Tattoo navels to ward off stomach ailments
Ranchi: For English footballer David Beckham or film star Saif Ali Khan sporting tattoos on their bodies may be a fad, but children in Jharkhand are tattooed around their navels to protect them from stomach ailments.
A tribal child in Jharkhand, usually around 21 days old, undergoes a painful puncturing of skin around his navel by a hot sickle in the belief that it will protect him from various diseases.

Some doctors believe that tattooing around the naval of a child indeed builds up an immuno-modulation giving protection against some stomach ailments.

"I have seen tattoos around the navels of many of my tribal patients. Though the tribals practice it as a tradition, the method is medically proved and it protects the spleen during childhood," says paediatrician Ajit Sahay.

Sahay said doctors have found that tattooing leads to immuno-modulation.

Director of the Jharkhand Tribal Research Institute, Prakash Oraon, says tattooing is a tradition not only in the state, but also in Andhra Pradesh.

With some traditional remedies still proving to be beneficial, the Jharkhand Welfare Department has brought out a book detailing home cures with the help of herbal plants, barks, leaves, fruits, flowers and seeds, Oraon said.

The book gives an account of the medicinal usage of 169 plants and trees which can help treating heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure, common cold, stomach ailments and snake-bite.

Bureau Report