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quently it is the lilavo kind of ganja which is
drunk like bhang. It is also eaten by chewing.
22. Charas, gardo, and baluchar are produced
in Kashmir and Yarkand. They are used by
people from that northern side of the country.
Being considered capable of imparting great
vigour and warmth to the body, the greater the
severity of the winter and cold of the country,
the greater is their use.
Charas, which is at the head of the intoxicants
produced out of the hemp plant, is collected and
prepared as follows :—When the hemp plant,
grown on the land from which baluchar and gardo
kind of ganja is produced, reaches the height of
5 feet, it is customary for men to put on a
leather robe and move about in the field, whereby
the gum-like sticky juice on the flowers gets
attached to the leather robe. This juice is re-
moved by means of a knife from off the robe, and
is rolled up in the form of small pencil-like pieces.
As much as is wanted for smoking is detached and
smoked.
23. Bhang is never used for smoking, so far as
my source of information goes.
24.
As there is no objection to the use of
bhang, it is capable of being used, and is in fact
used, by those that have a taste for it from all the
four classes—Brahmins, Kshatryas, Vaishyas, and
Sudras. Bhang is greatly used in drinking in
Kashi (Benares), Kashmir, Nepal, Mathura, Ajo-
dhya, Hardwar, and Prayag. In Gujarat, people in
Surat, Broach, and Baroda, also use it for drinking
in the summer season as a cooling beverage.
The sadhus, etc., do not as a rule use bhang as
they use ganja. A great portion of the sanyasis,
those belonging to the fourth state intended for a
Hindu householder, drink bhang. In Chandod
and Karnali these live in great numbers.
25. Among the sadhus, bairagis, etc., the use of
ganja and charas and that of bhang among the
sanyasis is, so far as I am informed, the same.
Ganja is most in favour with sadhus, etc. Among
the common people in Gujarat the use of charas is
not prevalent at all, and that of ganja is on the
decrease—firstly, because public opinion is getting
stronger against it owing to the influence and
spread of education ; and, secondly, because liquor
shops having been opened far and wide over the
country and enticingly located have to a great
extent replaced the former use of ganja by the
labouring and lower classes. The use of bhang
is also on the decrease, because the higher classes
that took no objection to its use as a refreshing
and a mild intoxicating drink have begun to dis-
like it, it being against temperate habits, and not
in consonance with the modern idea of refinement.
26. Charas being hardly obtainable in Gujarat,
there are almost none among the sadhus, etc., in the
province who use it. Ganja is almost universally
used by all of their class ; and all sadhus, etc., may
be said to be habitual consumers, about 40 per
cent. being excessive consumers. Bhang-drinking
is not so much in existence among sadhus,
bairagis, etc., as ganja-smoking. From the com-
mon people in Gujarat there might be found
about 400 persons who are habitual moderate
consumers of bhang as a drink. On this side of
India there are hardly any who can be called habi-
tual excessive consumers of it. As for occasional
moderate consumers, their number is very large
but varying, and many respectable people may
be among the number.
27. As said above, ganja smokers are most of
them sadhus, bairagis, ateets, etc. They are most
of them non-Brahmins, who having left the world
for one reason or another (whether of poverty,
disinclination to undergo the toils of earning a
livelihood, or from purely religious motives) take
to this habit by the open practice of the class to
which they belong.
The rest are from all classes, but those who
take to this habit (of ganja-smoking in Gujarat)
are generally leading a vagabondish life, who
having no brains for useful pursuits, and having
plenty of money and bad company, are avowed
spendthrifts, or, being penniless and without em-
ployment, kill their time by this sort of indul-
gence in company of their well-to-do friends or
sadhus, etc. Such people coming in connection
with brothels of vice, or being given to loafing
habits, take to this as a pastime or to drown
their moral degradation. This class is daily de-
creasing.
Bhang drinkers belong to all the classes, high
and low, but the number is going down. Many
addicted to it begin by using it as a cooling bever-
age in the hot season, and by constant use in com-
pany become victims of it. In feasts and friendly
or marriage dinner parties, it is customary to pre-
pare a mild bhang drink for amusement and for
being able to do full justice to the dinner ex-
pected.
Sanyasis use bhang both as a cooling drink and
for the purpose of concentration in study and
meditation.
A great portion of Shastris (Pandits) also drink
bhang as a help to the memory and concentra-
tion.
The zaveris (goldsmiths, those who deal in
gold, and jewels, and pearls, etc,) always take
bhang in order to be able to accurately value their
articles of trade.
29. Generally ganja is smoked alone by the
sadhus, etc. Sometimes, however, tobacco is mix-
ed with it.
( b ) The yakuti of ganja is prepared in the fol-
lowing way :—Ganja is first washed in water and
then dried ; and it is then crushed into a fine
powder. Honey and sugarcandy is then mixed
with it; and then nutmegs, cardamom, leaves of
Laurus cassia , musk, cloves, mace, Thomea tur-
pethium (a medicinal root for removing constipa-
tion), long pepper, roots of piper are added on to
the preparation as spices. This yakuti of ganja is
used by wealthy people as a luxury fur intoxicat-
ing purposes. In Baroda a considerable amount of
people are to be found who resort to this luxury.
It is used by people who do not like to smoke
ganja as being socially degrading.
I am not aware of any preparation called
bhang massala sold in the Gujarat markets for the
purpose of being mixed with bhang or the other
two products of the hemp plant ; but with minor
variations, according to the practice of the various
provinces, certain spices are added to bhang when
it is prepared for drinking purposes. Black
pepper corn, dried rose leaves, and poppy seeds are
always added after being crushed ; and sugar,
except sometimes with habitual drinkers, is also
always added. For making a rich drink of it,
pistachio nuts and the seeds of the tree called
Chirongia sapida are also added to the preparation
after being crushed. But a preparation called
majum, prepared out of bhang, is sold in the bazars
of Gujarat town. It is prepared as follows :
Bhang is washed with water and dried. It is
then crushed into a fine powder and mixed with