109
three drugs are manufactured. Lengre in the
Khanapur taluka of Satara, and Javulke in the
Khed, and Jategaon, Mukhai, and Shikrapur in
the Sirur talukas of Poona are famous for their
ganja.
10. The cultivators who grow ganja belong to
the ordinary cultivating classes, but possess the
special knowledge required to distinguish male
from female plants, and also a knowledge of the
curing of ganja.
11 and 12. No information.
13. All the Deccan districts grow ganja for
local consumption, but Ahmednagar, Satara, and
Nasik also for export ; but its area is especially
large in the Khanapur taluka of Satara, and the
Nagar, Rahuri and Newasa talukas of Ahmed
-
nagar. The cultivation once established seems to
be maintained by the skill acquired and handed
down from father to son. It may also be due to
the suitability of soil, dry climate and light
rainfall, which are essential for the proper growth
of the plant. The extension of the cultivation of
the plant in equally favourable parts of other
districts is discouraged for reasons stated in reply
No. 8. The plant is not likely to produce a
large flowering top in the hilly tracts of the
Western Ghauts and the Konkan, where the
rainfall is excessive.
14. As stated above in reply No. 9, ganja and
bhang are manufactured in the places where the
hemp plant is specially grown for the purpose
to meet local demand and for export to Bombay.
Charas is manufactured in the Ahmednagar
district only to a very limited extent for private
use in the manner described above in reply
No. 7.
15. As stated above in reply Nos. 3 to 6, I
have no knowledge of the hemp plant growing
in a wild, state in any of the Deccan districts, and
the facts stated refer to the products of the cul
-
tivated plant only.
(A) Ganja is not subjected to any special
treatment until it passes into the hand of the
smoker, who breaks the top into small bits,
removes seeds, leaves and foreign matter if there
be any. He then places the broken ganja on the
palm of his left hand, and pours water over it
three or four times till the water is clear, each
time kneading it with the thumb of his right
hand. This process takes about 10 minutes if it
is properly done. By this time the ganja becomes
sticky. It is then squeezed with the two hands
till the water is pressed out. A small cake
is left, from which pieces are broken and
mixed with an equal quantity of tobacco, and
smoked off in an ordinary native tobacco pipe.
Care is taken both to wash and to knead the
ganja thoroughly. Insufficient washing leaves a
substance which is said to cause coughing, and, if
the water is not all pressed out, it will not smoke
easily.
(B) Sweetmeats sold under the name of yakuti,
majum, shrikhand, and gulkand are made with
extract of ganja, which is prepared as follows:—-
One seer of good ganja is boiled with a seer and
a half of water for about an hour, when half a
seer of ghi is added, or more if a weak extract is
desired. The boiling is continued for two hours
more. It is then strained, while hot, through a
coarse canvas bag. Thorough straining is effected
by tying a rod to the mouth of the bag and twist
-
ing the rod round and round. The squeezing
causes a separation with the liquid of everything
which can be pressed through the canvas, fibrous
or woody matter remaining in the bag. This
must be done while the boiled mass is still hot;
otherwise the ghi will thicken and prevent free
flow of the extract. The extract is then kept
over night in a wide-mouthed vessel to settle.
During the night, by the action of cold, the ghi
thickens and rises with the extract of ganja to the
surface of water and is skimmed off next morning.
To further refine the extract, the skimmings are
then boiled till all the water is driven off. The
extract is then fit for storage in the earthenware
jar for use. To secure greater purity ganja is
sometimes soaked in water for a couple of days
and washed before being boiled, and the ghi is
washed clean with water before it is mixed with
the ganja. The extract thus prepared forms the
base of all the sweetmeats described below. The
ghi used in the preparation of the extract should
be full boiled ; if half boiled ghi is used, the
extract will not keep.
To prepare yakuti, five to eight tolas of ganja
extract, according to the strength required, with
a quarter of a seer of conserve of roses (rose petals
preserved with sugar) are added to a seer of sugar
syrup. The mixture is seasoned with one tola
of powdered cardamoms and ¼ tola saffron,nut
-
meg, mace, and cloves, each. Sometimes almond
kernels peeled off and finely sliced are added.
The whole mixture is then poured into shallow
brass or copper dishes tinned inside. When it
has cooled and thickened, it is cut with a knife
into rhomboidal pieces about an inch long, half
an inch broad, and a quarter of an inch thick.
Majum
is prepared in the same way as yakuti,
but without conserve of roses, saffron and cloves.
Unless it is specially ordered, majum prepared for
retail sale is not generally spiced. It is merely
ganja extract and sugar. The syrup used in these
preparations is made by boiling to evaporation fine
sugar over a slow fire. The syrup is purified by
skimming off the impurities which rise to the
surface during the boiling.
Skrikhand is prepared by adding the extract in
the same proportion as in yakuti or majum to
syrup made from gul or undrained sugar.
Gulkand is a mixture of conserve of roses and
ganja extract, the extract being mixed at the rate
of five to eight tolas, according to the strength
required, with a seer of conserve of roses.
Bhang.—When it is not purchased ready pre
-
pared bhang as sold in the market is first picked
to remove pieces of stalk, pebbles, etc., then washed
with water, and then ground into a fine paste,
with a few grains of black pepper, on a grind
-
stone. Hindu ascetics prefer a mortar and pestle
of nim (Melia azadirachta) wood to a grindstone.
The paste is then stirred in sufficient water, and
the whole is strained through a piece of cloth and
drunk either with or without sugar. This is the
simplest and cheapest form of bhang for drinking.
Those who can afford it add to it ground almond
kernels, and flavour it with cardamoms, etc. Well
-
to-do habitual drinkers purchase raw bhang in
quantity, boil it in water for two or three hours,
and then wash it clean of all impurities. It is
then dried and stored for use. For drinking, it
is ground and prepared. in the way described above.
Some roast their bhang on a frying pan, and wash
it before it is ground. Bhang is sometimes boiled
in milk. A ball of ground paste of bhang is tied
in a piece of muslin and is boiled in milk, sugar
-
ed and flavoured with cardamoms, etc. The
preparation is used. by well-to-do occasional drink
-
ers. The bhang as sold in the Deccan markets
is not liked by Gujaratis and men from Upper