MY FATHER-IN-LAW's khal-batta (mortar and pestle) should
have gone to my husband, but today I am using it to revive the
fading tradition of my forefathers," says a beaming Kamalbai
Pendam, a trained female vaidu (ayurveda practitioner) in the
faraway Maushi village of Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra.
Using the family mortar and pestle, she makes various preparations and serves the village with dexterity and dedication.
The villagers are all praise for her efforts.
Kamalbai is not alone in this revival; 21 other Arogya
Sakhis, named so by Amhi
Amachya Arogya Sathi (AAAS) -
a Kurukheda-based NGO, working to revive the traditional,
ayurvedic practice of medicine
- are worthy heirs to this
tradition.
For centuries, these humble
vaidus have been treating
people by making mixtures of
different herbs without demanding money for their services as
it was against their dharma
(moral duty). But over time, a
variety of reasons forced
these traditions into oblivion
and the vast reservoir of knowledge slowly faded away.
The AAAS took up the challenge and started
interacting with the villagers and organising camps two
years ago to train the vaidus. The concept of female vaidus
emerged in one of these camps. "We realised that many men
were not interested in continuing the profession of their fathers, but their wives showed enthusiasm to take up their
fathers- in-law's tradition," says Gogulwar, the secretary of
AAAS. And the idea of training women as Arogya Sakhis was
born.
"Earlier, we could recognise only a few plants and did not
have even a khal-batta. We would just pluck a few leaves and
crush them on a rough stone. It had turned people away from
us," says Sitaram Puram, a vaidu from Lendhari village. But
then in the regularly held meetings and camps, these vaidus
were trained to use modern equipments to make the concoctions; the women soon picked up.
However, not everyone can
make the medicines themselves.
To help them, the AAAS has
developed a herbal nursery in
Chichtola village, housing over
5,000 saplings to prepare various
medicines. Vaidus can take these
medicines on credit and after
nominally charging the patients,
they have to return 50 per
cent of their earnings to the
organisation.
Besides curing various ailments, these vaidus have also
taken an active interest in prevention of disease. Proximity to
their respective communities and the willingness to help their
fellows has been a major reason for their success. Certainly,
the project has revived the ayurvedic medical practices in the
area and has extended a helping hand to the people. But it has
failed to reduce the people's dependency on medical
practitioners and witch doctors.
