In my childhood days, my mother and younger sister had jaundice almost every alternate year. Apart from having allopathic medicine, they were prescribed lots of glucose to drink and eat. It was believed that by eating the traditional medicine the Jaundice would be cured fast. So, they were having the traditional Chettu-mandhu - a herbal medicine that is an extract from plants and followed Pathyam. Pathyam includes restrictions on what to eat. For people in Pathyam food is generally made without vegetable oil. Preferably had Sorghum roti with red chilli powder mixed with garlic paste. Whereas, some of the traditional healers, recommended to consume things quite opposite. That is along with Chettu-mandhu they permitted to have cow’s milk, sugar cane juice, puffed rice and sometimes Mutton-Biryani too.

The main cause of jaundice was because we were drinking the water from the open well. The groundwater was highly contaminated by the seepage from septic tanks locally. As in our area, the drainage pipeline system was not established. I always went to Rakamcherla, a place close to Ghanapuram about 60 km West of Hyderabad city. There was a person who was giving Chettu mandhu. Its source is still kept as a secret by the person giving such a medicine. Every week once, he gave medicine dose, which is lumps of green leaves made into a paste. I went there many times and brought for my sister and mother whenever they had jaundice. They got cured by this method along with stringent pathyam.

One of the plants globally self-proclaimed as medicine is hemp