Taste of Life: When leaders in Poona agreed to disagree on cannabis laws

In 1844, “Paramahansa Mandali”, a secret socio-religious society of native young men, whose object was said to be to abolish caste and introduce various other changes in Hinduism, was established in Bombay. The existence of the society occasioned great unease among the orthodox Hindus. Among the opponents of the “Mandali” was Ramkrishna Anant Joshi, a teacher who was known to teach sex workers and their children. Joshi, in 1851, wrote a fourteen-page tract criticising the Society.

Joshi’s main objections centred on the abolishment of caste and the propagation of “Western education”. But he also accused the members of the Society of “corrupting” young minds. He wrote – “The students in the Elphinstone Institution, by constant intercourse with “Mlenchh” (European) instructors are corrupted, their plastic minds being transformed by such influences, until, acquiring a taste for intoxicating substances, they learn to disregard all religious observances. Having acquired an appetite for bhang, ganja &c, they at last become subject to this appetite and lose all relish for true wisdom; one step follows another until a desire for brandy is excited.”

These claims were stoutly refuted by the editor of Marathi newspaper “Prabhakar”, who reviewed Joshi’s work. The reviewer claimed that he knew many members of the Society and they showed absolutely no signs of addiction to cannabis; and if they did, as claimed by Joshi, he would staunchly support the expulsion of the members from the caste.

Cannabis drugs have been known in India since at least the first millennium BCE. The cannabis plant grew wild throughout most of South Asia and it could be said that no pre-colonial Indian polity regulated or taxed the cannabis trade systematically.

The British East India Company in Bengal, under financial duress, resorted to excise taxation of liquor, opium, and cannabis to increase revenues in the 1850s. The Bombay Abkari Act of 1878 officially defined “intoxicating drugs” as “ganja, bhang and every preparation and admixture of the same and every intoxicating drink or substance prepared from hemp, grain or any other material not included in the term liquor.”

The drugs usually retailed in Bombay and Poona were “ganja”, “bhang”, “charas”, “majum”, “yakuti”, “shrikhand”, “penda”, and “bojah”. Ganja was the flower of the hemp plant, and bhang was the dried leaves of the same plant. Ganja was used only in smoking mixed with tobacco; bhang pounded with spices and sugar and diluted in milk or water formed a palatable drink.

One of the reasons Indian leaders were unhappy with the Abkari Act was the facilitation and legitimacy it brought, according to them, to cannabis consumption. This opposition could be seen in the reports of The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission set up in 1893-94. Witnesses, including the collectors, deputy collectors, magistrates, surgeons, and medical practitioners, commissioners of various cities, belonging to the Bombay Presidency, Berar, Coorg, Baluchistan, and Burma deposed before the commission. Rao Bahadur Vishram Ramji Gholay, Dr Ganesh Krishna Garde, who was also one of the owners of the newspapers “Kesari” and “Maratha”, Dr Bhikaji Amrut Chobhe, and Dr JC Lisboa were the medical practitioners from Poona whose testimonies appeared in the report. These records give out some interesting information about the consumption pattern of cannabis in Poona.

According to Ghole’s testimony, ganja was prescribed on account of its medicinal properties by native doctors, as well as by European medical practitioners in Poona. He also mentioned that the poorer classes of Hindus and Muslims who were not within ready reach of other medicines, used cannabis to assist digestion. Workmen and labourers used these drugs to enable them to bear hard work better. Garde endorsed moderate use of ganja and bhang, but considered their habitual use detrimental to health.

The hemp plant grew to a small extent in Poona district, with the greater portion of supply of bhang and ganja imported from Ahmadnagar, Solapur, and Khandesh. In Poona, forty shops were licenced for the sale of intoxicating drugs in 1885. The aggregate annual consumption was estimated at 3 tonnes.

Tobacco was ordinarily mixed with ganja when the latter was used for smoking; and sugar, milk, cardamoms, and mace were used for making up the beverage called “ghota” from bhang. “Ghota” was the only ganja preparation used for drinking. A small quantity of bhang was first cleared of dirt etc., and then reduced to fine powder by pressing between two stones, a little water being added at intervals. It was then filtered through a piece of cloth. Milk, sugar, and spices were added. “Ghota” was sometimes used as a cold drink during the summers by the wealthy.

There were four known varieties of ganja preparation made use of for eating – “majum”, “yakuti”, “gulkand”, and “shrikhand”. They were prepared almost in the same way, the spices added being different in the different varieties. The active principle of the narcotic was extracted by boiling ganja in ghee and water mixed in equal quantities. One part of this narcotised ghee was added to sixteen parts of sugar syrup, and the whole, when solid, was cut into small cakes. This was “majum”. It was usually preferred by the poor. “Yakuti”, “gulkand”, and “shrikhand” were enjoyed by the rich on account of their sweet scent, and because of their somewhat intoxicating quality.

“Gulkand” was prepared with a mixture of sugar and rose flowers. This mixture was kept for several days in the sun in an air-tight pot. Afterwards, the heads of ganja were perfectly cleaned and mixed with the so-prepared “gulkand”. Narcotised ghee was also added occasionally. “Gulkand” was the mildest of all hemp confectionery and was mostly consumed in summer months. “Bhang masala” was sometimes added to “Gulkand”. It consisted of a conserve of black pepper, aniseed, almonds, cardamoms, mace, sugar etc. This spice mixture was primarily used for making “yakuti” and “shrikhand”. Narcotised ghee when added to molasses formed “shrikhand”.

“Yakuti” was liked by the Muslims and Hindus alike. Muslims bought it from shops, while it was invariably made at home by Hindus. The preparation was as follows – 3 lb of ganja was cleaned. It was put into a pot of water and boiled; at a certain stage the water was poured out gently, and the ganja was put out to dry. When dry, it was pounded very fine. To the powder thus made are added two ounces avoirdupois of cardamom, one ounce of nutmeg, half an ounce of cloves, two ounces of mace, two ounces of “gulkand”, two ounces of “pipalimul” (Chavica roxburghii), two ounces of cinnamon, eleven grains of “kasturi” (Vachellia farnesiana), one tola of saffron, half a tola of opium, and one tola of bay leaf, all powdered. The mixture was then blended with half a tola of silver leaves, and the compound was thrown into a rupee’s worth of pure honey. After mixing up properly, the preparation was ready for use. It was supposed to be taken only a pinch at a time.

These preparations were generally resorted to as aphrodisiacs by people addicted to sensual pleasures and occasionally by those suffering from diarrhoea, indigestion, or lethargy. Each lozenge of “majum” or “yakuti” weighed about half a tola, and cost a quarter of an anna in the 1880s.

And then there was “bojah”. It was an intoxicating drink prepared from Jowar (sorghum). It was prepared as follows – Jowar was roughly ground and boiled. It was then dried in the air and mixed with “koshta-kolanjan” (greater galangal), bhang, “dawna” (Artemesia pallens), and “marwa” (marjoram). Everything was put in a pot and let to rest for a day. Water was added to this mixture and after filtering the same through the cloth, it became fit for drinking.

Native leaders in Poona never stopped protesting against the Abkari Act. More about this some other time.

Chinmay Damle is a research scientist and food enthusiast. He writes here on Pune’s food culture. He can be contacted at chinmay.damle@gmail.com