2018, Vol. 6, Issue 5, Part B

author(s)
Sweety Rani Saha, Faruk Hossain, Ramjan Sarder, Muslima Akter, Nazma Hasan, Zahura Binte Haque, Emranul Haque Apu, Audity Hossain, Sharmin Akter, Ishita Malek and Mohammed Rahmatullah

abstract
The Santal community represents the largest and possibly the oldest tribal community inhabiting the northwestern regions of Bangladesh. Due to their long acquaintance with their habitat, the Santal tribal medicinal practitioners have been found to be quite knowledgeable about therapeutic uses of medicinal plants. In recent years, however, because of loss of habitat and conversion of the community to other religions, the Santal medicinal practitioners have become dispersed and so is their phytotherapeutic knowledge, which is on the verge of becoming lost. Since plants have from ancient times formed excellent sources of modern drugs, the objective of the present study was to document the phytotherapeutic knowledge of a Santal medicinal practitioner (SMP) at Malar para village in Dinajpur district, which is at the northwestern part of Bangladesh. Although the SMP was found to use only eight plants distributed into eight families, the phytotherapeutic uses of the plants were quite novel thus justifying the need to document the medicinal practices of indigenous people. The various plants were used to treat ailments like respiratory tract disorders, pain, fever, diabetes, heart disorders, skin diseases, night blindness, and spleen disorders. The plants used for treatment of diabetes and heart disorders can prove useful in the treatment of these two complicated ailments. Cumulatively, the plants may prove useful in the discovery of new drugs.