Bhopawar
More actions
| Bhopawar | |
|---|---|
| Bhopawar Agency | |
| ActiveGrown here in 2000 or later | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Gene Pool | South Asian Gene Pool |
| Growing Region | Malwa |
| Geography | |
| Country | India |
| Province/State | Madhya Pradesh |
| Districts | Dhar District, Jhabua District, Alirajpur District |
| Coordinates | 22.55, 74.84 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 14,900 km² |
| Terrain | Approximately Dhar, Jhabua and Alirajpur districts, the Dhar, Jhabua and Ali Rajpur states of the 1890s; Barwani, also in the agency, lies in Nimar |
| Growing history | |
| Earlier names | Bhopawar Agency |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Bhopawar is a landrace cannabis growing area in the south-west of Madhya Pradesh, India, in the Malwa growing region. It is drawn on Dhar, Jhabua and Alirajpur districts, and takes its name from the Bhopawar Agency, the British political charge that held the Dhar, Jhabua and Ali Rajpur states. In 1893 R. H. Gunion reported to the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission that the hemp plant was cultivated for bhang and ganja all over the agency, on a small scale.[1] Since 2022 police have reported cannabis fields in all three districts.[2][3][4]
The tract
In 1908 the Bhopawar Agency was a political charge of about 7,684 square miles under the Central India Agency, comprising the State of Dhar, the States of Jhabua, Barwani, Ali-Rajpur and Jobat and a number of small estates. North of the Vindhyas most of the Dhar State lay on the open Malwa plateau; south of them lay the valley of the Narmada, and beyond it the forested hills of Ali-Rajpur, Barwani and Jobat.[5] Alirajpur district was carved out of Jhabua district on 17 May 2008; its district administration places it on the south-western margin of the Malwa plateau.[6] The former Barwani State lies today in the Nimar growing region, and the area is drawn without it.
Cultivation in the 1890s
Gunion's memorandum on Central India for the Commission says that "All over the Bhopawar Agency the plant is cultivated for bhang and ganja, rarely for charas", but that production was limited and, except in the parts adjoining British Nimar, grown only for the cultivators' own use.[1] The Commission repeated that in Bhopawar the cultivation served for home consumption only.[7] In the agency the name bhang was given to the dry leaves and also to the green ones, which were sometimes eaten as a vegetable.[1]
The Political Agent in Bhopawar sent Gunion a description of the method. Hemp seed was sown in poppy or maize fields. When the plants were about 2½ feet high the main stem was split near the root and a piece of tile pushed in, which kept the plant from setting seed freely and made the tops fit for ganja. For particularly strong ganja each plant was watered once with half a tola of opium dissolved in water, and the cultivators believed that a young plant set in the mouth of a dead cobra gave unusually strong ganja. The strongest ganja came from plants grown in shade and sparingly watered. The Political Agent had seen ganja-producing hemp growing from near sea level to 4,000 feet.[8] The Commission called this a "desultory kind of cultivation".[9] Gunion wrote that no charas was prepared in Central India except a little in the Bhopawar Agency, for the cultivators' own use or as presents to religious mendicants.[8]: 159–160
Since 2000
In November 2022 police at Manawar, in Dhar district, seized 44 cannabis plants from a cotton field at Hanumantya Nayapura.[2] In October 2026 police in Alirajpur district raided two farms at Dudwa Faliya in Chhota Itara village and seized about 2,040 plants.[3] In the same month Jhabua police seized 15,609 plants grown among cotton on about 2 hectares at Kalmoda, in hill and forest country on the border with Dhar district about 25 km from the main road.[4][10] Dhar police, using drones, found 3,345 plants on forest land at Chaubara, under Rajgarh police station near the same border,[11] and on 20 October Free Press Journal reported 6,863 plants found in fields and forest under six police stations (Manawar, Tirla, Rajgarh, Bagh, Tanda and Dhamnod), hidden among cotton and tur.[12] Patrika counted 13 cases in Dhar, Jhabua and Alirajpur districts over three months, with more than 123 quintals of ganja recovered.[10]
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
No news items are recorded for this growing area yet.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Memorandum by Mr. R. H. Gunion on hemp drugs in Central India". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. p. 158 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 FP News Service (20 November 2022). "Manawar: 105 kg ganja seized from cotton field". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 FP News Service (12 October 2026). "Massive Drug Bust In MP's Alirajpur! Police Seize 2,040 Cannabis Plants Worth ₹1 Crore, Arrest Two". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 झाबुआ में 9.42 करोड़ के गांजे के पौधे जब्त: कपास के खेत से 15,609 पौधे बरामद, 3 केस दर्ज [Ganja plants worth 9.42 crore seized in Jhabua: 15,609 plants recovered from cotton fields, 3 cases registered]. Dainik Bhaskar (in हिन्दी). 15 October 2026. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ "Bhopawar Agency". The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Vol. VIII (New ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1908. pp. 145–146 – via Digital South Asia Library.
- ↑ District Administration, Alirajpur. "About District". District Alirajpur, Government of Madhya Pradesh. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. IV, "Extent of cultivation, and its tendency to increase or decrease", paras. 142–146, pp. 55–56 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Memorandum by Mr. R. H. Gunion on hemp drugs in Central India". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. p. 159 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. V, "Methods of cultivation and matters connected therewith", para. 215, pp. 82–83 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Swatantra Mishra (16 October 2026). Cannabis : पग-पग रोटी, डग-डग नीर…अब खेतों में लहलहा रहे नशा के पौधे! [Cannabis: bread at every step, water at every pace… now narcotic plants flourish in the fields!]. Patrika (in हिन्दी). Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ FP News Service (16 October 2026). "MP's Dhar Police Seize Cannabis Worth ₹4.43 Crore, Drones Uncover 3,345 Hidden Plants In Forest". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ FP News Service (20 October 2026). "Cannabis Hidden Among Cotton And Tuar Crops, Police Seize Plants Worth ₹8.20 Crore In MP's Dhar". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
