|
|
|
The Stimulants and Narcotics |
||
|
|
The stimulants and narcotics in use in the district in the
pre-prohibition days were fermented and distilled drinks. Fermented liquor prepared as it was from the juice of the wild
date-palm khajuri or from the brab palm tad could not be
much in use in Nagpur as there was no extensive plantation of those trees
in the district. Intoxication drinks were distilled from dates and
raisins. But the chief alcoholic drinks in use was the liquor made from
flowers of the mahua dassia latifolia, trees. To improve its
flavour or its colour different varieties of fruits, flowers or herbs were
sometimes added to the simple liquor. Of European wines and spirits,
considerable and increasing quantities were imported into Nagpur form
Bombay. Of this class of liquor the most popular varieties were the
coarser kinds of brandy, and cheap ports, champagnes and beers. Liquor was
generally drunk in taverns and licensed booths. Except the higher Hindus,
all classes drank liquor. They belonged to two classes; the respectable
customers who came into the tavern to drink, and the poorer classes who
were served liquor as they came in an open space outside. Besides what was
drunk publicly in the liquor shops, country-made spirits were taken
privately by some persons in their own houses. At public dinners of some
low caste Hindu, liquor was served to both men and women towards the close
of the entertainment. All classes who drank country-liquor also European
wines and spirits when they could obtain them. Three preparations from hemp bhang or ambadi, cannabis
indica, that is bhang, yakut and ganja were in use. Bhang was
made from the leaves, flowers and seeds of the plant, first baked over
fire and then grounded very fine. The intoxicationg power depending 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 were pounded and mixed with the powder. The whole was again
ground with water or with milk, sweetened with Sugar, and strained through
a cloth and the preparation was ready to be drunk, a few Parsees and
Muslims drank Bhang, but is was chiefly consumed by the higher
classes of Hindus who drank no other intoxicating liquor, in the hot
season, and throughout the year on holidays and festivals bhang was
generally drunk but only a few people took it regularly. In small
quantities it was cooling and slightly intoxicating causing at the same
time a keen feeling of hunger. Yakuti or majuni was bhang boiled in
clarified butter and was an expensive article prepared by professionals. The dried hemp plant which has flowered and from which the resin has
not been removed is called Ganja. As a rule Ganja smokes
were to be found at shrines or temples, religious mendicants and lower
order of Brahmans being the Chief addicts. The plant washed four or
five times, dried and mixed with tobacco was smoked in whiffs about every
half hour by the addict. Its effects were sudden and strong. Opium used
either as a drug or as a narcotic was administered in several ways: it was
rolled into a pill and swallowed or dissolved in water and drunk or smoked
in a special preparation known as cnadl. By Rajputs opium was onc3
held in high esteem as the seal of hospitality and the great healer of
dispute. It was offered dissolved in water in cups as token of goodwill to
guests who drank 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; or it is
taken in the form of snuff. The practice of chewing tobacco either plain
or along 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 short almost stemless bowl or cilim,
where the smoke is sucked through a wet cloth wrapped at its bottom.
Tobacco to be smoked in the hukka or hubble-bubble is known as for gudakhu
which is specially processed with molasses, and water, and is principally
used by garasias or landed proprietors and better class people. Except a
few Brahmans, among Hindus men of all classes smoke tobacco. Women
seldom smoke a pipe, but many among the labouring and cultivating classes
use bidis or cigarettes. Tea from Assam, Darjeeling and Nilgiri tea gardens and blends and
varieties of black tea known as pekoe, flowery-pekoe, orange-pekoe,
broken-pekoe, souchong, etc., and their mixtures are in use. Tea-drinking has become very common in the middle class families and
the artisan classes including mechanics, drivers and other hard manual
labourers. It has become almost a habit wirh the cultivating class or the
lower income-group in the village. 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 n
it to cure indigestion. Coffee has not made much headway, its use being
confined to a very small percentage of middle class families in the urban
areas. It is a more favorite drink of the Muslims and South Indians. Cold
drinks or sarbat are used very casually and;more on the ceremonial
occasions among the middle class families. Aerated water is confined to
townships, where tea, lassi (cold drink of curd)and sarbat
are the usual drinks served in restaurants and hotels. The habit of smoking is spreading particularly among the younger generation, who when they can afford it prefer to puff the fashionable cigarettes instead of bidis. While eating tobacco, the addicts mix it with lime to make it more astringent and stimulating. The custom of taking snuff prevails among men both of the upper and middle classes. Chewing pan (leaves of betel-vine) with supari areca-nut, catechu and lime is very common among all classes. Along with their pan and supari the rich chew cardamoms and other spices. (Copyright © Nagpur Online, March 1999,
2000 Under the U.S. & India Copyright act ). |
