BHANG AND CHARAS 



Prohibition 



>;.-. -i, i. !. 



Given Free. 



CANN ABIS 

 SATIVA 



Cultivation 



t majority oi tin- opinions recorded l>y the H.I). Commismon, it w the beer 



--- the occasional indul^'-m-.-- or lu\ui\ of tin- middle ami 



,-s of Imli. i. A l.irno percentage of Hi.- : |.par.-ntl\ 



with less iiijurioii, consequences than the similar consumption of alcohol in 



.1 cheap beverage, Hincn the flavouring ami per- 



fiimme; a.l|un.-i - are expensive. My tin- p.-opl.- in tin- localities where the plant 

 1-1 \\il.l, ho\\c\er, it \, . :!. n .mployt'd in the form of a simple infusion without 

 [juncts, ami th.-n of course it may ! hail for tin- trouble of collection and 

 ation. It would -eem satisfactorily proved that no form of Indian hemp 

 possesses the property t .^tai.li-hniu' a cra\ inc for its continued and extended 

 total prohil-ition, I-M-H wore that possible, would therefore be strongly 

 d l.y tin- majority of the people, though the fiscal control established by 

 .\. -mm. -nt meets \\ith their very general approval. Honigberger tells us 

 .n his day, " not far from the outside of the Delhi gate at Lahore, near the 

 to Amritsar, close by my hospital, there was an establishment called Sed 

 . \\here this beverage was delivered gratuitously." Several witnesses 

 :.-d to the H.D. Commissioners places where the beverage was daily given 

 n now) to all applicants free of charge. Dr. Ewens alludes to the seats 

 r.<) in Lahore, where men assemble to drink bhang. Moreover, the use of 

 is considered essential in certain religious observances by a large section 

 e Indian community, and its total prohibition (sometimes recommended by 

 i would be regarded as an encroachment on religious liberty. The 

 loyment of bhang as a cattle medicine is so widespread that its discontinuance 

 d be resented even by those who do not consume it themselves as a beverage. 

 2. C haras. This may be defined as a resinous substance that ap- Charas. 

 rs spontaneously on the leaves, stems, inflorescences and fruits of the 

 temp plant when cultivated in cold and dry countries. It is practically 

 the active principle, and consequently a more powerful drug than either 

 or ganja. It is spoken of as the special narcotic procured through- 

 .t the North- West Himalaya from Nepal, Kumaon, Kashmir, Afghani- 

 ,n, Ladakh, Herat, Bokhara to Turkestan, and was very possibly the 

 >phyllis (laughing leaf) which Pliny says came from Bactriana. The Oehtophyttu. 

 appears shortly before the flowers begin to form, and is present over season of 

 larger proportion of the plant than is the case with the third form, * 

 ganja, presently to be described. According to most writers ckaras is not 

 produced on the male plants, a circumstance probably due to their being 

 removed on account of the fine fibres contained in their stems, before the 

 time that the charas would naturally appear. 



Prain speaks of charas as a greenish-brown moist, resinous mass that Becomes inert. 

 sesses the peculiar odour of the hemp plant. When kept for some 

 e it hardens, becomes friable and brownish-grey in colour, but when 

 ,t earthy condition is fully attained, the drug is found to be inert. 

 e name charas is said to mean a " bag " or " skin," and was given in 

 India in allusion to "the bags" in which the drug is imported from imported in 

 ntral Asia. The name charas would, therefore, point to this peculiar Bags- 



of the drug having been originally recognised as foreign produce. 

 In a commentary on the celebrated Sanskrit grammar written by Panini 

 B.C.), tilakata, umakata and bhangakata occur, and the termination 

 it is explained, means rajas or dust of sesamum, of linseed and of 

 ,emp. The kata of bhanga might have been at once viewed as the resinous 

 powder now known as charas but for the difficulty of understanding 

 what could have been the kata of the other plants perhaps the pollen 

 grains in all cases were therefore meant. In Turkestan (according to 

 Aitchison) charas is called nasha, before it is made up into the skin packages 

 ready for export to India. It is subsequently freely adulterated with Adulteration. 



1 oil and a powder of the dried leaves of the plant. In passing it 

 may be here pointed out that Stein (Ancient Khotan) makes no mention 



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