494

have recourse to other intoxicants, because the in-
toxication of charas is not like opium and other
intoxicants which are indulged at a fixed time.

There is no regular fixed time for smoking
charas as it may be smoked once only or oftener
during the day.

Charas-smoking fakirs are esteemed only by the
consumers of the drug, and non-consumers show
them no respect, but on the contrary avoid their
company.

It has been seen that family-men contract the
habit of charas-smoking by the company of fakirs.

The greatest loss to this country is that traders
of Hoshiarpur and Amritsar who take to Ladakh
and Yarkand merchandise worth lakhs of rupees
bring charas instead, which spreads insanity and
other diseases in this country.

In the opinion of this Association the sale of
charas should be strictly prohibited, as there
would be very little financial loss by it.

Bhang is less injurious, and is often religiously
used at Gurdawaras, and is also used by zamin-
dars in the treatment of cattle.

As it grows wild, the subordinate Government
officials will have many chances of harassing the
subjects, if prohibition is enforced ; and therefore
bhang should not be prohibited.

I, Ganesh Das, Vakil, Chief Court, will appear
as a witness before the Commission on behalf of
the Sarin Sabha.

                        Oral evidence.

Question 1.—I am a resident of Hoshiarpur. I
have been Pleader since 1882. I am over forty-
six years old. I am the president of the Sarin
Sabha. It is not a society with a register of
membership. It is a sect or caste of Khatris. They
have meetings once a fortnight or so. A Sub-
Committee was appointed to inquire and report.
Then there was a general meeting which endorsed
unanimously the opinions submitted to the Com-
mission. There were about fifty members present:
a few more or less. Our quorum is sixteen, who
must represent at least six families or sections of
the Sarins. My own opinions are all in this
paper: all approved opinions which I hold.

Paragraph 4.—The diseases mentioned here are
those mentioned by the Sub-Committee who gave
them from their own knowledge and also from
inquiry; and the meeting approved because the
opinions received their concurrence, some members
from their own experience. There was no medical
man, nor baid, nor hakim among those consulted
or inquiring ; but the inquiry included those, who
had had consumers in their families. The state-
ment that there are instances of insanity due to
charas is based on precisely the same sources of
information as above described.

I think that charas-smokers among fakirs are
about one-half, less or more. Those who smoke
are less esteemed by people generally than those
who do not, though being fakirs they are, of course,
esteemed to a certain extent.

78. Evidence of HONORARY SECRETARY, KANGRA VALLEY PLANTERS' ASSOCIATION,
                                                                    Palampur.

Reference his Nos. 1138-1 and 1252-1, dated
28th November 1893, Hemp Drugs.

These do not seem to be used extensively in
this district. The use of them is looked upon
as a vice by the natives themselves, and they
are used on the sly. I have known few cases of
charas-smokers becoming temporarily insane and
committing outrages locally. The consumption
of these drugs should certainly be controlled by
Government as far as possible.

79. Evidence of the Sanatan Dharm Sabha, Lahore.

1.  Most of the members of the Sabha (Associa-
tion) have had occasion of observing the consumers
of bhang and chains; while several of the mem-
bers have had personal experience of the effects
of bhang through occasional use.

2.   Besides the names given above, bhang is also
called thandai, sardai, vijaya, buti, and sukha.
Charas is also styled sulpha.

3.  The plant grows spontaneously in our dis-
trict, but is not abundant.

4.  The plant is here generally known by the
name of bhang.

5.  The climate of the Lahore district and of a
large portion of the province to the north and
east of it, is favourable to the growth of the plant,
which is mostly spontaneous.

14. Neither ganja nor charas appear to be pre-
pared in our province. These are imported. The
leaves of the plant are made into bhang. The
members of this Association are generally ignorant
of how any of these drugs is prepared.

16. Bhang may be prepared from the plant
grown anywhere; but the intoxicating power differs
in plants of different localities.

19. So far as the members of this Association
are aware, ganja and charas are used only for
smoking.

20 and 21. The practice of ganja is not so very
common here. It is confined only to low people,
such as grass-cutters, washermen, etc. Charas
is generally smoked by sadhus and fakirs, and by
poor people following certain occupations, accom-
panied by exposure to cold or by hard labour.
Smokers of charas are common throughout the
Punjab; but their number is not so very large,
not forming altogether over one per cent. of the
population.

22.   Foreign charas generally.

23.   Bhang does not appear to be used in
smoking.

24.   The number of those who consume bhang
regularly and of those who take it only occasion-
ally must together come up to 50 per cent of the
male population (above the age of childhood)
among the Hindus. Among Sikhs, bairagis,
and most sects of sadhus, the proportion is larger
than among the other Hindus.

25.   The use of bhang may be said to be on the
decrease, in so far as the educated classes now
generally drink liquors for purposes of intoxica-
tion.