A SURVEY ON ENDANGERED JHARKHAND TRIBAL LANGUAGES AND LOSS OF INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE OF MEDICINAL PLANTS

: Local languages are the channels that let us know about culture, knowledge, sentiments, regional attributes and many other facets related to a settlement and community. Unfortunately, it is found in various parts of the world languages are eroding or have completely disappeared. Such destruction of languages is caused because of different reasons that include ecological shift, destruction of a community, cultural conflicts, language vulnerabilities of minority groups and others. The event of language loss results in the extinction of culture and indigenous knowledge of the region that are distinct and worthy in its kind. Based on this threat caused out of language loss, this research is planned as a questionnaire based survey in various regions of Jharkhand where the spoken language is Santali, Mundari and Ho. Purpose of this research is to identify the erosion of indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants due to the growing vulnerabilities of these tribal languages. The survey finds medicinal plants' familiarity index and awareness index of local people on these plants. Based on these two parameters the research concludes that conservation of these tribal languages are important. Unless suitable protective measures are implemented, there is greater risk of damage of indigenous knowledges of medicinal plants that can otherwise be commercially spread and bring economical prospects for the local people of Jharkhand.