CH. IX.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. 165
freely distributing bhang as a charity to all who care to partake is common both
at temples and at other places of resort.
Berar.
445. In Berar there is evidence as to the use both of ganja and bhang at
the Shivratri and Holi festivals and at social gather-
ings. The hemp plant itself is not worshipped, but,
according to one witness, when a consumer dies, the plant is kept near his corpse
during the funeral ceremony.
Ajmere-Merwara.
446. At the Holi and the Shivratri and at family
festivities the drugs, especially bhang, are used.
Baluchistan.
447. Major Gaisford, Deputy Commissioner, states that among the Hindu
sect called Bam Bargis the consumption of bhang
is regarded as essential.
Native States.
448. From Native States there is but little information regarding customs,
either social or religious, with which these drugs are
connected. No purely local or indigenous customs
have been brought to the notice of the Commission, but there is sufficient infor-
mation to show that practices similar to those existing in British provinces at the
Holi and Shivratri festivals and on occasions of family rejoicings are observed
by certain classes of the people in many Native States.
Worship of the hemp plant.
449. The custom of worshipping the hemp plant, although not so prevalent
as that of offering hemp to Siva and other deities of the
Hindus, would nevertheless appear from the state-
ments of the witnesses to exist to some extent in some provinces of India. The
reason why this fact is not generally known may perhaps be gathered from such
statements as that of Pandit Dharma Nand Joshi, who says that such worship is
performed in secret. There may be another cause of the denial on the part of the
large majority of Hindu witnesses of any knowledge of the existence of a custom
of worshipping the hemp plant in that the educated Hindu will not admit that he
worships the material object of his adoration, but the deity as represented by it.
The custom of worshipping the hemp plant, though not confined to the Himalayan
districts or the northern portions of India alone, where the use of the products
of the hemp plant is more general among the people, is less known as we
go south. Still even far south, in some of the hilly districts of the Madras Presi-
dency and among the rural population, the hemp plant is looked upon with some
sort of veneration. Mr. J. H. Merriman (witness No. 28, Madras) says: "I
know of no custom of worshipping the hemp plant, but believe it is held in
a certain sort of veneration by some classes." Mr. J. Sturrock, the Collector of
Coimbatorc (witness No. 2, Madras), says: "In some few localities there is a
tradition of sanctity attached to the plant, but no regular worship."
The Chairman of the Conjeveram Municipal Board, Mr. E. Subramana Iyer
(witness No. 143, Madras), says: "There is no plant to be worshipped here,
but it is generally used as sacrifices to some of the minor Hindu deities."
There is a passage quoted from Rudrayamal Danakand and Karmakand in
the report on the use of hemp drugs in the Baroda State, which also shows
that the worship of the bhang plant is enjoined in the Shastras. It is thus
stated: "The god Shiva says to Parvati— 'Oh, goddess Parvati, hear the bene-
fits derived from bhang. The worship of bhang raises one to my position,' etc."
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