Cannabis in India: A rather long story, with its highs and lows
Cannabis is illegal in India. But still, its prevalence is remarkable across India’s social and spiritual landscape. It is, in fact, trendy among ascetics and mendicants, and a variant called ‘bhang’ is frequently consumed and offered as part of festivities. So deeply intertwined is cannabis with religion in India that one of the principal deities of Hinduism, Shiva, is given the nickname: ‘Lord of Bhang.’ This stems from the relatively long history of the plant in the subcontinent.
Social and spiritual acceptance of cannabis in India through the ages
A sun-loving plant, cannabis is known to have originated in the steppes of Central Asia, from where it was brought to India through human migration between 2000 and 1000 BCE. Geographer Barney Warf, in his research paper’ High Points: An Historical Geography of Cannabis,’ maintained that the plant was most likely introduced to India through a series of Aryan invasions.
However, unlike many other countries to which it was transported, “India developed a continuing tradition of psychoactive cannabis cultivation, often with medicinal and religious overtones.” Marijuana growing and consumption is known to have reached its “greatest efflorescence” in India… “Local farmers often consulted with specialist Poddar or para dar, known as ‘ganja doctors,'” wrote Warf.
Reference to cannabis, along with its medicinal and spiritual properties, is made extensively in Vedic literature. In the Atharva Veda, for instance, cannabis is lauded for being a cure for illnesses and also for fighting away demons. One section of a hymn in the scripture, as translated by Professor Mark S. Ferrara in his book ‘Sacred Bliss: A Spiritual History of Cannabis,’ read:
“May cannabis and Jangida (herbs) preserve me from Vishkandha (illness)- that brought to us from the forest, this sprung from the saps of husbandry.”
Ferrara noted that “practitioners of this ancient religious tradition utilized cannabis as a medicinal herb, and because of its centrality to charms and spells, cannabis was regarded a ‘sacred grass’ for its power to vanquish sickness, despair, and calamity.”
One of the most important treatises on medicine from the ancient Indian world, the Sushruta Samhita, was written between the third and eighth centuries BCE and recommended cannabis for phlegm, catarrh, and diarrhea.
At the same time, the Vedas also narrate a strong association between the deity Shiva and cannabis. Sociologist Theodore M. Godlaski, in his article, ‘Shiva, Lord of Bhang,’ published in 2012, recounted a popular myth around the deity’s fascination with cannabis. “When the Gods stirred the heavenly ocean with the peak of Mount Mandara, a drop of amrita (sacred nectar) fell from the sky. Where it landed, the first cannabis plant sprouted. Lord Shiva brought the plant down from Mount Mandara for the benefit of humanity,” noted Godlaski.
Given its religious significance, weed is also ritually consumed by ascetics or sadhus. More often, they smoke the highly resinous buds of the female plant or the resin itself (hashish) in small clay pipes, locally referred to as chillum. Godlewski described in great detail the ritual of chillum smoking: “Chillum smoking is not done alone but in a smoking circle. The first person fills the bowl and passes it on to the second. The second person raises the bowl to his forehead and utters a short formula, often ‘Bum Shankar!’ This dedicates the act to Shiva.
However, the religious consumption of weed is not limited to ascetics. During festivals like ‘Shivratri’ and the ‘Kumbha Mela, bhang is consumed copiously, and ganja is burned and exhaled as offerings to Shiva. It is important to note that the spiritual consumption of cannabis is not limited to Shiva worshippers, nor does it only take place in the Indian subcontinent. “Cannabis serves not only as an important sacrament for Hindu mendicants, but also for Islamic Sufis, Chinese Daoists, members of African Dagga cults, and Jamaican Rastafarians,” wrote Ferrara.
The criminalization of cannabis consumption
Cannabis consumption in India caught the attention of Europeans soon after they landed. European sailors and explorers frequently sent back reports of the extensive consumption of ‘bhang.’ The 16th-century Portuguese chronicler Garcia da Orta observed this about bhang drinking: “I believe it is so generally used and by such several people that there is no mystery about it.”
The British, too, were astonished by the popularity of cannabis in India. In 1798, the British Parliament passed a law to tax bhang, ganja, and charas. The rationale behind the tax, as they put it, was to curtail the use of cannabis “for the sake of the natives’ good health and sanity.” In the 19th century, several attempts were made by the British to criminalize cannabis in India. In 1894, the government commissioned a wide-ranging study of cannabis consumption in India, its cultivation, trade, health, and societal impact. The Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1894-1895, concluded:
The first real push to criminalize cannabis consumption in the country came in 1961 at the Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which later facilitated the enactment of the NDPS Act. At this point, it was the United States that was instrumental in driving the world towards a prohibitionist approach to drug use. In August this year, a report written by the legal think tank Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy noted that while India succumbed to international pressure, it disregarded the racist origins of the US war on drugs. “The US war on drugs started as a patently racist propaganda against the African-American and the Hispanic population,” noted the report. “This racial bias in drug regulation has resulted in a disproportionate number of arrests of African Americans for cannabis consumption, which has become central to major policy reform in the US,” it added.
In the 1961 convention, the Indian delegation opposed its intolerance to the social and religious consumption of cannabis. Consequently, when the NDPS Act was enacted in 1985, bhang was excluded from the definition of cannabis drugs on social grounds. The handling of charas, ganja, and the mixture of the forms, however, was criminalized.
Despite being unlawful, the popularity of weed can hardly be said to have diminished. A 2019 report by the National Drug Dependent Treatment Centre under AIIMS noted that about 7.2 million people in India are addicted to cannabis. Moreover, in recent years, non-profit organizations and activist groups have been actively campaigning for the legalization of cannabis in the country.
It is also to be noted that the impact of the legislation against cannabis is most strongly felt by the poor and marginalized in the country. The report by Vidhi elaborated, “Our forthcoming research shows that nearly every person arrested and convicted for cannabis consumption in Mumbai was a daily wage worker and a slum or street dweller.” It added: “This demonstrates how the law, though meant to be applied uniformly across social and economic strata, disproportionately targets the poor and further marginalizes the already vulnerable.”
Cannabis is illegal in India. But its prevalence is still remarkable across India’s social and spiritual landscape. It is, in fact, trendy among ascetics and mendicants, and a variant called ‘bhang’ is frequently consumed and offered as part of festivities. So deeply intertwined is cannabis with religion in India that one of the principal deities of Hinduism, Shiva, is given the nickname: ‘Lord of Bhang.’ This stems from the relatively long history of the plant in the subcontinent.
Social and spiritual acceptance of cannabis in India through the ages
A sun-loving plant, cannabis is known to have originated in the steppes of Central Asia, from where it was brought to India through human migration between 2000 and 1000 BCE. Geographer Barney Warf, in his research paper’ High Points: An Historical Geography of Cannabis,’ maintained that the plant was most likely introduced to India through a series of Aryan invasions.
However, unlike many other countries to which it was transported, “India developed a continuing tradition of psychoactive cannabis cultivation, often with medicinal and religious overtones.” Marijuana growing and consumption is known to have reached its “greatest efflorescence” in India… “Local farmers often consulted with specialist Poddar or para dar, known as ‘ganja doctors,'” wrote Warf.
Reference to cannabis, along with its medicinal and spiritual properties, is made extensively in Vedic literature. In the Atharva Veda, for instance, cannabis is lauded for being a cure for illnesses and also for fighting away demons. One section of a hymn in the scripture, as translated by Professor Mark S. Ferrara in his book ‘Sacred Bliss: A Spiritual History of Cannabis,’ read:
“May cannabis and Jangida (herbs) preserve me from Vishkandha (illness)- that brought to us from the forest, this sprung from the saps of husbandry.”
Ferrara noted that “practitioners of this ancient religious tradition utilized cannabis as a medicinal herb, and because of its centrality to charms and spells, cannabis was regarded a ‘sacred grass’ for its power to vanquish sickness, despair, and calamity.”
One of the most important treatises on medicine from the ancient Indian world, the Sushruta Samhita, was written between the third and eighth centuries BCE and recommended cannabis for phlegm, catarrh, and diarrhea.
At the same time, the Vedas also narrate a strong association between the deity Shiva and cannabis. Sociologist Theodore M. Godlaski, in his article, ‘Shiva, Lord of Bhang,’ published in 2012, recounted a popular myth around the deity’s fascination with cannabis. “When the Gods stirred the heavenly ocean with the peak of Mount Mandara, a drop of amrita (sacred nectar) fell from the sky. Where it landed, the first cannabis plant sprouted. Lord Shiva brought the plant down from Mount Mandara for the benefit of humanity,” noted Godlaski.
Given its religious significance, weed is also ritually consumed by ascetics or sadhus. More often, they smoke the highly resinous buds of the female plant or the resin itself (hashish) in small clay pipes, locally referred to as chillum. Godlaski described in great detail the ritual of chillum smoking: “Chillum smoking is not done alone but in a smoking circle. The first person fills the bowl and passes it on to the second. The second person raises the bowl to his forehead and utters a short formula, often ‘Bum Shankar!’ This dedicates the act to Shiva.
However, the religious consumption of weed is not limited to ascetics. During festivals like ‘Shivratri and the ‘Kumbha Mela, bhang is consumed copiously, and ganja is burned and exhaled as offerings to Shiva. It is important to note that the spiritual consumption of cannabis is not limited to Shiva worshippers, nor does it only take place in the Indian subcontinent. “Cannabis serves not only as an important sacrament for Hindu mendicants, but also for Islamic Sufis, Chinese Daoists, members of African Dagga cults, and Jamaican Rastafarians,” wrote Ferrara.
Disclaimer: This article is originally published on https://indianexpress.com/article/research/cannabis-in-india-a-rather-long-story-with-its-highs-and-lows-6592020/
