Jamu (medicine)

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Jamu warung on Java.

Jamu (formerly Djamu) is a traditional medicine in Indonesia . It is mainly herbal medicine made from natural materials, such as parts of plants like roots , bark , flowers , seeds , leaves and fruits. Animals also use materials such as milk , honey , eggs from Ayam Kampung chickens, and bile from goats .

Jamu is used all over Indonesia, but it is most common in Java .

history

It is said that Jamu originated in the Mataram Kingdom about 1,300 years ago. Although Indonesia is heavily influenced by Ayurveda from India , it is a sprawling archipelago with numerous indigenous plants that are not found in India and plants similar to those of Australia beyond the Wallace line . Jamu therefore also differ greatly from region to region.

Historical use

Jamu seller in Jakarta , ca.1910 .

Jamu was and is used by local healers, so-called dukun . However, it is usually prepared and prescribed by women who also sell it on the streets. In general, different Jamu recipes are not written down but passed down between the generations. However, some early manuals have survived: a Jamu manual was published by Mrs. Kloppenburg-Versteegh in the early 20th century and used in households in the East Indies.

Indonesian doctors were initially not interested in Jamu. During the second conference of the Indonesian Medical Association, held in Surakarta in March 1940, two presentations were given on the subject. In 1944, however, the Jamu Commission was formed during the Japanese occupation. During the following decades, the Jamu rose in popularity, although doctors had rather ambivalent opinions about it.

research

One of the first European physicians to study Jamu was Jacob de Bondt , who worked as a physician in Batavia, now Jakarta , in the early seventeenth century. His records contain information about local medicine. Georg Eberhard Rumpf , who worked on Ambon during the early eighteenth century, published the Herbarium Amboinense, an extensive book on herbal medicine in the West Indies. During the nineteenth century, European doctors developed a keen interest in Jamu because they often did not know how to treat the tropical diseases found in their patients. In 1829 the German doctor Friedrich August Carl Waitz published the book Practical Observations about some Javanese medicines . M. Greshoff and WG Boorsma carried out pharmacological examinations of the herbs also used in Jamu in the pharmacological laboratory in the botanical garden of Bogor , resulting in the discovery and isolation of some alkaloids .

Distribution and use

A Mbok Jamu sells jamu gendong to a customer

Java traveling mbOK Jamu , a traditional batik kebaya wearing, young to middle-aged Javanesin, with a bamboo basket with bottles of Jamu on his back through villages and city streets to offer their products of traditional plant medicine. In many large cities, jamu is sold on the street by hawkers as a drink that is usually bitter or sweetened with honey or palm sugar. The traditional way of carrying jamu in a basket is called jamu gendong (literally 'carried jamu'). There is also a Warung tent booth specializing in the sale of Jamus.

Herbal medicine is now also being produced en masse in factories of large companies such as Air Mancur, Nyonya Meneer or Djamu Djago and sold in drug stores in the form of tablets , capsules and sachets . There are frequent concerns about the quality, consistency and cleanliness of not only the locally sold but also the factory made molds. Packaged and dried jamu from sachets is dissolved in hot water before drinking.

Non-health purposes

There are some non-health uses for Jamu, including those that are for enhancing sexual pleasure. There are varieties of Jamu for enhancing male sexual stamina or around the vagina of women close or to make dry - with names like "Sari Rapat" ( essence of Enge ), "Rapat Wangi" ( Eng and fragrant ) and even "Empot Ayam “( Tight as a chicken ass ). Since Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country, its use is reserved for married women who want to prevent their husbands from cheating.

Recipes

There are hundreds of herbs for Jamu recipes, some of them are (mostly English names)

Some Jamu with the effects ascribed to them are

  • Jamu Beras Kencur (spice lily with rice) helps to reduce body aches
  • Jamu Cabe Puyang (chili and ginger root (Lempoyang or Zingiber zerumbet)) for relieving stiffness or fever
  • Jamu Kudu Laos to lower blood pressure, improve blood circulation, warm the body and increase appetite
  • Jamu Kunci Suruh for vaginal thrush to narrow the vagina, suppress body odor, shrink the uterus and stomach and strengthen the teeth
  • Jamu Kunir Asam (sour turmeric) to cool the body or to ease menstruation
  • Jamu Pahitan against itching and diabetes, lack of appetite, to suppress body odor, lower cholesterol, against flatulence, acne and dizziness
  • Jamu Uyup-uyup / Gepyokan to increase milk production and cool the body

Web links

Commons : Jamu  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Max Planck Institute for the History of Science: Gendered and Ethnic Knowledge: Mrs. JMC Kloppenburg-Versteegh (1862-1948), an Example from the Dutch East Indies Around 1900