Ethno-medicinal Uses of Animals and Plants among the Migratory Tangbetons of Pokhara, Nepal

This paper attempts to study various uses of medicinal animals and plants among the migratory Tangbetons of Nepal who were migrated to Pokhara Sub-Metro Politian City from Tangbe Village in Mustang district. Direct observation, questionnaire survey and key informant interview were conducted during the study period. Information about the medicinal plants and animals were given mainly by the Amchi and their information was taken from the elder persons. Finally, this paper recorded 17 medicinal animal species and 60 widely used medicinal plant species for the treatment of various diseases.

rely on traditional herbal medicine for their health care. Biodiversity and bio-resoureces have high affinity in the case of ethnic groups in Nepal (Singh, 1995;Singh, 1997). Lama et.al (2001) has published a book on 100 medicinal plants of Dolpa that gave emphasis on Amchis' knowledge and conservation. Tangbetons are the ethnic group having small number of population. Populations of Tangbetons have not been described in any Census of Nepal. So it was difficult to get the exact number of population of Tangbetons in Nepal. There are about 32 households in Tangbe Village, about 100 families in Pokhara, around 25 families in Jomsom, around 20 families in Kathmandu. The estimated studied population of Tangbetons in Pokhara seems to be around 500 by using the average family size of 4.88 per family of Nepal in 2011 (CBS, 2012). However, the total estimated population may be around 1000 in Nepal. Majority of them are mainly found in Pokhara. Indeed, these are the original inhabitants of Tangbe Village that lies in Mustang District. These groups are influenced by the Tibetan Medicine System. So the healers of these groups are known as Amchi, who prepare medicine by the use of available plants and animals. In this context, this paper attempts to explore and then document the various uses of medicinal animals and medicinal plants for the treatment of different diseases found among Tangbetons.

INTRODUCTION
Nepal, having 1,47,181 sq.km area is naturally beautiful, varied with biodiversity having Sagaramatha as the highest peak in the world. Plants and animals and their products are the primary source of medicine and highly valued resource of Nepal, especially of the rural area which is dependent on the locally available medicinal animals and plants to cure the disease. These people have specific knowledge for using plants and animals. Ayurveda, Amchi, Naturopathy etc. are important traditional health care systems existing in Nepal. Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is being increasingly used by consumers to prevent disease and promote health in general. Perception of patients visiting the traditional medicine based centres and the hunger towards moreeffective service provision by the providers seems to be taking these systems of medicine towards the path of furtherdevelopment. Well recognition and further motivation by the state will help capacitate and strengthen these systemsof medicine and garner their proper development in the Nepalese context (Gewali, 2008;Koirala et al. 2013). Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious nation with about 126 ethnic groups speaking about 123 dialects (Bista, 1987;Bista, 2004;CBS, 2012). The knowledge system may be different in same ethnic group due to geographical variation. The contribution of biodiversity to the health of the people in the region is extremely important because 80percent of the people chowk, Srijana chowk, New road, Mahendrapool and Chipledunga in Pokhara are some of the study areas in which about 100 families of migratory Tangbetons are distributed. This study was conducted from Sept 2010 to April 2011. The interview was mainly taken with a group of Amchis in order to get the knowledge of medicinal animals and plants being used in Tangbetons for decades. Other elderly people were also interviewed with a view to explore and document the indigenous knowledge system found in the Tangbetons. The plants and animals used by the Amchi for the medicinal value were identified mainly by themselves. In our research work, we included two different ways of data collection. Under primary data collection we included the questionnaire survey, key informants interview and field works. Between above mention time period, we visited the study area many times. We directly observed some of the animals and plants used by Tangbetons, and we also took the photos of those observed animals and plants. These pictures were also used to identify the animals and plants that they are used for medicinal uses. Primary information were compared to that of the available secondary information in order to make the results more reliable and valid. The secondary information were taken from published and unpublished sources such as books, journals, research notes and reports, academic papers, dissertations and theses, etc.

RESULTS
Animal, plant, nature and human beings have intimate association with one another along with the advancement of human civilization which finally led the indigenous people like Tangbetons to know the use of natural resources in a more needy way. Tangbetons had some different type of indigenous knowledge and they even had the knowledge about different medicinal plants and animals and the utilization of those species. Those people do not have their own group traditional healer, so they depend upon the Tibetan Amchi to cure different diseases. The study showed that they make use of the 60 species of medicinal plants belonging to 40 families and 17 species of animals belonging to 8 orders and 12 families for medicinal purpose. Animal species were used to cure arthritis, thyroidism, diarrhea, over bleeding, etc. Plant species were used for purification of blood, backache, joint pain, B.P, diabetes, common cold etc. This study was based on the migratory Tangbetons found in the some areas of Pokhara, so the people living there use both Traditional and Modern health facilities. The elderly people who come to visit their relatives in Pokhara from Mustang use the medicine from Amchi. Following table shows some medicinal practices among the Tangbeton people.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Although Tangbetons are one of the indigenous ethnic groups of Nepal originally from the Bahra Gaunle, Chhusang village in Mustang district, but their population is not recorded yet in the National Population and Housing Census in Nepal 2011 (CBS, 2012). Those people utilized the natural resources in their area many years before and even today they are practicing their indigenous system in Jomsom, Pokhara, and Kathmandu where they have been migrated. Tangbetons have indigenous knowledge to utilize the plant and animal species for medicinal purposes at local level. This study revealed the utilization of 17 species of medicinal animals and different 60 species of medicinal plants both wild and domesticated by Tangbetons to cure various diseases. The different parts of animals used were horn, bone, meat, blood, gall bladder, fat, brain, skin, nail, urine, stool, hair and whole body for the treatment of different diseases as diarrhea, fever, joint pain, rheumatism, thyroidism, eye pain, swelling etc. Whereas the different parts of plants used were stem, root, fruit, bark or whole part of the plants were used to cure Jaundice, diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid, piles, blood pressure, mental disorder, diabetes, kidney fever, sinusitis etc. The way they used medicine was orally as internal medication and external medication. The different species of plants and animals reported with their traditional medical therapy in the present research work are also supported by the findings of other researches for different purposes, like Aloe barbadensis is used for the burn, high blood pressure and spots on the skin in the present study. Ghimire (1999), Tamang (2003), and Dhami (2010) reported the same species for digestive disorder, curing cough and the treatment of boil. Present study documented the use of Terminalia chebula is for gastritis and purification of blood whereas Pangeni (2005) and Dhami (2010) reported the same species for chronic ulcer wound and the treatment of rheumatism. The present study also explored the use of Cannabis sativas for the purification of blood whereas Dhami (2010) clearly reported that Cannabis sativa was also used for the treatment of rheumatism, arthritis and pain.
Similarly Zingiber officinalae, Zanthoxylum armatum, Prunus persicca, Dolichus biflorus, Ocimum sativum, Acorus calamus were also supported by the findings of other researchers for similar use (GON 1984(GON & 1994Ghimire & Thomas, 2002;Pandey, 2006;Joshi & Joshi 2007). Finally, the utilization of different 60 species of medicinal plants and 17 species of medicinal animals both wild and domesticated was found in Tangbetons to cure various diseases. Tangbetons depend on Lama for their cultural rites whereas on Amchi for their treatment to various disease. The migratory Tangbetons do not have their own Amchi they depend on the Tibetan Amchi as they are greatly influenced by the Tibetan culture. Most of them are Buddhist, and avoid sacrificing the animals but Tangbetons feasts and festivals are incomplete without meat.
There are different types of Indigenous Knowledge System found in the Tangbetons. To name few are storage of seeds and food grains, preparation of indigenous drink 'Pa gheun' and 'Pa jhi', preparation and use of materials from locally available resources. These sorts of indigenous knowledge system are transmitted to the young generation of Amchis by verbal communication as well as some documentation in Tibetan language. The Amchi system of treatment of various diseases by the use of medicinal animals and plants is a unique system in the trans-Himalayan range across Northern border of Nepal.