374
of bhang is used than ganja. One of them affirms
that even coolies earning only two annas a day
take it.
Information about bhang seems difficult to
secure, even though the habit may be widespread.
It may be owing to the fact that it is usually
taken privately and as a rule by office men and
Government clerks and employés, whereas ganja
is smoked openly in the village temple and by
poorer men whose lives are more open to observa
- t i o n . H o w e v e r , f r o m m y g e n e r a l i n f o r m a t i o n , I
should suppose that where one uses bhang two
use ganja.
25. Very little of the ganja used seems to be
purchased through the stores lincensed by Govern
-ment to sell. It is generally grown by the con
- s u m e r s t h e m s e l v e s , a n d t h e g e n e r a l c o n v i c t i o n
seems to be that the consumption of bhang and
ganja is on the increase.
One very intelligent native gentleman gave it
out as his opinion that where two used them pre
- v i o u s l y t h r e e d o a t p r e s e n t .
To trace the cause of this increase is rather
difficult; but I venture the following explana
- t i o n s : ( 1 ) T h e r e l i g i o u s m e d i c a n t s c a r r y i t w i t h
them wherever they go, and invite all to smoke
ganja from their pipe. Many do and form the
habit. (2) A shameful habit, once formed, demands
some excuse, and the habitual consumers give it
out that the drug is good for coughs, asthma,
consumption, etc., and recommend it to others.
(3) In the earlier stages a little satisfies, but later
more is required to produce the desired effect, and
so the consumption extends. (4) It produces an
intoxication which drowns care and tends to long
periods of self-forgetfulness. Some, therefore, are
induced to use it at times of great mental dis
- t r e s s . ( 5 ) T h e r e i s a p o p u l a r s u p e r s t i t i o n t h a t
the use of ganja counteracts the bad effect sup
- p o s e d t o b e p r o d u c e d b y t h e w a t e r o f a s t r a n g e
well ; and as the introduction of new means of
communication, an extended Government service,
etc., conduce to much more travel and change of
water amongst certain classes of the people, the
habit is extending. (6) Pensioned sepoys are said
to be addicted to ganja to a noticeable extent. If
so, the growing number of such veterans, who are
usually men of some little influence in the small
villages to which they return because of their dis
- t a n t t r a v e l s a n d e x t e n d e d k n o w l e d g e , m a y a c c o u n t
for somewhat of the increase. (7) These bad
habits have a peculiar fructifying power in the
hearts of men, and will flourish when good habits
would die out but for careful cultivation.
26. As the hemp drugs habit is considered
more or less disgraceful, none but actual consu
- m e r s , o r m e n w h o d a i l y a s s o c i a t e w i t h t h e m , c o u l d
answer this rather large question ; and while one
might be able and willing to answer it truthfully
for his street or village, no one could give inform
- a t i o n s u f f i c i e n t l y g e n e r a l i n i t s s c o p e t o b e o f
much service in making such a discrimination as
is required by the question.
Speaking very generally, I should conclude
that the majority are habitual moderate consu
- m e r s . V e r y f e w w h o c o n t r a c t t h e h a b i t e v e r
seem to abandon it, and yet just as few seem to
indulge in an excessive habitual use of the drug.
On the occasion of the visit of a celebrated
sanyasi to a village, his presence in the temple,
smoking every night occasions an excessive indul
- g e n c e i n t h o s e w h o a s s o c i a t e w i t h h i m , b u t t h e y
seem to relapse into their ordinary habit after his
stay of a few weeks or a month is over.
The tendency is to an excessive use, and one
man of wide experience and close and careful ob
- s e r v a t i o n s t a t e s t h a t v e r y f e w w h o c o m m e n c e w i t h
moderate quantities are satisfied, but gradually
increase the daily amount. However, the distinc
- t i o n b e t w e e n t h e f o u r c l a s s e s m e n t i o n e d i n t h e
question when defined by the natives whom I have
asked does not appear to be very perspicuous.
27. (1) The religious ascetics use it (ganja),
because they are enabled by it to overcome desire
and thus attain that holy state in which the soul
is filled with all reverence to the Deity. Shrewd
observers say that they certainly lose all desire,
for many of them smoke to the sacrifice of food,
sense, reverence, health, strength, and everything
that goes to make up manhood. (2) The disciples
of these men smoke because their masters smoke,
drawn to it by the seductiveness of the drug, in
some cases to drown care. (3) The Muhamma
- d a n s I s u r m i s e t o b e m o r e f a m i l i a r w i t h i t t h a n
other classes of the people, because the drug as
used seems to have been introduced from north
India, possibly being carried down in the Muham
- m a d a n i n v a s i o n . T h e r e i s h i s t o r i c a l e v i d e n c e t h a t
the drug was used commonly in the Muhammadan
armies. (4) That the water of strange wells conduces
to fever and sickness in the user is a widespread
belief amongst the people. To counteract the
supposed ill effects of this water, travellers or
newly arrived residents in a place who may suffer
from ill health resort to all sorts of reputed cures.
Amongst these stands ganja. Soldiers, police,
and men whose habits are more or less nomadic use
ganja to a more marked extent than other classes
of the people, and for the reason stated above.
(5) Then ganja has a reputation amongst its de
- v o t e e s o f c u r i n g c o u g h s , a s t h m a , e t c . A f e w a r e
induced to adopt the habit by this consideration.
(6) Card-playing parties and gambling dens are
places at which the habit is practised and
fostered.
As for bhang: (1) amongst those whose habit
of life is sedentary, and whose work requires
long continued mental application, some are said
to be addicted to the habit. (2) The pundits,
who ape the fashions of Benares, the great reli
- g i o u s c e n t r e o f a l l I n d i a , a r e s a i d t o u s e i t t o a
limited extent.
28. As very little of the drug ganja which is
used is purchased,; the great bulk of that used
being grown by the consumers themselves, this
question does not meet with many replies.
What to one man is moderation is excess to
another. Habitual moderate consumers who pur
- c h a s e t h e d r u g m a y s p e n d f r o m h a l f t o 2 a n n a s a
day. Excessive consumers, 2 to 6 annas ; but I have
no means to indicate by actual weight how much
that signifies.
There is a popular comedy acted by companies
of strolling players in which a king is represented
as sitting upon his throne, and, being harassed by
the affairs of state, summons a chief peon, whom
he orders to at once secure, regardless of cost, a
drug which will produce immediate intoxication.
The peon returns shortly with a lighted pipe,
which he hands to the king. After smoking it,
with very evident satisfaction, for a short time,
the king, losing all consciousness, subsides into a
deep sleep. During this interval the peon, who
seems to be the clown of the comedy, amuses the
audience with some very entertaining antics about
the august presence of the monarch, and finishes
by imitating His Excellency's imperious summons,