NOTE BY MR. G. A. GRIERSON, C.I.E.
247
This would encourage the theory that the vijayā of the Brihatsamhita was more probably the
same as the bhanga of the Atharvavēda.
Before the eighth century.
In Suçruta (Ut. XI, 3) Bhanga is recommended together with a number of other drugs
as an antiphlegmatic.
Vijayā is mentioned in the same work as a remedy for catarrh accompanied by diarrhœa
(Ut. XXIV, 20, and Ut. 39, page 415, 20), as an ingredient in a prescription for fever
arising from an excess of bile and phlegm. In these two passages, however, vijayā is probably
an equivalent of harītakī, the yellow myrobolan, and does not mean hemp.
Cir. A. D. 500.
Tenth or eleventh century.
Twelfth century.
In the various kōsas, or dictionaries, bhangā is frequently mentioned as meaning the hemp-
plant. Thus,—
(1) Amarakōsa, 2, 9, 20.
(2) Trikāndaçēsa, 3, 364.
(3) Hēmacandra's Anēkārthakōsa, 2, 37.
(4) Hēmakandra's Abhidhānacintāmani,
1179.
Twelfth century.
The Sārasundarī (date not known to me), a commentary on the Amarakōsa mentioned
above, by Mathureça, and quoted in the Çabdakal-
padruma, mentions that the seed of the bhanga
plant is the size of that of millet (kalāya).
Cir. 1050 A.D.
Cakrapānidatta is said to have flourished under Nayapāla, a prince who reigned in the
eleventh century A.D. In his Çabdacandrikā, a
medical vocabulary, he gives the following San
skrit names for bhang:—
(1) Vijayā (victorious), (2) Trailōkyavijayā (victorious in the three worlds), (3) bhangā,
(4) Indrāçana (Indra's food), (5) Jayā (victorious).
These names seem to show that its use as an intoxicant was then known.
A.D. 1300.
The Rājanighantu of Narahari Pandita adds the following names to those given by
Cakrapānidatta in the Çabdacandrikā, above men
tioned:—
(6) Vīrapattra (hero-leaved or the leaf of heroes),
(7) Ganjā,
(8) Capalā (the light-hearted),
(9) Ajayā (the unconquered),
(10) Ánandā, (the joyful),
(11) Harsinī (the rejoicer),
and adds that the plant possesses the following qualities:—
(1) Katutva (acridity); (2) kasāyatra (astringency); (3) Usnatva (heat); (4) tiktatva
(pungency); (5) vātakaphāpahatva (removing wind and phlegm); (6) samgrā-
hitva (astringency); (7) vākpradatva (speech-giving); (8) balyatva (strength-
giving); (9) mēdhākāritva (inspiring of mental power); (10) çrēsthadīpanatva
(the property of a most excellent excitant).
Say A.D. 1500.
The Çārngadhrasamhitā, a medical work by Çārngadhara, the date of which is unknown,
but which must have been compiled during the
Muhammadan period of Indian History, specially
mentions (1,4,19) 1 bhanga as an excitant (vyavāyin). In the same passage it mentions
opium.
A. D. 1500.
The Dhūrtasamāgama,
or "Rogues' Congress," is the name of an amusing if coarsely
written farce of about the year 1500 A.D., the
author of which was one Jyōtirīça. In the second
act two Çaiva mendicants came before an unjust judge, and demand a decision on a quarrel
which they have about a nymph of the bazar. The judge demands payment of a deposit
before he will give any opinion. One of the litigants says—
"Here is my ganja bag; let it be accepted as a deposit."
THE JUDGE (taking it pompously, and then smelling it greedily):—"Let me try what it is
like (takes a pinch). Ah! I have just now got by the merest chance some ganja which is
1 I quote the MS. in the Library of the A. S. B.