Khandwa
More actions
| Khandwa | |
|---|---|
| HistoricalGrown here in the past; no recent record either way | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Gene Pool | South Asian Gene Pool |
| Growing Region | Nimar |
| Geography | |
| Country | India |
| Province/State | Madhya Pradesh |
| District | Khandwa District |
| Coordinates | 21.83, 76.25 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 7,500 km² |
| Terrain | Approximately Khandwa District; the 1890s tract was the western half of the Khandwa tahsil |
| Climate | |
| Seasons | Sown in June or July, cut in November |
| Growing history | |
| Grown | 1871[1]–1895[2] |
| Earlier names | Khandwa tahsil, Nimar district |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Khandwa is a historical landrace cannabis growing area in the Nimar growing region of Madhya Pradesh, India, mapped on Khandwa District. It was one of the two licensed ganja tracts of the Central Provinces of British India, and from 1890–91 the only one. The Government of India reported in 1895 that since 1890–91 the province had allowed the cultivation only in the western half of the Khandwa tahsil of the Nimar district, where the normal area was about 950 acres.[2] The crop was taken to a government storehouse at Khandwa, from which ganja was sold to dealers inside and outside the province.[3]
The tract
B. Robertson, the Deputy Commissioner of Nimar, wrote for the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission in 1893 that ganja was grown in 60 or 70 villages, all in the western half of the Khandwa tahsil, and that seed was raised in the villages of Karki, Punjhria and Chhirbel. Ganja grown from Dhakalgaon seed came more especially from the country towards Dhangaon, in the north of the tract.[4] H. V. Drake-Brockman, the province's Officiating Commissioner of Excise, gave a larger figure in his own memorandum: ganja sown each year in about 100 villages, under 600 or 700 licences, with seed raised at Lohari, Karki, Panjhria and Chhirbel.[5]
Drake-Brockman put the tahsil's suitability for the crop down to its climate and ground. Its average rainfall, 33 inches a year, was lower than that of any other district of the province, in most parts the water-bearing stratum lay within 20 feet of the surface, and the surface soil quickly lost the monsoon rain by draining. He added that ganja had been grown there "for generations" and that the value of manure was well understood.[1] Robertson put the average rainfall at Khandwa over the previous 25 years at 32.76 inches.[4]
History
Robertson told the Commission that the cultivation "seems to have been established here before we took over the country".[6] The earliest year for which the province has an excise report of its own is 1871–72, and in that year, Drake-Brockman found, the Nimar district and the Katol tahsil of Nagpur were already the chief places of cultivation, though ganja was grown in small patches in every district.[1]
In December 1873 the deputy commissioners were asked whether people would be inconvenienced if ganja could be grown only under licence and near the tahsils, where existing staff could check the produce. Their reports showed that the retail contractors of every district but Bilaspur drew their ganja from Nimar or Nagpur, and the Commissioner of Excise proposed to restrict cultivation to the Katol and Khandwa tahsils. Rules sanctioned in April 1875 forbade cultivation without a licence and set a minimum licensed plot of one acre.[7]: 57–58 For 1875–76 the memorandum states that only the Khandwa and Katol tahsils produced ganja in any large quantity, and that the districts of the Narmada valley, with Saugor and Damoh, drew their supply from Khandwa.[7]: 58
A notification of 16 February 1882 restricted cultivation to the Katol and Khandwa tahsils. No ganja was grown in Katol after 1889–90, and Drake-Brockman gave two reasons why Nimar was left the province's only source: Katol ganja was inferior and little in demand, and Khandwa grew far more than the province needed, enough to meet its needs even in a bad year.[1] Robertson's table of the area actually planted, from 1873–74 to 1892–93, runs from 78 acres in 1881–82 to 1,106 acres in 1885–86; the area for 1892–93 was 984 acres.[4]: 237
Cultivation
The cultivators were, in Robertson's words, "the same as the ordinary cultivators—Gujars, Kunbis, and the like", and growing the plant was "certainly not considered in any way derogatory in Nimar".[6] He named three soils used for ganja: pandhar, land near the village site mixed with ashes and sweepings; mand, a light yellow alluvium; and kali, black soil, the first two being the best. Ganja was grown in the same fields year after year, with no rotation, and the land was manured about every third year.[4]
Drake-Brockman's memorandum sets out the season. The seed was sown in the latter half of the month of Asarh (June to July), 20 to 25 days after the rains set in. About six weeks after sowing came the first parakh, or examination, in which the male plants, called naria, were pulled out; it was repeated daily for about two months. A second examination removed the adnaria, plants showing both sexes, and a third class of plant, moria, was usually taken out too, because its flowering heads lacked resin, though it was sometimes left in the field. The crop was watered three times in October and cut about four and a half months after sowing, when the flowering heads turned brown.[5] The twigs bearing the flowering heads were trodden flat on a threshing floor for four or five days, stacked under weights for about a week, packed in gunny bags and carted to the storehouse.[5]: 239 Only flat ganja was made in Nimar.[6]
Robertson put the yield at 12 to 15 maunds an acre.[4]: 237 Seed from Dhakalgaon, in the territory of the Indore State, gave a stouter and more branching plant than the local seed and, by Robertson's figures, sold for twice the price; Drake-Brockman wrote that the ganja of the seven or eight villages of the Dhargaon station-house circle that used it fetched the best price at the storehouse.[4][5]
Storehouse and trade
A grower had to give the tahsildar seven days' notice before cutting, and remove the whole crop to the government storehouse at Khandwa within 30 days of being allowed to cut.[5]: 239 The Excise Commissioner's report of 1887, quoted by the Commission, said that the storehouse mattered far less for the province's own demand than as "a mart for the convenience of foreign purchasers", with traders coming from Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Rutlam, Dhar, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Rewa, Panna, Baroda and elsewhere.[3] Ganja from Khandwa also supplied Berar.[8] The Imperial Gazetteer of India volume for Berar, published in 1909, still described Berar's licensed vendors as importing ganja and bhang from the government warehouse at Khandwa.[9] Robertson reported that about a dozen agents of the wholesale vendors bought up the crop, often while it was still standing, and could then raise the price at the storehouse for every buyer except the wholesale vendors who employed them, among them buyers from other provinces.[6]
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 1.3 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Mr. H. V. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Commissioner of Excise, Central Provinces". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. VI: Evidence of Witnesses from Central Provinces and Madras. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. Central Provinces witness no. 9, pp. 12–17 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Government of India (21 March 1895). Resolution No. 1369 Ex. [on the Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission] (Report). Calcutta: Finance and Commerce Department, Separate Revenue (Excise). I. Cultivation, paras. 3–14, pp. 2–5 – via National Library of Scotland.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. VII, "Trade and movement of the hemp drugs", para. 304, p. 115 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Note by Mr. B. Robertson, Deputy Commissioner, Nimar, on cultivation and preparation of ganja in Nimar". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. p. 236 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Memorandum by Mr. H. V. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Commissioner of Excise, Central Provinces, on the cultivation and manufacture of ganja in the Khandwa tahsil of the Nimar district". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. p. 238 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Mr. B. Robertson, Deputy Commissioner, Nimar". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. VI: Evidence of Witnesses from Central Provinces and Madras. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. Central Provinces witness no. 7, pp. 10–12 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Memorandum on hemp drugs in the Central Provinces, by Mr. H. V. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Commissioner of Excise". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. paras. 3–66, pp. 57–74 – 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. XV, "Existing systems described", para. 630, p. 307 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Berar. Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing. 1909. p. 54 – via Internet Archive.