The Wisdom of Tibetan Medicine
Kathmandu, Oct., 1996 -- Our Royal Nepal Airlines helicopter swept low over the bright
green rice fields of the Himalayan foothills and entered the Kali Gandaki River gorge -- the deepest in the world where it bisects the Annapurna and Dhauligiri mountain ranges -- before emerging above the arid heights of the Tibetan Plateau. Within 30 minutes, we had passed from the subtropical climate of Pokhara, northwest of Kathmandu, into the rainshadow of the Himalayas.
The airport town of Jomsom looked like the setting of a Tibetan Western. Ponies wearing colorful saddles stood in front of squat stone homes, and frequent gusts of wind blew dust down the single cobbled street. After acclimatizing to Jomsom's altitude (11,000 feet) for two days, I joined Prem Gurung, a Nepali agriculturalist, for the half-day trek up the Muktinath
Valley to Jharkot village.
When I visited the area three years before, Prem had not yet begun his research to record the ways in which doctors of Tibetan Medicine in Nepal's northern Mustang region collect and use
medicinal plants. Now I would accompany Prem and a local doctor on one of their collection and identification trips. The goal was to evaluate opportunities for the Tibetan Plateau Project (TPP) to support similar medicinal plant research and conservation efforts.
Many of the people north of the Nepali Himalaya are known as bhotia, indicating their Tibetan origins. The bhotia brought their customs and knowledge to the area, including the system of Tibetan medicine -- a 2,500-year-old practice employing physical diagnosis, natural medicines and spiritual guidance to treat and heal a variety of illnesses and diseases. Tibetan doctors, called amchis, study for up to 12 years as apprentices to practicing physicians or in monasteries. Often, they are the only source of treatment for Mustang villagers.
Tibetan medicines rely on some 1,000 plants, as well as various animal and mineral ingredients. Of these medicinal plants, 650 occur in Nepal and 365 are native to Mustang. Soma Namgyal, a monk and amchi at the Muktinath Traditional Medical Center in Jharkot, has collected and prepared many of these plants for medicinal uses, and stored them at the center on the grounds of the village temple.
Since my last visit, amchi Namgyal had taken on 17 apprentices -- including two girls -- ranging in age from 11-24. In addition to daily study, the students assist Namgyal by collecting important plants from the Muktinath Valley.
Tsampa Namgyal, an amchi and farmer from the neighboring village of Puthok, took Prem and me on a similar plant collection trip to gather more information for Prem's research on the environmental threats to Mustang's medicinal plants. Anecdotal information provided by several amchis suggests that some species may be declining due to overgrazing, microclimate changes and a shift in land-use patterns.
We began our walk at the head of the Muktinath Valley, working west along the southern bank of the Jhong River, until we reached its confluence with the Kali Gandaki River at Kagbeni village.
Amchi Namgyal seemed to follow an erratic path on his collection walk, stooping here and there to examine the vegetation, occasionally cutting or uprooting a specimen. Amchis rarely use the entire plant -- instead choosing flowers, fruits, roots or leaves for their various properties -- but they sometimes must unearth a plant to get at the roots before bringing the materials home for medicinal preparation.
During the two days we walked the valley, Namgyal restricted his search to agricultural fields and orchards, claiming that few useful specimens grew on the hills the villagers use as pasture. His explanation confirmed information provided by other local amchis indicating that overgrazing in highland areas may be contributing to the loss of the Muktinath Valley's medicinal flora.
In all, we gathered more than 30 types of pl-- almost 10 percent of the region's species. The remainder of Prem's work entails additional research on the ecology and uses of more than 100 medicinal plants he has collected with the aid of local amchis. To complete his United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) project, he plans to publish a Tibetan-language booklet on the plants. In the meantime, approximately 40 amchis will be organizing the Mustang Amchis' Association (MAA) to assist the project to document local knowledge of medicinal plants and practices.
When the UNESCO project is finished, TPP hopes to assist Prem Gurung with his ongoing pursuit to develop a regional conservation strategy for medicinal plants. Both TPP and Prem would work closely with the MAA to develop a long-term plan for the conservation and collection of the region's medicinal flora. This approach ultimately would contribute to a better understanding of the biology and clinical function of these plants in Tibetan medicine.
In cooperation with local amchis and researchers, TPP hopes to focus its 1998 field activities on the documentation, evaluation and conservation of medicinal plants. Within a few years, TPP anticipates assisting amchis in developing ongoing projects to conserve and sustainably manage Mustang's medicinal plant resources.