Abstract

AN ETHNO-BOTANICAL SURVEY ON SHAKAVARGA OF ANAMALAI TRIBES

Dr. Bhagyalaxmi C. V.*, Dr. Shreedevi H. Huddar and Dr. Elleri Anup Kumar

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Abstract

The Ethnic people residing in different geographical belt of India depend on the wild plants to meet their basic requirements. The Ethnic communities have their own secret Ethno-medicinal and Ethnopharmacological knowledge about the plants that are available in their surroundings which have been serving rural people. The survey is conducted to study the Ethno-botanical uses on Shaka-varga of Anamalai tribes of Velimudi hills, Kadamparai village, Southern Western ghat of Anamalai hills of Coimbatore District, Tamilnadu. This study reveals that the important wild edible plants viz: Shakavarga of Muthuvars, the tribal community living at the fringes of Kadamparai village, ATR, Pollachi division, Anamalai. The Shakavarga in Sanskrit is the group of vegetables which are described as Ahara (food) by ancient Acharyas in their Samhitha. The botanical exploration is to identify and search the economic important medicinal plants which can be used as food in prevention of diseases and maintain the health in the healthy. Methodology employed are detailed screening on Shakavarga from Ayurveda classics, Nighantus (lexicon), modern literature, contemporary texts, journals and the websites related to Shakavarga, wild edible plant, their botanical sources, pharmacological properties and research updates are reviewed for conduction of survey on Ethno-botany. The survey reveals that there are 36 species of the plants belonging to 23 families used by the tribes of Anamalai.

Keywords: Shakavarga, Ethno-botany, Anamalai tribes, ATR.