211
degrees than one addicted to the use of opium.
Every intoxicant predisposes the consumer to run
to excess; such a tendency is to be observed in
the case of ganja smoking also. Ganja like to-
bacco is smoked by the consumer according to his
convenience and not necessarily in company. The
second, third, and fourth rounds which are inevit-
able in the case of parties or companies, do not
exist, and in spite of the tendency to run to excess
the aggregate result is moderate.
32. In the parts of which I am speaking there
are no customs, social or religious, which necessi-
tate the consumption of ganja.
33. The consumption of ganja is universally re-
garded with disfavour, if not contempt. It is true
that there is no religious prohibition of it. On
the contrary, from its mention in the Veda and
" Brahmans" and the virtues attributed to it, its
use would seem to find an encouragement.
It has been from time out of mind associated
with that large class of ascetics and fakirs who
avowedly use it, not for the sake of pleasure, but
for enabling themselves to concentrate their mind
on the worship of their favourite deity. This was
at least the original purpose for which it began to
be used. It still passes under the name of dyan-
wali. It is associated with god Shiva, one of the
Hindu Triad, and, as a rule, the majority of those
who practise yog philosophy from the old lines
indulge in the use of ganja. Hindu religion, at
any rate, may therefore be said to countenance the
use of ganja. In the case of liquor, it lays down
a hard rule of prohibition. Opium it does not so
expressly prohibit. In society devotees of liquor
are less feared or despised than those of ganja or
opium. This may be due to the circumstance that
ganja on account of its comparative cheapness and
accessibility to the lower classes, is found associated
with what may be described as the dregs of
society. Liquor, on the other hand, though as
injurious, is more costly and is associated with the
ruling and the superior race, and its scent and
sight to which seventy-five years have familiarized
the native races, have ceased to repel even orthodox
persons.
But in the case of ganja, instead of prohibiting,
religion does encourage its use by describing it in
favourable terms, such as those mentioned be-
low :—
Jaya—The conquering or that which overcomes
all painful feelings;
Ananda—The joyous ;
Chapala—The causer of unsteadiness;
Gagan kini—The noisy;
Harshini—The delight-giver ;
Indrasana— The worthy food of Indra ;
Ajaya—The invincible ;
Matuli— The wife of dhatura apple,which
Matulani—
is the most potent of narcotics ;
Madini—The intoxicator ;
And by its mention in the sacred writings such
as Veda and Smriti (law), etc. But this notwith-
standing, society does not yield to religion. In
no respectable society at the present day will any
person on any public occasion, whether it be
religious or social, dare smoke in public without
giving an insult, and without himself being
liable to be expelled the place. Society on this
side at least condemns it very strictly. The
social opinion is, in fact, the reverse of religious
teaching.
vol. vii.
34. I think it will be a serious hardship to the
various classes of persons who now consume ganja
if they have to give it up. Leaving aside the class
of bairagis, fakirs, gosavis, whose number, since
the great famine of 1877, has been steadily
d e c l i n ¬ i n g , t h e l a b o u r e r s , t h e a r t i s a n s a n d t h e w a n d e r i n g
tribes exposed to climatical rigours can't afford to
remain without something to make them forget
the day's toil. If we would withdraw from them
bhang or ganja, they will take to opium, or more
probably to its formidable rival, the country or
European liquor. Already 95 per cent. of either
of these classes do use liquor, and it is only among
the 5 per cent, that ganja still claims some of its
devotees.
35. If the use of the drug is to be prohibited,
it can only be provided for by penal legislation.
But penal legislation will take a number of decades
to make the prohibition real instead of nominal ;
compulsory legislation has nowhere succeeded, and
will, in the case of ganja, lead to illicit practices,
as it has done in every other case.
Government has effectually prohibited the
manufacture of salt. It has effectively controlled
the manufacture and the sale of liquor. It can
therefore effectively prohibit the production of
ganja. But if ganja or bhang do exist in one
place or another, their illicit import and use it
will be difficult to prevent effectually. A prohi-
bition may gradually work its way, and in course
of years the habit may altogether disappear. Of
this the Hindu writings furnish remarkable proof.
Liquor and flesh were at one time freely used by
all the higher classes of Hindus. But there was
a time when the reaction set in and for centuries
the Brahmin society, as a whole, has never touched
meat or liquor. This only shows that reforms on
a large scale can be worked out in course of time.
I am therefore of opinion that the prohibition
of ganja can be ultimately enforced.
There will be some discontent occasioned by
such prohibition. But as it is confined to a small
class, it can't be serious, and political danger is
out of question. As I have already stated, if the
prohibition is confined to hemp and its prepara-
tion, it will only encourage the consumption of
alcoholic stimulants, and in some places, like those
in Central India, of opium also.
There is already an opinion freely expressed that
the agitation against ganja originates with those
who want to encourage the spread of alcohol If
therefore the prohibition is confined to ganja
alone, the discontent can't but be serious, and may,
in that case, be a matter for consideration.
36. I do not think that there are any instances
of ganja consumers taking to alcohol as a substi-
tute. But alcohol being more widely distributed
for sale and more accessible to all classes of people,
a seeker after the stimulant goes first to the liquor
shop, and then ganja ceases to have a chance.
Practically, therefore, alcohol has been encroach-
ing on the domains of ganja, and even if no pro-
hibition were resorted to in the districts of which
I am speaking, ganja would ere long cease to hold
its own against alcohol.
37. As charas is not consumed in this part,
none could tell precisely anything about the effect
of its smoking, much less about the difference in
effects of charas smoking and that of other drugs.
38. I have not come across any keen observer
amongst the consumers of hemp who could state
2 G 2