222
positive intoxicating drug auxiliary to drinking
pleasures. It is used by the travellers, as well as
by the fakirs and friars, as a safeguard against
disease in malarious tracts.
Charas closely follows ganja in this respect.
Siddhi is usually used by the higher and middle
classes as a digestive, pleasure-giving, invigorating
drug and purifier of blood. It is successfully
used by some persons as a precaution against costive-
ness and commencing acidity. The Hindu friars
and jogis are said to use it to help them in their
religious contemplation by increasing the powers
of concentration. Specially from this point of
view siddhi is preferable to liquor.
28. The average cost of ganja or charas for a
moderate consumer is 3/4 of an anna per day, and
that of siddhi 1/4 of an anna. Habitual excessive
consumers have to spend nearly double the amount.
29. The ordinary ingredient mixed with ganja
and charas is tobacco soaked in molasses In ex-
ceptional cases both these drugs are kept in rose
water for hours before consumption. This is said
to be done for the sake of flavour only. Siddhi is
usually ground into a paste with some black
pepper and anise, and then dissolved into water.
This is the general way followed by 75 per cent.
of the consumers. The object of this method is
to secure the good effects of the drugs as described
in paragraph 27 of this report. The most well-to-
do sections of the consumers use milk and sugar
instead of water, and the object of such a mixture
is to make the drug more palatable and more
intoxicating. I know no case of dhatura being
used with any of these drugs.
30. Unlike liquor and madak, ganja, charas and
siddhi are generally consumed in solitude, though
there are occasional cases of consumption in com-
pany. Ganja and charas are confined to the male
sex, and siddhi occasionally extends to the other sex,
though such cases are rare. These drugs are, how-
ever, generally consumed both by the young and the
old. I know only one case in which a Brahmin
boy of fourteen years of age used to smoke ganja.
31. The habit of consuming all these drugs
may be formed in a month or two if taken daily
or at regular intervals. But I do not think that
it is very difficult to give up the habit. Jail
prisoners accustomed to these drugs before convic-
tion are, as a rule, compelled to give up the habit
after admission into the jail. But they do not
appear to suffer much by the change, and most of
them improve physically within a short time. I
have reason to believe that the moderate use of
these drugs, like all other intoxicating articles, has
a tendency to develop to excess.
32. There is only one socio-religious custom in
many parts of Bengal, so far as the consumption of
siddhi only is concerned. It is generally after
sunset on the Dasahara day that many Hindu
households in Bengal prepare a good deal of siddhi
to drink as well as to entertain the neighbours
who meet on this occasion for reciprocal blessings
and good wishes. Siddhi is considered on this
occasion as a symbol of success for the year
next ensuing. I do not think that the use of
siddhi on this occasion is essential, nor have I
ever heard of any pundit justifying its use on this
occasion by any formal religious injunction or
reliable text from the Shastras. Dasahara con-
sumption is, however, temperate, and in some eases
formal, and does not lead to the habit.
33. Consumption of siddhi is generally regard-
ed as innocent, and no disrepute is attached to it.
Bu the habit of smoking ganja has been stig-
matized by public opinion both from social and
religious points of view, and I think very justly,
in the majority of cases. A ganja smoker is phy-
sically weak, morose and melancholy in temper,
moving dry sticks in appearance, looking more
like an apparition than a human being. It would
be very difficult, if not. impossible, to find out a
dutiful son, a loving husband, an affectionate
father, a trustworthy servant or a reliable officer
from the rank of ganja consumers. As members
of society they are generally useless and disagree-
able, and are looked upon by the public as worth-
less specimens of humanity. This picture of the
class applies only to the confirmed ganja smokers
who have gone to excess. But it should be borne
in mind that moderate use, as already remarked,
gradually develops into the excessive.
I had
opportunities to observe more than fifteen ganja
smokers of various classes in different districts of
Bengal, and the above description is justly appli-
cable to most of them.
I should record here two cases which differ
widely from others which have come under
my observation. I know a Bengali official of high
rank (Sub-Judge) who used to consume ganja
moderately, and a sanyasi (friar) who consumed
both ganja and siddhi as often as he liked. But
the Sub-Judge is said to have done his work very
satisfactorily in spite of ganja, and the sanyasi,
whom I had ample opportunity to observe for
more than a year in my native village in Jessore,
was an excellent man. He was physically strong,
humble and amiable in manners, intelligent, pious,
and thoroughly devotional. But these are isolated
cases, and it would be an imperfect generalisation
to draw any inference from such insufficient data.
34 and 35. As these two questions are closely
connected to each other, I take them for one and
answer accordingly.
Siddhi.—(1) It would be a serious privation
of the bulk of the consumers of siddhi
to forego its consumption.
(2) So far as my experience and information
from native physicians go, I am in-
clined to believe that a moderate use
of siddhi invigorates manhood, puri-
fies blood, increases digestive powers,
prevents costiveness and gives pleasure.
(3) From medical point of view siddhi is
a highly valuable article. Indian, medi-
cines, like kameswar madak, Ganga-
dharchurna, and others of similar
description and established reputation,
of which the Hindu medical science
is justly proud, owe their existence
to siddhi.
(4) Under these circumstances it would
be a questionable policy for Govern-
ment to enforce total prohibition of such
a useful drug.
(5) Such prohibition would surely create
discontent, and Government will find
very little to justify such a measure.
Ganja.—Considering the advantages and dis-
advantages of the use of this drug, I have no hesi-
tation to say that its consumption should be total-
ly prohibited for the following reasons:—
(a) It causes mental, moral and physical
deterioration.
Dysentery, laziness, in-
sanity, and want of self-respect often
turn out to be the inevitable results of
ganja smoking.