A Study on Ethnomedical and Health Practices among the Malayali Tribes of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Disease and ill health have become significant focuses of human beings since immemorial. Health and sickness are biological concepts. But traits like beliefs, religion, philosophy, education, socio-economic conditions etc. also assess how people feel about health and sickness. This study aimed to study the health and ethnomedical practices among the Malayali Tribes of Tamil Nadu. The research involved a general household survey of 113 houses and covered 534 individuals of various age groups of Malayali tribal communities in India’s Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu. The present’s primary stress was finding how reality is socially constructed and using participant observation to understand people’s emic perspectives. Unstructured interviews with open general questions were conducted to go into greater depth of data. The present study’s findings discussed the health and wellbeing among Indigenous people, the health and illness of the Malayalis Tribe, their health-seeking behaviour, and the various indigenous medicines practised by the Malayali tribe for various illnesses and diseases. Malayalis well understand the concept of health. They link it with the economic condition, nutrition, food habits, work pressure, etc. They also relate it to biological needs. They also differentiate between illness and disease. Their ways of identification of diseases are appreciable. But there is a straight decline in their ethnomedical practices with the emergence of state initiatives, various plans, and schemes.