45
For (b) indifference to the worldly affairs and
conduct of life, without caring for the morrow.
For (c) luxury.
28. For (a) 1 anna, half a tola, with ease, and
even with that can treat one or two friends ; and
for (b) it is uncertain. It depends upon the
company, but if he smokes alone, 4 to 6 annas
will amply satisfy him.
29. Tobacco is invariably mixed with ganja.
Dhatura stupefies a smoker, and it is therefore
not mixed unless there is some object in view.
The necessity for mixing tobacco is occasioned by
the fact that before ganja is brought into use, it
is required to be thoroughly washed, in order to
remove its bilious quality, and all water dropped
by pressing the drug with all force on the palm of
the left hand by the right hand thumb. This
done, the ganja still remains in wet condition and
d i f f i c u l t t o b e b u r n t , a n d t h e r e f o r e t h e a d m i x t u r e o f t o b a c c o h e l p s i t , i f a n y s e e d , k a d i o r p a t t i , a r e a l l o w e d t o r e m a i n ,
they produce phlegm.
Bhang is never pre-
pared without massala,
and the proportion of
ingredients, as given in the margin, are re-
quired for 5 tolas of bhang preparation.
30. (a) in question 27 generally consume it in
solitude : (b) and (c) in company.
It is confined to males. Public girls who do
not keep the profession of singing occasionally
smoke ganja. Children never smoke, nor are
they permitted to associate with ganja smokers,
but occasionally they are given a little bhang even
by their elders if any happens to be present at the
preparation. Bhang is generally drunk in com-
pany of other friends unless there be no one to
join him.
31. Beginners generally tremble at its name
and do not easily take to it. It gradually becomes
a habit, when he constantly associates in the
company of smokers and is pressed to smoke.
Ganja smoking is not a permanent habit as that
of opium. It can be given up at pleasure if one
determines to do so. Of course for a few days
he will miss the habit. It is possible for a
moderate consumer to gradually grow into excess.
32. I am told by pundits that mention of this
drug is made in the Vedas and Shastras. I can-
not, however, speak with authority in connection
with its use religiously, but I can speak with
confidence that it is no doubt a long-standing
custom to offer the preparations of this drug
(ganja and bhang) to our great god the " Shiva,"
and no smoker or drinker will use it unless he
offers it first to that deity. On the Shivratri day
on Mahabaddi 13th it is a custom to prepare
bhang, and with that bathe the god " Shiva,"
which is regarded as an essential. It is the day
from which occasional habitual drinkers generally
begin to use this drug for the hot season. It is
no doubt temperate, and is not likely to lead to a
habit or produce injurious effects, as the class
who resort to it are business men of the middle
class.
33. Those who do not ever touch it regard the
practice as a vice, and it is therefore condemned
by them. In this respect " charas " stands first.
Ganja smoking takes the second place, and
bhang, though it produces a more lasting intoxi-
cation, still it is not considered disreputable by
the drinking or non-drinking class. The total
abstainers call ganja smokers as " ganjakas,"
bhang drinkers as " bhangad." The consumers
themselves cannot be expected to regard it as a
vice.
There is no custom of worshipping the hemp
plant.
34. Certainly those who are habituated to it
will deeply feel if this drug is denied to them. I
think they will rather go mad without it than
with it. Habit is second nature, and it must be
attended to. The classes which will mostly feel
are mendicants and labouring classes chiefly.
35. It will not be advisable to prohibit the use
of any of these drugs. If they are denied licitly,
the consumers will certainly have recourse to
obtain it by illicit means. Unless the growth of
hemp drug is entirely abolished, the use of the
drug will not cease. If, on the other hand, it is
abolished in one part of the country under the
10 to 12 grains of pepper.
4 or 5 almonds.
2 cardamoms.
¼ of a tola rose flower dry.
About 10 seeds of cucumber.
½ a tola aniseed.
1 lb sugar.
British rule and not interfered with in the Native
States, it will be extremely difficult to enforce
prohibition; and if such a prohibition is announced
there will be a great discontent among the
people whose interest is at stake, and they will
cry inside their homes and quietly bear it, and
will sit to think over the matter to contrive means
to satisfy their appetite ; and if they fail to
succeed in their attempts, in my humble opinion,
it must eventually result in political danger,
which at the present moment cannot be antici-
pated. My idea about these intoxicants is that
a habitual consumer can forego his meals once,
but not his usual allowance of drug.
Of course those who have restrictions for liquor
will not like to take to it, which must necessarily
be in violation of his caste rules. Opium is a
dull intoxication and a costly one, and which
cannot be given up as others. I do not know then
what other article would take the place of this
drug.
36. I have never found that a ganja smoker has
given up ganja and taken to liquor. On the
contrary, the authorities had reason to suspect that
the case was quite the reverse, since increase in
consumption of ganja was noticeable year after
year. Since the introduction of the new system
of taxing liquor in these provinces, liquor is sold
much dearer than before. Its price is nearly
doubled and if the system is extended to the
remaining districts, and outstill system altogether
abolished, as is done in two districts, there is no
chance of people going for that article in pre-
ference to their habituated drug. Besides the one
great bar for the majority of them is their caste
prejudice.
37. Yes. I have no personal knowledge of the
effects from smoking charas, but I had experiment-
ed once upon my two friends. I had got this
drug (charas) from Babu Bisumbar Nath, a well
known contractor in the North-Western Provin-
ces, and my friends smoked it. I do not know if
they had mixed tobacco with it. They smoked the
chilam twice when I left, and when I saw them
the next morning they told me that the drug was
very much active and kept them in an intoxicated
state for upwards of ten hours, making them giddy,
while the eff ects from ganja smoking are much
milder. The intoxication does not last for more
than two hours, and keeps the smoker in good
humour. One of them is intelligent, English-
knowing, and is a pensioner. He smokes, drinks
and eats all these drags, and an evidence of such a
man may furnish valuable information.
38. No knowledge, as only one kind of ganja is
prepared here and sold.