306
there on the banks of the Gumti; but these banks 1
do not produce a supply which may meet demand
at the time of emergency.
4. In Lucknow bhang goes under the names of
"siddi," "sabji," and "bijya," and, as far as I
know, it goes under the same names in the whole
province.
5. The plant grows in abundance in damp
tracts.
6. The plants of bhang and ganja are generally
dense, but there are exceptions also.
7. In the translation the word patsan is used, but
the patsan is used either in making ropes, or in jute
mills it is used in making mattings and sacks.
The bhang plant is also fibrous; but they don't sow
its seeds like those of other plants: it is a wild
plant, i.e., it grows spontaneously. As far as en-
quiries could show, it has been established that the
plant is not cultivated.
8. As the system of cultivation of the plant does
not prevail here, there can be no mention of the
plant occupying a large or small area.
9. As above.
10. In our province there is no class of cultivators
of this drug.
11 to 13. It is not cultivated.
14. These plants grow spontaneously in damp
tracts. In the wild tracts, where the bhang plant
grows, it is reaped and left to dry. When it is dry
its leaflets are taken off. In the same way the
ganja leaflets, together with a few slonder branches
of the plant, are dried and placed in small bundles.
In our province charas is imported from somewhere
else.
15. When our enquiries do not show that these
plants are cultivated, we will restrict our statements
to their wild growth.
16. Dry leaflets of bhang are imported from
places where it grows in abundance.
People make a mixture of the plant in their
houses for use. It is also offered for sale as a drink
by Brahmans and Saqaus. Ganja and charas are
imported from places where they grow.
17. Ganja and charas are prepared by the people
inhabiting the parts where they grow. There is no
particular class who makes these preparations.
18. The bhang leaflets do not lose their efficacy
for three years, provided they are kept safe from
moisture. Likewise ganja and charas last for two
years. After this period they lose both their flavour
and pungency. The licensed vendors of these drugs
do generally make it a point to keep them free from
moisture.
19. The practice here is for people to smoke ganja
and charas in a chillum. Some people, however,
mix a little smoking tobacco with it.
20. Ganja and charas are chiefly used by the
lower classes, labourers, fakirs, vagabonds, those
classes of hard workers who have to expose them-
selves to the heat of the sun and to the dews of
night, and people who dwell in the hills and cold
countries. Of the two drugs ganja is the more
largely used.
The use of charas is comparatively small, as it is
a costly drug. Higher classes of community only
use these drugs either under strong compulsion
resulting from certain diseases, or under circum-
stances, such as associating with people given to the
use of such drugs. But higher classes of people
arc generally ashamed of indulging openly in the
use of these drugs.
21. The two kinds of ganja largely used in these
provinces are gol (round) and baluchar.
22. Our province does not produce charas. We
import it here in Oudh from Nepal. It has also
been discovered that the traders of Yarkand also
deal in this drug. It is imported from Ladakh and
Bokhara riá Kashimir. One kind called bhari is
largely purchased from the markets of Amritsar,
etc., in the Punjab.
23. People never smoke bhang in the chillum.
24. Fakirs, jogis, labourers, poets, bards, and
Chaubes of Muthra and Brindaban use bhang as a
drink. In these parts, i.e., here in Oudh, the
number of such persons will be something about
20 per cent.
25. In the province of Oudh charas is used only
on a very small scale. The use, however, of ganja
has now considerably increased owing to Govern-
ment closing the chandu-khanas. Bhang is used on
a moderate scale.
26. No definite number of persons using these
drugs can be fixed.
27. Contained in No. 20.
28. By Government permission a single pur-
chaser can buy five tolas each of ganja and charas
and four chittacks of bhang. The largest quantity
that one, habituated to use these drugs, can use in a
day is ten tolas of bhang, two tolas of ganja, and
one tola of charas. In ordinary circumstances
these drugs are used in half the above quantities.
29. The articles usually mixed with the bhang
are:—kali mirch (black round pepper), aniseed,
almond and sugar. The bhang is first pestled, and
then water is mixed with it to enable its being
drunk. Sometimes, to make it strong, dhatura is
mixed with it; but this last practice prevails only
with fakirs and vagabonds.
30. The three drugs—bhang, charas and ganja
—are used in private, as well as in gatherings. They
are mostly used by males. Females use them in
very rare cases. Children between 12 and 15 years
of age also use these drugs; but this practice, too, is
very rare.
31. The habit of using bhang begets easily; but
the case with charas and ganja is different, i.e., one
is habituated to their use only by degrees. At the
beginning man's nature generally revolts against
the use of ganja and charas; but when one becomes
addicted to their use it requires a great effort to
give it up. It is, however, given up under strict
compulsory circumstances, and after a few days
there is no inclination towards using it. In the
beginning these drugs are used in small quantities,
but gradually they come to be used in large quan-
tities.
32. Bhang is extensively used during the festivi-
ties of Holi. The Hindus of Bengal also use it
during the Durga Puja. And believers in Shiva
(a sect of Hindus) use it at certain specified festivals
and holy days. But this particular use of the
drugs dees in no case create a habit of intemperance.
33. The moderate use of these drugs is not
generally denounced. There is no general opinion
in favour of their use based upon any religous or
sectarian practice short of what has been stated in
answer to question 32 supra. The respectable and
educated members of both the Hindu and Muham-
madan communities deprecate the excessive use of
these drugs.
34. If persons who now use these drugs may
give up their use, of their own accord, by substi-
tuting the use of some other drug in their place,
it will probably cause them no inconvenience. But