BOMBAY MEMORANDUM.
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to the crops, almost all the female plants run into seeds, damaging the crops to a great extent.
I am informed that separate plots of grounds were selected for growing the seeds. The ex-
perts always walk through the crops, up-rooting the male plants, and this continues up to the
time the crop is harvested and gathered. The owner of the ganja farm here has secured the
services of an expert from Lengri, a village in the Khanapur Taluka of the Satara district,
where the drug is grown on a large scale. Here the plants grow to a height of about 6 to 8
feet. In the fourth month the side pods and the leaves are stripped off with hands, and the
crown pods are cut with a knife or a scythe. The pods and the leaves thus collected are stack-
ed in a place, and are trodden while in green state for three or four days, and when dried they
are winnowed and the pods are thus separated from the leaves; this latter stuff is called
bhang-powder. The experts say that it is impossible to select the seeds which produce male
plants. The plant is grown in this part of the country as a narcotic drug and not as a fibre
plant.
"4. The farm at Bijapur produced about 60 bags of ganja, each containing four maunds
(a maund is equal to 960 tolas), worth about Rs. 180 in 1891. In the following year (1892)
the yield was about four hundred maunds, worth about Rs. 800 after deducting the necessary
expenses incurred in raising the crop, &c. The area sown was about 13 acres.
"5. The purposes for which the drug and its by-products are used.
Ganja.
"Almost all the quantity of pods known as ganja is used up in smoking. Three to eight
pods are smoked mixed with ordinary tobacco. The process of preparing the drug for the
purpose of smoking consists in soaking the pods in cold water for a few minutes; they are
then separated from the little stalks, and the seeds, if there be any, are thrown away. The
pods thus soaked and cleaned are rubbed on the palm of the left hand with the right
thumb for about a quarter of an hour, a small quantity of cold water being poured on it at
short intervals and squeezed out. This rubbing is continued until the stuff gets sticky,
and when this condition is obtained it is mixed with ordinary tobacco and smoked. The
intoxicating property of the drug increases with the length of the time spent in rubbing it.
The drug is also smoked as a medicine to check indigestion, especially in out-of-the-way
places where medical aid is not available. It is largely used by the following classes of
people:—
(1) Hindu ascetics such as bairágis, gosávis, and mendicants and Mahomedan fakirs
and mendicants as a class;
(2) and to a great extent weavers, drummers, fiddlers, the gavayyis (singers), and to
some extent day-labourers and also a very low class of prostitutes.
"6. It is administered mixed in sugar by professional thieves to travellers, &c., with a
view to make them insensible and then rob them of their property. The drugged sugar is
prepared as follows:—
Ganja is mixed with madan-masta, madan-kamsi, and the seeds of black dhatura
trees (all medicinal plants). All these ingredients are reduced to fine powder. A tola
weight of this powder is mixed up in a kucha seer of sugar, and then administered as Devi-
prasad. This sort of use of the drug, as far as I know, is resorted to at big fairs by profes-
sional thieves, though now on a very small scale, in this part of the country; but the extent
to which it was administered with impunity by a Mahomedan and his companions some years
ago in the Belgaum district can be seen by a reference to the confessions recorded by the
Superintendent of the Operations for the suppression of the Thugee and Dacoity Department,
and printed at pages 49 to 67 of the book called 'Selections from the Records of Government
in the Police Branch of the Judicial Department, No. I of 1853, Old Series.'
"7. Charas is one of the by-products of the hemp plant. It is the exudation of the
flowers, leaves, young twigs, and barks of the stems. It is a resinous substance which accumu-
lates itself on the palms of hands and fingers when stripping off the pods and leaves, and is
scraped off and made into small balls. This narcotic is produced on a very small scale in this
part of the country, and is smoked mixed up with ordinary tobacco. It is said that this
stuff is more intoxicating than ganja, and being costly is rarely used.
"8. The uses of bhang as an intoxicating drink:—
Ghota.
"This drink is prepared as follows:—Some quantity of bhang powder is slightly parched
in the first instance, and is then carefully washed to remove impurities from it. It is then
ground on a stone mixed with water. The stuff thus prepared is strained. The liquid is
then mixed with the powder of black-pepper, poppy, and anise-seeds and other spices according
to the taste and means of the drinkers. Jaggery or sugar and milk are also, added to the
preparation, and it is drunk both by the rich and poor as a cool beverage, especially during
the hot season. This drink is not considered injurious to health. The fakirs and mendicants
have special liking for this beverage.
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