THE PEOPLE

STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS

The stimulants and narcotics in use in the district in the pre-prohibition days were fermented and distilled drinks. They were distilled from dates and raisins. But the chief alcoholic drink in use was the liquor made from flowers of mahuva (Bassisa Latifolia) trees. To improve its colour or flavour, different varieties of fruits, flowers or herbs were sometimes added. Liquor was generally drunk in taverns and licensed booths. Except some castes of Hindus others occasionally drank. At public dinners of some caste country liquor was served to both men and women at the close of the entertainment.

Three preparations from hemp, or ambadi (cannabis indica) that is bhang, yakut and ganja were in use. Bhang is made from the leaves, flowers and seeds of the plant, first baked over fire and then grounded very fine. The intoxicating power depends to a considerable extent on the fineness of the powder. According to the taste and means of the consumer, dry rose leaves, almonds, cardamoms, pepper and other spices are pounded together and mixed with the powder. The whole is again ground with water or milk, sweetened with sugar and strained through a cloth. This done, the preparation becomes ready for being drunk. It is chiefly popular among some classes of Hindus. In the hot season and throughout the year on holidays and festivals, bhang is generally drunk but only very few people take it regularly. In small quantities it is cooling and slightly intoxicating causing at the same time a keen feeling for hunger.

The dried hemp plant which has flowered and from which the resin has not been removed is called ganja. As a rule ganja smokers are to be found at shrines or temples, religious mendicants and the lower order of Brahmans being the addicts. The plant washed four or five times, dried and mixed with tobacco is smoked in whiffs about every half hour by the addicts. Its effects are sudden and strong. Opium either used as a drug or as a narcotic is administered in several ways. It is rolled into a pill and swallowed or dissolved in water and drunk or smoked in a special preparation. The Rajputs held it once in high esteem and as a seal of hospitality and a great healer of dispute. It is offered as dissolved in water in cups as a token of goodwill to guests who drink it in small quantity.

Of the non-prohibited articles, tobacco, betel and areca-nut, tea and coffee and such drinks are extensively indulged in all over the district.

Tobacco is consumed in three ways: it is chewed; it is smoked; it is taken in the form of snuff. The practice of chewing tobacco either plain or with betel leaves and areca-nut is common among Hindus, both men and women; and among Muslims particularly women. Tobacco is smoked in pipes, or in cigarettes or bidis. Two kinds of pipes are in general use, the long-stemmed hukka or hubble-bubble in which smoke is cooled as it is inhaled through water and the short almost stemless bowl or chilim where the smoke is sucked through a wet cloth wrapped at its bottom. Tobacco to be smoked in the hukka is known as gudakhu which is specially processed with molasses and water and is principally used by the richer people. Except some Brahmans all classes of people among Hindus smoke tobacco; women seldom smoke a pipe but many among the labouring and cultivating classes use bidis.

Tea from Assam, Darjeeling and Nilgiri tea gardens and blends and varieties of black tea and their mixtures are in common use.

Tea drinking has become very common in the middle class and artisan classes including mechanics, drivers and other manual workers. It has become a habit with the cultivating classes too. Tea with milk and sugar is taken early in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. The elite drink it as a hot brew or infusion poured into a cup from a tea pot adding milk and sugar to taste. The commoner usually has it as a composite drink, while some have it as a decoction of tea powder, mixing pepper and dry ginger or cinnamon in it to cure indigestion Coffee has not made much headway, its use being confined to a small percentage of middle class families in urban areas. It is more favourite drink of South Indians. Cold drinks or sharbats are used casually and more on ceremonial occasions in the middle classes. Aerated waters are confined to towns people of which there are many varieties now-a-days.

The habit of smoking is spreading among the younger people who seem to prefer the cigarettes when they can afford it. While chewing tobacco, the addicts mix it with lime to make it more astringent and stimulating. The snuff-taking habit seems to be prevailing among respectable professional people. Chewing pan (leaves of betel vine) with supari (areca-nut); catechu and lime is very common among all classes. Along with their pan, the rich chew cardamoms, meg-nut and other spices also.

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