210
“mantras.” The preparation is also used in a
very diluted form in respectable society on the
occasion of “ Shivaratra,” “ Shimaga,” or the
“ Kojagari,” full moon night. The favourite
haunts of ganja smokers are temples, “ masjids”
or “ dargas.” It is here that Hindus and Muham-
madans or people of indifferent character can freely
meet and smoke together. The wandering gangs
of “bairagis” and “ fakirs ” also will be found
not only themselves engaged in smoking, but
offering the “ hooka ” to those frequent visitors
amongst the poorer classes of people who hover
about such places for the very purpose of smoking.
There are no other public places or club-houses
where ganja is smoked. Neighbours and friends
may meet and. smoke together without an appoint-
ment ; but except on the few occasions when the
so-called “ ghota” or dudhiya is prepared, there
are no parties held, and ganja, like tobacco, is
smoked individually and not in company. Neigh-
bours do meet at night and smoke, but this is not
an invariable habit.
Charas is nowhere used in any of these six
districts of the Southern Division, and so it is
not available in any of the shops licensed to sell
the intoxicating drugs. It is only ganja which
is (either flat or chur) smoked or drunk or mixed
in sweetmeats.
20. The consumption of ganja is not restricted
to any particular class of people, but the bulk of
the smokers will be found amongst the lower
classes.
It is very difficult to state accurately what pro-
portion of people smoke ganja and charas, as there
are no statistics available on the subject. Much
depends upon local peculiarity. The proportion of
consumers to be met with in large towns and
cities does not exist in villages. Again, while the
Lingayats in the above Ghat districts are under a
religious prohibition, the lower classes in the Kon-
kan fearlessly take to alcohol. All circumstances
c ons i de r e d, I a m of opi ni on t ha t of t he hundr e d
male adults using ganja or liquor only 5 per cent.
or even less will be found to belong to the former
class.
26. By far the larger number of ganja-smokers
will be found to belong to the class (a), habitual
consumers. It is very difficult to draw the line
between moderate and immoderate men. Those
who consume the drug for intoxication it brings
about and not for its medicinal properties are, when
once at it, generally immoderate. If a smoker has
the means and the necessary time at his disposal,
he will not place down the “hooka” or chillum
until he is so intoxicated that lie is unable to take
care of himself.
Some people will be found to drink occasionally
preparations of ganja, but there are no occásional
moderate smokers, as smoking requires a habit
which drinking does not.
27. As has been more than once told, all castes
of Hindus, from Brahmins to Mahars, and all
classes of Muhamadans will he found to contribute
more or less to the number of ganja-consuming
people. Time habits of life or circumstances which
mainly generate this vice, are a life of disappoint-
ment and dejection, a life of asceticism, a life of
ease and affluence associated with habitual con-
sumers of ganja, and a life used to a kind of labour
which at the close of the day requires some stim-
ulant to bring about relief to lighten the effects of
the day’s toil and to bring about a pleasurable
forgetfulness.
28. Moderate consumers do not require more
than two tolas of ganja per day, and the cost per
diem in this case is believed to be less than half
an anna; but in the case of the excessive con-
sumers, leaving that of bairagis and gosavis, the
quantity consumed varies from 4 to 6 tolas and the
allowance per diem per consumer in such cases
varies on account of the cheaper ingredients with
which it is mixed between an anna and an anna and
a half. This class of people are generally poor,
but at labour gatherings and wandering gangs
they generally smoke in company, each contribut-
ing one round, so that the aggregate expenses do
not rise above half an anna.
29. Moderate ganja smokers never mix any other
ingredients than tobacco with the ganja. Only
excessive smokers, such as bairagis, fakirs, etc., who
in order to strengthen the intoxicating properties
admix dhatura and also kuchli (seed of nux
vomica) and bachnag (roots of Gloriosa superba ).
This is not, however, done by consumers of the
higher classes. When they prepare drinks they
only mix spices made of badam ( Amygdalas com-
munis), bedana (dried grapes), ketar (saffron),
khaskhas (poppy seeds), welchi (cardamom),
jaiphal (nutmeg), sugarcandy, etc. The number
of spices and their quantities mixed depend upon
the means of the consumers.
30. I have already mentioned that ganja is
smoked more often in solitude than in company.
It is solely the drinks which are always used in
company ; so far as can be observed on this side,
it is the male sex which consumes the drug. A few
exceptions will be found in the class of courtesans.
Even there they are few and far between. No
children are ever found using any of these drugs.
31. I do not think that the habit of smoking
ganja is so easily formed as that of drinking
liquor. By itself, smoking is not attractive.
Habit formed in the case of ganja is less difficult
to break off than in the case of opium or liquor.
This is because the intoxication brought on by
ganja is milder and less durable than that
produced by an overdose of opium, whisky or
brandy, and therefore the habitual consumer of
the drug will be less indisposed to give it up by
21. As already stated, flat and broken ganja are
the two kinds preferred for smoking in this part.
No other kinds are used.
22. No charas is used in this part.
23. Bhang properly so called is not consumed
in this part.
24. Same as answer to question 23.
25. I have no reliable information to enable me
to answer this question, even with approximate
accuracy. However from what I have heard or
seen, I am morally convinced that the use of ganja
has not perceptibly increased. The slight increase
observable in the area of cultivation or the imports
or exports, etc., may be due partly to the increase
in population and partly to greater accuracy of
returns. It is as a matter of fact losing its
place before the spread of alcohol. If it still exists
on this side of India, its main cause is to be found
in the comparative cheapness of the article for the
labour gatherings at mills, factories and railway
workshops. The hard work the labourers are put
to, the consequent necessity for some relief, the
comparative facility with which consumers of
ganja can carry the drug with them, and the ease
with which it can be smoked anywhere even on
public roads are, amongst others, the principal
causes which still obtain amongst some people a
preference for ganja before liquor.