INSTITUTE AND COLLEGE, PUSA, FOE 1913-14. 91 



A third point arises in connection with the use of 

 Bakhar; as will readily be understood, when any organic 

 matter such as moist rice is exposed to the air the ensuing 

 fermentation is likely to be complicated by the presence 

 and activity of bacteria; in the case of beer brewed in 

 Europe from barley-malt and hops, the value of the latter 

 depends upon their content of lupulin with its associated 

 " hop resins ' :l which act as preventives of bacterial action; 

 Bakhar contains many substances the inclusion of which 

 probably originated in an attempt to prevent putrefactive 

 changes, although now they form merely parts of the tradi- 

 tion or trade secret handed down without knowledge of 

 their specific function, or of the fact that whilst the moul- 

 diness aimed at is produced by fungi, the putrefaction 

 sometimes resulting is due to bacteria. 



Chillies, ginger, and the bark and roots of various 

 plants are among the substances incorporated with the 

 ground rice to form Bakhar cakes; so far the function of 

 the various substances examined appears to be to restrict 

 the growth of bacteria during the earliest stages of infec- 

 tion of the rice to be fermented until the growth of the 

 mucors has become strong enough to suppress bacterial 

 competition, and in this respect they resemble the hop 

 resins in action. 



Many of the substances added to Bakhar by the 

 makers are no doubt mtendea to produce other effects 

 which would, however, be confined for the most part to the 

 beer and would not appear m the distilled spirit; it has 

 been reported that Datum and Nux Vomica are sometimes 

 used in this way and it is natural to suppose that the repu- 

 tation of a Bakhar maker might be enhanced amongst a 

 certain class of ins clients by such reprehensible prac- 

 tices. Specimens of a plant said to be a necessary ingre- 

 dient of Bakhar as made in the Darjeeling district, have 

 been sent to me for examination; this plant is known to 

 the Limboo tribes as kk Wadinghangma ' and to the 

 Nepalese as "' Bhimsen pati; 5J it has been identified by the 

 curator of the JLioyd Botanic Uarden in Darjeeling as 



