Bhil Ramdas: Spreading the goodness of herbal medicine

DIBRUGARH, February 24: Its a case against modern medical science, if Voltaire's words could speak aloud : "The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while Nature cures the disease." Not many would agree that Nature, which takes as little as possible of anything, can provide a cure for all ailments. But when patrons of herbal medicine guarantee a cure for some incurable malady like diabetes and asthma and camp in your city unless the efficacy of their herbs is proved, sceptics might score their own goal. The Bhils of Madhya Pradesh have been treating their ailments with herbs and medicinal plants found in the jungles since aeons. In recent times, the Rajvaidya of the King of the Bhil tribesmen, N K Bhimraj took up the gauntlet of spreading the goodness of traditional medicines : An art and a science which have since been spread by his sons and grandchildren. One of the latter is Kaviraj Ramdas,who is these days in the city. Kaviraj Ramdas, now 47 years old, has taken alternative medicines to treat many celebrities, from Rajiv Gandhi to Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. His treatment is free of cost, except for certain herbs which may have to be purchased in case he does not have the requisite stocks. He claims to have cures for more than 300 ailments from allergy to obesity. The only matter of significance is that unlike allopathy, no quick cures are guaranteed and therapies may continue for upto seven to eight months, depending on the ailment and its history. According to the Bhil tradition of medication, food habits and climatic conditions are major contributors to diseases. This, according to Kaviraj Ramdas, can be diagnosed from the pulse beat of a patient. Traditional Bhil medication, however, is yet to find a cure for killer diseases like cancer and AIDS. The usual ingredients to make the traditional medicine include blackberry seeds, bitter gourd, neem flowers, chirata, trifala, ajwain, etc. The making of the medicine is very methodical, and this is where expertise comes into play. This is why the practitioners of this form of medicine imbibe their knowledge from father to son. Moreover, diseases are not treated symptomatically but depending on case to case of the individual patient. For the obese, diabetic, allergy, ulcer, infertility and skin disease patient, Kaviraj Ramdas has a cure. One has just to contact him. He will be available for about a month from now at his camp at Banshbari Pathaar here, where he is a guest at the residence of Paramesh Chandra Paul. A trial should not be harmful.