Rohilkhand
More actions
| Rohilkhand | |
|---|---|
| HistoricalGrown here in the past; no recent record either way | |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 28.36, 79.65 |
| Gene Pool | South Asian Gene Pool |
| Country | India |
| Provinces/States | Uttar Pradesh |
| Area | 16,300 km² |
| Primary Rivers | Ramganga |
| Growing history | |
| Grown | 1883[1]–1894[2] |
| Earlier names | Rohilkhand Division, Rampur State |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Rohilkhand is a historical landrace cannabis growing region in western Uttar Pradesh, India, south of the Western Terai. It is drawn on five districts, Bijnor, Rampur, Bareilly, Pilibhit and Shahjahanpur, less the part of each that lies in the Western Terai. Moradabad and Budaun districts are left out. In the 1880s and 1890s the excise department of the North-Western Provinces and witnesses before the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission described hemp growing wild in these districts, where its leaves were cut and dried for bhang.[1][3]
The only witness from Rampur told the Commission that the plant was not cultivated in Rohilkhand. The Commission thought all the same that "sporadic cultivation" prevailed in Rohilkhand and Rampur to the same extent as in the neighbouring British districts.[2]
Geography
Rohilkhand was a division of the North-Western Provinces, and the name is still in use. The district administrations call Bareilly part of the geographical region of Rohilkhand, Pilibhit the north-easternmost district of the Rohilkhand division and Shahjahanpur its south-eastern district; Bijnor sits in the north-west corner of today's Moradabad Division, "historically, Rohilkhand or Bareilly region".[4][5][6][7] Rampur was a princely state, founded by the Rohilla Nawab Faizullah Khan in 1774 and merged into India on 1 July 1949.[8] In the 1890s the state stretched south from below the Terai district, between British districts on either side.[1]
Pilibhit lies in the sub-Himalayan belt on the boundary of Nepal.[5] The Ramganga passes Bareilly, and with the Garrah and the Gomti it is one of the main rivers of Shahjahanpur.[4][6] The Commission's northern limit for its "central belt", where it did not think the plant grew wild, ran through Moradabad, Bareilly and Shahjahanpur; beyond that line it found the spontaneous growth abundant.[1]
The witnesses put the growth in damp ground. The Deputy Commissioner of Moradabad, R. W. Gillan, said that bhang needed "a low damp situation", such as the alluvial tracts near rivers and the Terai, and that the plant on higher and drier ground was nearly useless.[9] Lala Dila Ram, a native of Pilibhit who had served fifteen years in Bijnor, found it in moist soils along water courses and canals, in low lands and in fields not fully cultivated, where the growth was dense.[3]
Cultivation history
Excise reports
When the Government of the North-Western Provinces had the growth of bhang inquired into in 1883, its Excise Commissioner listed Bijnor, Bareilly and Pilibhit among fourteen districts where the hemp plant grew wild and was made into bhang. Moradabad and Budaun were on the same list.[1] In his memorandum for the Commission, the Commissioner of Excise, T. Stoker, placed Bijnor, Bareilly and Pilibhit, with Moradabad, among the districts where the plant grew "absolutely wild in great profusion", and wrote that the produce of Shahjahanpur was considerable.[10] Bareilly and Pilibhit were among the chief districts from which bhang was exported. Contractors from other districts sent agents to buy it from the owners or occupiers of land, who collected and stored the plant.[11]
The Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94
Bijnor. Chaudhri Basant Singh, a zamindar of Seohara, said that the plant was abundant in many places in Bijnor, generally in low-lying lands near rivers, and that the spontaneous growth was cut and dried and its leaves were eaten and drunk as bhang. Bhang was the only drug made from it there and in the parganas of Chandpur, Najibabad and Bijnor.[12] Soti Harbansa Lal, a zamindar of Bijnor town, found wild hemp in damp places and in gardens in the rains, and in abundance in the jungles of the Nagina and Najibabad tahsils; as far as he knew, it was not cultivated in the district.[13] Gillan, in neighbouring Moradabad, said that the bhang used there came from "the damp tracts of Bijnor and Terai", and that Saharanpur, Bijnor and the Terai made enough bhang to supply Rohilkhand.[9]
Pilibhit and Bareilly. Dila Ram said that wild bhang and ganja grew "luxuriantly" in Pilibhit, and abundantly in the jungly and less cultivated parts of Bijnor, Pilibhit and the Terai. He had never seen the plant cultivated. In the plains the wild plants were cut and dried in the month of Baisakh, and in his tract ordinary farmers cut, threshed and stored the bhang. The licensed vendors stored the dry leaves for sale themselves or bought them from the people of the jungle tracts. Habitual smokers of ganja grew a few plants in a corner of their courtyards.[3] Lala Bal Mokand had managed the Court of Wards' estates in Bareilly district for about eighteen months and had seen hemp growing wild in some of their villages. He named the Baheri tahsil of Bareilly and the Puranpur tahsil of Pilibhit, where it was abundant, and said there was no cultivation in his district.[14]
Rampur. Syed Ali Husen, Revenue Member of the state's Council of Regency, placed the spontaneous growth in its north and north-east, and said that bhang was made there by the consumers themselves, for local use only.[15] The Commission saw nothing to set the state apart from the British districts to its east and west.[1]
Shahjahanpur. The Collector, H. Spencer, said that hemp grew wild in the Powayan tahsil of the district. Bhang was sometimes made from the wild plants, but its use was very restricted and the drug was of inferior quality.[16] Kunwar Kharag Singh, a landholder of Nahil in the same tahsil, put the spontaneous growth in the north of the district, dense in some places and scattered in others.[17]
Growing Areas
No growing areas documented yet.
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
No news items are recorded for this growing region yet.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. III, "The existence, prevalence, and character of the spontaneous growth", paras. 41–44, pp. 23–24 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 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", para. 109, p. 42 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Lala Dila Ram, Deputy Collector, Meerut District". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. V: Evidence of Witnesses from North-Western Provinces and Oudh and Punjab. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. witness no. 38, p. 55 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 District Administration, Bareilly. "About District". District Bareilly, Government of Uttar Pradesh. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 District Administration, Pilibhit. "About District". District Pilibhit, Government of Uttar Pradesh. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 District Administration, Shahjahanpur. "About District". District Shahjahanpur, Government of Uttar Pradesh. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ District Administration, Bijnor. "About District". District Bijnor, Government of Uttar Pradesh. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ District Administration, Rampur. "About District". District Rampur, Government of Uttar Pradesh. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Mr. R. W. Gillan, Officiating Deputy Commissioner, Moradabad". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. V: Evidence of Witnesses from North-Western Provinces and Oudh and Punjab. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. witness no. 21, p. 22 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Memorandum on hemp drugs in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, by Mr. T. Stoker, Commissioner of Excise". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. para. 8, p. 25 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Memorandum on hemp drugs in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, by Mr. T. Stoker, Commissioner of Excise". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. para. 20, p. 28 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Chaudhri Basant Singh, Rai Bahadur, Zamindar, Seohara, District Bijnor". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. V: Evidence of Witnesses from North-Western Provinces and Oudh and Punjab. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. witness no. 205, p. 277 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Soti Harbansa Lal, Brahmin, Zamindar and Municipal Commissioner, Bijnor". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. V: Evidence of Witnesses from North-Western Provinces and Oudh and Punjab. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. witness no. 223, p. 295 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Lala Bal Mokand, Governor, Arya Samaj, Bareilly". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. V: Evidence of Witnesses from North-Western Provinces and Oudh and Punjab. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. witness no. 239, p. 324 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Khan Bahadur Syed Ali Husen, Revenue Member, Rampur Council of Regency". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. V: Evidence of Witnesses from North-Western Provinces and Oudh and Punjab. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. witness no. 35, p. 49 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Mr. H. Spencer, Officiating Magistrate and Collector, Shahjehanpur". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. V: Evidence of Witnesses from North-Western Provinces and Oudh and Punjab. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. witness no. 17, p. 18 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Kunwar Kharag Singh, Thakur, Landholder, Sugar Manufacturer and Usurer, Mauza Nahil, Tehsil Powayan". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. V: Evidence of Witnesses from North-Western Provinces and Oudh and Punjab. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. witness no. 245, p. 330 – via Internet Archive.