Understanding the importance of Indigenous Healing Practices from North-East Indian Tribe: implications for Health and Wellbeing

The research focused on understanding the impact of indigenous healing practices from north-East Indian tribe on health and wellbeing. There were three phases of the study.In Phase I the information about traditional healers from the bodo tribe, which is a second largest tribe in Assam, was gathered. Individual semi structured interviews were conducted with the traditional healers by the tribal members of the same community.The main areas covered were the: reasons for becoming a healer, the type of problems/illness treated, the procedure of healing, the healer’s training and practice, the need to heal, the age group who seeked his help, the use of medicinal plants, faith healing etc. During Phase II, the people treated were interviewed to understand the effectiveness of the healing process, the cultural beliefs, customs, traditions, family networks of the local people staying in that area. In Phase III the medical practitioners in the area were interviewed to understand their perception of traditional healers in medical care, their contribution and acceptance of traditional healing, the need to collaborate the traditional healers with medical practitioners. The interviews were re coded, and the transcripts were analyzed in detail to identify the main themes that emerged. The research has important insights into relevance of ethno-medicine and supernatural powers in healing and health care activities.