CH. VI.] REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
101
266. The details of information describing the preparation of ganja in My-
Mysore.
sore are limited to drying in the sun and tying into
bundles. Mr. McDonnell's memorandum does not
give a description of the Mysore practice. What he says about the Vellore and
Cocanada samples agrees with what has been learnt from Mr. Benson's bulletin.
267. The Director of Agriculture and Commerce gives a description of the
Hyderabad.
preparation of ganja which does not differ from the
method pursued in the Bombay Deccan. Bhang is
the leaf and other litter which falls away in the manufacture of ganja.
268. Such cultivation as exists in Rajputana, both regular and scattered,
Rajputana.
seems to be chiefly directed to the production of
bhang. Jhallawar, however, reports a production of
165 maunds of ganja, and some of the superior drug appears to be turned out in
Serohi also. An inferior sort, called makuria ganja, is spoken of in Marwar, but
appears to be little better than the female flowers of a bhang crop of the ordi¬
nary kind. It is stated in the Jaisalmir report that the ganja produced there is
never prepared by treading, and from other places that the drug, whatever it may
be, undergoes no process but drying. One informant states that charas is sup¬
posed to be prepared chiefly by the Bhils in Jodhpur. No foundation for this
statement can be discovered. Fakirs may rub the heads of the plants they have
grown in their lands and get a little charas occasionally; but even that seems im¬
probable, as it requires a great deal of flower head to make a reasonable quantity
of charas.
269. Mr. Gunion's memorandum furnishes an account of the manufacture of
ganja in Indore and Dewas. The processes com¬
prise the same three principal features as elsewhere,
viz., drying, kneading with the feet, and removal of leaf. They occupy three or
four days. In Indore the manufactured produce is kept under pressure till sold.
From the description of the preparation of bhang in these States, it would seem
that it is made from a crop grown for seed or bhang and not from the ganja
crop. The plants are bodily dried and threshed, and the seeds are separated
from "the crushed leaves and tender twigs, which are called bhang." It seems
that "no charas is prepared in Central India except a little in the Bhopawar
Agency for the personal use of the cultivators, or for presents from them to
religious mendicants." The method of preparation is thus described by the Politi¬
cal Agent of Bhopawar: "Charas is prepared by rubbing ganja (sometimes mixed
with bhang) violently for several hours on rough woollen blankets, which after¬
wards are scraped with a knife.
The substance thus scraped off is first class
charas. An inferior kind is then obtained by washing the blanket with the least
possible amount of water, and then evaporating the liquid." The report of
Gopal Ram at the close of the North-Western Provinces memorandum con¬
tains no information of special interest regarding the preparation of the drugs
in Gwalior except that relating to charas as a bye-product of ganja cultivation.
"A certain amount of charas is obtained in this (Gwalior) State by scraping
off the resin which adheres to the hands in cutting the ganja plant. In tahsil
Antri cultivators do not care much about the charas. In tahsil Kolarus, district
Narwar, I hear charas is obtained in small quantities by the same process as in
Kumaon and Garhwal."
26
Central India.