Traditional Health Care Practice among the Mishing Tribe of Golaghat District in Assam

Abstract

The use of plants and animal as a source of medicine is as old as humanity. Traditional medicine is widely used by the tribes of Assam as well as North East India and of India as a whole. The Mishing tribe is an indigenous group of people living in some districts of Assam. Among these districts Golaghat is an important one. A study on practice of traditional medicine was carried out among the Mishings living in two villages of Golaghat district. The paper includes the traditional knowledge of medicine, which is prevalent in the study area and also aims to provide information on the concepts like health and disease and how the people cure diseases and drive away illness and sickness by traditional medicine as well as religious beliefs and practices.