Sulthan Bathery and Mananthavady blocks in Wayanad, with concentrations in Tirunelly, Panamaram, Poothadi, Noolpuzha, Mullankolli, Kaniyampetta, Ambalavayal and Nenmeni. Kurichiya (Kurichiyar) also called as Hill Brahmins (Malai Brahmins) are a group of matrilineal tribe of Kerala. Since this class of people was skilled in archery Kottayam Raja named them as ‗Kurichian' which is derived from combination of two words kuri (target) and chiyan (people). They are experts in hunting. They are the first agricultural tribe to have settled in the Wayanad district. They are mainly distributed in Wayanad and Kannur districts of Kerala, India.

Ethnozoological Analysis
The study recorded a total of 29 species of animals which were used to treat 51 different human ailments. Table 1 summarizes the classification, disease or purpose of use, part(s) used, preparation of medicine and mode of application. These 29 species of animals belonged to both vertebrates (22 species) and invertebrates (7 species). Chordata occupied the highest uses (76%), followed by arthropoda (10.3%), mollusca (6.8%) and 313tilize (6.8%) (Fig.2). among Chordata, mammals occupied a highest number of animals (44.8%), followed by aves (10.3%), reptiles (10.3%), pisces (6.8%) and amphibians (3.4%) (Fig.3). Highest zootherapeutic animals to be used are mammals as most of them are domesticated animals.  Some of the traditional medicine were administrated orally and some through dermal application. Majority of the remedy preparation had different additive substances such as plant leaves, root etc. Different parts and products of animals were used for remedy preparations including teeth, intestine, milk, blood, gland, urine, hair and excreta. The medicinal animals have various methods of preparation for different types of ailments like crushing, powdering, squeezing, direct use and cooking. Asthma, piles, allergy, cough were some of the important diseases in the study area (Table 1).

Discussion:-
Tribals live close to nature and they have acquired a unique and specific knowledge especially concerning the local flora, fauna and their use in medicine. Wayanad is the only District which has largest tribal population in Kerala State and there had not been any concerted effort to document traditional use of animals for food, medicine and other purposes. In this connection we believe that this is the first report of traditional knowledge of ethnozoological use of animals by paniyar, kurichiar and uraly tribal communities in Wayanad District.
In all, information of 29 species of medicinal animals was collected for treating 51 different human ailments. Majority of the animals had multipurpose use. From the study it is found that, whole animals, or their body parts, or products extracted from them, such as fat, honey, milk, butter, wax, urine, faeces, meat, skin, bones, tails, and eggs are used for various therapeutic purposes. Among these products, milk was the most used. Besides this, it is found that most of the animals used by all the three tribals for ethnozoological therapeutic purpose were belonging to class Mammalia of phylum Chordata.  (Padmanabhan, 2008) while the same insect sting is used against paralysis and senselessness by some tribal communities in South India (Dixit et al., 2010). Medicine made using earthworm has been found to be effective in chronic illness, measles and typhoid (Lohani, 2011) while tribals in Wayanad use it for asthma as well as piles. Powdered porcupine spine is used against asthma by tribals in Wayanad while it is used to treat fever by Chakhesang Tribe of Nagaland, India (Kakati and Doulo, 2002) The usage of droppings of dog taken orally to induce vomiting during stomach poisoning among tribals in Attapadi hills of Western Ghats (Padmanabhan and Sujana, 2008) was also found among tribals in Wayanad. The use of Honey against cough is common to most of the different tribal communities in India. The inherent property of teeth of elephant to act against mumps has never been reported before. Likewise, the use of fresh tongue of varanus as energy booster was not reported earlier; only its use in cooked manner was found in other studies. Unio has a long Indian history of bearing medicinal property but its use against spider has never been reported before. Therefore, it can be said now that the discovery of different animal species used by the Paniyars, Kurichiars, Uraly in Wayanad district of Kerala paves way the need to undertake detailed ethnozoological study of the whole districts of Kerala involving as many tribal communities as possible. Regardless of the rich plethora of bio-resources and ability, growth is far from meeting the expectations of tribal communities mainly concerning the current health care facilities. There has been increasing attention paid to animals as sources for new medicines (Jain et al., 2007). They have been methodically tested by pharmaceutical companies as sources of drugs for modern medical science (Kunin and Lawton, 1996). From this project report, our results add some more knowledge to this field. This finding demonstrates the importance of local faunal diversity in furnishing folk medicine as suggested by Alves and Rosa who observed that faunal composition, accessibility and availability directly influence the type of zootherapeutic resources used in any given region (Borah and Prasad, 2017).

Conclusion:-
Chordata occupied the highest uses (76%), followed by Arthropoda (10.3 %), Mollusca (6.8%), Annelida (6.8%). Among Chordata, Mammals occupied a highest number of animals (44.8%), followed by Aves (10.3%), Reptiles (10.3%), Fish (6.8%), and Amphibians (3.4%). The findings show that the traditional knowledge of animal derived medicines followed by tribal communities in Wayanad play an important role in their primary health care. The information obtained from the present study concerning the ethnozoological use by the tribals in Wayanad need a thorough pharmacological exploration involving few lab trials and analysis. This could also help in generating awareness with regard to the necessity for conservation, preservation and enrichment of the gene bank of such economically important species before they are lost forever. The documentation of this indigenous traditional knowledge on animal derived medicines will be helpful in the formulation of strategies for sustainable management and conservation of bio-resources as well as providing potential for the novel drug discovery.