Usada Taru Premana: The Balinese Ethnopharmacopoeia

ABSTRACT: Traditional Balinese Medicines (TBM) have been written in Balinese palm leaves manuscripts using Balinese transcripts since a long time ago, known as Lontar Usada Taru Premana (UTP). Lontar UTP which well deserves the label of Balinese Ethnopharmacopoeia since it lists traditional medicinal plants together with a description of their characteristics, properties, formulation, methods of uses, prescriptions, and applications. This research aims to describe diversity of medicinal plants, their properties, formulation, methods of uses, and application in treatment of illnesses and diseases according to Lontar UTP. This research is descriptive qualitative research using library research method. The research subject was the Lontar Usada Taru Premana (UTP) manuscript which had been translated from Balinese script to Latin script. Three versions of the Lontar UTP manuscripts were used, namely: Lontar UTP from Puri Saren Kauh, Payangan, Gianyar, number IIId.12/1854, belonging to Gedong Kirtya Singaraja Bali, Lontar UTP from Banjar Satria, Negara, belonging to the Bali Cultural Documentation Office, Bali Province, and Lontar UTP from Kerambitan, Tabanan, number IIID.5823, belonging to Gedong Kirtya Singaraja Bali. The objects of research were the contents of the lontar, namely the types of plants, plant parts and their characteristics, formulation, methods of uses and their application. A total of 214 plant species are used in TBM including 169 main plants and 45 additional plants. The plant parts used for medicines were roots, rhizomes, stem, barks, sap, leaves, shoots, flowers, and fruit or seed, and their properties were commonly classified into hot or warm (panes or anget), cool (tis or dingin), and lukewarm (dumelada). The plants were used for making around 180 formulas and used them into various forms of medicines such as loloh, boreh, simbuh, oles, tempel, tutuh, and other to treat around 84 types of illnesses and diseases caused by both natural and supernatural powers.