CH. X.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 175
tion, intoxication, the power of the voice, and the digestive faculty." In the
Rajarallabha, a materia medica of rather later date, ganja is described as
"Indra's food," is acid, produces infatuation, and destroys leprosy. It "creates
energy, the mental powers, and internal heat, corrects irregularities of the phlegm-
atic humour, and is an elixir vitæ."
In the Makhzan-el-Adwiya, hemp seeds are said to be "a compound of
opposite qualities, cold and dry in the third degree, i.e., stimulant and sedative,
imparting at first a gentle reviving heat, and then a considerable refrigerant
effect." The qualities of the plant are stimulant and sedative. "The
leaves make a good snuff for deterging the brain; the juice of the leaves applied
to the head as a wash removes dandruff and vermin; drops of the juice thrown
into the ear allay pain and destroy worms and insects. It checks diarrhœa, is
useful in gonorrhœa, restrains the seminal secretions, and is diuretic. The bark has
a similar effect. The powder is recommended as an external application to fresh
wounds and sores, and for causing granulations; a poultice of the boiled roots
and leaves for discussing inflammations and cure of erysipelas, and for allaying
neuralgic pains. The dried leaves, bruised and spread on a castor-oil leaf, cure
hydrocele and swelled testes." Rumphius in the Herbarium Amboinense, A.D.
1695, states that the Muhammadans in his neighbourhood frequently sought for
the male plant from his garden to give to persons afflicted with virulent gonorrhœa
or with asthma, and the affection which is popularly called "stitches in the side."
He also adds that the powdered leaves check diarrhœa, are stomachic, cure the
malady named pitao, and moderate excessive secretion of bile. He mentions the
use of hemp smoke as an enema in strangulated hernia, and of the leaves as
an antidote in poisoning by orpiment.
Modern native practice.
460. The use of hemp drugs by native physicians, as evidenced from replies of
witnesses received by the Commission, may be con-
sidered under two main heads—(a) as specifics in the
treatment of diseases, and (b) in their general therapeutic applications; while a
few uses of the drugs which do not fall within these divisions are also occasion-
ally mentioned. It is hardly necessary to premise that the use of hemp drugs
by hakims, etc., is wholly empirical, the drugs being used apparently haphazard
for the most diverse diseases. It is interesting, however, to note that while the
drills appear now to be frequently used for precisely the same purposes and in the
same manner as was recommended centuries ago, many uses of these drugs by
native doctors are in accord with their application in modern European therapeu-
tics. Cannabis indica must be looked upon as one of the most important drugs of
Indian Materia Medica.
In connection with the pharmacy of the drug, the preparations of the hemp
plant used by native doctors are bhang, ganja, and sometimes charas: the seeds
appear to be very rarely used. Bhang is generally prescribed as a cold infusion
prepared from the powdered and well-triturated leaves, or as a confection or
"moduks" especially in the treatment of nervous debility: into all these prepara-
tions a large number of other ingredients usually enter. The admixture of
saccharine matter with bhang is popularly supposed to render it more potent
as an intoxicant. Bhang is also used as a local application in the form of poultice,
and sometimes the finely-powdered leaves are used as a snuff. When ganja and
charas are prescribed for inhalation, the drugs are smoked mixed with tobacco;