61
Gulkand is conserve of roses mixed with ghi
prepared as described above.
The only kind of sweetmeat known in the
Southern Mahratta country is majum, The sweet
-
meats known in the Deccan by the names of
yakuti, shrikhand, and gulkand are unknown in
the Southern Mahratta country.
Preparation of bhang for drinking ghota.
—
Bhang is levigated in water, and this levigation is
strained through a piece of cloth. Poppy seed is
also levigated and mixed with the liquid bhang.
Sugar and powder of cardamom, nutmeg, mace,
black pepper, saffron and ginger are also added to
the mixture. This mixture is used by rich persons,
while the poor substitute jaggery for sugar, and
do not make use of the spices. This mode of pre
-
paring ghota is adopted in the Dharwar district,
while in the Bijapur district bhang is parched a
little before it is levigated for the preparation of
the drink.
Boja.— Some years ago an intoxicating prepara
-
tion made of jowari mixed with bhang, called
boja, used to be sold in the Dharwar district under a
license. It was then used chiefly by Muhammadans,
Holers (Mahars), and Bedars (Ramoshis). The
form of preparing and selling that drink is not
now sold. As the mode of preparing it entails a
good deal of trouble, I believe it is not now much
used by the people.
16. No; bhang is purchased from the persons
licensed to sell it. As stated in my answer to
question No. 2, it is only the powder of ganja
found in the bags or packages containing the latter
drug, and is less efficacious and cheaper than ganja
itself. Bhang can be prepared from the hemp
plant wherever grown; but bhang prepared from
the plant growing in a place not specially fit for
its cultivation is considered to be inferior in quali
-
ty. As stated in my answer to question No. 3,
the wild plant is not grown anywhere in the Sou
-
thern Mahratta country.
17. The preparations of the hemp drug are not
restricted to any particular classes of the people.
The people of any class can prepare them. The
persons who grow the plant prepare ganja and
bhang. The persons having licenses to sell the
drug or their servants make the preparations of the
drug for eating. Generally the preparations for
smoking and drinking are made by the persons
using them in their own houses.
18. Ganja and bhang deteriorate by keeping.
They keep good with ordinary care for about a
year. They quite lose their effect after two years.
No particular causes of deterioration can be assign
-
ed. The drugs naturally lose their efficacy and
become unfit for use after the lapse of time, as
above stated. It is said that the deteriorated
drugs, if used, produce an unpleasant sensation of
heat in the stomach. No special measures can be
taken to prevent deterioration. As charas is not
much used or tried in this part of the country,
nothing can be said as to how long it keeps good
with ordinary care and why it deteriorates by
keeping.
19. Charas is rarely used, and it is used only
for smoking. Ganja is used for smoking as well
as for preparing medicines. It can be said that
it is used also in preparing a kind of sweetmeat
known by the name of majum, inasmuch as bhang,
which, it is stated, is used in preparing that sweet
-
meat in the Southern Mahratta country, is nothing
but ganja reduced to powder accidentally.
20. As stated in my answer to question No. 19,
charas is rarely used. Good many people smoke
ganja in all the districts in the Southern Mahratta
country. The classes of the people who smoke
it are generally bairagis, gosávis, fakirs, sants,
weavers, labourers, and menial servants, mendi
-
cants who travel about the country, and musical
performers of lower classes. It is difficult, to
estimate even approximately the proportion of the
people smoking ganja, inasmuch as ganja and
bhang are sold under one license, and information
relating to the quantity consumed of each of these
drugs separately is not available.
The latest year for which information relating
to the quantity of ganja and bhang consumed
available for all the three districts is 1891-92.
During this year the quantity consumed in the
Dharwar district was 1,110 maunds and 17 seers,
i.e., 1,11,034 tolas. This gives 3,042 tolas per
diem. Taking three-fourths of a tola as the
average quantity consumed per diem by a habi-
tual moderate consumer, the total quantity con
-
sumed per diem, i.e., 3,042 tolas, gives 4,056 as
the approximate number of habitual moderate
consumers in the Dharwar district, i.e., .82 per
cent. of male adult population(497,100). As the
number of habitual excessive consumers is small
and cannot be ascertained, it is left out of consi
-
deration. Estimated in the same way, the pro
-
portion in the Bijapur and Belgaum districts is
.10 and .14 per cent., respectively.
21. Only flat ganja is used for smoking in the
Southern Mahratta country.
22. As already stated, charas is rarely used.
What is used is foreign, and is imported, it is said,
from Poona.
23. Bhang is rarely used for smoking. It is
used for that purpose only when ganja cannot be
had, which seldom happens.
24. People of all classes in all the districts use
bhang for eating or drinking. It is difficult to
say, for the reasons given in my answer to question
No. 20, what proportion of the people use it for
those purposes, it is used more extensively for
eating in the shape of a kind of sweetmeat called
majum than for drinking. But the number of
people using the drug either for eating or for drink-
- i n g i s n o t , I b e l i e v e , s o l a r g e a s t h a t o f p e o p l e
using ganja for smoking.
25. I can say unhesitatingly that the use of
ganja and bhang is on the increase in the Dharwar
district. The quantity of the drugs consumed in
that district during the year 1891-92 was more
than thrice as much as the quantity consumed in
that district during the year 1883-81— vide state
-
ment hereto appended. Further, the amount
of license fees realised in that district during the
past year, 1892-93, as compared with that for the
ye a r 1883- 84, r e pr e s e nt s a n i nc r e a s e of mor e t ha n
76 per cent— vide statement above referred to.
This increase is no doubt due partly to the increase
in the population during the past ten years,
which is about 19 per cent. But considering
that, as reported by the mamlatdars of Dharwar
and Hubli in that district, there has been no
rise in the retail sale price during the past
ten years, I conclude that the increase in the
revenue is chiefly attributable to the increased
use of the drugs. The figures for the Bijapur
district as regards the quantity of the drugs
consumed are available only for some of the
past ten years, and they show a decrease in the
quantity consumed lately. But the amount of the
license fees realised in that district during the past
year, 1892-93, as compared with that for the year
1883-84, represents an increase of more than 178