Profiling the healing practices of Malabar Mappila community of Kerala: A review

Background: Prevailing in a contesting field of science and modernity, where high risks for traditional healing mechanisms to get undervalued in treatment hierarchy, Mappila of Kerala have maintained to stabilize their significant position in therapeutic practices of Malabar. As a community that ritually encourages the traces for better health through the mechanisms of mind-body therapy, they treat curing mechanisms not only as a remedial measure but also as a precautionary measure. Objective: To assess and determine the unrecognized therapeutic practices among Malabar Mappilas of Kerala. Materials and Methods: The explorative research design conducted through field study with Snowball sampling method and questionnaire, in-depth interview techniques has been used for data collection. Online databases and public health literatures was reviewed for the study. Results: Mappila's treatment mechanism can be generally categorized into three approaches; i) The practice assisted with herbal medicines, ii) The practice assisted with diet, iii) The practice assisted with spirituality. Assessments also revealed the influence of ‘cultural Islamisation' and attributes of Malabarian terrain in leveraging the incorporation of certain natural materials into the healing episteme which helped in mastering in seasonal medicines and single medicine therapy. Conclusion: The curative potentiality of this community medicine will aid for enhancing the credibility and relevance of traditional medicine in general. The subsections oriented over these themes provide a holistic and evaluative understanding of the treatment modalities within Malabar Mappila community and helps to succinct the supplementing relationship within the triads. i.e., the nature, the human, the religion.