{"id":345320,"date":"2025-08-28T18:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T12:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=345320"},"modified":"2025-08-28T18:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T12:47:11","slug":"arogyapacha-and-kani-tribe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/arogyapacha-and-kani-tribe\/","title":{"rendered":"Arogyapacha and Kani Tribe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News: <\/strong>Kuttimathan Kani, the forest elder who revealed Arogyapacha, <strong>died in poverty at 72 on August 23, 2025<\/strong> near Kerala\u2019s Agasthyamalai forests.<\/p>\n<h2>About Arogyapacha<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_345322\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-345322\" style=\"width: 379px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-345322\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Source-DTE.jpg?resize=379%2C264&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"379\" height=\"264\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Source-DTE.jpg?resize=300%2C209&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Source-DTE.jpg?w=707&amp;ssl=1 707w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 379px) 100vw, 379px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-345322\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; DTE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a small <strong>rhizomatous perennial herb<\/strong> (<em>Trichopus zeylanicus<\/em>),<\/li>\n<li><strong>Distribution:<\/strong> <strong>Sri Lanka, southern India, Malaysia<\/strong>; near streams in lowland forests; around <strong>1,000 m<\/strong> in India\n<ul>\n<li><strong>In India: <\/strong>It is endemic to the Western Ghats (Agasthya hills).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Importance:<\/strong> It is revered as a <strong>\u201c<\/strong><strong>miracle plant.<\/strong><strong>\u201d<\/strong> Used by the <strong>Kani tribe<\/strong> <strong>to combat fatigue.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>University of Kerala<\/strong> decoded its genome, enabling work on secondary metabolism, genetic improvement, and comparative studies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>About Kani Tribe<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Kani (Kanikarars)<\/strong> live in the <strong>Agasthyamalai hills<\/strong> of the Western Ghats, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.<\/li>\n<li>They are traditionally <strong>nomadic<\/strong>; but now <strong>settled<\/strong>. (<strong>not<\/strong> notified as a <strong>PVTG)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Population:<\/strong> <strong>Around 25,000<\/strong> living in <strong>hamlets of 10\u2013<\/strong><strong>20 families<\/strong> around forest areas.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Language:<\/strong> <strong>Tamil<\/strong> and <strong>Malayalam<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Governance<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Each settlement has a hereditary council: <strong>Moottukani<\/strong> (chief), <strong>Vilikani<\/strong> (convenor), <strong>Pilathi\/Plathi<\/strong> (physician-priest).<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Moottukani<\/strong> combined the roles of <strong>lawgiver, protector, judge<\/strong>, and healer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pilathi\/Plathi<\/strong> are believed to have special powers. They perform rituals, chant mantras, and use the <strong>Kokara<\/strong> Only <strong>Pilathi\/Plathi<\/strong> may <strong>preserve and transmit<\/strong> traditional medical knowledge.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Livelihoods<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Handicrafts<\/strong>, seasonal collection of <strong>honey<\/strong> and <strong>beeswax<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Farming <strong>tapioca, banana, millets<\/strong>, and cash crops.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Key strength<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Vast expertise<strong> in medicinal plants \u2013 famous for using Arogyapacha.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Kuttimathan Kani, the forest elder who revealed Arogyapacha, died in poverty at 72 on August 23, 2025 near Kerala\u2019s Agasthyamalai forests. About Arogyapacha It is a small rhizomatous perennial herb (Trichopus zeylanicus), Distribution: Sri Lanka, southern India, Malaysia; near streams in lowland forests; around 1,000 m in India In India: It is endemic to&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/arogyapacha-and-kani-tribe\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Arogyapacha and Kani Tribe<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,4182,11209,12039],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-345320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-environment","category-geography-in-news","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345320\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}