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Sikh Medicine and How Babay Bhangra Paunday Nay
02/07/2008
http://thelangarhall.com/archives/121
During my elementary years, my dhadhi would always give me a spoonful of a foul-substance that was called ’sayth’ (health). For years, everyday, I would take a spoonful from the hands of my dhadhi without crying a word. I have no idea what I was taking or if it had any lasting effect, but as a kid I didn’t get sick that often and today I must admit I think I am healthy.
Many of us may have such memories, but no longer know the contents and usages of such desi remedies. Despite most of us being ‘mind-colonized’ by allopathic medicine, homeopathic medicine for preventative and minor ailment medication is being rediscovered by allopathic medical centers.
In 2005, researchers Davinder S. Sandhu and Michael Heinrich from the University of London’s School of Pharmacy published “The Use of Health Foods, Spices and other Botanicals in the Sikh Community in London” in Phytotherapy Research.
The researchers’ aims were simple:
In this paper we report on the use of plants as health foods, herbal medicines, and spices in an ethnic community – the Sikh of Punjab.
As far as methodology:
The research was carried out in seven Gurdwaras (Sikh places of worship) located in London selected by random sampling from a total of 35.
In total 84 semi-structured interviews were conducted in October and November. Of these interviews 40 (48%) were conducted with male informants, whilst 44 (52%) were with females. One question asked for the first point of call in case of minor illnesses such as headache or influenza. Interestingly 38% of all respondents chose self-medication with Sikh HMPs (herbal medicine products) as the preferred option, another 5% selected self-medication with OTC (over-the-counter)remedies.
Not surprisingly it was the older Sikhs surveyed that had a greater botanical knowledge of desi remedies:
As expected, the average number of species cited (i.e. botanical knowledge) is proportional to age, demonstrating greater knowledge in older generations.
babey.jpgThe sample sets showed that those 60-69 years old could on average cite 18 remedies, those 20-29 could only cite 7. Is this due to our lack of knowledge or a genuine rejection of our grandparents’ knowledge systems in favor of those only after ‘FDA approval’? Along with many other streams of Sikh knowledge, we are rapidly losing that information as we begin to lose our grandparents and parents.
Attached to the article is a fascinating list of various desi remedies and their uses. The most common probably would not be a surprise to many of us and include: onion – gunda, garlic – lasan/thon, cayenne pepper – lalmirch, cinnamon - dhal chini, lemon – nimbu, fennel – saunf, cardamom – elaichi, ginger – adrak.
Some may think of these as little more than ‘folk remedies,’ but it is widely known that homeopathic preventative medicine is becoming increasingly popular. Maybe this is also another reason why ‘Babay Bhangray Paunday Nay’ while the rest of us sit and complain about our ‘tuees’ (backs) and ‘godays’ (knees).
Have you taken any of these as remedies? Do you take HMPs? What are your thoughts on the loss of this little-studied stream of Sikh knowledge?
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