Thoughts from the void: Memorandum on Hemp Drugs in Nepal 1894

NEPAL DARBAR MEMORANDUM. Vol 3, Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1894-1895, https://digital.nls.uk/74464868

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS RELATING TO HEMP DRUGS.
The ganja of this part of the country is of two kinds, the stem of one is white and of the other black: the latter is better than the former. Some of the plants of both kinds bear flowers, and such plants are no good. The plant which does not bear flowers, and the fine leaves of which get twisted together, is the ganja. The method of preparation is as follows:— When the plant puts forth fine down, the tip of the plant is cut off and the big leaves are plucked off, and the plant is shaken from time to time, so that the down may fall off. This causes a large number of branches and fine leaves to be produced and the latter getting twisted and stuck together are called in Nepalese Lata When it is found that the plant is in the Lata state it is cut down and kept in the dew for about a week, and after that each Lata is separately wrapped in a piece of fine plantain bark and being tightly tied with string is put by. Some people flatten it by pressing it under pieces of tat (gunny). Two or three days after this it becomes fit for use. The ganja plant exudes a thin gummy water. That plant is squeezed between the palms of both hands, and the gummy substance, which sticks to the bands, is scraped into a vessel and is called charas. This charas is also of two kinds: the second kind is here called Yarkan and is somewhat better than charas. Near the Himalayas west of Katmandu, that is, in the hills from Mankamana to Redi, the ganja grows somewhat more abundantly than in the other mountainous parts of Nepal, and in the Nepalese Terai it is also somewhat more abundant than in the hills. Ganja is known by no other name in this country; both the black and white stem plants are called ganja. The plant which produces much seed is no good; that which produces little seed is good. It cannot be ascertained in what special kind of soil and at what elevations it grows, because it grows here in different places. Sometimes it grows densely and sometimes scattered. It has no particular habit in this respect. No one cultivates ganja in this country. Some persons in the hills plant a few trees which are to be had growing wild. The leaves of the plants which bear flowers are bhang. Particulars regarding charas are given in answer to question No. 2. Ganja is not cultivated here, it grows wild, so no methods of cultivation can be stated. By slitting the stem of the plant and inserting a piece of opium or clove or bhiroza wood and tying up the part with string, the ganja becomes somewhat more intoxicating. This is done by those who know about it and is not the work of any particular class. No one sows the ganja seed in this country; the plant grows wild. The male plant of the ganja is solid and the female one is hollow. The male plant is more intoxicating than the female. When the plant has attained a height of two or two and a half feet it is slightly slit, and ascertained whether it is a male or female. There is no one in this country who cultivates only ganja, and it is not the custom to cultivate it here, because it grows wild in different places. Therefore it cannot be stated in what kind of soil it grows. There being no cultivators of it, there is no prohibition against its cultivation. A small duty is levied simply to keep down consumption.

MEMO. ON NIPAL (SHAHJAHANI) CHARAS. The ganja shrub from which charas is made grows wild in certain villages of the hills one hundred miles and more inwards. "Kala Des," "Gora Des," "Pentan" are mentioned as some of the places. Charas is a sticky exudation from the seed pods and minute leaves surrounding the seeds. It is obtained by gently rubbing these pods and leaves between the hands. The "resin," for want of a more correct term, adheres to and is peeled off the hands, and during this process the originally colourless matter becomes black. The small leaves must not be confounded with the ordinary leaves of the plant. I give an illustration.* Charas is made in April and May when the seeds are ripe and the big leaves fall off. I am sending you two samples. The larger one, made into sticks a foot long and 1/2 inch thick, is adulterated with the leaves and cuticle, and probably other foreign matter. The smaller sample is in the form of a cake and is the pure stuff. The first sells in Nipalganj at Rs. 3, the second at Rs. 10 a seer. The quantity exported annually from Nipaljang is said to be 50 maunds of 40 seers a maund, but this information must be received cum grano. It is true, however, that some years ago a very much larger quantity was imported into British territory. I do not know the cause of the decline. There is very little consumption among the Nipalese I hear. At Nipalganj an imperial export duty of Rs. 11-4 per maund and a choongee-tax of the market value of 1/4 seer per maund are levied. The shrub is not cultivated. The resin is not produced by the shrub in the Tarai or plains. It is secreted only in the villages among the mountains, but at what altitude I can't say. It is called charas in the interior, but Saljehani (probably a corruption of Shahjehani) is the name given to the coarser kind in Nipalganj. The fibre is not utilized. The shrub is an annual, dying in the rains and springing up in October. Ganja is not cultivated or prepared in the Bahraich district. Ganesh Murao, a contractor in Lucknow, imports charas from Nipalganj. There is a slight exudation in the bud in the shrub found here. By bud I mean seed cuticle, flower, and adjacent leaves, but is too slight to collect. Natives say the ganja shrub has no flower, and they distinguish ganja from bhang by this difference, and the circumstance that the bhang shrub is sterile, bearing a flower, but yielding no seed. The bhang tree is consequently not reproductive, but comes from the ganja seed. Charas is known to be conveyed to Lucknow and Cawnpur. It is taken probably to other places. It is carried in skin vessels and inside bundles of bhang. The profit made by contractors should be considerable, as they sell it in British territory at double the price paid for it in Nipal. A cloth, a strong canvas, used for bags, is made from a cultivated plant in the hills called Bhangra, which natives confuse with bhang. It grows in the form of hemp, "san," in the plains, and the raw material is extracted in the same way, that is, by immersion in the water till it rots.

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Memorandum on Hemp Drugs in Nepal 1894

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