215
habitual. The proportion of ganja and charas
smokers among the Bengalis is infinitely small,
but the rates fluctuate between the high, middle
and low classes of Bengalis.
As regards bhang, about 80 per cent. of the
Hindustanis are supposed to be habitual consumers,
of whom about 10 per cent. are excessive drinkers
and the rest moderate. There are also habitual
consumers among the Bengalis, though the exact
figure cannot be ascertained without local enquiry.
Bhang is occasionally taken by every Hindu: it
is essential on certain festivals, such as on Bejaya
Dasami day in Bengal and Holi in the North-
West.
Among the Bengalis the occasional drinkers
may be taken at about one per cent.
27. The first part of this question has already
been answered above. There is nothing in the
habits of life which leads to the practice; occa-
sional indulgence is not without the reactionary
effect which bring on repetition. Constant use of
each of the three kinds of drugs gradually grows
into a habit. In respect to bhang it should be
remembered that it is sometimes a religious
observance.
28. For one pice, a chillum of ganja may be
obtained, and among the very poor, four to six
persons manage to have a pull, or virtually one
pice worth of ganja satisfies four poor moderate
smokers per diem. The average allowance to
moderate habitual smokers, irrespective of their
circumstances, is two or three chillums per diem.
In the case of excessive comsumers the quantity is
by far greater—about 20 to 50 chillums each.
I
know well-to-do persons consume three to four
chillums per diem; but the proportion among
Bengali bhadra-lok cannot exceed one in a thou-
sand. Poor excessive smokers assemble together
and consume ganja according to what each can
afford. One chillum of charas costs two pice. As
for ascetics or fakirs, they smoke all day long;
but their consumption varies from day to day
according to the means at their disposal.
The foregoing remarks apply also to the use of
charas, except that it is more expensive than
ganja; that the number of chillums one can con-
sume hardly exceeds four per diem.
Two tolas of bhang is the average daily allow-
ance to a habitual moderate consumer: a tola can
be obtained for a little more than a pice, the price
varying between R1-8 to R2 per seer; but retail
purchasers have to pay twice as much. The ex-
cessive habitual drinkers, such as Chowbeys of
Muttra, generally consume one chhattack of the
drug every day.
29. With bhang the following ingredients are
ordinarily mixed:—
Black pepper, aniseed, coriander seed, carda-
moms, cucumber seeds, musk melon seed, almonds,
rose leaves.
Well-to-do people also use milk and sugar and
rose water. Pomegranate and grape juice and
saffron are specially used during the cold weather.
In exceptional cases bhang sherbet is prepared
with either unripe mango juice, ripe mango juice,
bael fruit, phalsa fruit, or curd; but some or
other of the eight ingredients named above are
indispensable in making the draught.
In
sweetening the sherbet, sugar must be used, and
this as well as milk is supposed to heighten the
intoxicating power, and they are therefore pre-
ferred by the consumers. When acid juices are
mixed, milk and sugar are dispensed with, but
assafœtida and cumin seeds are used. Ganja is
ordinarily smoked with tobacco leaves or prepared
tobacco. Ganja in excelsis is made of the follow-
ing ingredients, and is called pancha ratna (five
gems), viz., ganja, charas, dhatura, opium and
arsenic. There are people who smoke this deadly
mixture. Pancha ratna also means a kalika, i.e.,
tobacco-pot having five receptacles for five follow-
ing ingredients : ganja, charas, tobacco, tobacco
leaves, opium or dhatura, the smoke from five
receptacles passing through the pipe. Charas is
not smoked by itself, but mixed with tobacco
leaves and kneaded in the palm with the thumb:
it is then rolled into a ball and put on fire till it
is partially fried. When filled up with it and fire,
the kalika is smoked.
The bhang massala is
composed of the six or eight ingredients mention-
ed above, and is sold in the bazar by the dealers
of bhang.
30. Ganja and charas are smoked either in
solitude or in the company of associate smokers,
but bhang is taken openly. The first two drugs
are chiefly confined to males, though occasionally
we see low class women and "unfortunates"
indulging in the use of the drugs.
We have
rarely seen children under twelve or fourteen years
of age smoking ganja or charas; but those who
begin at an early age cannot shake off the habit at
any time of their lives. Bhang is taken by even
children of nine or ten years of age.
31. Yes, the habit is easily formed, and, when
confirmed, it is difficult to break off, though not
so difficult as in the case of opium and alcohol.
There is always a tendency to develop into the
excessive, but that tendency is not so strong as in
the case of opium eaters and wine imbibers,
32. For religious service, ganja, charas and
bhang are used in the worship of the Lingam.
At Tarkeswar, for instance, they are offered with
milk and poured on the head of the mighty deity.
Socially there is no occasion that makes the use
of the drugs imperative. Sivaites or worshippers
of Sakti smoke ganja in larger doses on the
Sivaratri day than ordinarily, but those who do
not smoke ganja at all need not indulge in it.
It
is quite different with bhang.
Siddhi means
siddha or success; and whenever any festival or
ceremony takes place, for instance, a marriage or
a sradh, the first article that must be purchased
and brought home and kept in the house till
the ceremony is over is a little siddhi as a
guarantee of success, and a safeguard against any
mishap.
On festive occasions, such as Bejaya
Dasami evening (last day of Durga Puja) in
Bengal, and Holi in the Upper Provinces, bhang
in the shape of sherbet (beverage) is offered, as a
part of the religious observance, to every member
of the family, and to every guest who, if they do
not wish to drink, put a drop of it on the tongue
by way of holy acceptance. Even little children,
babies, are touched on the temple with a drop by
the tip of the finger; females take siddhi on such
days. On these and other ordinary occasions,
some people, chiefly males, indulge to excess; but
it does no harm to them beyond promoting a
little merriment or hilarity and producing pro-
tracted sleep.
33. Smoking ganja and charas is regarded as
disreputable. In the opinion of the respectable
and sober the practice is associated with the idea
of something like "fast life"—a scamp. Young
people take to them for the sake of pleasure;
hence it is always considered scandalous to use
such narcotics. Like tobacco, which it is not the
custom to smoke in the presence of our seniors,
such as parents, uncles, or elder brothers, or of