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Contributions to the study of Tibetan medicine
This paper aims to examine the knowledge of local medicinal plants among independent Tibetan doctors from lower Mustang District in Nepal. It particularly focuses on plant identification, classification, criteria of attribution of curative properties, and use. Tibetan materia medica is presented from the local perspective. The fieldwork was conducted in July-August 2001. This research employed fine-grained qualitative documentation and analysis of specific learned Tibetan doctors. The methodology was based on ethnographic research techniques primarily including participant observation, open conversations, and studies of medical texts. The three informants are the most renowned Tibetan medical practitioners of the area. The author participated in the collection of medicinal plants and medical activities at local clinics, and collected and identified seventy-five medicinal agents. Field data confirm that variability in concept of materia medica is an important feature of Tibetan medicine, and notably among independent medical practitioners from high Himalayan valleys. This disparity is mainly determined by local ecological setting, how remote a region is, economic, social, and historical issues. The three informants from Lower Mustang have their own specific ways of selecting, identifying, categorizing, and using medicinal agents, which may differ from the ones of practitioners from adjacent regions, and particularly from so-called "standard Tibetan medicine", expounded in the Four Tantras and its main commentaries.
Piante medicinali del Tibet. Un antico manoscritto di scienza della guarigione (Tibetan Medicinal Plants. An Ancient Manuscript of the Science of Healing) presents the translation from Tibetan into Italian of an ancient manuscript devoted to
Le piante medicinali nella scienza della guarigione tibetana
Plant Knowledge among Tibetan Populations
During spring and summer 1998 at the clinic of the Tibetan refugees' settlement of Dhorpatan (Baglung District, central Nepal) the authors conducted a field study on Tibetan pharmacology and materia medica. Moving to an unfamiliar environment, learned practitioners of Tibetan medicine on the basis of their experience and through the analysis of various plant and environmental features are able to identify the materia medica of the region. This is the case of Dhorpatan, where at the beginning of the 1990s a Tibetan doctor coming from Khyungbo (east Tibet, China) selected the plants that can be employed in therapeutics. As far as the identification criteria are concerned, our field data show that the evaluation of plant morphology is only the first step of the identification process. In fact our informant takes into consideration plant taste, scent and environment of growth, stressing that these features are crucial to assess plant therapeutic properties. Owing to the isolation of the area and to the difficulty of getting all the drugs required, compromises on the identification have to be made. This implies the selection of a few plants that do not have the best therapeutic properties and are substitutes of low quality. The comparison between the botanical identification of the plants selected in Dhorpatan and the ones described in a modern Tibetan pharmacopoeia showed a significant similarity.
Tibetan traditional medicine is a complex and heterogeneous system of healing, based upon the blending of several traditions from prominent Asian medical sciences. The authors of this article conducted fieldwork over a period of 16 months, analyzing how medicinal substances are identified and used by Tibetan medical practitioners. They found that these practitioners typically distinguish medicinal plants through such factors as plants' minute morphological features, plants' taste and scent, and environmental indicators. The authors further explain the inter-related influences of Tibetan medical texts, doctors' individual knowledge and traditions, and common categories of Tibetan materia medica in the classification and use of medicinal plants.
BACKGROUND: This paper aims to present the author's field research data on wild food plant use in Tibetan regions. It provides a general perspective on their significance in past and present Tibet, and examines the concept of wild edible plants as medicinal plants. The fieldwork was conducted in Dhorpatan (Nepal, May-August 1998), Lithang town and surroundings (Sichuan, China, April-September 1999, May-August 2000); Southern Mustang District (Nepal, July-August 2001); and Sapi (Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India, July 1995, August 2005).METHODS: The research was conducted with 176 informants. The methodology included ethnographic research techniques: participant observation, open-ended conversations, semi-structured interviews, and studies of Tibetan medical texts. The author worked in the field with Tibetan colloquial and written language.
RESULTS: The 75 total wild food plants and mushrooms belong to 36 genera and 60 species. 44 specimens are used as vegetables, 10 as spices\condiments, 15 as fruits, 3 as ferments to prepare yoghurt and beer, 5 as substitutes for tsampa (roasted barley flour, the traditional staple food of Tibetan people), 4 as substitutes for tea, and 3 to prepare other beverages. Data from Lithang, which are more representative, show that among 30 wild food plant species exploited, 21 are consumed as vegetables, 5 as spices, 4 as fruits, 3 represent substitutes for roasted barley flour, 2 substitutes for tea, and 1 is used as fermentation agent.
CONCLUSION: Tibetans have traditionally exploited few wild food plants. These mainly compensate for the lack of vegetables and fruit in traditional Tibetan diet, notably among pastoralists, and are far more important during famines as substitutes for roasted barley flour. Today few wild food plants are regularly consumed, less in the main towns and villages and moreso in remote areas and among pastoralists. Younger generations from towns have almost lost traditional botanical knowledge. Owing to modernisation and globalisation processes, many local people have specialised in collecting natural products increasingly demanded in China and abroad. Tibetan people strongly benefit from these activities. Tibetan medicine sees diet as a way of curing diseases and medical treatises describe therapeutic properties of several wild food plants that Tibetans nowadays consume.
Background This paper aims to present the author’s field research data on wild food plant use in Tibetan regions. It provides a general perspective on their significance in past and present Tibet, and examines the concept of wild edible plants as medicinal plants. The fieldwork was conducted in Dhorpatan (Nepal, May-August 1998), Lithang town and surroundings (Sichuan, China, April-September 1999, May-August 2000); Southern Mustang District (Nepal, July-August 2001); and Sapi (Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India, July 1995, August 2005). Methods The research was conducted with 176 informants. The methodology included ethnographic research techniques: participant observation, open-ended conversations, semi-structured interviews, and studies of Tibetan medical texts. The author worked in the field with Tibetan colloquial and written language. Results The 75 total wild food plants and mushrooms belong to 36 genera and 60 species. 44 specimens are used as vegetables, 10 as spices\condiments, 15 as fruits, 3 as ferments to prepare yoghurt and beer, 5 as substitutes for tsampa (roasted barley flour, the traditional staple food of Tibetan people), 4 as substitutes for tea, and 3 to prepare other beverages. Data from Lithang, which are more representative, show that among 30 wild food plant species exploited, 21 are consumed as vegetables, 5 as spices, 4 as fruits, 3 represent substitutes for roasted barley flour, 2 substitutes for tea, and 1 is used as fermentation agent. Conclusion Tibetans have traditionally exploited few wild food plants. These mainly compensate for the lack of vegetables and fruit in traditional Tibetan diet, notably among pastoralists, and are far more important during famines as substitutes for roasted barley flour. Today few wild food plants are regularly consumed, less in the main towns and villages and moreso in remote areas and among pastoralists. Younger generations from towns have almost lost traditional botanical knowledge. Owing to modernisation and globalisation processes, many local people have specialised in collecting natural products increasingly demanded in China and abroad. Tibetan people strongly benefit from these activities. Tibetan medicine sees diet as a way of curing diseases and medical treatises describe therapeutic properties of several wild food plants that Tibetans nowadays consume.
BACKGROUND: This paper aims to present the author's field research data on wild food plant use in Tibetan regions. It provides a general perspective on their significance in past and present Tibet, and examines the concept of wild edible plants as medicinal plants. The fieldwork was conducted in Dhorpatan (Nepal, May-August 1998), Lithang town and surroundings (Sichuan, China, April-September 1999, May-August 2000); Southern Mustang District (Nepal, July-August 2001); and Sapi (Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India, July 1995, August 2005). METHODS: The research was conducted with 176 informants. The methodology included ethnographic research techniques: participant observation, open-ended conversations, semi-structured interviews, and studies of Tibetan medical texts. The author worked in the field with Tibetan colloquial and written language. RESULTS: The 75 total wild food plants and mushrooms belong to 36 genera and 60 species. 44 specimens are used as vegetables, 10 as spices\condiments, 15 as fruits, 3 as ferments to prepare yoghurt and beer, 5 as substitutes for tsampa (roasted barley flour, the traditional staple food of Tibetan people), 4 as substitutes for tea, and 3 to prepare other beverages. Data from Lithang, which are more representative, show that among 30 wild food plant species exploited, 21 are consumed as vegetables, 5 as spices, 4 as fruits, 3 represent substitutes for roasted barley flour, 2 substitutes for tea, and 1 is used as fermentation agent. CONCLUSION: Tibetans have traditionally exploited few wild food plants. These mainly compensate for the lack of vegetables and fruit in traditional Tibetan diet, notably among pastoralists, and are far more important during famines as substitutes for roasted barley flour. Today few wild food plants are regularly consumed, less in the main towns and villages and moreso in remote areas and among pastoralists. Younger generations from towns have almost lost traditional botanical knowledge. Owing to modernisation and globalisation processes, many local people have specialised in collecting natural products increasingly demanded in China and abroad. Tibetan people strongly benefit from these activities. Tibetan medicine sees diet as a way of curing diseases and medical treatises describe therapeutic properties of several wild food plants that Tibetans nowadays consume.