The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume III Part 32

The caste has a number of subdivisions, of which the bulk are of the territorial type, as Malvi or the immigrants from Malwa, Lad those coming from south Gujarat, Daharia belonging to Dahar or the Jubbulpore country, Jaiswar and Kanaujia coming from Oudh. The Rai Kalars are an aristocratic subcaste, the word Rai signifying the highest or ruling group like Raj. But the Byahut or 'Married'

are perhaps really the most select, and are so called because they forbid the remarriage of widows, their women being thus married once for all. In Bengal they also decline to distil or sell liquor. [259]

The Chauske Kalars are said to be so called because they prohibit the marriage of persons having a common ancestor up to the fourth generation. The name of the Seohare or Sivahare subcaste is perhaps a corruption of Somhare or dealers in Soma, the sacred fermented liquor of the Vedas; or it may mean the worshippers of the G.o.d Siva. The Seohare Kalars say that they are connected with the Agarwala Banias, their common ancestors having been the brothers Seoru and Agru. These brothers on one occasion purchased a quant.i.ty of mahua [260] flowers; the price afterwards falling heavily. Agru sold his stock at a discount and cut the loss; but Seoru, unwilling to suffer it, distilled liquor from his flowers and sold the liquor, thus recouping himself for his expenditure. But in consequence of his action he was degraded from the Bania caste and his descendants became Kalars. The Jaiswar, Kanaujia and Seohare divisions are also found in northern India, and the Byahut both there and in Bengal. Mr. Crooke states that the caste may be an offshoot from the Bania or other Vaishya tribes; and a slight physical resemblance may perhaps be traced between Kalars and Banias. It may be noticed also that some of the Kalars are Jains, a religion to which scarcely any others except Banias adhere. Another hypothesis, however, is that since the Kalars have become prosperous and wealthy they devised a story connecting them with the Bania caste in order to improve their social position.

3. Dandsena Kalars in Chhattisgarh.

In Chhattisgarh the princ.i.p.al division of the Kalars is that of the Dandsenas or 'Stick-carriers,' and in explanation of the name they relate the following story: "A Kalar boy was formerly the Mahaprasad or bosom friend of the son of the Rajput king of Balod. [261] But the Raja's son fell in love with the Kalar boy's sister and entertained evil intentions towards her. Then the Kalar boy went and complained to the Raja, who was his Phulbaba, [262] the father of his friend, saying, 'A dog is always coming into my house and defiling it, what am I to do?' The Raja replied that he must kill the dog. Then the boy asked whether he would be punished for killing him, and the Raja said, No. So the next day as the Rajput boy was entering his house to get at his sister, the Kalar boy killed him, though he was his dearest friend. Then the Rajputs attacked the Kalars, but they were led only by the queen, as the king had said that the Kalar boy might kill the dog. But the Rajputs were being defeated and so the Raja intervened, and the Kalars then ceased fighting as the Raja had broken his word. But they left Balod, saying that they would drink no more of its waters, which they have not done to this day." [263]

And the Kalars are called Dandsena, because in this fight sticks were their only weapons.

4. Social customs.

The marriage customs of the caste follow the ordinary Hindu ritual prevalent in the locality and are not of special interest. Before a Kalar wedding procession starts a ceremony known as marrying the well is performed. The mother or aunt of the bridegroom goes to the well and sits in the mouth with her legs hanging down inside it and asks what the bridegroom will give her. He then goes round the well seven times, and a stick of kans [264] gra.s.s is thrown into it at each turn. Afterwards he promises the woman some handsome present and she returns to the house. Another explanation of the story is that the woman pretends to be overcome with grief at the bridegroom's departure and threatens to throw herself into the well unless he will give her something. The well-to-do marry their daughters at an early age, but no stigma attaches to those who have to postpone the ceremony. A bride-price is not customary, but if the girl's parents are poor they sometimes receive help from those of the boy in order to carry out the wedding. Matches are usually arranged at the caste feasts, and a Brahman officiates at the ceremony. Divorce is recognised and widows are allowed to marry again except by the Byahut subcaste. The Kalars worship the ordinary Hindu deities, and those who sell liquor revere an earthen jar filled with wine at the Holi festival. The educated are usually Vaishnavas by sect, and as already stated a few of them belong to the Jain religion. The social status of the Kalars is equivalent to that of the village menials, ranking below the good cultivating castes. Brahmans do not take water from their hands. But in Mandla, where the Kalars are important and prosperous, certain Sarwaria Brahmans who were their household priests took water from them, thus recognising them as socially pure. This has led to a split among the local Sarwaria Brahmans, the families who did not take water from the Kalars refusing to intermarry with those who did so.

While the highest castes of Hindus eschew spirituous liquor the cultivating and middle cla.s.ses are divided, some drinking it and others not; and to the menial and labouring cla.s.ses, and especially to the forest tribes, it is the princ.i.p.al luxury of their lives. Unfortunately they have not learnt to indulge in moderation and nearly always drink to excess if they have the means, while the intoxicating effect of even a moderate quant.i.ty is quickly perceptible in their behaviour.

In the Central Provinces the liquor drunk is nearly all distilled from the flowers of the mahua tree (Ba.s.sia latifolia), though elsewhere it is often made from cane sugar. The smell of the fermented mahua and the refuse water lying about make the village liquor-shop an unattractive place. But the trade has greatly profited the Kalars by the influence which it has given them over the lower cla.s.ses. "With the control of the liquor-supply in their hands," Mr. Montgomerie writes, "they also controlled the Gonds, and have played a more important part in the past history of the Chhindwara District than their numbers would indicate." [265] The Kalar and Teli (oil-presser) are usually about on the same standing; they are the creditors of the poorer tenants and labourers, as the Bania is of the landowners and substantial cultivators. These two of the village trades are not suited to the method of payment by annual contributions of grain, and must from an early period have been conducted by single transactions of barter. Hence the Kalar and Teli learnt to keep accounts and to appreciate the importance of the margin of profit. This knowledge and the system of dealing on credit with the exaction of interest have stood them in good stead and they have prospered at the expense of their fellow-villagers. The Kalars have acquired substantial property in several Districts, especially in those mainly populated by Gonds, as Mandla, Betul and Chhindwara. In British Districts of the Central Provinces they own 750 villages, or about 4 per cent of the total. In former times when salt was highly taxed and expensive the Gonds had no salt. The Kalars imported rock-salt and sold it to the Gonds in large pieces. These were hung up in the Gond houses just as they are in stables, and after a meal every one would go up to the lump of salt and lick it as ponies do. When the Gonds began to wear cloth instead of leaves and beads the Kalars retailed them thin strips of cloth just sufficient for decency, and for the cloth and salt a large proportion of the Gond's harvest went to the Kalar. When a Gond has threshed his grain the Kalar takes round liquor to the threshing-floor and receives a present of grain much in excess of its value. Thus the Gond has sold his birthright for a mess of pottage and the Kalar has taken his heritage. Only a small proportion of the caste are still supported by the liquor traffic, and a third of the whole are agriculturists. Others have engaged in the timber trade, purchasing teak timber from the Gonds in exchange for liquor, a form of commerce which has naturally redounded to their great advantage. A few are educated and have risen to good positions in Government service. Sir D. Ibbetson describes them as 'Notorious for enterprise, energy and obstinacy. Death may budge, but a Kalar won't.' The Sikh Kalars, who usually call themselves Ahluwalia, contain many men who have attained to high positions under Government, especially as soldiers, and the general testimony is that they make brave soldiers. [266] One of the ruling chiefs of the Punjab belongs to this caste. Until quite recently the manufacture of liquor, except in the large towns, was conducted in small pot-stills, of which there was one for a circle of perhaps two dozen villages with subordinate shops. The right of manufacture and vend in each separate one of these stills was sold annually by auction at the District headquarters, and the Kalars a.s.sembled to bid for it. And here instances of their dogged perseverance could often be noticed; when a man would bid up for a licence to a sum far in excess of the profits which he could hope to acquire from it, rather than allow himself to be deprived of a still which he desired to retain.

5. Liquor held divine in Vedic times.

Though alcoholic liquor is now eschewed by the higher castes of Hindus and forbidden by their religion, this has by no means always been the case. In Vedic times the liquor known as Soma was held in so much esteem by the Aryans that it was deified and worshipped as one of their princ.i.p.al G.o.ds. Dr. Hopkins summarises [267] the attributes of the divine wine, Soma, as follows, from pa.s.sages in the Rig-Veda: "This offering of the juice of the Soma-plant in India was performed thrice daily. It is said in the Rig-Veda that Soma grows upon the mountain Mujawat, that its or his father is Parjanya, the rain-G.o.d, and that the waters are his sisters. From this mountain, or from the sky, accounts differ, Soma was brought by a hawk. He is himself represented in other places as a bird; and as a divinity he shares in the praise given to Indra. It was he who helped Indra to slay Vritra, the demon that keeps back the rain. Indra, intoxicated by Soma, does his great deeds, and indeed all the G.o.ds depend on Soma for immortality. Divine, a weapon-bearing G.o.d, he often simply takes the place of Indra and other G.o.ds in Vedic eulogy. It is the G.o.d Soma himself who slays Vritra, Soma who overthrows cities, Soma who begets the G.o.ds, creates the sun, upholds the sky, prolongs life, sees all things, and is the one best friend of G.o.d and man, the divine drop (indu), the friend of Indra. As a G.o.d he is a.s.sociated not only with Indra but also with Agni, Rudra and Pushan. A few pa.s.sages in the later portion of the Rig-Veda show that Soma already was identified with the moon before the end of this period. After this the lunar yellow G.o.d was regularly regarded as the visible and divine Soma of heaven represented on earth by the plant." Mr. Hopkins discards the view advanced by some commentators that it is the moon and not the beverage to which the Vedic hymns and worship are addressed, and there is no reason to doubt that he is right.

The soma plant has been thought to be the Asclepias acida, [268] a plant growing in Persia and called hom in Persian. The early Persians believed that the hom plant gave great energy to body and mind. [269]

An angel is believed to preside over the plant, and the Hom Yast is devoted to its praises. Twigs of it are beaten in water in the smaller Agiari or fire-temple, and this water is considered sacred, and is given to newborn children to drink. [270] Dr. Hopkins states, however, that the hom or Asclepias acida was not the original soma, as it does not grow in the Punjab region, but must have been a later subst.i.tute. Afterwards again another kind of liquor, sura, became the popular drink, and soma, which was now not so agreeable, was reserved as the priests' (G.o.ds') drink, a sacrosanct beverage not for the vulgar, and not esteemed by the priests except as it kept up the rite. [271]

Soma is said to have been prepared from the juice of the creeper already mentioned, which was diluted with water, mixed with barley meal, clarified b.u.t.ter and the flour of wild rice, and fermented in a jar for nine days. [272] Sura was simply arrack prepared from rice-flour, or rice-beer.

6. Subsequent prohibition of alcohol.

Though in the cold regions of Central Asia the cheering and warming liquor had been held divine, in the hot plains of India the evil effects of alcohol were apparently soon realised. "Even more bold is the scorn of the G.o.ds in Hymn x. 119 of the Rig-Veda, which introduces Indra in his merriest humour, ready to give away everything, ready to destroy the earth and all that it contains, boasting of his greatness in ridiculous fashion--all this because, as the refrain tells us, he is in an advanced state of intoxication caused by excessive appreciation of the soma offered to him. Another Hymn (vii. 103) sings of the frogs, comparing their voices to the noise of a Brahmanical school and their hopping round the tank to the behaviour of drunken priests celebrating a nocturnal offering of soma." [273] It seems clear, therefore, that the evil effects of drunkenness were early realised, and led to a religious prohibition of alcohol. Dr. Rajendra Lal Mitra writes: [274] "But the fact remains unquestioned that from an early period the Hindus have denounced in their sacred writings the use of wine as sinful, and two of their greatest law-givers, Manu and Yajnavalkya, held that the only expiation meet for a Brahman who had polluted himself by drinking spirit was suicide by a draught of spirit or water or cow's urine or milk, in a boiling state taken in a burning hot metal pot. Angira, Vasishtha and Paithurasi restricted the drink to boiling spirits alone. Dewala went a step farther and prescribed a draught of molten silver, copper or lead as the most appropriate.... Manu likewise provides for the judicial cognisance of such offences by Brahmans, and ordains excommunication, and branding on the forehead the figure of a bottle as the most appropriate punishment."

7. Spirits habitually drunk in ancient times.

Nevertheless the consumption of alcohol was common in cla.s.sical times. Bharadwaja, a great sage, offered wine to Bharata and his soldiers when they spent a night under his roof. [275] When Sita crossed the Ganges on her way to the southern wilderness she begged the river for a safe pa.s.sage, saying, "Be merciful to me, O G.o.ddess, and I shall on my return home worship thee with a thousand jars of arrack and dishes of well-dressed flesh meat." When crossing the Jumna she said, "Be auspicious, O G.o.ddess; I am crossing thee. When my husband has accomplished his vow I shall worship thee with a thousand head of cattle and a hundred jars of arrack." Similarly the companions of Krishna, the Yadavas, destroyed each other when they were overcome by drink; and many other instances are given by Dr. Rajendra Lal Mitra. The Puranas abound in descriptions of wine and drinking, and though the object of many of them is to condemn the use of wine the inference is clear that there was a widespread malady which they proposed to overcome. [276] Pulastya, an ancient sage and author of one of the original Smritis, enumerates twelve different kinds of liquor, besides the soma beer which is not usually reckoned under the head of madya or wine, and his successors have added largely to the list. The twelve princ.i.p.al liquors of this sage are those of the jack fruit, the grape, honey or mead, date-liquor, palm-liquor or toddy, sugarcane-liquor, mahua-liquor, rum and those made from long-pepper, soap-berries and cocoanuts. [277] All these drinks were not merely fermented, but distilled and flavoured with different kinds of spices, fruits and herbs; they were thus varieties of spirits or liqueurs. It is probable that without the use of gla.s.s bottles and corks it would be very difficult to keep fermented wine for any length of time in the Indian climate. But spirits drunk neat as they were would produce more markedly evil results in a hot country, and would strengthen and accelerate the reaction against alcoholic liquor, which has gone so far that probably a substantial majority at least of the inhabitants of India are total abstainers. To this good result the adoption of Buddhism as stated by Dr. Mitra no doubt largely contributed. This was for some centuries the state religion, and was a strong force in aid of temperance as well as of abstention from flesh. The Sivite revival reacted in favour of liquor drinking as well as of the consumption of drugs. But the prohibition of alcohol has again been a leading tenet of practically all the Vaishnava reforming sects.

8. Drunkenness and divine inspiration.

The intoxication of alcohol is considered by primitive people as a form of divine inspiration or possession like epileptic fits and insanity. This is apparently the explanation of the Vedic liquor, Soma, being deified as one of the greatest G.o.ds. In later Hindu mythology, Varuni, the G.o.ddess of wine, was produced when the G.o.ds churned the ocean with the mountain Mandara as a churning-stick on the back of the tortoise, Vishnu, and the serpent as a rope, for the purpose of restoring to man the comforts lost during the great flood. [278]

Varuni was considered to be the consort of Varuna, the Vedic Neptune.

Similarly the Bacchantes in their drunken frenzy were considered to be possessed by the wine-G.o.d Dionysus. "The Aztecs regarded pulque or the wine of the country as bad, on account of the wild deeds which men did under its influence. But these wild deeds were believed to be the acts, not of the drunken man, but of the wine-G.o.d by whom he was possessed and inspired; and so seriously was this theory of inspiration held that if any one spoke ill of or insulted a tipsy man, he was liable to be punished for disrespect to the wine-G.o.d incarnate in his votary." [279]

Sir James Frazer thinks that the grape-juice was also considered to be the blood of the vine. At one time the arrack or rice-beer liquor was also considered by the Hindus as holy and purifying. Siva says to his consort: "Oh, sweet-speaking G.o.ddess, the salvation of Brahmans depends on drinking wine.... No one becomes a Brahman by repeating the Gayatri, the mother of the Vedas; he is called a Brahman only when he has knowledge of Brahma. The ambrosia of the G.o.ds is their Brahma, and on earth it is arrack, and because one attains the character of a G.o.d (suratva) therefore is arrack called sura." [280] The Sakta Tantras insist upon the use of wine as an element of devotion. The Kaulas, who are the most ardent followers of the Sakta Tantras, celebrate their rites at midnight in a closed room, when they sit in a circle round a jar of country arrack, one or more young women of a lewd character being in the company; they drink, drink and drink until they fall down on the ground in utter helplessness, then rising again they drink in the hope of never having a second birth. [281]

"I knew a highly respectable widow lady, connected with one of the most distinguished families in Calcutta, who belonged to the Kaula sect, and had survived the 75th anniversary of her birthday, who never said her prayers (and she did so regularly every morning and evening) without touching the point of her tongue with a tooth-pick dipped in a phial of arrack, and sprinkling a few drops of the liquor on the flowers which she offered to her G.o.d. I doubt very much if she had ever drunk a wine-gla.s.sful of arrack at once in all her life, and certain it is that she never had any idea of the pleasures of drinking; but as a faithful Kaula she felt herself in duty bound to observe the mandates of her religion with the greatest scrupulousness." [282]

In this case it seems clear that the liquor was considered to have a purifying effect, which was perhaps especially requisite for the offerings of a widow.

9. Sanct.i.ty of liquor among the Gonds and other castes.

Similarly the Gonds and Baigas revere the mahua tree and consider the liquor distilled from its flowers as sacred and purificatory. At a Gond wedding the sacred post round which the couple go is made of the wood of the mahua tree. The Bhatras of Bastar also use the mahua for the wedding post, and the Sonkars of Chhattisgarh a forked branch of the tree. Minor caste offences are expiated among the Gonds by a fine of liquor, and by drinking it the culprit is purified. At a Gond funeral one man may be seen walking with a bottle or two of liquor slung to his side; this is drunk by all the party on the spot after the burial or burning of the corpse as a means of purification. Among the Korwas and other tribes the Baiga or priest protects the village from ghosts by sprinkling a line of liquor all round the boundary, over which the ghosts cannot pa.s.s. Similarly during epidemics of cholera liquor is largely used in the rites of the Baigas for averting the disease and is offered to the G.o.ddess. At their weddings the Mahars drink together ceremoniously, a pot of liquor being placed on a folded cloth and all the guests sitting round it in a circle. An elder man then lays a new piece of cloth on the pot and worships it. He takes a cup of the liquor himself and hands round a cupful to every person present. At the Hareli or festival of the new green vegetation in July the Gonds take the branches of four kinds of trees and place them at the corners of their fields and also inside the house over the door. They pour ghi (b.u.t.ter) on the fire as incense and an offering to the deities. Then they go to the meeting-place of the village and there they all take a bottle or two of liquor each and drink together, having first thrown a little on the ground as an offering. Then they invite each other to their houses to take food. The Baigas do not observe Hareli, but on any moonlight night in Shrawan (July) they will go to the field where they have sown grain and root up a few plants and bring them to the house, and, laying them on a clean place, pour ghi and a little liquor over them. Then they take the corn plants back to the field and replace them. For these rites and for offerings to the deities of disease the Gonds say that the liquor should be distilled at home by the person who offers the sacrifice and not purchased from the Government contractor. This is a reason or at any rate an excuse for the continuance of the practice of illicit distillation. Hindus generally make a libation to Devi before drinking liquor. They pour a little into their hand and sprinkle it in a circle on the ground, invoking the G.o.ddess. The palm-tree is also held sacred on account of the tari or toddy obtained from it. "The shreds of the holy palm-tree, holy because liquor-yielding, are worn by some of the early Konkan tribes and by some of the Konkan village G.o.ds. The strip of palm-leaf is the origin of the shape of one of the favourite Hindu gold bracelet patterns." [283]

10. Drugs also considered divine.

The abstinence from liquor enjoined by modern Hinduism to the higher castes of Hindus has unfortunately not extended to the harmful drugs, opium, and ganja [284] or Indian hemp with its preparations. On the contrary ganja is regularly consumed by Hindu ascetics, whether devotees of Siva or Vishnu, though it is more favoured by the Sivite Jogis. The blue throat of Siva or Mahadeo is said to be due to the enormous draughts of bhang [285] which he was accustomed to swallow. The veneration attached to these drugs may probably be explained by the delusion that the pleasant dreams and visions obtained under their influence are excursions of the spirit into paradise. It is a common belief among primitive people that during sleep the soul leaves the body and that dreams are the actual experiences of the soul when travelling over the world apart from the body. [286] The princ.i.p.al aim of Hindu asceticism is also the complete conquest of all sensation and movement in the body, so that while it is immobile the spirit freed from the trammels of the body and from all worldly cares and concerns may, as it is imagined, enter into communion with and be absorbed in the deity. Hence the physical inertia and abnormal mental exaltation produced by these drugs would be an ideal condition to the Hindu ascetic; the body is lulled to immobility and it is natural that he should imagine that the delightful fantasies of his drugged brain are beatific visions of heaven. Ganja and bhang are now considered sacred as being consumed by Mahadeo, and are offered to him. Before smoking ganja a Hindu will say, 'May it reach you, Shankar,' [287]

that is, the smoke of the ganja, like the sweet savour of a sacrifice; and before drinking bhang he will pour a little on the ground and say 'Jai Shankar.' [288] Similarly when cholera visits a village and various articles of dress with food and liquor are offered to the cholera G.o.ddess, Marhai Mata, smokers of ganja and madak [289] will offer a little of their drugs. Hindu ascetics who smoke ganja are accustomed to mix with it some seeds of the dhatura (Datura alba), which have a powerful stupefying effect. In large quant.i.ties these seeds are a common narcotic poison, being administered to travellers and others by criminals. This tree is sacred to Siva, and the purple and white flowers are offered on his altars, and probably for this reason it is often found growing in villages so that the poisonous seeds are readily available. Its sanct.i.ty apparently arises from the narcotic effects produced by the seeds.

The conclusion of hostilities and ratification of peace after a Bhil fight was marked by the solemn administration of opium to all present by the Jogi or Gammaiti priests. [290] This incident recalls the pipe of peace of the North American Indians, among whom a similar divine virtue was no doubt ascribed to tobacco. In ancient Greece the priestesses of Apollo consumed the leaves of the laurel to produce the prophetic ecstasy; the tree was therefore held sacred and a.s.sociated with Apollo and afterwards developed into a G.o.ddess in the shape of Daphne pursued by Apollo and transformed into a laurel. [291]

The laurel was also considered to have a purifying or expiatory effect like alcoholic liquor in India. Wreaths of laurel were worn by such heroes as Apollo and Cadmus before engaging in battle to cleanse themselves from the pollution of bloodshed, and hence the laurel-wreath afterwards became the crown of victory. [292]

In India bhang was regularly drunk by the Rajputs before going into battle, to excite their courage and render them insensible to pain. The effects produced were probably held to be caused by divine agency. Herodotus says that the Scythians had a custom of burning the seeds of the hemp plant in religious ceremonies and that they became intoxicated with the fumes. [293] Ganja is the hashish of the Old Man of the Mountain and of Monte Cristo. The term hashshash, meaning 'a smoker or eater of hemp,' was first applied to Arab warriors in Syria at the time of the Crusades; from its plural hashshasheen our word a.s.sa.s.sin is derived. [294]

11. Opium and ganja.

The sacred or divine character attributed to the Indian drugs in spite of their pernicious effects has thus probably prevented any organised effort for their prohibition. Buchanan notes that "No more blame follows the use of opium and ganja than in Europe that of wine; yet smoking tobacco is considered impure by the highest castes." [295] It is said, however, that a Brahman should abstain from drugs until he is in the last or ascetic stage of life. In India opium is both eaten and smoked. It is administered to children almost from the time of their birth, partly perhaps because its effects are supposed to be beneficial and also to prevent them from crying and keep them quiet while their parents are at work. One of the favourite methods of killing female children was to place a fatal dose of opium on the nipple of the mother's breast. Many children continue to receive small quant.i.ties of opium till they are several years old, sometimes eight or nine, when it is gradually abandoned. It can scarcely be doubted that the effect of the drug must be to impair their health and enfeeble their vitality. The effect of eating opium on adults is much less pernicious than when the habit of smoking it is acquired. Madak or opium prepared for smoking may not now be sold, but people make it for themselves, heating the opium in a little bra.s.s cup over a fire with an infusion of tamarind leaves. It is then made into little b.a.l.l.s and put into the pipe. Opium-smokers are gregarious and partake of the drug together. As the fumes mount to their brains, their intellects become enlivened, their tongues unloosed and the conversation ranges over all subjects in heaven and earth. This fact.i.tious excitement must no doubt be a powerful attraction to people whose lives are as dull as that of the average Hindu. And thus they become madakis or confirmed opium-smokers and are of no more use in life. Dhimars or fishermen consume opium and ganja largely under the impression that these drugs prevent them from taking cold. Ganja is smoked and is usually mixed with tobacco. It is much less injurious than opium in the same form, except when taken in large quant.i.ties, and is also slower in acquiring a complete hold over its votaries. Many cultivators buy a little ganja at the weekly bazar and have one pipeful each as a treat. Sweepers are greatly addicted to ganja, and their patron saint Lalbeg was frequently in a comatose condition from over-indulgence in the drug. Ahirs or herdsmen also smoke it to while away the long days in the forests. But the habitual consumers of either kind of drug are now only a small fraction of the population, while English education and the more strenuous conditions of modern life have effected a substantial decline in their numbers, at least among the higher cla.s.ses. At the same time a progressive increase is being effected by Government in the retail price of the drugs, and the number of vend licences has been very greatly reduced.

The prohibition of wine to Muhammadans is held to include drugs, but it is not known how far the rule is strictly observed. But addiction to drugs is at any rate uncommon among Muhammadans.

12. Tobacco.

No kind of sanct.i.ty attaches to tobacco and, as has been seen, certain cla.s.ses of Brahmans are forbidden to smoke though they may chew the leaves. Tobacco is prohibited by the Sikhs, the Satnamis and some other Vaishnava sects. The explanation of this att.i.tude is simple if, as is supposed, tobacco was first introduced into India by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century. [296] In this case as a new and foreign product it could have no sacred character, only those things being held sacred and the gifts of the G.o.ds whose origin is lost in antiquity. In a note on the subject [297] Mr. Ganpat Rai shows that several references to smoking and also to the huqqa are found in ancient Sanskrit literature; but it does not seem clear that the plant smoked was tobacco and, on the other hand, the similarity of the vernacular to the English name [298] is strong evidence in favour of its foreign origin.