Traditional Healing Practices in North East India

Northeastern region of the India comprising states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura still follow the age old traditional healing systems based on Ayurveda, Unani and other allied practices. Each state is having its own dialect, plant and animal resources for meeting out the requirement of community including health facilities. They all adapt herbs, animal parts, mantras for keeping them healthy. During various studies it was observed that the traditional healers in this region belong to different categories like herbalist, diviners and birth attendants etc. Their method of treatment, ethics and significance of traditional healing practices are discussed in this paper. At the moment, scientific validation and recognition of traditional healing medicines are urgently required for revitalizing this loosing traditional knowledge.