By: NISHA THAPA MANGER
This paper presents an integrated ethnographic and ethnobotanical account of the Manger community (also spelled Mangar and identified as Magar in Nepal) in the Sikkim Himalayas. Based on fieldwork in the villages of Mangsari and Suldung in West Sikkim, the study examines the Dhami-Jhankri shamanic healing tradition, the community’s pluralistic religious ecology, and the use of thirty wild plant species to treat thirty-seven ailments, most commonly gastrointestinal disorders. Placing these practices within a medical-anthropological framework, the study highlights both the richness of indigenous knowledge systems and their vulnerability to overharvesting, religious transformation, and out-migration. It concludes with recommendations for phytochemical validation, sustainable cultivation, equitable benefit-sharing, and the formal integration of traditional healers into rural healthcare initiatives.
