The garden developed by the 65-year-old villager boasts of a wide range of 3,000 medicinal plants and Sahu has grown all of it over only 1.5 acre of land behind his house.
Juggling between the roles of a farmer and a traditional healer, Sahu has been taking extra care to grow these plants. “All I use is organic manure to nourish them. No chemical fertiliser has ever been used in my garden”, he says.
Sahu began learning about traditional medicine as a hobby at a young age. He developed the medicinal garden behind his house 40 years back and kept on adding new species of plants to it over the years.
Besides, I got access to many manuscripts on traditional healing practices and medicinal plants”, says Sahu, who is a farmer by day and Vaidya by night. But he does not demand a fee for treating people and accepts whatever they offer. The medicines are primarily prepared from the plants and herbs in his garden.
Of the 3,000 species in his garden, he has collected 500 species from different parts of India during his exposure visits facilitated by the Odisha Medicinal Plant Board.
The rest have been collected from different forests of Kalahandi. His garden boasts of rare species of plants like Ashoka, Lodhra, Bidanga, Sambarsingha, Rasnajadi, Tihudi, Bhin Kakharu, Maeda, Sarpagandha and Shatavari. Besides, he has five varieties of Bhringraj, Pengu, Panikusuma, Rajapatha, Nagavel, Debanasan, Jaladimbiri and Jyotismati.
Sahu has also grown all the Dasamoola species which are used in many Ayurvedic medicines.
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