165
with palmyra, jaggery, molasses, honey, and ghee,
and is made into a ball, from which small pills
are made up for consumption.
Other confections, like pooranathi in boluses,
are also made from ganja leaves and various
spices. In these ganja leaves are used only in
small quantities. This is eaten for the purpose
not merely of intoxication but as medicine, and
it is said to be also used for exciting sexual
desires.
(C) The above-mentioned ganja powder is
put into a little water and drunk. Where the
drinker is so inclined milk, sugar and certain
spices are added to make the beverage palata--
ble. In some cases raw leaves are ground with
water and mixed in water and sugar. This drink
is popularly called ramarasam.
(b) There is no wild hemp grown in this
district.
16. It is prepared generally in their houses.
No wild plant is grown.
17. Among the people that use the preparation
of this drug all classes may be included; but few
use it except Rajputs and Maharattas, Musal--
mans and bairagis.
18. Bhang (solid) will not deteriorate for six
months. Majum will not deteriorate for three
months, and ganja for a year if kept carefully
bundled without exposure to sun or rain.
Rs.
License fees for
—
1889-90 . . .
120
1890-91 . . .
270
1891-92 . . .
2,510
1892-93 . . .
1,630
1893-94 . . .
1,020
19. There is no charas here. Ganja is used for
smoking, for medicinal purposes, and mixed with
spices, etc., as a confection.
20. No charas here. It is chiefly used by
bairagis, fakirs, and other religious mendicants,
and a few Musalmans, and the lower orders of
the Hindus. Throughout the district the con--
sumption is very small, and the proportion can--
not be even guessed at with reasonable ac
- c u r a c y .
21. Sadai ganja (female plant), dry leaves
with a little tobacco is used for smoking.
22. Ni l .
2 3 . N o .
24. Maharattas, Rajputs, and Guzaratis drink
bhang and call it ramarasam. The other classes
eat it.
2 5 . N e i t h e r i n c r e a s e n o r d e c r e a s e .
26. As above stated, this question cannot be
answered. The consumers are an inappreciable
fraction of the population.
27 and 28. These also cannot be answered.
29. Vide answer to question 15. Dhatura is
not mixed here. No preparation specially known
as bhang massala is prepared here; but the name
might be applied to any of the preparations with
spices.
30. Smoking is done generally in company.
Bhang is generally taken in solitude. It is con--
fined only to the male sex as a rule and only to
adults. Majum alone is at times adminis tered
to children as a medicine.
3 1 . ( a ) ,
( b ) , ( c )
Y e s .
32. The use of these drugs is generally held to
be objectionable, both from a social and a religi--
ous point of view; but it is used on occasions of
fire treading and book-swinging, and cakes con--
taining ganja in small quantities are offered at
festivals to local deities or demons, and after--
wards distributed among the votaries, who are
mainly of the lowest class of Hindus. In such
cases the use is regarded as essential; but it is
temperate and not likely to lead to the formation
of the habit
.
33. The consumption is looked down upon as
degrading, and public opinion, both social and
religious, is against it. The use being in dis--
repute is due to the knowledge that it causes in--
toxication and leads to bad habits. In some few
localities there is a tradition of sanctity attach-
ed to the plant, but no regular worship.
34. It would be a serious privation to habitual
consumers, who however are very few indeed.
35. The consumption is so small that prohibition
would hardly be noticed by the general population
unless taken up as a grievance by demagogues;
but habitual consumers would continue to secure
what they require in spite of any prohibition not
enforced by legislative measures on a scale out of
all proportion to the magnitude of the evil to be
dealt with. Prohibition of systematic sale with--
out prohibition of the present casual cultivation
would, I think, not only tend to prevent the
spread of the use of the plant, but would lead to
a certain proportion of the consumers substituting
other drugs for ganja.
36. No.
37. There is no charas smoking in this dis--
trict.
38 and 39. Consumption in this district is
so small that I cannot satisfactorily answer the
question.
4 0. (a) Yes.
(b) Yes.
41 and 42. Vide No. 38.
43. Yes.
44. to 50. Vide No. 38.
51. The few consumers of ganja and bhang in
this district are mostly to be found amongst the
bad characters.
52 and 53. Vide No. 38.
54. There is no reason to believe in the exist--
ence of any such practice in this district.
55. Yes; in a few cases. Yes.
56 and 57. Vide No. 38.
58. So far as this district is concerned, the
effect of present administrative measures is too
trifling to afford any ground for an opinion as to
whether they are working well or otherwise.
59. The administration of this district must
no doubt, follow the system required elsewhere;
but I am disposed to think that the system of
licensing shops, without other effective measures
of control, tends to advertise the drug and
lessen the strength of the popular sentiment
against its use.
60. With the present very limited cultivation,
I do not think restrictive measures are called for.
They certainly would not reduce it much below
its present limits, and might actually stimulate
it by leading people to think their liberty was
being unduly interfered with.
61. Nil.