Mangosteen as a Natural Medicine for Scabs: Lontar Taru Pramana's Perspective
Mangosteen is a tropical fruit known as one of the natural traditional fruits in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. The fruit has a thick skin of dark purple color and a soft white flesh with a sweet and slightly sour taste. Mangosteen has relevance to lontar Taru Pramana. This "lontar" is one of the important references in traditional Balinese medicine because it describes various types of medicinal plants and their properties.
Lontar Usada Taru Pramana is one of the ancient texts in the Balinese medicine tradition that is very valuable. This lontar contains herbal medicine (usada) which uses the healing power of various types of plants (taru). In Balinese culture, this lontar is inherited from generation to generation and is a guide for balian usada (traditional healers) in concocting natural medicines to cure various diseases.
The medicinal plants in Lontar Taru Pramana are made in various forms, such as Loloh (concentrated juice that is squeezed), Boreh (a mixture of ingredients that are blended), Sembar (a mixture of ingredients that are chewed and then sprayed), Tutuh (a mixture of ingredients that are squeezed into a filter), Tampel (attachment of a mixture of ingredients to be treated) and Ses (a liquid that is boiled). There are as many as 182 local names of plants mentioned in Lontar Taru Pramana, but there are 20 species have not been recognized and their exact scientific names have been determined.
Mangosteen Top Stem (Source: Private Property)
One of the 182 plant names is Garnicia mangostana, the scientific name for the mangosteen fruit itself. Mangosteen is often considered the "queen of fruits" because of its distinctive flavor and rich in nutrients. In addition, mangosteen also contains many antioxidants, especially xanthones, which are believed to have health benefits such as boosting the immune system and preventing inflammation. In traditional medicine, mangosteen is often used to treat various health problems, such as skin infections and diarrhea. In Lontar Usada Taru Pramana, the sap from the mangosteen stem or babakan is believed to be able to treat skin diseases such as scabs or infected wounds. The antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties contained in the sap are believed to be able to speed up the wound healing process, as well as prevent further infections, in accordance with the teachings in Lontar which describes the use of the plant as a natural medicine.
Inside of Mangosteen (Source : Private Property)
It is said on the Lontar that mangosteen uses the ses method of processing to treat infected scabs. The ses will be used as a wound cleanser after the sap obtained from the babakan or mangosteen stem is boiled in boiling water which will then be used as a cleaning liquid after the processing becomes cold. The following is the Ses method that is carried out on the sap in the mangosteen fruit to get a scab wound cleaning liquid.
Equipment Used to Create The Cleaning Liquid (Source: Privately Owned)
The tools used are very simple and practical to use. The reader only needs two objects, namely a pot used to boil the sap liquid until it boils and a glass container containing cold water to facilitate and speed up the process of cooling the previously processed liquid.
Boiling The Sap (Source : Private Property)
Here are the first steps that readers can do to make a cleaning liquid from the mangosteen. The reader can boil the water that has been mixed with the sap liquid from the mangosteen and then wait for 15-20 minutes before the liquid is ready.
Mangosteen Sap Cleaning Liquid (Source: Privately Owned)
If the liquid has been boiled and put into a container containing cold water, then the cleaning liquid can be sprayed on scab disease as a natural treatment that has been mentioned in Lontar Usada Taru Pramana. With the content in the cleaning liquid, it is hoped that the process of removing scab wounds can be accelerated.
As one of the heritages of Balinese traditional medicine, Lontar Usada Taru Pramana illustrates how rich ancestral knowledge is about the benefits of medicinal plants, which include mangosteen. With natural processing methods such as ses, this Lontar shows that the ancient wisdom of utilizing plants as natural medicine remains relevant and has important value in supporting public health to this day. This heritage not only reflects the human connection with nature, but also the richness of culture and healing traditions that are still well preserved.
