The Muthashi Project, founded in 2008, seeks to sustain the traditional relationships between Malayalee women and the native botanicals they’ve successfully relied on for medicine for thousands of year.  ‘Muthashi’ means ‘great-grandmother’ in Malayalam, the language of Kerala. ‘Muthashi’ represents the potential every woman has to live and heal thru her personal connection with Nature, the knowledge and experience of the generations of women that came before her, and the depth of her own wisdom.

The Muthashi Project sponsors Women’s Outreach Programs to inspire younger Malayalee women to continue the age-old practice of recognizing and using native plants as medicine. We usually offer these programs in communities lying just outside the city, where there is undeveloped land and backyard space for plants to grow, but where traditional knowledge and life-ways are evaporating quickly.

Most Women’s Outreach Programs feature the participation of western women who’ve come to. Their presence is intriguing to younger – 30 and under – women, who may be more focused on earning IT degrees, than on making sure they’re able to pass their grandmother’s knowledge on to the next generation. When light-skinned, western–apparently successful–women show their interest in Kerala’s traditional medicine and native botanicals, the younger local women often see the treasures of their birthright with fresh, appreciative eyes, and become eager to re-embrace a healthy relationship with their plants and healing culture.

Each  woman plants and nurtures the tiny medicial plants. As they tend their seedlings,  we hope they’re reminded of their connection to women in the west and the world over, and of nature’s healing bounty. Once the plants mature, the women can prepare their traditional medicines knowing that they are sustaining the existence of valuable knowledge and culture, while caring for their  health and the health of their family.

Fostering the woman/plant relationship is so valuable, because:
- personal relationship with plants enhances awareness of the state of the environment and increases a stewardship attitude
- the ability to identify and use botanicals increases self-care at an affordable cost
- the relationship sustains traditional healing and cultural knowledge, and strengthens inter-generational ties

The Muthashi Project Women’s Outreach Programs are always great fun, filled with new connections, stimulating discoveries, laughter, and a revitalized reverence for the traditional knowledge and native plant resources of Kerala.

To learn more about The Muthashi Project, visit the Rasa Ayurveda blog, here.

The Muthashi Project is funded by proceeds from MayaShakti Ayurveda, Pvt. Ltd. and the Rasa Ayurveda Traditional Healing Centre for Women. Donations of any amount are welcome. Companies and individuals are welcome to sponsor an outreach program or donate any amount to the general Muthashi Project fund. Please email for more information.