102 REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94. [CH. VI.
Baroda.
270. Bhang alone is prepared in the Baroda State. It is of the same kind
and prepared by the same processes as are found in
the Gujarat Division of the Bombay Presidency.
271. The Governor of Jammu reports that neither ganja nor charas are made
there, but only bhang. The Governor of Kashmir
Kashmir.
gives an account in which the names of the three
drugs are confused. He says first: "Almost all wild hemp, which is called talia
in the Punjab, and is generally female plant in the above-mentioned tahsils, is used
for the preparation of ganja locally known by name gard bhang (chura charas)."
And further on— "The leaves of the hemp plant are trodden under foot, and
cleaned by sieves to prepare gard bhang, and the process is continued until the
leaves are reduced to powder and seed separated."
This describes the preparation of bhang, pure and simple; but apparently
this article is known by the three names—ganja, gard bhang, or chura charas.
And "it would appear that this is the stuff which is occasionally smoked. Fakirs
and a few Muhammadans and Pandits of the Srinagar city and towns smoke
gard bhang (churn charas)........................ The total number of persons who
do smoke ganja is, etc". Another informant says: "Charas is prepared in
the capital cities and is termed garda," and he does not know if bhang
is prepared. The preparation of garda is described, and finishes with the
reduction of the material to a "resinous powder." The manufacture of garda
or charas by the method given in the "Punjab Products" is not describ¬
ed by either of the only three informants. It is probable that charas is
made by a further elaboration from the garda charas spoken of above which
is practically bhang powdered to a state of more than common
fineness,
and that ganja is a name borrowed from India without any correct idea of its
meaning beyond that it signifies the female plant. It may be noted that the price
of garda bhang, three pice per tola, given in the Governor of Kashmir's report,
is very high for simple bhang, and seems to indicate that the article is more
like charas.
272. The manner of preparing ganja in Nepal is somewhat peculiar. The
Darbar answers report that "when the plant is in the
lata state, it is cut down and kept in the dew for about
a week, and after that each lata is separately wrapped in a piece of fine plantain
bark, and, being tightly tied with string, is put by. Some people flatten it
by pressing it under a piece of tát (gunny). Two or three days after this it
becomes fit for use." The manufacture of charas is thus described: "The
ganja plant exudes a thin gummy water. That plant is squeezed between
the palms of both hands, and the gummy substance which sticks to the hands is
scraped into a vessel, and is called charas." Nepal ganja, Mr. Stoker states,
is introduced in small quantity into the North-Western Provinces.
Nepal
charas is, on the same authority, of superior quality, though the Darbar
answers say that Yarkand charas is preferred in Nepal. The Deputy Commis¬
sioner of Bahraich in the report attached to Mr. Stoker's memorandum states
that the export of charas from Nipalganj is about 50 maunds, and that
some years ago a very much larger quantity was imported into British
territory. The latter statement is confirmed by evidence from Bengal, which
shows that Nepal charas is now almost superseded by the drug which comes
Nepal.