492
Cannot say anything about the wild plant. Bhang
is reduced to pulp in a pestle with one or more
of the following ingredients: almonds, aniseed,
cucumber or pumpkin seeds, black pepper, salt,
and sugar; and drunk mixed with water or milk.
Sometimes pills or balls are made of bhang paste
and used for the purpose of intoxication, or for
medicinal purposes in cases of diarrhoea or indi-
gestion. I have heard of its being given to cattle
in this form.
16. (a) Yes, I believe so.
(b) I should think so.
(c) I cannot say.
17. No special class so far as I know.
18. I believe they deteriorate after two or
three years. Cannot answer the rest of this ques-
tion. Bhang is said to improve in medicinal
qualities as it grows old, but to lose its powers as
an intoxicant.
19. Only for smoking, as far as I know. I
know not their other uses
20. The use of ganja is comparatively rare in
this province, being generally confined to fakirs
and sadhus and the lower classes of Hindustani
immigrants. Charas is more largely used by the
people of the Punjab. Ordinarily both drugs are
smoked in smoking shops, but often in private
houses also. I cannot tell the respective propor-
tions of the people who use charas and ganja.
21. I do not know.
22. Foreign, from Kashmir, Ladakh and Yar-
kand, the two latter being more highly esteemed.
23. I have never heard of this.
24. All classes use bhang : Sikhs and religious
orders more largely than others. I cannot tell the
proportion.
25. I think the use is nearly stationary, with a
tendency to decrease among the middle classes.
I attribute this to the spread of English education
and ideas. English-knowing people are apt to
look down upon the use of hemp drugs or intoxi-
cants, and prefer to use liquor.
26. 1 cannot say,
27. Mostly mendicants, fakirs, and takiadars,
and some well to-do people who have nothing to
do. Idle and dissipated habits lead to this prac-
tice, particularly among people who have squan-
dered their money in profligacy and care no longer
to use the costlier alcoholic drinks.
28. I cannot say.
29. For ingredients mixed with bhang, see
answer to question 15. They are used to improve
the taste of the drink ; and sugar and milk are
said to increase its intoxicating powers. I have
heard that dhatura seed is mixed with bhang by
some people, but cannot say if the report is true.
The object, of course, would be to increase the
intoxication. Bhang massala called sardai is sold
in most cities of the Punjab, notably Amritsar.
30. In takias, dharmsalas, and religious houses,
and on some religious occasions in company.
Many, however, use them in solitude. I cannot
tell the proportion between two classes of people.
The use of ganja and charas is extremely rare
among women, and of bhang very much less than
among men. It is not usual to give bhang to
children, except as a preventive against bowel
complaints. So far as I know, they are not
allowed to use ganja or charas.
31. Not very easily, I am informed, as the first
use of these drugs is followed by distressing symp-
toms. Once formed the habit is doubtless diffi-
cult to break off, but I believe less so than the
opium habit. I have known persons who have
given up the use of ganja and charas without
much difficulty. The habit has a tendency to
grow, especially that of using bhang.
32. Bhang is drunk during the days of the
Holi festival, and occasionally on days of religious
fast in this part of India among Hindus. In
Bengal it is drank on the last day of the Durga
Puja, and invariably offered to every guest or
visitor on that occasion. I believe the use is not
absolutely essential, and is grounded more on
custom than religion. Generally the use is
moderate and temperate on such occasions, but
dissipated young men and ill-conditional people
make use of them to get drunk. The use of the
drug on such occasions sometimes leads to the
habit of regularly taking it. So far as I know,
the use of ganja or charas is not customary fur
any social or religious function.
33. Public opinion regards the use of ganja
and charas with disfavour, Habitual consumers
of these drugs are considered disreputable, and for
this reason respectable people who have contracted
the habit of smoking them do so in private.
Bhang is not generally so regarded, but a habit-
ual bhang drunkard is looked down upon. Broad-
ly speaking, I think the habitual use of hemp
drugs is considered more reprehensible than that
of opium.
I do not know about the worship of the hemp
plant. Bhang or siddhi is considered by some as
sacred to Mahadeo or Siva, the third divinity of
the Hindu triad. It is also regarded as of good
omen, and orthodox Hindus smell or taste it, and
carry it with them when starting on a journey.
34. I can scarcely give a confident opinion. I
should think, in the case of consumers of bhang
which has certain medicinal effects on the system,
it might be a privation to forego its use. They
might suffer from loss of appetite and bowel com-
plaints if the use was suddenly stopped. But I
am not equally clear about smokers of ganja or
charas, though probably, even in their case, the
sudden stoppage of the habit would cause some
inconvenience. They are, however, a comparatively
small class in this province. I cannot state the
probable number of each class.
35. I doubt very much whether it would be
feasible. I should think it would be consumed
illicitly. It would produce some discontent, but
I cannot say whether it would amount to a poli-
tical danger. I should deprecate sudden interfer-
ence, with the consumers of bhang at any rate.
Unquestionably liquor-drinking would increase,
which would be a much greater evil in my opinion.
36. Yes, it is considered more fashionable, par-
ticularly among the English-educated classes.
37. So far as I am able to judge, the effects are
similar, but those of gauja-smoking are of a more
intense and aggravated character.
38. I do not know.
39. I have no knowledge, but I believe smoking
is on the whole more injurious.
40. I have already described the use of bhang
in bowel complaints. It is also, I believe, given
to horses and cattle. I am unable to say whether
ganja or charas are prescribed for any disease by
native physicians.
41. Bhang has an effect in uromoting appetite