Abstract:

The paper aims at focusing light on the hidden indigenous knowledge of traditional medicines of the Khasis in Meghalaya. There is an age-old belief of the Khasis in a type of germ that infects the infants and newborns known as U Ñiangsohpet (Ñiang means germs and sohpet means the navel in Khasi dialect) and in administering of the herbal medicine Ka Dawai Ñiangsohpet to eliminate the germs from the body .The information presented in the paper is collected through direct field interviews with the indigenous herbal practitioners, observation of the patients to see the effectiveness of the herbal medicine, recording the testimony received from the parents whose children have been fully cured and also highlighting the view of the allopathic doctors on this matter. Ñiangsohpet is a form of infantile diarrhoea or irregular bowels and yellowness of the conjunctiva and skin during infanthood known as neonatal jaundice. This herbal medicine Ka Dawai Ñiangsohpet may prove effective in reducing infant mortality