189
be sorry (probably the ancients were sincerely
sorry) and pensive, and they take to the mild
intoxicant siddhi for gaiety and buoyancy of
spirit. This is the religious origin of the custom
which has now become more of a social nature.
Friends gather together in the evening and they
indulge in the siddhi drink. Females and males
alike do it. Now-a-days the religious savour has
evaporated from the custom, and people indulge,
and they can do it only once in a year, in a mild
intoxicant for the sake of its intoxicating power
on the pretext of religion. The custom of drink-
ing siddhi is not always essential on such occa-
sions. There is only a small number of old men
who take a sip of the drink or only touch it and
put a drop of it on the tip of their tongue for the
sake of observing the religious custom. The
habit with the former class not unfrequently runs
to excess; that with the latter is rather under
temperate. Men of weak principles have been
found to acquire a habit from the occasional use.
33. The consumption of ganja and charas is
always looked upon with an hateful eye, though
siddhi is not so regarded. There is a native
adage to the effect: "The use of siddhi improves
the intellect; but the use of ganja ruins the
man," which carries with it the sense of all men
and women. The one public opinion, social and
religious, against the use of charas and ganja is
that it is bad. Ganja and charas smokers are
always feared and regarded as destructive of sanity
in the smoker and safety of others. They are
always of a rude and rough mood. They are
never trusted. Ganja and charas are consequently
in disrepute.
40. I have often seen siddhi given to the horse
as medicine.
66. Evidence of BABU NOBIN CHANDRA KAR, Excise Deputy Collector, Bhagalpur.
1. Serving in the capacity of an Excise Deputy
Collector in this district for two years.
2. Yes. They are known as bhang, charas, and
ganja; but charas is not smoked in this district.
Ganja is again known as flat, round, and chur.
3. Only bhang grows wildly in this district.
In the beginning or middle of the cold weather,
when water that collected over lands dries up,
bhang plants begin to appear. In a couple of
months time, when the plants attain a height of
two to three feet, the bhang goladars of this dis-
trict go out to the producing tracts with a hukum-
nama and cut the plants, and let them lie on the
fields to dry up. If the sun is very bright, the
leaves dry up in one day, and then they are beat-
en with a stick, by which process the leaves are
separated from the twigs. They are then gathered
and cleared of dust, and bhang is formed,
4. Siddhi and bhang. Yes, they refer to the
same plant.
5. Alluvial land has been found as the best soil
for the growth of wild bhang.
6. Dense in places I have seen.
7. No cultivation of any kind of hemp plant.
8. No area under cultivation.
9 to 12. Not known to me.
13. The cultivation is, no doubt, restricted to
certain districts, but not to this district.
14. Bhang is prepared in this district out of the
wild plants. The average production is 200 to
300 maunds a year. It should be observed that
all bhang that grows is not prepared, but only a
part of it.
15. The method of manufacturing bhang from
the wild plants has been fully stated in reply 3.
When the plants have attained a height of two to
three feet, they are cut and left to dry. When
they are sufficiently dried, they are beaten with
sticks by which process the leaves are separated
from the twigs. The leaves thus cleared of dust
and twigs form bhang. As regards bhang, the
preparation is one and the same for eating and
drinking. I have never known bhang being
smoked.
16. (a) Prepared by bhang goladars in the
fields.
(b) Yes.
(c) Can't say.
17. No special class. Those who generally
deal in excisable articles do this.
18. Ganja and bhang have been known to dete-
riorate by long keeping. They dry up and lose
their power of intoxication. They are said com-
pletely to lose their power in the sense that they
fail to produce intoxication, but I hardly believe
this. For one year or a year and a half at most
they keep good. Dampness and length of time
are the causes of deterioration. Can be kept long
if protected from dampness.
19. No charas is consumed in this district.
Rare case of ganja being chewed by ascetics has
been known. Ganja taken in this state has caused
vomiting in some cases. Oil is extracted from
ganja and is used as medicine.
20. The labouring class generally consume
ganja. Men of the gentlemen class also have
been met with to smoke ganja. Women who
have cut off all connections with worldly affairs
and have taken to lives of austerity are to be
classed among these.
21. To the consumer the distinction is un-
known. He goes to the shop and asks for ganja.
He never says that he wants this, that, or the
other kind of ganja. All kinds of ganja are
converted into chur by throwing away the twigs,
and are sold to consumers. The retail vendors
prefer chur to any other kind.
22. No charas is used in this district.
23. Not known.
24. Kayasths, Brahmins, Khatriyas, and Mar-
waris have been known both to eat and drink
bhang. It is taken with food. But bhang is
generally taken as a drink. Ice cream is also
made of it.
25. On the decrease, not because people are
giving up taking narcotics, but because they can-
not afford to pay for such things. The statis-
tics of the district for the last three years show
this.
26. The number of habitual moderate con-
sumers is the largest.
27. From the poor labouring classes who have
to undergo hard manual labour and who are given
up to habits of wandering.
28. (a) Four annas and four pice of ganja,
and half chhattak and three pice of bhang.
(b) One bhari and two annas of ganja;
one chhattak and six pice of bhang.
29. (a) Kheni or dry tobacco with ganja; and
sugar and water with bhang.