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injured their health and other reasons. It is not
difficult to break the habit.
Question 32.—There is no obligation, though
there is a custom to drink bhang during the Holi,
It is compulsory to offer the leaves of the bael
tree and dhatura at the Shivratri, but there is not
the same obligation regarding the hemp drugs,
I have seen the bael and dhatura leaves offered,
but not hemp drugs. I am a follower of Daya-
nand and a Hindu, but do not respect the images
of the Hindu gods. I have only been so for
three years and previously used to worship idols,
and my family are none of them Aryas. I have
therefore full knowledge of Hindu customs.
Question 36.—The same individuals drink liquor
and consume the drugs, but this is not common.
The practice would be found among the lowest
classes. The drugs are not consumed by the
higher classes.
Question 39.—It. is my idea that smoking is
less injurious than drinking or eating the drugs.
I cannot say that it is the general opinion.
Question 41.—I can't give any preference to
alcohol over the hemp drugs. I think them
both bad. I may have expressed an opinion on
the subject when I was asked by the district
officer.
Question 42.—The opinion I have given in
this answer relates to all three drugs. The con-
sumers themselves have admitted to me that they
cause cough and laziness. There may be some
beneficial effects from the drugs in keeping out
the cold. I know many people who take the
drugs. The cousin I have mentioned in the
first answer is an excessive consumer. I look
upon him as half-witted, and he does not enjoy
good health. I know of cases in which asthma
and lung diseases have resulted from the moderate
use of ganja and charas. Bhang is not injurious
to the lungs, but it reduces the general strength.
I have seen the Chaubes of Muttra. They are
not weakly, but, on the contrary, great wrestlers.
Notwithstanding this 1 consider that bhang
causes weakness as well as laziness. I don't know
anything of medicine.
Question 53.—I can recall the case of Madhav-
das fakir, who threw the idols into a well, and
when a passer-by questioned him, he thrust him also
into the well. He was an excessive consumer
of ganja and charas, and lived at a mandir in.
Kalpi. This occurred fourteen or fifteen years ago.
Shortly afterwards Madhavdas went into a lunatic
asylum, and stayed there twelve years. He re-
covered and was released two years ago. I was
sixteen years of age when the facts occurred, and
have seen the man who was thrown into the
well. I know of no other case of insanity
resulting from the drugs.
Question 59.—The prohibition of the drug will
cause distress for a time to some consumers.
Consumers will take to other drugs ; but the
number of people using intoxicating drugs will
be noticed. The other drugs would be liquor,
toddy, opium. The smoking of hemp drugs is
more deleterious than the smoking of chandu and
madat. People get insane also, and I have de-
scribed the case of the fakir and mentioned my
cousin who is half-mad. I have seen no other
cases. The brother of my cousin is sound in
intellect. Their father and mother were sound
in intellect. The half-mad man is forty-five or
forty-six years of age. He has no vice but the
smoking of hemp. He learnt to smoke from Tara,
a kahar. My consin is often sensible, regrets his
habit, so I do not call him quite mad. My raiyats
who smoke hemp, some of them have cough. Other
cultivators also have cough. The ganja smokers
think the drug helps them to work, especially in
wet weather, but I think they are mistaken. None
of my raiyats take the drug to excess, and they do
not suffer, as far as I have seen, any bad effect,
except the cough. Those who do not smoke are
the stronger. I have been ten years in possession
of the zamindari. I live in Rai Bareilly and
only go into my zamindari to give leases and
collect rents, and attend to other business. The
zamindari is only 3 kos from Bareilly. The other
bad effects besides cough I have only noticed in
Rai Bareilly and Kalpi, and not among my
raiyats of whom there are about one thousand.
Question 68.—I consider that the consump-
tion of drugs on the premises of shops is a bad
exhibition and encourages consumption. I do
not think it conveys the idea that Government
patronizes the hemp drugs.
Question 69.—I have never heard of any ob-
jection being made to the opening of a shop.
205. Evidence of CHAUDHRI BASANT SINGH, RAI BAHADUR, Zamindar, Seohara,
District Bijnor.
1. I have had opportunities of seeing and speak-
ing to the smokers of charas, etc., in Bijnor,
Moradabad, Bareilly, Meerut, Mozaffarnagar, Um-
balla, Naini Tal.
2. Ganja is known as ganja; bhang as bhang,
bijia, sabzi, patti, and thandai ; charas as charas,
and sulpha and itr. It is of three sorts, Bokhara,
Yarkhand, and Girda.
3. In the Terai and Bijnor abundant in many
places.
4. Bijia, bhang and sabzi.
5. Generally in lowlying lands near rivers.
6. Generally dense.
7. Not in these parts.
14. Only bhang in these parts, and in parganas
Chandpur and Najibabad and Bijnor. Charas is
made in Garhwal and Naini Tal.
15. Spontaneous growth of bhang is cut, dried,
and its leaves collected and used both for eating
and drinking, but not smoked.
16. Bhang is not generally prepared by people
in their houses, but when the patsan plant grows
it can be prepared. Ganja and charas can also be
so prepared, but it is not the custom to do so.
17. No particular caste prepare bhang, the far-
mers make it. Charas comes prepared by the hill
folk. The hill people also make a sort of cloth
like "sari" from the bark of the patsan plant,
which is known as "bhangela."
18. Both charas and bhang deteriorate by keep-
ing, and, if kept long, their effects are destroyed.
With ordinary care, bhang can be kept for two or
three years and charas for one year. Damp and
cold are the chief causes of deterioration. The
means of keeping this is to keep in dry vessels and
in a warm place.