175
by Muhammadans in East Bengal). I hang a
broomstick at the door of those who call me a
stupid ganja smoker. The wife of the man who
feels uneasy and restless after smoking ganja
shall give birth to children in secluded places
(that man shall be a cuckold, as he richly deserves
to be, being devoid of manliness, and his children
shall be illegitimate). Hail to thee Kali and
Sada Siva !
VII.
The fair in the Kali Juga of Trinath (a god
worshipped in Dacca by both Hindus and Muham¬
madans), who can be seen by an offering of a
pice worth of ganja. There is the delicious
ganja, and the disciple sits with the ready chil-
lum. He cries out bom, bobom bom ! and smokes
ganja. Betel and betel-nut worth one pice and
without any other spices. Let us all smoke the
chillums of ganja, and drive away all cares and
pains. When my god Trinath goes to any house
he causes three chillums to be made ready with
a pice worth of ganja. Good brother ! cold,
fever, and headache fly from the man to whose
house my god Trinath goes.
64. Evidence of BABU GOBIND CHANDRA DAS, Baidya, Deputy Magistrate and
Deputy Collector, Malda.
1. I am Deputy Collector in charge of the
Excise Administration of the district of Malda, and
as such have had opportunities of obtaining in¬
formation regarding these matters.
2. I have not had the advantage of seeing Dr.
Prain's report, but the definitions seem to be fairly
accurate. Round ganja is prepared also by being
rolled with the hands, and is locally known as gol
ganja. Round ganja prepared by being rolled un¬
der foot is locally known as pakhri ganja. Flat
ganja is locally known as dali ganja, from the
fact of its containing a considerable quantity of
useless wood or twig. Both flat and round varieties
come under the common appellation of chipti gan¬
ja. Chur is the local name applied to the third
variety of ganja.
3. In Bengal bhang grows wild in every dis¬
trict. It is particularly abundant in the districts
of the Rajshahi Division. In Kuch Behar also
it is abundant.
Here in Malda the village sites, spare spaces in
people's homesteads, and roadside waste lands are
often seen covered with a dense growth of bhang.
4. Bhang is known by two other names, siddhi
and sabji. I am unable to state if any botanical
distinctions exist between them. But the names
are indifferently applied.
5. I have nothing more to say on this point
than what is contained in Watt's Dictionary of
Economic Products of India. It is, however,
worthy of remark that sufficient observations and
experiments have not yet been made on this point
to get correct ideas.
6. The growth of wild bhang is very dense.
We often call it a bhang jungle.
7. (a) Ganja is grown in a compact tract of
country with a radius of about sixteen miles lying
in three districts, namely, Rajshahi, Dinajpur, and
Bogra, but the largest portion of it is situated in
the first named district. The following table
shows the result of the cultivation of ganja for
the last five years:—
1
2
3
4
Year.
Quantity of
land culti-
vated.
Quantity of
ganja pro-
duced.
Average
produce per
bigha.
B.
C. Mds. S. Mds. S. C.
1888-89
2,433 4
8,266 24
8 15 14
1889-90
2,408 1
8,021 37
3 13 5
1890-91
2,669 18
6,681 29
2 20 2
1891-92
1,315 15
6,040 6
4 23 10
1892-98
3,538 0
7,574 0
2 5 10
These figures are taken from the published
reports of Government. Though they pretend
to be accurate even up to chittacks and seers and
cottas, the recent settlements of the Dubalhati
estate by Munshi Nandji have disclosed that
they do not at all represent the correct facts. In
fact, an examination of the last three columns leads
one to suspect whether the figures of columns
2 and 4 have not been fudged to maintain the
remarkable uniformity of column 3.
(b) Charas is not produced from hemp plant in
Bengal. It is imported from Amritsar, Allahabad,
and Nepal.
(c) In Bengal bhang is grown wild in great abun¬
dance in many districts, and specially in the Raj-
shahi Division. The best is collected chiefly in
Monghyr and Bhagalpur under supervision of ex¬
cise officers. No statistics about the area over
which bhang grows and about the total quantity
of bhang that is annually produced in Bengal are
available.
(d) I am unable to say if Cannabis sativa is
grown anywhere in Bengal for its fibre. The
vernacular name for the hemp fibre is san. It is
grown largely in East Bengal. The plants are
not, however, similar in appearance to Cannabis
sativa.
8. It will be seen from the annexed table given
above that the area under ganja cultivation is ab¬
normally large in 1892-93 compared with 1891-92.
The cause usually assigned for these yearly fluctua¬
tions in area is that ganja is a precarious crop of
which the profits may be very large or (in a bad
season) next to nothing. After a good season culti¬
vators are encouraged to rush in for licenses, and
similarly a bad crop contracts the area of opera¬
tions. Below are given figures showing the average
area under cultivation for periods of five years from
1878-79 to 1892-93:—
Bighas.
From 1878-79 to 1882-83
1,980
" 1883-84 to 1887-88
1,968
" 1888-89 to 1892-93
2,473
The increase during the last quinquennial period
is more than 25 per cent. This extension in culti¬
vation does not, however, seem to have been
caused by increased demand for the drug. For
the average quantities exported from Rajshahi
into Bengal, Assam, and other provinces are—
Mds.
For 1882-83 to 1886-87
7,504 and
" 1887-88 to 1891-92
7,646
(Figures for 1892-93 are not available.)
The increased demand in export is therefore less
than 2 per cent.
It seems therefore that the extension in the area
of ganja cultivation is due to its being a profitable