soso

The wood (sahan) of the soso can be used as a building material for houses, however the community has substituted other woods found in the forest for these purposes.

Medicinal values for: eczema, wounds and cuts.

• Fruit: Ripe fruit (dʒo) (reddish) is edible. soso has some medical benefits too. The dried fruit (rohoɽ dʒo) is crushed to powdered form and mixed with koronʤ sunum (oil extracted from Millettia Pinnata) and then applied on the infected part for the treatment of eczema.
• Seed: The oil (sunum) extracted from the seeds (dʒaŋ) are considered an antiseptic and applied on wounds and cuts. If you are wounded by soso fruit (dʒo), then take termite soil (nidir hasa) which is in the soso tree and apply it to the wounded place.

Caution: The raw fruit (berel dʒo) (both the nut and the surrounding fleshy part) is highly toxic to humans. In case of consuming the soso fruit raw (berel), the reaction triggers the entire body to swell and sometimes boils erupt. It may, however, be eaten after it is roasted or even after drying it up in the sun until it changes its texture and looks like a raisin.

Interesting fact: The Birhor like to take dry seeds (rohoɽ ʤaŋ) of the soso, dry red chili (rohoɽ marʧai), rice (ʧauli ʤaŋ), mustard seed (sorso dʒaŋ), and a small earthen pot (lotni), tie them up in a cloth and hang this in a main door to keep away ghosts and the evil eye.