I
90
from the pensioned Excise Daroga of Nagpur,
Ramchandra Kasherao, and also from a sub
- c o n t r a c t o r , C h a m m u n y a , a n d a c a r t - d r i v e r o f m i n e
given to the habit of smoking ganja.
2.These definitions may be accepted for our
province. It is the flat ganja which is generally
used here.
3.I know of no particular district where it
grows spontaneously. It grows by cultivation.
It was cultivated some time ago by people in the
Katol Tahsil, but its cultivation there is now for- -
bidden by Government. It is now cultivated only
in the Khandwa district.
4.It is known by the names of ganja, bhang,
and a preparation of it by the name of majum.
Charas is seldom used in these provinces. The
flowers of the hemp plant are made into ganja.
The green colouring matter repeatedly washed
from the dried leaves of the plant is named bhang;
the extraction of its resin by its being boiled with
ghee, and the jelly so obtained, when cooked with
dried milk and sugar, is made into majum.
5. It requires high land for its cultivation. It
generally grows well on white land quite near the
village.
6. The ganja is said to grow dense, but it has
to be weeded and thinned before it can be expected
to bear fruit. I cannot say if the growth of the
ghee, The jelly so obtained is cooked with dried
milk and sugar into a paste, which, when cooled,
hardens sufficiently to be cut into small tablets.
The preparation of it is termed majum.
16. Bhang is always prepared by people in
their houses.
17.The preparation of ganja is made by the
common cultivator. Bhang is made by persons
in their houses irrespective of class or creed. The
preparation of hemp into majum is made by
halwaies or sweetmeat sellers under a license.
5. All these drugs do deteriorate by keeping.
It does not lose its effect for one full year. It
can be kept well with ordinary care for a year and-
- a - h a l f , I t g e t s r o t t e n b y b e i n g k e p t i n c l o s e d
doors and without sufficient exposure to weather.
They generally keep it in open air to prevent it
from deterioration.
19. Ganja and charas are only used for smoking
purposes. Ganja is very generally used by
cultivators as a medicine for some special diseases
of cattle
.
20. Some very few cultivators do smoke ganja,
but the generality of persons who mostly smoke it
are artizans, labourers, sweepers, Bhoees or palki-
bearers, gosains, bairagis, fakirs, Gonds, Raiha--
dees, Bhamtees, Garodees, syces, and others.
Travellers and pilgrims who walk on foot or who
e
7. The hemp plant is cultivated in the district
its use as bhang. The bhang made from
Khandwa ganja is not so generally used as the
Marwar bhang. The plant was cultivated very
largely in the Katol tahsil, but it is now for-
bidden.
8.I have reasons to believe that there is a
decrease, and the decrease is due, they say, to the
very strict scrutiny and restriction under which
it has been placed by Government. The culti-
vators are required to sell the ganja to one whole-
sale vendor, and the prices are not regulated by
the usual laws of supply and demand. This is
one principal reason why there has been, they
say, such decrease in its cultivation.
9.The seeds are put down about the end of
May or beginning of June, and as soon as the
seedlings have fairly sprung up, the ground is
carefully cleared of weeds and the plants thinned
so as to leave an open space of three or four inches
between. The process of b a k h a r i n g
i s b y m e a n s
of a bourdened bakhar,s o a s t o a l l o w a m a n t o
walk between the rows of seedlings planted. The
plants are cut in October—November. It is the
female plant which bears the fruit, and the other
plants are required to be carefully weeded out.
10. They do not belong to any particular class.
It is the common cultivator who grows it.
13. The cultivation of the hemp plant has been
restricted in my province to the Khandwa district
only.
14.
Ganja is prepared at Khandwa: charas is
seldom prepared. Bhang is also very generally
prepared.
15.
The flowers or kalis are made into ganja.
Charas is the resin which freely exudes from the
leaves as the resin which is retained in the flowers
and twigs, while bhang is the green colouring
matter that is repeatedly washed from the dried
leaves of the plant. This diluted with water and
milk is used as a refreshing draught. Another
favourite form of using these leaves is to extract
the resin from them by boiling them in water with
to it. The mendicants also smoke this drug. The
l ocal i t i es where i t i s general l y used are sarai s or
inns, and places where the pilgrims, fakirs or
gosains, generally stop. There are no localities
particularly appropriated for such purposes such
as are for madak smoking, etc.
21. It is the flat ganja which is generally used
in these provinces.
22. Charas is seldom used in these provin-
ces.
23. Those who are excessively addicted to
ganja smoking, and who cannot get a sufficient
quantity of it by reason of its high price, generally
make use of bhang for smoking purposes, but
very few do so.
24. The middle class population of Northern
India, and almost all Marwaris and fasting
Brahmins drink bhang. It is, as a rule, to be
got at any of these houses. They use it as tea,
and offer it in that light to visitors of their own
class. Generally one-fourth of the population use
it in these districts.
25. The use of ganja and bhang both have
been on the decrease by reason of its high price.
I hear under the Mahratta government, so long
ago as 1853, ganja was very generally used by the
lower classes. It was so common as to be used
like straw for plastering purposes. Education
has also had much to do with its decrease. As
education advances the smoking of it must de-
crease. As regards the middle classes, the high
price and restrictions placed on it have also had
the effect of decreasing its consumption.
C o m - m o n p e o p l e c a n n o t a f f o r d t o i n d u l g e i n a l u x u r y
which is every day becoming dearer
.
26.
I give the following information from the
reports I have heard: it is only a conjecture:
— 20 per cent. belong to class ( a).
10 per cent. belong to class ( b).
1 5 p e r c e n t . b e l o n g t o c l a s s (c ) .
5 per cent, belong to class (d).
27. Gonds, labourers, and artizans belong to
class (a).