223
(b) Native physicians do not, so far as I
know, want this drug for its medicinal
property, if any.
(c) If Western
medical science, as now
practised in India, cannot do without
it, a very limited quantity may be
cultivated in some Government botani-
cal gardens to supply the demand of
the medical department only.
(d) Prohibition of consumption would cause
privation to consumers for some time
only. For they are almost sure to
take recourse to other exciseable articles.
It would create discontent among the
ganja smokers. But their number does
not exceed one-half per cent. of the
total population, and Government will
have the sympathy of the remaining 991/2
per cent. Secondly, Government have
very little to apprehend in shape of poli-
tical danger from the proverbially
worthless men of the ganja-smoking
class.
(e) The reasons usually put forward in
favour of ganja consumption are as
follow:—
(1) That Hindu friars and jogis cannot do
without it, for it helps them in their
religious contemplation and sustains'
them under severe exertion and expo-
sure.
(2) That it is a safeguard against disease in
malarious tracts.
(3) That it serves the labouring classes as a
refreshing stimulant, alleviating fati-
gue.
I do not think that any of these reasons is
conclusive, though plausible. In fact none of
them stands the test of a close examination. If
any intoxicating drug is at all necessary for friars
and jogis, alcohol, opium or siddhi may serve the
purpose. Eight kinds of intoxicating drugs are
prescibed in the Tantras for Hindu devotees, and
it is optional with them to take any if they care
to do so at all. So any measure of Government
prohibiting the use of ganja would not interfere
with this religious class of consumers, for seven
sorts are still open to them. But Manu, the high-
est authority on Hindu religion, encourages absti-
nence in unmistakable terms:—
"There is no sin in taking meat or liquor, or
indulging in sexual intercourse; for every man is
naturally prone to them. But the highest virtue
consists in total abstinence."
That ganja is a safeguard against disease in
malarious tracts is not necessarily true. I know
two men of the Khulna district who acquired the
habit of smoking ganja in the district of Dinajpur,
where both of them had to go on private service,
but there are numerous gentlemen (both Euro-
peans and natives) who were not affected by malaria
in Dinajpur, though they never smoked ganja
at all.
Even as a stimulant and remover of fatigue
ganja has very little to recommend itself to the
labouring classes. There is no doubt that a
labourer, who has acquired the habit
of smoking ganja, works well for the
first two hours just after taking a chillum* of
ganja. But as reaction begins to set in, the
labourer begins to feel aversion to work, becomes
uneasy and restless, looks sullen and evades work,
if possible. A careful observation is sure to
establish the fact that any ordinary labourer
whose only stimulant is tobacco is on the whole a
better workman than his ganja-consuming brother.
I hold the same view with respect to charas.
* Single dose.
82. Evidence of BABU JOGENDRA NATH MOZUMDAR, Brahmin, Deputy Inspector of
Excise,
Darjeeling.
1. My experience and information are limited
almost entirely to this district and specially in my
capacity of an Excise Officer.
2. Yes, they are correct to my knowledge.
Ganja, bhang, and charas are the names in use in
Bengal. Charas is unknown in Darjeeling.
3. In this matter I have a knowledge of this
district only. The hemp plant grows spontane-
ously here in various localities specially on the
beds of the hill streams.
4. In this district the term bhang is generally
used to denote this plant. The world ganja is also
frequently used.
5. The plant grows wild generally up to an
elevation of 4,000 feet above sea level and is often
abundant by the side of streams.
6. Generally scattered in this district.
7. (a) Yes.
(b) I do not know.
(c) Yes.
(d) I do not know.
The hemp plant is cultivated in Bengal in a
tract in the Rajshahi District, in the sub-division
of Naogaon, which partly stretches into the
Bogra and the Dinajpur districts. The produce
of this tract supplies the whole of Bengal, besides
exportation to Assam, Kuch Behar and the
North-West. The area under cultivation is over
2,000 bighas.
8. No considerable change for good. The area
of cultivation was reduced a year ago on account
of the high floods.
9 and 10. No personal knowledge.
11. Do not know.
12. In this district the plant is not cultivated,
but when growing spontaneously is sometimes
tended for the production of ganja. These plants
are generally solitary and so no extirpation of the
male plant necessary.
13. The cultivation is limited to the tract
mentioned in reply 7, but I do not know why.
There is no doubt, however, that there are some
peculiarities in the soil of the tract which are not
known to exist elsewhere in Bengal. The experi-
ment of ganja cultivation was tried at Sibpur,
but it failed in spite of all scientific precautions.
14. Ganja and bhang are prepared. I do not
know how far charas
indigenous in Bengal.
Import from Nepal and the North-West is resorted
to for supply of charas. Ganja is prepared in the
district of Rajshahi in the Naogaon sub-division.