9 - Our Living Medical Heritage

Summary

Trisivaperur's Poison Specialist

Trisivaperur is the old name for Trissur—Lord Shiva's home. The combination of four words thru, shiva, per, oor means ‘the place with Lord Shiva's name’. “Pampu kadiyanengil atu manakkel tampurattiyude aduthupoya mati” (If it is a snakebite, go to the tampuratti of mana; that is enough.): this is what a villager, beaming with confidence, said when I asked him about the tradition of treating poisonous bites. He was referring to Vimala Antharjanam.

Vimala Antharjanam, a young housewife of Ullannor mana (the word mana means a Brahmin house) of Venkitangu Panchayat, started her practise as visa vaidya (poison specialist) soon after she got married to the second son of Ullanoor mana. He belonged to a Brahmin farming family. She started when she was barely 16 years old and has been practising successfully for 26 years now. She recollects how she began practising. “Once I was stepping out of the temple, and one of our family friends was coming towards the temple. He requested me to treat his son whom a dog had bitten.”

This friend knew that she had been trained by her father, who was well known for his skill in treating almost all kinds of poisonous bites. He lived in one of the villages of Palakkadu in Kerala. After her marriage, Vimala Antharjanam carried the tradition of visa vaidyam to Trissur district.