62
per cent., and as compared with that for the year
1888-89, shows an increase of more than cent. per
cent. This increase may be due to some extent to
competition, and is no doubt partly due to the in
-
crease in the population, which is about 24 per
cent.; but, as it is reported by the mamlatdar of
Bijapur that the retail sale price has been uniform
since 1887-88; I conclude that the increase in the
revenue is to a great extent due to the increased use
of the drugs in this district too. For the Bel
-
gaum district information as regards the quantity
of the drugs consumed is available only for the
last two years. No conclusion can be drawn from
this information. The amount of the license-fees
realised during the past year, 1892-93, as com
-
pared with that for the year 1883-84, represents
an increase of more than 44 per cent.; but the in
-
crease during the preceding three years was not so
high: it was only 16 per cent. The retail sale
price is reported to have risen from 8 annas to 10
or 12 annas per lb since 1891-92. Considering
the increase in the population, which is about 17
per cent. during the past 10 years, and the rise
in the price lately, I am not prepared to say that
the use of the drugs is on the increase in this dis
-
trict.
26. It is difficult to estimate the proportion,
but I can say only that habitual excessive consu
-
mers and occasional excessive consumers are con
-
siderably few. Occasional moderate consumers
are also few. A large number of the consumers
is, I believe, made up of habitual moderate con
-
sumers.
27. Habitual excessive consumers are mainly
taken from bairagis, gosávis, and fakirs, and
habitual moderate consumers belong to these
and other classes of the people mentioned in my
answer to question No. 20. Occasional moderate
consumers and occasional excessive consumers will
be found in any class of the people; but, as al
-
ready remarked, such consumers are, I believe,
considerably few in number in the Southern
Mahratta country. The habits of bairagis,
g o s á -
vis and fakirs, who are generally habitual exces
-
sive consumers, are well known. They are the most
indolent and useless persons in the world. They
wander about the country begging, and indulge
in the use of the drugs. Many illiterate persons
acquire the habit of using the drugs with the as
-
sociation of these beggars. Some acquire the
habit by using the drugs on account of their
medicinal qualities. Some acquire it by using
the drugs under the belief that they produce con
-
centration of thoughts. People of the working
class and musical performers acquire the habit by
using the drugs as stimulants alleviating their
fatigue. Such people are generally habitual mode
-
rate consumers. Occasional moderate or occasion
-
al excessive consumers are generally persons who
use the drugs on Maha Shivratra, or such other
days on which they are prevented by their religion
f r o m r e s o r t i n g t o a l c o h o l i c s t i m u l a n t s . S o m e o f
this class of consumers happen to use the drugs
when offered by their friends or acquaintances,
who are either habitual moderate or habitual exces
-
sive consumers.
28. The average allowance and cost of ganja
and bhang per diem to each of the two classes of
consumers is detailed below:—
(a) Habitual moderate consumers—
Weight, tolas.
Cost, pies.
Ganja for smoking
½ to 1½
3 to 9
Bhang for eating or drinking
Weight cannot
be ascertained 2 to 4
(b ) Habitual excessive consumers
—
Prices are not the same in the three districts.
The figures herein given represent the maximum
prices.
29. Tobacco is ordinarily mixed with ganja
for smoking by all the classes of consumers. It
is mixed with the object of lessening or removing
the bitterness of the drug, which is supposed
to produce cough, and with the object of temper
-
ing the effects of the preparation, and making it
agreeable to the constitution. Sometimes carda
-
moms, nutmeg, mace and olibanum are mixed
with ganja in addition to tobacco in order to
have a fragrant smell. What ingredients are
mixed with different kinds of preparation made
for eating and drinking is mentioned in answer
to question No. 15. Dhatura is mixed either
with ganja for smoking, or with any preparation
made of bhang for eating or drinking, only by
habitual excessive consumers, in order to enhance
the intoxicating quality of the drug.
No special preparation known by the name
of bhang massala is sold for the purpose of being
mixed with any of the drugs.
30. The higher classes of the people use the
drugs in solitude or in company; but bairagis,
gosávis, fakirs and other lower classes of the people
do not care much for privacy while using the
drugs. The consumption of the drugs is mainly
confined to the male sex and to adults only.
Children do not consume any of these drugs in
the Southern Mahratta country.
31. The habit of consuming the drugs is easily
formed among the illiterate people when they
come in contact with the people making use of
them, and it is difficult to break off. There is a
tendency in the case of all of these drugs for the
moderate habit to develop into the excessive.
32. No custom, social or religious, in regard to
the consumption of any of these drugs exists in
the Southern Mahratta country.
33. The consumption of any of these drugs is
generally regarded as a vice. It can be said from
the social point of view that the use of any form
of the narcotic is generally in disrepute. The con
-
sumers of the drugs, except bairagis, gosávis, and
f a k i r s , a r e a s h a m e d t o a d m i t f r e e l y , w h e n q u e s -
t i o n e d , t h a t t h e y u s e t h e d r u g s . T h i s i t s e l f i s
sufficient to show that the use of the drugs lowers
the persons using them in the estimation of the
public. A man speaking at random is generally
compared to a ganja or bhang consumer. This
sentiment of the people is attributable to the
intoxicating qualities of the drugs, which affect
more or less injuriously the physical and mental
condition of the consumers when the drugs are
i m m o d e r a t e l y u s e d . N o c u s t o m o f w o r s h i p p i n g
the hemp plant on any occasion by any sect of
the people exists in the Southern Mahratta coun
-
try.
34. Yes; only to bairagis, gosávis, fakirs, and
other excessive consumers. The only reason that
I can assign is that these people are so much ad
-
dicted to the use of the drugs that they care
more for the drugs than for their food. I
regret I am unable to state, even approximately,
the number of such people. It is, I should say,
considerably small in the Southern Mahratta coun
-
try.
35. I think it would be feasible, or at least it.
Tolas.
Annas.
Ganja for smoking
2 to 5
1 to 2½
Bhang for eating and drinking
Weight cannot
be ascertained 4 to 8