ROLE OF INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE IN THE AFRO INDIAN SIDDI COMMUNITIES’ HEALTH SYSTEM: AN INTERFACE BETWEEN TRADITION, SPIRITUALITY, AND MEDICINE

Abstract

The Afro-Indian Siddi community, one of the country‟s unique and distinct tribes living in several states like Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and others, is part of India‟s rich cultural diversity. When Africans first arrived in India through Arabs, Portuguese, and as traders, they became the masters of the sea, and later rose to power to become rulers. Apart from their many ideas, they brought with them indigenous knowledge of medicine and healthcare rooted in their ancestral traditions. Having a diasporic origin, the Siddis use a healthcare system that combines local customs and Indian rituals with indigenous African knowledge, which has been passed down for generations, although currently, they have their own knowledge of healthcare. This study explores how the Siddis‟ African heritage and traditional knowledge have been entwined with Indian local cultural and medical systems over centuries, as well as their traditional health beliefs and ethnomedical practices, providing a unique perspective on cross-cultural health traditions. The methodology of the study is focused on six field visits in the last one year and around 50 interviews, among a few interactions with the Siddi communities of the Junagadh and Gir Somnath districts of Gujarat and Ankola, Yellapur, Ankola, Sirsi and Haliyal talukas of Karnataka. Identification of key informants was done to examine healthcare practices and beliefs of the key informants who possessed traditional medicinal knowledge. Some traditional medicinal knowledge of the community members include Ruksana Chotiyara of Sirwan (Gujarat) and Laxmi and Jjuma Siddi of Ankola (Karnataka) who employ local herbs and plant-based medicines to cure diseases such as childbirth support, orthopedic diseases, and others. Their healing practices centre on medicinal plants such as Tulsi, Ashoka, Til, Sonamuki and Harda. The study highlights how these practices not only address immediate healthcare needs but also serve as a reflection of the indigenous knowledge systems of the Siddi community, highlighting their culturally rooted approaches to healthcare. By acknowledging and integrating such indigenous systems, we can remove the local problems of the community and address them through traditional healing practices.