II DRUNKENNESS ANd divine INSPIRATION 315 influence. But these wild deeds were believed to be the acts, not of the drunken man, but of the wine-god 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-god incarnate in his votary.' Sir James Frazer thinks that the grape-juice was also considered to be the blood of the vine. At one time " 1 the arrack or rice-beer liquor was also considered by the Hindus as holy and purifying. Siva says to his consort: "Oh, sweet-speaking goddess, 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 gods is their Brahma, and on earth it is arrack, and because one attains the character of a god (suratva) therefore is arrack called sura." 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.3 "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 god. I doubt very much if she had ever drunk a wine-glassful 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 1 The Golden Bough, 2nd edition, i. pp. 359, 360. 2 Indo-Aryans, pp. 408, 409. 9. Sanctity of liquor among and other castes. greatest scrupulousness." 1 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. Similarly the Gonds and Baigas revere the mahua tree and consider the liquor distilled from its flowers as sacred the Gonds 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 pass. Similarly during epidemics of cholera liquor is largely used in the rites of the Baigas for averting the disease and is offered to the goddess. At their weddings the Mahārs 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 (butter) 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 1 Indo-Aryans, pp. 405, 406. II DRUGS ALSO CONSIDERED DIVINE 317 For these rites and for to the field and replace them. sidered The abstinence from liquor enjoined by modern Hinduism 10. Drugs to the higher castes of Hindus has unfortunately not extended also conto the harmful drugs, opium, and gānja2 or Indian hemp with divine. its preparations. On the contrary gānja 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 Mahādeo is said to be due to the enormous draughts of bhang 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 3 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.* The principal 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 con 1 Bombay Gazetteer, Poona, p. 549. 2 Cannabis sativa. 3 A liquor made from the flowers of the hemp plant, commonly drunk in 4 See Mr. E. Clodd's Myths and 2 1 dition 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. Gānja and bhāng are now considered sacred as being consumed by Mahādeo, and are offered to him. Before smoking gānja a Hindu will say, ' May it reach you, Shankar,' 1 that is, the smoke of the ganja, like the sweet savour of a sacrifice; and before drinking bhāng he will pour a little on the ground and say 'Jai Shankar.' Similarly when cholera visits a village and various articles of dress with food and liquor are offered to the cholera goddess, Marhai Māta, smokers of gānja and madak3 will offer a little of their drugs. Hindu ascetics who smoke gānja are accustomed to mix with it some seeds of the dhatura (Datura alba), which have a powerful stupefying effect. In large quantities 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 sanctity 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.1 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 associated with Apollo and afterwards developed into a goddess in the shape of Daphne pursued by Apollo and transformed into a laurel.5 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 II OPIUM AND GĀNJA 319 hence the laurel-wreath afterwards became the crown of victory.1 In India bhãng was regularly drunk by the Rājpūts 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.2 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 assassin is derived.3 The sacred or divine character attributed to the Indian II. Opium drugs in spite of their pernicious effects has thus probably and gānja. prevented any organised effort for their prohibition. ,4 Buchanan notes that "No more blame follows the use of 1 Sir James Frazer in Attis, Adonis, Osiris, ii. p. 241. 2 Book IV., chap. lxxv., quoted in Lane's Modern Egyptians, p. 347. 3 Lane, Modern Egyptians, p. 348. |