494
bairagis are the chief votaries of ganja. The
consumers of this drug do not form a large pro-
portion of people in Rajshahi. There are four
ganja shops in the town of Rampur Boalia, with a
population of above 20,000 souls, and the quantity
daily sold by all these shops jointly appears, on
inquiry, not to exceed two seers or 120 tolas a day.
Assuming that each smoker consumes about one-
sixth tola a day, which is about the quantity
daily purchased by the habitual consumers here,
there are, on an average, 720 ganja-smokers in this
town or 3.4 per cent. of the population are habitual
smokers of ganja.
The habit of smoking ganja prevails more in
towns and large centres of trade than in rural
villages; and as Rampur Boalia is the only town
in Rajshahi with a population above 20,000 souls,
the sale returns of the ganja shops there lead me
to suppose that, although Rajshahi is noted for the
production of ganja, it is not equally noted for its
consumption. Charas is not sold here, nor is it
commonly used by the ganja-smokers.
21. The round variety is not in use in the
Rajshahi district. Of the flat variety the mihidal
is much in demand, and the poor consumers prefer
the chur to any other variety.
22. Charas is seldom used, and those who occa-
sionally indulge in it use the foreign drug imported
from Calcutta.
23. Bhang is sometimes used as a smoke, but
such use of this drug is extremely rare, so rare
that it is impossible to obtain any reliable inform-
ation on this head. Such peculiar use of bhang
is not, however, confined to any locality or class of
consumers. I have heard on enquiry of one ins-
tance only where the consumer used it on account
of his inability to procure ganja.
24. Although the people of Bengal are not ha-
bitual consumers of bhang, yet its use as a drink
is not uncommon. It is difficult to say what pro-
portion of the people use it. It is used more by
the low-bred people as a drink, and such use is
not confined to any particular locality. All that
can be said about the use of bhang with any de-
gree of certainty is that it is not usual for the
people of Bengal to practise it as a regular habit.
It is sometimes eaten; for this purpose the green
leaves, or rather the green tops, are fried in ghi
and taken as a vegetable, or the dried leaves are
boiled in ghi, which is then used in preparing a
sweetmeat called majun.
25. The historians of the last century noticed
the use of ganja, charas and bhang to prevail to a
great extent in almost all the principal towns of
Bengal. But the consumption of charas is now
almost extinct, that of bhang has greatly disap-
peared, and that of ganja has been gradually
decreasing. The use of ganja, charas and bhang
by the higher classes is now seldom noticed. This,
I think, may be due to two causes, namely, (1) the
alcoholic drink may have greatly displaced ganja;
(2) the spread of education has certainly tended
very greatly towards this result. The habit of
smoking ganja and charas appears, as will be
found elsewhere in my answers, to have been
introduced into this country by its Muhammadan
rulers, and, with the change of Government, it
has gradually been decreasing. The example of the
habits of life of the ruling race always exerts a
great influence over the common people, and the
use of alcohol of the outstill of the present age and
its gradual spread among all sections of the peo-
ple may be cited as an example. This ambition to
copy the habits of life in the ruling race once in-
troduced ganja, which is again being slowly dis-
placed by alcohol for the same reason.
26. No satisfactory information is available to
answer this question with any degree of definite-
ness.
27. Ganja-smokers, as already stated, are main-
ly taken from the lower classes of the people,
mostly non-agricultural.
Those who have to
undergo fatigues and hard labour are induced by
others to get into the habit of smoking ganja as
a preventive or relaxation; while in the case of
confirmed smokers, evil pursuits and evil company
greatly contribute towards the formation of this
habit. An honest, hard-working cultivator is sel-
dom found addicted to ganja.
28. From enquiries recently made by this Asso-
ciation, I was informed that a habitual smoker of
ganja can consume from one to three tolas a day;
but this is not only very rarely the case, it is also
regarded as extremely excessive even by the most
veteran smokers. Habitual moderate consumers
generally purchase from two to four pice worth of
ganja a day, as the ganja vendors admit. But
whether this quantity is consumed by one man
alone or by several men in company cannot be
ascertained. The probability is that every habi-
tual smoker has one or two associates to oblige
with a gratuitous smoke of the drug. The actual
consumption by a habitual moderate smoker may
be taken at two pice worth of ganja a day. The
people of the class to which such habit is found
to exist hardly earn more than ten or twelve pice
a day.
29. The ingredient ordinarily mixed with ganja
and charas is common tobacco. The object of
mixing it is perhaps to sweeten the drug and
render it less powerful. Bhang is used in several
ways—
(a)—The green tops are fried in ghi and
taken with rice as a vegetable. This is,
however, extremely rare.
(b)— The dried leaves are soaked in water, and
then made into [a paste, which is
swallowed as pills with water.
(c)—The above paste is mixed with sugar and
milk, and the solution, being enriched
with spices, is drunk cold.
(d)—The paste being mixed with flour of
wheat, a sort of pastry fried in ghi is
prepared and eaten as food.
(e)—The dried leaves are fried in ghi, and the
extract thus procured is used in prepar-
ing a sweet cake called majun.
(f)—Dhatura is sometimes mixed in small
quantities with the preparation of
bhang. Dhatura seeds alone are used
for such purposes, and the object of
such admixture is to procure increas-
ed power of intoxication.
Bhang massala is not sold here in the market,
nor is any such substance known to the people.
It is sold in the North-Western Provinces, where
I have found bhang shops selling not only the
dried leaves, but also ready made bhang paste
in almost all the principal cities. In the absence
of any specific bhang massala, the people of
Bengal, when they have occasion to use bhang,
mix with it spices, rose powder, and various other
cooling substances.