C ANNAS IS 



SATIVA 



Narcotic 



Bhang. 



Male Plant 

 Inferior. 



Various Names. 



Semi- 

 cultivation. 



Flavoured and 

 Perfumed. 



Poisoned. 



Sweetmeat. 



THE INDIAN HEMP PLANT 

 ///. THE NARCOTIC INDIAN HEMP. 



The Beverage 

 of the People. 



So much has already been indicated of the narcotic property of Indian 

 hemp that the subject need hardly be further dealt with in this work. 

 Moreover, it has been so thoroughly treated of, in the publications quoted 

 in the opening preamble, that it seems only necessary to refer the reader, 

 who may desire full particulars, to these most useful publications. As 

 already explained, there are primarily three forms of Indian hemp, with, 

 under each, local modifications, special preparations, adulterants and 

 imitations. Chemically, all three are one and the same. They represent 

 different methods of production, different degrees of purity and intensity, 

 and are often so blended into each other that their isolation becomes 

 impossible, or nearly so. They may, however, be indicated briefly, as 

 follows : 



1. Bhang. This is also known as siddhi, subji, or sobzi, thandai, 

 patti, etc., and in Central India it is vijaya, buti, and sobzi. It consists 

 of the specially dried leaves and flowering shoots of either or both the male 

 and female plants, whether wild or cultivated. Lt.-Col. Prain dissents 

 somewhat from this opinion, since he would appear to believe that the 

 male plant is inferior to the female in value as bhang. " There is reason 

 for thinking," he says, " that from the best bhang male leaves are ex- 

 cluded." The narcotic principle, though not present in the very young 

 state, begins to form with the growth of the plants, and reaches its greatest 

 abundance about the time the flowers appear. But it gradually diminishes 

 as the leaves pass maturity, and is entirely absent (or nearly so) from 

 leaves allowed to turn yellow and to be dried up while still attached to the 

 plant. [Baden-Powell, Pb. Prod., i., 505; H.D.C.R., iii., app., 153; 

 Prain, Cult, and Use of Ganja, 12.] 



The dried leaves as met with in the Indian drug-shops usually consist of a 

 powder known as siddhi, and this may be composed of fragmentary leaves only, 

 or, as already stated, of the inflorescence as well, and even of the seeds. Some- 

 times this is called patti (the leaf), the word bhang, the most general of all, having 

 more often a wider signification than the dried leaves. Siddhi is collected on the 

 plains and lower hills, frequently from the wild plant, but here and there, all over 

 the country, small plots may be seen near the homesteads in which the plant 

 exists in the condition of semi-cultivation. When prepared for consumption 

 the fragments of the plant are ground to a paste, and of this an emulsion is 

 made which, after being filtered through a cloth, may be consunfed in that 

 form, or flavoured with sugar, spices, cardamoms, melon seeds or milk. The 

 simple beverage goes by various names : bhang or siddhi in Bengal ; siddhi or 

 thandai in the United Provinces ; ghota in the Central Provinces ; and ghota, 

 tadhal or panga in Sind. In Madras a similar liquid is called ramras or ram- 

 rasam, which in Upper India is sometimes called dudhia. In Poona a beer made 

 with juar and bhang is called bhoja. Occasionally musk or other perfumes are 

 added to disguise the objectionable smell, while to make the beverage more 

 intoxicating and poisonous, opium, dhatura seeds, arsenic, strychnine, aconite, 

 oleander root, and the seeds of black henbane are used. The special employment 

 of the roots of certain grasses such as rice and judr is frequently resorted to (see 

 Sorghum vulgare, p. 1 040). A preparation of Indian hemp and alcohol is called lutki, 

 and a drink called mudra (used in Baluchistan and the Panjab) is said to contain 

 hemp, opium, alcohol, and dhatura. Majun is a sweetmeat prepared from the 

 emulsion ; it is extensively eaten all over India. The Emperor Baber mentions 

 in his Memoirs (1519) the number of times he had partaken of " maajun." 

 John Lindsay (Journ. Captivity in Mysore, 1781, iii., 293) tells of his soldiers 

 having been obliged to eat a " mafum." The practice is, therefore, a fairly 

 ancient one. Lastly, it may be pointed out that in Thomas de Quincey's 

 Confessions of an English Opium-eater, "madjoon" would seem to be spoken of 

 (but quite incorrectly) as the Turkish name for opium. 



Of all the forms of Indian hemp bJiang is the least harmful, and, according to 



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