NOTE BY Ma. G. A. GRIERSON, C.I.E., MAGISTRATE AND COLLECTOR,. HOW RAH, ON REFERENCES TO THE HEMP PLANT OCCURRING IN SANSKRIT AND HINDI LITERATURE.

I have the honour to state that I have searched through all the Sanskrit and Hindi books accessible to me, and to forward the accompanying note on the references to the hemp plant occurring in the literatures of those languages.

I have met the hemp plant in Sanskrit and Hindi literature under various names. The principal are—

(1) Bhanga.

(2) Indrkana.

(3) Irijayi or Jnyfi.

The earliest mention of the word ganja which I have noted is dated about the year 1300 A.D.

Whenever the word vijaya is used, it is doubtful whether the hemp plant is meant, or the yellow myrobolan, as the word means both.

The name bhanga occurs in the Atharvav&la (say, B.C. 1400). The hemp plant is there mentioned simply as a sacred grass. Panini (say, B.C. 300) mentions the pollen of the hemp flower (bhanga). In the commencement of the sixth century we find the first mention of vijaya which I have noted. It is a sacred grass, and probably means here the hemp plant.

The first mention of bhanga as a medicine which I have noted is in the work ol.= Su9ruta (before the eighth century A.D.), where it is called an antiphleo-matic. During the next four centuries bhauga (feminine) frequently occurs in native Sanskrit dictionaries in the sense of hemp-plant.

In the tenth century the intoxicating nature of bhang seems to have been known : and the name Indrdfana, Indra's food, first appears, so far as I know, in literature. Its intoxicat- ino- power was certainly known in the beginning of the fourteenth century. In a play written in the beginning of the sixteenth century, it is mentioned as being consumed by jogis (aiva mendicants). It is there named ." Indra's food."

In later medical works it is frequently mentioned under various names.

I append a more detailed account of the passages in which I have noted the uses of the Indian hemp,

I may add that I have not traced in literature any difference between the uses of the word ganja and of the word bhanga, though modern kavirdjas tell me that they are distinct plants.

In the Atharvavëda (cir. 1400 B. C.) the bhang plant is mentioned (11, 6, 15) once :—

"We tell of the five kingdoms of herbs headed by Soma ; may it and ktqa grass, and bhanga and barley, and the herb saka release us from anxiety."

Here reference is evidently made to the offering of these herbs in oblations.

The grammarian Panini (5, 2, 29) mentions bhaugdkala, the pollen of the hemp flower, Cir. B. C. 300. as one of his examples.

The fact that the pollen of this special flower was quoted is worth noting.

Yarahamihira in his Brihatsamhild (XLVIII, 39) mentions vijaya as used with other grasses in the rites of the Pusya, bathing festival.

Fijayd in this passage certainly means some plant or other. The word may mean either the Indian hemp-plant or be a synonym of haritak7 (the yellow myrobolan). Dr. Hcernle informs me that in the oldest medical works the word is explained by commentators in the latter sense. It is doubtful what meaning we are to adopt here. The word may mean the hemp-plant Minya. In the passage from the Atharvavëda, already quoted, amongst the five plants special honoured as oblations, bnanya is closely-connected with the herb saha. So also in the Brihatsamhita, vijayd is mentioned as one of a long list of plants to be used in the offering, and the very next plant mentioned is sand, which is apparently the same as saha.

This would encourage the theory that the vijaya of the Brihatsamhita was more probably the same as the bhanga of the Atharvavéda.

In Sugruta (Ut. XI, 3) Bhanya is recommended together with a number of other drugs as an an antitiphlegmatic.

Vijavga is mentioned in the same work as a remedy for catarrh accompanied by diarrhcea (Ut. XXIV, 20, and Ut. 39, page 416, 20), as an ingredient in a prescription for fever arising from an excess of bile and phlegm. In these two passages, however, vijayii is probably an equivalent of har7taki, the yellow myrobolan, and does not mean hemp.

In the various kösas, or dictionaries, bhanga is frequently mentioned as meaning the hemp-plant. Thus,—

(1) ,Amarakösa, 2, 9, 20.
(2) Trikandacèsa, 3, 361.
(3) Hemacandra's Anekarthakösa, 2, 37.
(4) Hèmakandra's .Abhidheinacintcimani, 1179.

The Sarasundari, (date not known to me), a commentary on the Amarakösa mentioned above, by Mathurega, and quoted in the cabdakal mentions that the seed of the bhanga plant is the size of that of millet (kalaya)

Cakrapanidatta is said to have flourished under Nayapala, a prince who reigned in the eleventh century A.D. In his Cabdacandrikii, a medical vocabulary, he gives the following Sanskrit names for bhang

(1) Vijaya (victorious), (2) Trailökyavilayit (victorious in the three worlds), (3) bhang, (4) indracana (lndra's food), (5) Jaga (victorious).

These names seem to show that its use as an intoxicant was then known.

The Raijanighantu of Narahari Pandita adds the following names to those given by Cakrapanidatta in the Çaôdacandrikd above mentioned

(6) Virapattra (hero-leaved or the leaf of heroes),
(7) Ganjá,
(8) Capala (the light-hearted),
(9) Ajaya (the unconquered),
(10) Ananda (the joyful),
(11) Harsini (the rejoicer),

and adds that the plant possesses the following qualities :—

(1) Kalutva (acridity) ; (2) kas4atra (astringency) ; (3) Usnotra (heat) ; (4) tiktatva (pungency) ; (5) riitakaphöpahatva (removing wind and phlegm) ; (6) samyrii• hitva (astringency) ; (7) vapradatva (speech-giving) ; (8) balyatva (strength-giving) ; (9) mi,dhlikëtritva (inspiring of mental power) ; (10) vristhadipanatva (the property of a most excellent excitant).

The Carngadhrosamhitei, a medical work by Çarngadhara, the date of which is unknown, but which must have been compiled during the Muhammadan period of Indian History, specially mentions (1, 4, 19) 1 bhanga as an excitant (vyavicyin). In the same passage it mentions opium.

The Dhirtasamögama, or" Rogues' Congress," is the name of an amusing if coarsely written farce of about the year 1500 A.D., the author of which was one Jyötiriga. In the second act two Çaiva mendicants came before an unjust judge, and demand a decision on a quarrel which they have about a nymph of the bazar. The judge demands payment of a deposit before he will give any opinion. One of the litigants says-

" Here is my ganja bag ; let it be accepted as a deposit."

THE JUDGE (taking it pompously, and then smelling it greedily) :—" Let me try what it is like (takes a pinch). Ah ! I have just now got by the merest chance some ganja which is soporific and corrects derangements of the humours, which produces a healthy appetite, sharpens the wits, and acts as an aphrodisiac."

The word used for ganja in the above is Indracana (Indra's food).

The Bhdvapraka9a, another medical work written by Bhavadevamiçra (cir. A.D. 1600), has as follows :—

Bhangd gagjá mdtuldni    mddini vijayd jayd

Bhangd kaphahari    grdhini päcani lag/luk I

Tiklösnd pittald möha    -mada-rag-vahni-vard4in711

" Bhanga is also called garijci, miu /iin, mddinï (the intoxicating), vjayi (the victorious) and jayd, (the victorious). It is antiphlegmatic, pungent, astringent, digestive, easy of digestion, acid, bile-affecting ; and increases infatuation, intoxication, the power of the voice, and the digestive faculty."

"The Rcijavallabha, a materia medica, by Narayanadasa kavirãja, the date of which I do not know, but which is quoted in the ('abdakalpadruma, and is believed to be ancient, has the following :—

C'tzkrt7,-'fanant tu tksa-'snam    möha-krit kustka-näçanam
Bala-inEdlid-'gni-krit-9resma-    -dösa-hdri rasdyanamil
irdtd mandara-manthandj jala-nidhau    purd
Trailökyé vijaya-prade 'ti vijayd 9ri-dëvarja-priydil Lökäizäm hila-kãm3Iiga ksiti-talö-praptZ naraih kiimadd Sarni." tanka-vind9a-harsa-janani, yaih sOvitd sarvaddli

" Indra's food (i.e., ganja) is acid, produces infatuation, and destroys leprosy. It creates vital energy, the mental powers, and internal heat, corrects irregularities of the phlegmatic humour, and is an elixir vita3. It was originally produced, like nectar, from the ocean by the churning with Mount Mandara,2 and inasmuch as it gives victory in the three worlds, it, the delight of the king of the gods, is called vijayd, the victorious. This desire-fulfilling drug was obtained by men on the earth, through desire for the welfare of all people. To those who regularly use it it begets joy and destroys every anxiety."

The Rasapradhpa, a work, the date of which is unknown to me, and which is quoted in the Cabdakalpadruma mentions jaya as a remedy for indigestion :—

Karatrayam sitagandhöu    pancakölam idam 9ubham
&rya-is tulyd jayli bhristii    tad-ardhd 9igrujd fatal'

Natron, saltpetre and borax, mercury and sulphur, and the prosperous five spices k long pepper, its root, piper chaba, another pepper, and dry ginger). To these add an equal amount of parched jayd and half of that amount of horse-radish (moringa) and jatd.3

It is not certain whether jayd here means bbang or Haritak7 (yellow myrobolan). The word has both significations. The latter, perhaps, suits the formula best.
In the 1?asaratna-samuccaya, a work written in the south of India, jut/ is classified as a semi-poison,—

Längol visamuetig ca    karavirö jayd tathd I

Tilakah kanakö 'rka9 ca    rargö hy upaviscitmakah.II

Zángali4 (Vanguiera, spinosa), the root of the Nerium odorum, japi (Symplocos racemosa) kanaka5 and ãk (a kind of Euphorbia), are semi-poisonous.

Bhang is frequently mentioned by vernacular poets. The oldest instance with which I am acquainted is the well-known hymn by Vidyapati Tbakur (1400 A.D.), in which he calls Civa "Digam6ara bhanga," in reference to his habit of consuming that drug. According to an old Hindu poem, on which I cannot now lay my hands, Civa himself brought down the bhang plant from the Himalayas and gave it to mankind. Jogis are well-known consumers of bhang and ganja, and they are worshippers of Qiva.

1 According to Dutt "not before 1535 A.D."

2 Nectar was produced in this fashion.

3 The name of several plants ; I do not know which is meant here.

4 The name of several plants,—Jussbea Repens, Hemionitis eordifolia, Rubia munjista, Hedysarum Lagopodioide.

5 Said by a kaviraja to mean dhatura.

In folk-songs, ganja or bliang (with or without opium) is the invariable drink of heroes before performing any great feat. At the village of Bauri in Gaya there is a huge hollow stone, which is said to be the bowl in which the famous hero Lorik mixed his ganja. Lörik was a very valiant general, and is the hero of numerous folk-songs. The epic poem of Albi and Rüdal, of uncertain date; but undoubtedly based on very old materials (the heroes lived in the twelfth century A.D.), contains numerous references to ganja as a drink of warriors. For instance, the commencement of the canto dealing with Alhá's marriage, describes the pestle and mortar with which the ganja was prepared, the amount of the intoxicating drink prepared from it (it is called sabz7) and the amount of opium (an absurdly exaggerated quantity) given to each warrior in his court.

That the consumption of bliang is not considered disreputable among Rajputs may be gathered from the fact that AjabEs, who was court poet to the well-known Maharaja Bishwanath Singh of Riwa, wrote a poem praising bhang and comparinc, siddhi to the " success" which attends the worshipper of" Hari." Here there is an elaborate series of puns. The word 8iddhi means literally success,' and hari means not only the god Hari, but also ,bhang.