which bhang or ganja is either boiled in water or heated in 
clarified butter. The green resinous scum that appears on the 
surface is mixed with sugar and is then heated to form a paste, 
cut into small pieces. In some parts of the country, this prepa- 
ration is slightly different. 
HaAtwa: Bhang is boiled in a jaggery syrup. The filtrate is 
mixed with flour and clarified butter for making halwa. This 
preparation is common in the southern part of the Indian sub- 
continent. 
Curry: Bhang leaves are prepared in powdered form and 
then used for making curries, with the usual assortment of 
spices and vegetables. 
BHANG BEVERAGES: Bhang leaves are pounded and mixed 
with sugar, black pepper, and diluted with water. Almonds, 
resins, and even curds are mixed with pounded bhang leaves in 
the well-to-do strata of society. 
SMOKING OF CANNABIS: Ganja and charas are used for smok- 
ing in a wide variety of equipment in the sub-continent. ‘‘Chil- 
lam’’ or “‘hookah”’ (the water pipe) are the commonly em- 
ployed paraphernalia. 
Partly in view of the great significance given to Cannabis asa 
medicine in the Susrita (600 A.D.) — the Bible of the Indian 
system of medicine — there is a growing interest in revitaliza- 
tion of the indigenous Ayurvedic system of medicine in India. 
Government-supported clinics and research units exist where 
age-old treatments, making use of native herbs, are fully 
utilized and investigated. There is a tendency among the old 
societies to be influenced by modern civilization and technol- 
ogy. During this metamorphosis, their own cultural heritage is 
forgotten or denegated. Maintenance of fine cultural traits or 
the protection of the existing ones is a challenge, since they 
bespeak man’s achievements in his climbing the evolutionary 
scale. 
Nowhere does this fit more than in the case of Cannabis in 
the Himalayas. Such an investigation can discover new biody- 
namic principles associated with Cannabis. This paper is obvi- 
ously a step in that direction. The Himalayas are extensive, and 
Cannabis folklore there needs further research and attention. | 
observed the following modes of Cannabis utilization in the 
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