Balangir, Sept 21: At 59, traditional healer and environmentalist Tekendra Jal, popularly known as Tekendra Baba, is racing against time to save the rare medicinal plants of Gandhamardan.
Spread across the forests between Balangir and Bargarh districts, Gandhamardan is a treasure trove of biodiversity. Yet, unregulated collection of medicinal plants is putting several rare species at risk.
For Tekendra Baba, the fight to protect them is deeply personal. A resident of Putkelchua village in Khaprakhol block of Balangir district, Jal comes from a family that has practised traditional healing for four generations. His great-grandfather, Sunia Jal, was among the family’s early traditional healers.
Although Jal studied only up to Class X, generations of traditional knowledge have taught him to identify medicinal plants and their uses. He has now turned that knowledge towards conservation.
About seven years ago, he began cultivating rare medicinal plants on his own land. With support from the Regional Centre for Development Cooperation (RCDC), he later developed a medicinal garden where more than 70 varieties of rare herbs, grasses and root-based plants are being conserved.
Jal has dedicated nearly 1.5 acres of his farmland to the Gandhamardan Ayurvedic Vaidya Mahasangha at Harishankar for this purpose. Traditional healers from different areas visit the garden to collect roots, leaves, bark and other plant parts for medicinal preparations.
Among the species he has helped conserve are Bhaunramari, Debanashan, Baghamara, Pashanabhedi, Nageswar, Bachhanag, Machhakund, Suryakanti, Kholkhamar, Rasana, Godanti, Gokulakanta, Sabali and Chithalchhali.
Jal says the threat to Gandhamardan does not necessarily come from large-scale mechanised extraction. Instead, traders employ daily wage workers to collect medicinal plants in small quantities. Since many collectors lack training in sustainable harvesting, plants are often uprooted unnecessarily. Trees may be felled for their bark, while branches are cut when only leaves or fruits are required.
Over time, such practices can severely reduce wild populations.
“Before these rare plants disappear, we need to conserve them ourselves,” Jal says, stressing the need to preserve Gandhamardan’s medicinal wealth for future generations.
The importance of the region was formally recognised in 2023, when the Odisha Forest and Environment Department declared Gandhamardan a Biodiversity Heritage Site, making it the state’s third such site.
The hills are home to around 1,055 plant species, including 849 angiosperms, 56 pteridophytes, 40 bryophytes, 45 lichens, two gymnosperms and 63 macrofungi. They also harbour around 500 animal species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies and dragonflies.
Against this vast ecological backdrop, Jal’s medicinal garden may seem small. But for the traditional healer, every plant saved is a piece of Gandhamardan’s living heritage preserved—and a chance to keep an ancient tradition of healing alive.
