Potions & Antidotes // Maldivian Apothecary
September 6/2018

When you feel sick or in pain, you are advised to consult a physician who will immediately recommend cures and treatments. However, it is part of Maldivian culture that we must consider the alternatives before choosing modern medicine. Dhivehi Beys (Dhivehi Medicine) is the alternative herbal medicinal treatments invented long-back from the tribal eras of the Maldive ancestry.

Dhivehi Beys involves the use of readily available seeds, herbs, corals and extracted oils, carefully mixed into an ointment or drink. According to the senior generations of the community, Dhivehi Beys is a top priority as it lacks the excessive side-effects modern medicine possess. It also inputs a lower stress on the body, through its non-chemical and natural compounds. However, many Dhivehi Beys practitioners have passed, creating a very limitedly available supply of the medicine. While many practitioners did not reveal their secrets, others have released books or passed their skills to their children. This is the sole reason why Dhivehi Beys is highly expensive and demanded in the Maldivian community.

Indeed, some medicine has been recognized as frauds as Maldivians did believe in superstition. Likewise, harmful and fraud medical treatments have been also banned in the Maldives. In 2013, Maldives Food and Drug Authority released a list of medicine that was allowed to be distributed, which rounds up to a total of 196. Most of the home-remedies are unmentioned in the list, such as Coconut Oil, Fennel Seed Water, Sagoo Water and Clove Water. Coconut Oil or Kaashi Theyo is a treatment for a vast number of muscle pains and wounds and is used for many treatment purposes in the Maldives. While Fennel Seed Water is used for gastric pain, Sagoo Water for high fever and Clove water for allergies. Home-remedies are still prepared and practised in many local families, giving life to the passing Dhivehi Beys culture.

Dhivehi Beys is like a superstitious magic to the newer generations. Born to an era of modern medicine and readily available ointments and drugs, people have survived large wounds without surgeries and drugs. Buraki Ranin, one of the infamous queens of the Maldives was known for her talent in healing, and have been said to heal sword wounds overnight. Indeed, the fact that Dhivehi Beys survived to this day, shows the true healing powers of this practice, and should certainly be recognized in the modern-day medicine in the Maldives.