156 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. VIII.
cloves, cardamom, keori (the male flower of Pandamus odoratissimus), rose,
leaves, attar, nutmeg, ginger, betel-nut, and betel-leaves.
Mixture of potent drugs in smoking.
420. Powerful and noxious drugs are occasionally introduced into the pipe;
but this practice is confined to excessive consumers,
and among them to a mere proportion only, on whom
hemp alone has ceased to produce the desired effect of exhilaration or
stupefaction. The seeds of dhatura are by far the commonest ingredient of
this class. The next place should probably be taken by opium, and then
follow arsenic and nux vomica, aconite, and the root of kanher (Nerium
odorum or Thevetia neriifolia, the latter of which is known among the natives
as yellow kanher), and after these may be mentioned certain substances to
which the consumers attribute poisonous or intoxicating properties, or at least
the virtue of enhancing the potency of the hemp. Such are hemp seeds, the
root of the cold-weather jawari (sorghum of the kind called ringni in the Central
Provinces and shalu in Bombay), the root of rice, the juice of the madar
(Callotropis gigantea), and the skins and poison of snakes; and, lastly, cantha-
rides is sometimes mixed for a special purpose. It is said that the jawari root
is sometimes soaked in liquor to increase its potency. In describing these ad-
mixtures, distinction has not been made between charas and ganja smoking
because the use of the ingredients is a matter of individual caprice, and they do
not form part of any recognized preparation of the hemp drugs.
Simple preparation for drinking.
421. As with smoking, so in the case of drinking, there is a common and
simple form, and also various compounds more or
less elaborate. The simple form is merely to pound
the drug very fine with a little black pepper, add water according to the strength
of the drink desired, and filter the decoction through a cloth. This beverage
is sometimes made with the bhang composed almost entirely of the leaves of
the plant, and sometimes, most commonly outside Bengal, the North-Western
Provinces, and the Punjab, of the flower heads or mixture of flower and leaves
that has come away in the course of the manufacture of ganja. It goes by
different names in various parts of India. In Bengal it is commonly called
bhang or siddhi; in the North-Western Provinces bhang, siddhi, or thandai;
in the Punjab, Bombay, and Central Provinces bhang or ghota; and in Sind
ghota and panga according to its strength. In Madras the simplest form
of preparation seems to be very little used, but when it is, it is probably
called bhang or subzi. The Madras preparation called ramras or ramrasam
seems to correspond to the dudhia of Upper India. The common names may
be taken to include all forms of beverage made from the hemp drugs, except
those which have special names of their own.
Spiced preparations for drinking.
422. There is next a class of beverages in which the hemp drug and pepper
are supplemented by harmless perfumes and spices,
the whole enriched, it may be, with sugar and milk
or curds. Every bhang drinker who can afford it adds some or other of
these ingredients. The spices most commonly used are anise, fennel, coriander,
dill, ajwan (Ptychotis), cucumber and musk-melon seeds, almonds, rose
leaves, cloves, saffron, and cardamom. But many others of the same class
of innocent ingredients are mentioned, viz., hemp and poppy seeds, mace, mint
cummin, endive, parsley, musk, betel-leaves, keori, attar, cinnamon, lotus seeds
the seed of hollyhock, the kernels of pistachio and charoli (Buchanania