12
43
seers of water to 30 seers of boja and filtered.
The filtrate becomes useful for drinking purposes,
and is used in the Sholapur district.
Ghota.— For the preparation of ghota, bhang
is taken and subjected to the operation of cleaning
and washing several times, till it gets free from
all dirt. It is then washed and filtered through
cloth. The filtrate is then drunk either with or
without milk and spices. This drink is termed
bhang or ghota.
Charas. —Charas is not specially prepared. It
is a resinous matter of the hemp plant which
sticks to the hands of those who harvest ganja.
Ganja.—Ganja, which consists of flowering
tops of cultivated female hemp plants is, after
being dried and trodden, cleaned and washed with
water five or six times, is then squeezed with the
hand in order that it may be free from water and
then smoked with tobacco.
16. It is not prepared in fields but in houses.
I mean the drink called bhang is not prepared in
fields. The bhang leaves are brought from fields
and are subjected to the process described in the
last preceding answer that such preparation may
serve as a drink. Wild hemp plant is a rarity in
this district, so no ganja or charas is known to be
prepared from it.
17. Ganja and charas are prepared from the
plant by cultivators. As to ganja which has to
undergo some more process before it is consumed,
the consumer makes it ready for use, washes it
some five or six times and clearing it of its dirt
and other impurities uses it. In the same manner
bhang, otherwise called ghota, is made ready by
the consumer himself. It is only majum which
is sold ready-made by native perfumers.
18. Yes. Ganja, bhang, and charas deteriorate
by keeping them more than a year. Yes; after
two years it looses its intoxicating effect entirely
and becomes useless. Deterioration is more due
to exposure than to anything else. Should these
drugs be kept in boxes, or places which are air
- t i g h t a n d p r o o f a g a i n s t m o i s t u r e , e t c . , t h e y w o u l d
keep longer than usual.
19. Ganja and charas are used for smoking.
Ganja in this part of the country is also used by
natives as tonic and to arrest the motions of
bowels. It is given as medicine both to human
beings and cattle.
20. None except the ganja cultivators can get
charas for smoking, being produced in very small
quantity. It is therefore never brought to market
for sale. Ganja smoking is not restricted to any
particular class of people ; but it is used by a
majority of fakirs, bairagis, gosavis and other
mendicants. There is hardly a village in this
district where it is not smoked more or less by the
above-named people or cultivators and other
labouring class.
21. As in this district the only ganja produced
is flat, no other but the flat one is used for
smoking.
22. Native charas is always used.
23. Bhang is never used for smoking.
24. Eating of majum, a kind of preparation of
hemp drug, is indulged in generally by debauchees.
Their proportion is one per cent. of the population
of this district. The preparation of hemp drug
used for drinking called ghota is used by Marwa
-dis, bairagis and a few brahmins. The propor
- t i o n o f M a r w a i d s i s 2 0 p e r c e n t . , b a i r a g i s 9 0
per cent., Brahmins .04 per cent. Eating pre-vails in large places where native perfumes are
sold. Drinking is prevalent at places where there
is a Marwadi and bairagi population.
25. There is no exact data on which to base an
answer to this question. Our every-day experience,
however, shows that the use of these drugs
amongst higher classes is considerably on the
decrease ; whereas the lower classes having taken
more to the use of these drugs is on the increase.
The cause of increase can be ascribed to the com
- p a r a t i v e l y h e a v y r a t e s o f c o u n t r y a n d f o r e i g n
liquors at which they are sold.
26. (a) 15 per cent.
(b) 10 per cent.
(c) 5 per cent.
(d) 3 per cent.
27. These people are mainly taken from the
following classes—
(a) Labourers, (b) fakirs, (c ) beggars, ( d )
sadhus (ascetics),
(e) traders and servants.
Beggars, fakirs and sadhus (ascetic s ) use it to
allay hunger. The others use it for pleasure's
sake.
28. (a) One quarter of an anna's worth of
ganja or bhang.
(b) One anna worth of ganja or bhang.
29. Tobacco is used ordinarily with ganja to
make the latter burn easily, as it is used wet in
smoking. Dhatura is more intoxicating. It is
mixed by offenders to make their victims swoon
when they want to practise fraud without being
detected of the same. Bhang is mixed with al
-
monds, sugar-candy, ginger, cardamoms and poppy
seeds by the rich. The poor use bhang with coarse
sugar. The object of mixing bhang with other
ingredients is to make it a cold drink and give a
kind of flavour to it. The above-mentioned in
-
gredients constitute bhang massala.
30. Respectable persons use it in solitude.
Their proportion is about 6 per cent. 30 per cent.
use it in company. It is particularly confined to
male sex. Some prostitutes do smoke, but their
number is too small. Hardly any child uses it
except for medicinal purposes.
31. The ease or difficulty in forming the habit
of consuming these drugs, I think, depends on
one's nature. It may be liked by some, while it
may disagree with others. Experience, however,
shows that it is difficult for those who are in the
habit of using these drugs to break off the habit.
Yes, there is a tendency in the case of all these
drugs for the moderate habit to develop into the
excessive.
32. The god Shiv is fond of the bhang drink
called ghota. So the devotees of the god Shivon
a particular day called Shivaratri mix ghota with
the juice of sugarcane and offer it to the god and
use the remainder for themselves. Except this
custom, I am not aware of any other custom, either
social or religious. It is not regarded very essen
-
tial. It is temperate and is not likely to lead to
the formation of the habit or otherwise injurious.
33. It is regarded as vice by the public. The
public opinion (social) is against the practice.
The disrepute attached to the use of these narcotics
is attributable to their intoxicating influence under
which their user remains for some time. Before
harvesting hemp plants are worshipped like other
agricultural produce, the object being to invoke
the assistance of the agricultural deity in securing
eligible purchase.
vol. vii.