Herbal steam bath of Mangoobhai
   

Despite all my efforts to have the best time management, I reached Saputara around noon. The moment I reached the circuit house, there was Mangoobhai waiting for me. He is Bhagat, a herbal healer. Dr. Deepak Acharya who is working among Bhagats of the Dangs had arranged my meeting with him. Deepak recently published a book on tribal herbal medicines along with Anshu Shrivastav. The book is a treasure of tribal formulations and traditional herbal practices.
Dr. Acharya, a botanist, initially worked with herbal healers of Patalkot in Madhya Pradesh. These illiterate but masters of medicinal plants and herbal therapy are known as Bhumkas in Patalkot while in the Dangs Bhagat is their common name, says Dr. Acharya. In fact a long talk with Dr. Acharya inspired me to visit the Dangs and further talks with Dr. S K Nanda, guardian secretary, the Dangs, finally brought me here through my adventure journey.
I asked Mangoobhai about his way of diagnosis and treatment of patients. He said that if patient knew about the problem and had medical diagnosis he depended on that, otherwise Nadi parikshan was his way. His Nadi parikshan is not limited to the vein of the hand. He would put his hand in a typical form at the heart, base of the throat and the lower brain portion of the circle.
59 year old Mangoobhai is candid. He says in half of the cases he is right. Arthritis, kidney problems are some of the areas where he is the best, he says. Mangoobhai Bhoye has studied upto fourth standard. His two sons are also with him in his profession. His son goes to Nasik and Surat once in a fortnight. Earlier Mangoobhai used to go.
In Nasik, a man has given him accommodation. He was very pleased by Mangoobhai's treatment of his daughter who had paralysis. The girl was cured and the man asked Mangoobhai to visit Nasik to treat people of the pilgrim place. Similarly, a heart patient has given him space in Surat for his fortnight consultancy for the benifit of the people of Surat.
He lives in Shivarimal about 21 kilometers from Saputara. I decided to go to his village and see him in action. We had Lunch at Purohit Hotel, the first private hotel of the Dangs set up in 1982. He did not want to have anything and preferred to be with Natubhai Purohit the owner of the Hotel who also happens to be his regular client.
The moment we came out, a lady accosted Mangoobhai. She said that she saw his vehicle and stopped to meet him. Otherwise, she was going to contact him. She had sprained leg and wanted Mangoobhai to treat it with his herbal lotion. Mangoobhai pointed out that for that she would have to come to his village. She got into the vehicle of Mangoobhai. His son was driving it.
She was principal of Ritumbhara School and had great faith in Mangoobhai. I asked her if she was Ramila Patel. This surprised her. I told her of meeting with the Principal Anoopsinhji Parmar in the Bilimora- Saputara bus in the morning. He had given her reference as a reliable source to know about Saputara.
At times we meet people so accidentally that the world appears to be very small! But there are also cases when people from the same area do not come across each other for years. These are the vagaries of life!
His clinic in the village is in the herbal background, green. Here I learnt about his herbal massage and steam bath. A person was taking steam bath. His steam bath machine is an excellent innovation which adds to the charm of natural herbs and shrubs.
After about 20 minute vigorous massage of oil of herbs and shrubs, one is made to sit on a chair in a wooden box. Steam is generated in a tin box having herbal water in it. The steam comes to the box through a pipe. The steam bath session is of 10 to 20 minutes depending in the strength of the individual.
Explaining this, Mangoobhai says that people with gastric problem find it very difficult to sit even for five minutes in the first session. Later on they can sit for long. For all this he charges just Rs 170. Mangoobhai says that the massage and steam bath have a general effect on the body besides special effect on people with all kind of pains. He says that it reduces weight also, about a kilo per massage. Though the weight loss is small, it is permanent, he claims.
Judging my curiosity, Mangoobhai made me have massage and the steam bath. I can say that I really found myself very light for the next two -three days. Today when people go to Kerala for the herbal massage and spend lot of money, they can come to Saputara also. Infact, Gujarat Tourism can market Dang herbal massage as its specialty and these Dangis can get good price for their knowledge of herbs and skills of massage.
Mangoobhai has his two sons, his sister-in-law and several other relatives in the job. While giving me massage , his nephew Ashok said that it requires someone like a relative to do all sundry jobs to make the business a success. Buses between Saputara and this village are few.Ramilaben's husband came on a motorcycle and she left. I and my local guide, Talati of Saputara, Ramesh Chaudhary, were with Mangoobhai. We missed the last bus of 6 pm in intimate and educative conversation with the master healer Mangoobhai and his sons. Even otherwise there are not many buses. We waited on the road to get lift in some truck. None stopped. Ultimately, Mangoobhai's son dropped us back to Saputara.
Local transport is a major problem in the district and either you should have your vehicle for smooth movement or you should have the patience to enjoy the stillness of life in the picturesque Dangs with its hill station Saputara.
In the Circuit House, I wanted a room having view of the valley. But there was no such room vacant. Nilesh, the manager, was quite apologetic that he could not get me the room of my choice. I had taken the help of Nanda to get accommodation because of holiday season and Nilesh was sorry that he was not able to treat the guest of Nanda is more than a guardian secretary to the people of the district.
Nanda meets people, mingles with them like a local. He has created a sort of record by being the guardian secretary of the district for more than a dozen year. No other IAS is known to survive as guardian secretary of a district for so long.
For the next two days, I used a bench in the compound to have the look of the beautiful valley from there. I sat outside watching the beauty of Saputara. Hotel Vaiety, at a great height, looked like something hanging like a luminous UFO of the story books.