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69. Evidence of ADHAR SINGH GOUR, Kshattri, Barrister-at-law, Hoshangabad.
1. Mixing with the people and observing their
habits during the last 30 years.
2. Yes. The older leaves and fruit-vessels. It
is also called Verbesina prostrata. In some parts
the very tender parts of the plant without the
stems make bhang.
The female flowers are unfertilised. Their
agglutinated tops and the resinous exudation on
the same forms ganja. Flat ganja is used in
these Provinces. Round ganja is hardly known.
Yes. Ganja is also called sulpha. Bhang
— B u t i o r M a h a d e o - k i b u t i , a l s o b i j i a , s a b z i o r s a b j e .
Charas is neither used nor produced. It is
known by the name of momia, which is, however,
a different article.
3. Not in any that I know. Each house in
the country has its rubbish heap next to it, where
- o n a l l t h e s w e e p i n g s f r o m t h e h o u s e a r e p i l e d .
The ganja plant grows sometimes from the bird-
rejected seed on these, not only spontaneously,
but luxuriantly. I believe it is quite wild on the
Western Himalaya and Kashmir, and also in
certain parts of Bengal. The wild plant, how
-ever, yields no ganja.
4. Has no other name. The Arabic name for
this drug as well as the plant is kinnab, which is
probably a corruption of hennep (Dutch), which
seems to be the origin of the English word hemp.
5. The plant that grows in the mountains at
an elevation of 6,000 to 10,000 feet, yields a very
good fibre, which is utilized for making ropes
and even garments. It also produces charas,
which the plant grown on the plains does not.
The resinous substance of this latter apparently
enters into the female flowers and twigs, and
thus imparts to it that narcotic quality for which
it is prized. The plant is as high as the Ambari
(flax) plant, i.e. , 10 to 12 feet.
6. It is said to be as dense as that of wild
indigo.
7. Yes, in Khandwa and Katol, for ganja,
which is supplied to the whole of the Central
Provinces and to North-Western Provinces.
8. I do not know.
9. The plot of ground assigned for the cultiva
- t i o n o f t h e p l a n t m u s t b e m o i s t , h a v i n g a r i c h
friable loam. It must be ploughed from 6 to 12
times and all the weeds on it thoroughly eradicat
- e d . I t s h o u l d b e c o v e r e d w i t h f r e s h e a r t h m i x e d
with cowdung for 5 or 6 days and then ploughed
again. After this, the rains setting in, the field
is well flooded and after being ploughed and
harrowed, ridges from 9 inches to 12 inches in
height are thrown up, the space between any
two ridges being 1 foot in breadth. On these
ridges the seed is sown 6 inches apart, or the
seedlings from a nursery transplanted. In Octo
-ber the ridges are opened out and manured with
Khali (oil-cake) and cowdung. About November
the process is repeated and the lower branches
cut off. Now all the female plants, as they are
called, but really the male plants, are cut down,
as the presence of a few of these destroys the
narcotic growth in the female plants.
10. No; not a special class. They are ordinary
cultivators. The cultivation of the plant is not
looked down upon as of the Indian madder,
Hedyotis umbellata.
11. I cannot say.
12. I do not think it is.
13. Yes; to Khandwa and Katol Tahsils of
the Nimar and Nagpur districts. No, hemp will
grow anywhere in the province, not because it
accommodates itself to all climes and situations
generally, but from my knowledge of the province
I should say that there is not a district which
would not favour its growth.
14. Yes; only ganja. I cannot say to what
extent.
15. Cultivated ganja (a).—The stems of the
female plant are cut about 6 inches from the ground
and are tied together in convenient bundles. They
are exposed to the sun for about 5 or 6 hours and
to the dew for a night. They are then laid upon
a mat and trodden by men so that the flowering
heads are pressed down in 3 or 4 minutes. An
- o t h e r l a y e r o f t h e p l a n t s i s a g a i n p l a c e d u p o n i t ,
and so on until it attains the convenient height
for treading. Every second and subsequent layer,
however, is so disposed that the flowering tops
charged with resin do not fall upon the tops of
the first laid plants. This heap of plants is then
turned upside down and the leaves and fruits, if
any, shaken off. The whole stack is covered with
mats and the treaders sit upon it to press it to
the requisite strength. The cracking of the
stems generally governs the amount of pressure
that is applied. Each twig is then separated and
trodden upon in order that the resin may well
enter the flowers and become part and parcel of
the same. It is then stored with the tops in. It
should be noted that when the ganja dries, certain
portion of it, that was either not perfectly mature
or which was trodden too much, falls off. This
is called garda (powder or dust), chura (crushed),
rora (picked up). This is said to be less intoxi
-cating than the other ganja.
16. Yes; bhang is obtained chiefly, if not en
- t i r e l y , f r o m t h e w i l d p l a n t . I t c o n s i s t s w h o l l y o f
the mature leaves, and but rarely of fruits as well.
This is called dudhia or duba or Ujjeni bhang,
because coming from Ujjen, and is considered
much superior to the bhang that is obtained from
the ganja-yielding plant. But bhang that comes
into these parts from Marwar is supposed to be
the young leaves and twigs derived from a semi-
wild hemp plant. The wild plant is believed to
be specially rich in charas, but it produces ganja
which is considered to be very poor, because the
intoxicating property, instead of centring in the
flower tops is equally distributed over the plants,
the leaves having the most of it.
17. The only preparation that is really made in
these provinces of the hemp drug is majum
(majun), which is made thus: Take one seer of
leaves of ganja and one seer of ghi, mix the two
together, and boil the same in two seers of water
over a slow fire until the water assumes a
greenish or brownish colour. Take down the de
-coction and pass it through a piece of tat (gunny
bag), throwing away the coloured water and the
leaves boiled. Press the ghi then from the tat
and mix it with chasni (syrup), adding, if you
can afford it, cardamoms, pistachio-nut, cocoanut,
saffron and like spices, and making it into small
cakes, It is believed that the ghi extracts the
narcotic principle. The Moors call it el mo-qui
and the Arabs dowa me s e .
18. Ganja does not keep for more than 12
months. Its greatest enemies are the rains, when
the resinous matter undergoes apparently a change,
which, while it diminishes the narcotic property,