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Harshadbhai (40) lives in the village of
Bochasan, Anand famous for having the largest temple for
Lord Swaminarayan in Gujarat. The village
population is around 11,000 people with most of the
families having at least some of their relatives
residing abroad. An agriculturist by profession
Harshadbhai also has some livestock from which he earns
around Rs 50,000 per annum. He has his wife and
two young sons in his family. Though his four
brothers are all graduates, he studied only up to
10th standard. His brothers live separately in the
same village with their families.
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| His father Shri Maganbhai Patel was a
herbal practitioner and it was mainly because of him
that Harshadbhai developed interest in traditional medications from the age of 16 years. Apart
from this, he also had interest in making earthen
idols, wall paintings and drawing during his leisure,
which today he could not pursue due to lack of
spare time. |
| Many years ago, large worms affected most of
the livestock in his village. Taking guidance from
his father he fed the animals with a herb, which resultedin the worms being expelled. This small
success went a long way to instill confidence in him
about these herbal practices. Presently he
administers herbal medications for curing endoparasites, diarrhoea, retention of placenta in animals
and curing stomach pain and fungal infestation in humans. |
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| Though he works selflessly, yet he has
not received much appreciation in the society for providing these herbal medications to
their animals. His practices have been sent to College of Veterinary Sciences,
Parbhani, Maharashtra for validation. He hopes that
if his practices get validated scientifically he may be able to use them commercially
and improve his financial status. |
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| He participated in the Inventors of
India workshop at IIM, Ahmedabad in October 2006 where he suggested that
such interaction between the herbal healers should be held more often so that the
knowledge acquired by a healer is shared with
other fellow healers facilitating its transfer and diffusion and subsequent utilization in the
service of the society. He also participated in the
Regional Workshop for Herbal Healers at Bhavnagar
in December 2006 scientists commented upon the possibility of product development. His
herbal formulations were much appreciated by the gathering. |
