47
Some persons take one part of tobacco and two
parts of ganja.
Tobacco is mixed, it is said, for two reasons,
viz.:—
(i) to suppress the bad smell of ganja, and
( i i
) t o m o d e r a t e i t s e f f e c t s o n t h e t h r o a t .
I have heard of two bairagis in Kaira who
mixed some dhatura with ganja to smoke. One
left Kaira several years ago, and the other, who
had shifted to Khumarevad, a village about
3 miles from Kaira, has left that place lately.
Bhang beverage by the well-to-do classes is
prepared in the manner described in the Bijapur
District Deputy Collector's letter attached to the
C u s t o m s C o m m i s s i o n e r ' s l e t t e r N o . 4 7 5 2 , d a t e d
1 1 t h S e p t e m b e r 1 8 9 3 , t o t h e C h i e f S e c r e t a r y t o
Government. Poor people mix black pepper and
sometimes poppy seeds. Bhang massala is not
kept here ready for sale ; but consumers of bhang
buy as many ingredients as they like, according
to their taste and means.
30. Consumers of bhang and ganja generally
prefer to be in company of at least one or two
persons, except those who indulge in ganja smok
-
ing secretly. Generally speaking, ganja smoking
is confined to the male sex, and adult persons of
all ages smoke it. After very minute enquiries
I was able to ascertain that three females smoke
ganja in the town of Kaira. One acknowledged
to me that she smoked before, but gave it up
about four or five years ago. The other two
denied that they are ganja smokers. Bhang
beverage is partaken by females and children
sometimes; but ganja, almost as a rule, is not
given to children to smoke.
31. The habit of smoking is acquired if it is
smoked on being offered ten or fifteen times, It is
not difficult to break off the habit if the man is
able to practise great self-denial for a few days,
as far as moderate consumers are concerned. Ex
-
cessive smokers, i.e ., those who spend two or three
pice a day on ganja, find much difficulty in leav
-
ing off the habit, and for some days suffer from
want of appetite, indigestion, heavy stomach,
ennui, and do not feel inclined to work. Moderate
smokers suffer also in similar ways, but to a slight
extent, and for about a week only. In some few
cases the moderate habit develops into the exces
-
sive, but not to the same extent as is the case
with regard to opium and liquor.
33. Bhang drinking is not in any way looked
upon as disgraceful or degrading, and so is the
case with regard to the use of majum and yakuti.
Of course, when proper limits are exceeded, and
the consumer by excessive use acquires the habit
of losing self-control and becomes an annoyance
to others, he is kept at a distance and called a
"bhangari" or "nishakhor." But the same is
the case with regard to the use of intoxicating
drinks or drugs of every description. With re
-
gard to ganja smoking the case is altogether
different, as far as the higher classes are concerned.
Among them the habit is certainly looked upon as
unbecoming and disgraceful. Ganja is considered
to be intended for mendicants, bairagis, and fakirs,
and people of the lower classes whose means are so
slender as to put it beyond their means to indulge
in any other intoxicating drink or drug.
It is not the custom here to worship the hemp
plant on any occasion.
34. As far as bairagis, fakirs and mendicants are
concerned, it would be a serious privation to them
to be deprived of ganja smoking. Bairagis belong
to the Hindu and fakirs to the Muhammadan
religion. They live on alms from their co-religion
-
ists, among whom liquor drinking is treated as a
sin. Intoxication from liquor cannot be concealed,
and bairagis and fakirs consuming it cannot hope,
therefore, to receive sympathy and alms from the
members of their communities. Liquor is at the
same time too dear in comparison with the cost of
ganja. Where a pice worth of ganja is sufficient
to keep a man in a state of pleasant intoxication,
a pint of liquor worth five annas would be re
-
quired. In the case of opium, there are no religi
-
ous obstacles ; but as regards the cost it cannot
take the place of ganja.
Bairagis, fakirs and mendicants, in order to doze
away their time and to remain free from the
effects of ennui, require some intoxicant, and they
as well as their co-religionists have for ages been
accustomed to look upon ganja as the only drug
suitable for their purpose. As long as there is
nothing else equally cheap and effective to take
the place of ganja, the consumers as well as the
ignorant public would view any restrictions in the
way of ganja as a design to force people to have
recourse to alcohol and a danger to their religion.
As regards numbers, please see answer to ques
-
tion No. 20.
35. Please ses answer to question No. 34. The
prohibition may not perhaps immediately amount
to anything like a political danger ; but the dis
-
content among the lower and ignorant classes
would be so great as may lead to serious em
-
barrassments on some critical occasion. Entire
prohibition is, therefore, not advisable. As
regards recourse to alcohol or any other drug,
please see answer to question No. 34.
36. Please see answer to question No. 25. As
far as the use of bhang and ganja for the pre
-
paration of majum and yakuti is concerned,
alcohol is to a very great extent substituted for
those drugs. Those who are able to mix freely
w i t h H i n d u s a n d M u h a m m a d a n s o f h i g h e r c l a s s e s
need no proof in satisfaction of the above facts.
It is an admitted fact and open secret that Hindu
youths and middle-aged men have of late years
greatly addicted themselves to the use of confec
-
tioned country liquor and foreign wines and
spirits The vice has also to some extent spread
among the Muhammadans in the Ahmedabad and
Kaira districts. Formerly, in Ahmedabad, at two
or three shops, confectioned country liquor was
sold to a limited extent. Now-a-days it is sold
at a good many shops in the city and talukas,
and the same is the case regarding the Kaira
district. Those who, under the old state of
things, would have remained consumers of majums
and yakutis have become liquor drinkers.
37. It has already been stated above that
charas is not imported into and sold in the dis
-
tricts of Gujarat. Those who have on some
occasions smoked charas say that its effects are
much stronger than those of ganja, and that a
very small quantity of it produces great intoxi
-
cation, In their opinion there is no further
difference.
38. As flat ganja only is sold here, consumers
are not able to furnish any information on this
point.
39. Bhang is used for drinking purposes only
and ganja for smoking, except when used for
majum and yakuti.
40. Bhang is used by native doctors in. pills
given to check dysentery. In the treatment of
cattle disease bhang or ganja is not used in this