An Adivasi with a mission to propagate tribal medicine

Puducherry, Oct 8: At a time when people are leaning towards allopathy to treat even minor ailments, an ''adivasi'' is here with a mission to propagate tribal medicine and treatment.

Talking to UNI here today, V Seenu alias Sreenivasaraju, hailing from Gandhasri village in Kammam district of Andhra Pradesh, said for quite some time he, along with his father Guruji Sahadevaraju and family members, was promoting out the advantages of tribal medicines in various places in India and abroad.

Though, tribal medicine was known through the ages for its curative properties and had been passed from one generation to another, its use was confined to the adivasi habitations, he added.

Recalling an immemorable occasion he said, when Jawaharlal Nehru visited their village the dignitary was treated by his grandfather Lalam Raju. Mr Nehru was amazed by its healing power and asked them to come out of the village to promote its unique advantages.

Following this, they left their village and started opening clinics at different places.

Mr Srinivasaraju, who had set up his natural herbal medical clinics at the J N Street here, said the family had cured several people suffering from chronic disorders. He has clinics in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

''We do not charge any fee for treatment, but accept what people voluntarily give us'', he said.

Srinivasaraju said not only Indians, but foreigners also used to visit his clinic regularly. The Deputy French Consul General Pierre Blondel, who had availed an effective tribal treatment from Srinivasaraju, later arranged for his visit to France for treating patients there. His clients had also taken him to Germany, Switzerland and Denmark. ''I am scheduled to visit London shortly'', he added.

The Adivasi medicine has around 5,000 different varieties of herbs collected from forests across the country. Some of these are powdered while the extract of some others is used for medicine.

Whatever is the form of medicine, it would be given to patients with a prayer to their god, he said.

Mr Srinivasaraju, who had treated a good number of VIPs, is keen to preserve this alternative system of medicine and wished that it should not die instead flurish. With this view, Ayurveda was taught, along with it, to a few youngsters, he added.

UNI