NOTE BY MR. G. A. GRIERSON, C.I.E. 247
This would encourage the
theory that the vijayā of the Brihatsamhita was more
probably the
same as the bhanga of the Atharvavēda.
Before the eighth century.
In Suçruta (Ut. XI, 3)
Bhanga is recommended together with a number of other
drugs
as an
antiphlegmatic.
Vijayā is
mentioned in the same work as a remedy for catarrh accompanied by
diarrhœa
(Ut. XXIV, 20, and Ut. 39, page 415, 20), as an ingredient in a
prescription for fever
arising from an excess of bile and phlegm. In these two passages,
however, vijayā is probably
an equivalent of harītakī, the yellow myrobolan, and does
not mean hemp.
Cir. A. D. 500.
Tenth or eleventh century.
Twelfth century.
In the various
kōsas, or dictionaries, bhangā is frequently
mentioned as meaning the hemp-
plant. Thus,—
(1) Amarakōsa, 2, 9, 20.
(2) Trikāndaçēsa, 3, 364.
(3) Hēmacandra's Anēkārthakōsa, 2, 37.
(4) Hēmakandra's Abhidhānacintāmani, 1179.
Twelfth century.
The Sārasundarī
(date not known to me), a commentary on the Amarakōsa
mentioned
above, by Mathureça, and
quoted in the Çabdakal-
padruma, mentions that the seed of the bhanga
plant is
the size of that of millet (kalāya).
Cir. 1050 A.D.
Cakrapānidatta is said to
have flourished under Nayapāla, a prince who reigned in
the
eleventh century A.D. In his
Çabdacandrikā, a
medical vocabulary, he gives the following San-
skrit names for bhang:—
(1) Vijayā
(victorious), (2) Trailōkyavijayā (victorious in the three
worlds), (3) bhangā,
(4) Indrāçana (Indra's
food), (5) Jayā (victorious).
These names seem to show that its use as an intoxicant was then known.
A.D. 1300.
The Rājanighantu
of Narahari Pandita adds the following names to those given
by
Cakrapānidatta in the
Çabdacandrikā, above men-
tioned:—
(6) Vīrapattra (hero-leaved or the leaf of heroes),
(7) Ganjā,
(8) Capalā (the light-hearted),
(9) Ajayā (the unconquered),
(10) Ánandā, (the joyful),
(11) Harsinī (the rejoicer),
and adds that the plant possesses the following qualities:—
(1) Katutva
(acridity); (2) kasāyatra (astringency); (3) Usnatva
(heat); (4) tiktatva
(pungency); (5)
vātakaphāpahatva (removing wind and phlegm); (6)
samgrā-
hitva (astringency); (7) vākpradatva (speech-giving);
(8) balyatva (strength-
giving); (9) mēdhākāritva (inspiring of mental power); (10)
çrēsthadīpanatva
(the property of a most excellent
excitant).
Say A.D. 1500.
The
Çārngadhrasamhitā, a medical work by Çārngadhara, 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
(vyavāyin). In the same passage it mentions
opium.
A. D. 1500.
The
Dhūrtasamāgama, 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 Jyōtirīça. 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
1I quote the MS. in the Library of the A. S. B.