Patayat Sahu

Patayat Sahu is an Indian traditional healer who also farms, from the village of Nandol in Kalahandi. He is described as a vaidya by night and a farmer by day, and the trade runs in his family, since his grandfather was a vaidya as well. He began learning traditional medicine at a young age and, in his own words, took it up as a hobby. Behind his house he built a garden of about 1.5 acres that holds some 3,000 medicinal plant species, started roughly forty years before the report and added to ever since, with many species gathered from the forests of Kalahandi and nearly 500 collected from other parts of India during visits that the Odisha Medicinal Plant Board helped arrange. He prepares his remedies from the herbs and plants he grows, and is reported to charge no fee, accepting whatever people offer. In recognition of this service he was awarded a Padma Shri in 2023, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has praised the garden.