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Terai

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Terai
Tarai
⛶
Location

Nepal,India

Coordinates 27.20, 84.00
Gene Pool South Asian Gene Pool
Country Nepal,India
Provinces/States Koshi Province,Madhesh Province,Bagmati Province,Lumbini Province,Sudurpashchim Province,Uttarakhand,Uttar Pradesh,Bihar,West Bengal
Elevation 63–330 m
Climate Subtropical, with hot summers, heavy monsoon rains and dry winters
Rainfall 1,138–2,680 mm
Conservation
Populations none documented yet




The Terai (also Tarai) is the belt of alluvial lowland along the southern foot of the Himalaya, across southern Nepal and the northern edge of the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. In Nepal it is a plain of about two million hectares at roughly 60 to 330 metres above sea level.[1] To the east the same lowland continues as the Dooars.

In the 1890s the Nepal Darbar told the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission that the plant grew wild throughout the state and more abundantly in the Terai than in the hills,[2] and the Commission wrote that the plant, "when it finds itself established in a suitable home like the Terai", grew "very densely and in patches of considerable size".[3] By 1934 ganja contracts were a source of revenue in the Nepali Terai.[4] James Fisher wrote in 1975 that cannabis did not grow wild in the Terai but was extensively cultivated there, and that most of the cannabis grown in Nepal came from the belt.[5]

Geography

In Nepal the Terai runs from about 80° to 88° E and from 26° to 29° N, at 63 to 330 m, sloping gently at 2–10 m per kilometre. Its soils are mostly alluvial, from sandy to clay. About 411,580 ha of it is forest, of which sal (Shorea robusta) makes up about 188,000 ha.[1] On the Indian side the Terai is the lowland of the outer foothills, north of the Indo-Gangetic plain.[6]

Francis Hamilton, in his account of Nepal of 1819, called the lowest region of the country "Tariyani, Tarai, or Ketoni": the strip of the plain held by Gorkha, in general about twenty miles wide.[7] In Hooker's Himalayan Journals, quoted in Hunter's volume on Darjeeling, the tarai is "that low malarious belt which skirts the base of the Himalayas, from the Satlaj to Brahmakhund in Upper Assam".[8] The Hemp Drugs Commission judged it probable that "the exceptionally favourable conditions associated with the Himalayas and Terai" for hemp ceased where the Ganges turns round the Santhal highlands.[3] In Purnea and north Bhagalpur the plant was "specially abundant within the influence of the floods of the Kosi river".[3]

The Darjeeling Terai

In the 1870s the district of Darjeeling consisted of two tracts: the lower Himalaya west of Bhutan, south of Sikkim and east of Nepal, and the tarai, the plains to its south, which ran to the northern border of Purnea.[9] The upper plain, at the foot of the hills, was mostly forest and dense jungle. The lower plain was more open, with rice the main crop.[9] The tract was annexed in 1850 and, after its inhabitants objected to being placed under Purnea, attached to Darjeeling; the revenue of the lower tarai had meanwhile been settled with its Rajbansi and Muslim inhabitants.[10] Hooker placed Siliguri on the edge of the tarai.[8]

A Darjeeling tea planter, John D. Gwilt, told the Commission that ganja was "not cultivated in this part of the Terai". He called the wild plant "wild chang", thought that any elevation below 3,000 feet (about 900 m), with a little vegetable mould in the soil, might help its growth, and said that he had never known Nepalese to prepare the drug, which was "brought prepared by the plains men".[11] Sreenath Chatterjee, a cashier in the Public Works Department at Darjeeling, reported wild hemp, known as bhang, in the lower Rungit and Teesta valleys at 500 to 1,200 feet (about 150 to 370 m), on sandy, loose soil. He said that in the Tarai the agricultural class, such as the Rajbangshis, smoked ganja.[12]

Climate

The Terai of Nepal has a subtropical climate, with hot, humid summers, heavy monsoon rains and dry winters. April and May are the hottest months, at mean temperatures of 35–40 °C, and January the coldest, at 14–16 °C. Annual rainfall falls from east to west, from about 2,680 mm to about 1,138 mm.[1]

Demography

Fisher wrote in 1975 that the Terai was inhabited by tribal groups and by high- and low-caste Hindus speaking Hindi and related dialects, with "cultural equivalence on both sides of the unnatural border with India".[5] Hooker wrote that the Mech lived in the tarai near Siliguri.[8]

Cultivation history

Early nineteenth century

Hamilton wrote in 1819 that in Nepal gangja was "a common weed" and was "not cultivated", and that "The dried leaves are brought from the Tariyani", his name for the Terai.[13][7]

The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94

In the Patna Division north of the Ganges, the Commission found that the evidence "leaves no doubt" that spontaneous growth was "extremely common and plentiful". The one witness who doubted it, the Collector of Darbhanga, still called it "plentiful on the borders of Nepal".[3] In north Bhagalpur and Purnea a special inquiry covered the populous parts of the country. From the whole evidence the Commission judged it probable that "towards the Terai the wild growth is found in less close association with man, and in great quantity in suitable positions and soils".[3]

The Nepal Darbar answered the Commission that hemp grew wild "all over the State, but it is more abundant in the Terai than in the hills".[2] The Commission thought the growth in the Terai sprang "to a great extent from seed carried down from the mountains".[14]

Charas was made in small amounts from the wild growth of the plains. One witness reported it from wild plants "in the Bhabar and Terai". Hill people who came down to cultivate in the Kumaon Terai and the Bhabar made it from the wild growth there, in quantities the Commission called "quite insignificant".[15][16]

Nepal in the twentieth century

An order of 5 January 1934 asked the Terai district offices what rate of a land levy would stand in for the ganja, mahuwa and liquor contracts alone.[4] A government survey of Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Sarlahi and Mahottari in 1948–49 found that ganja cultivation "has become very popular these days". It put the local price at Indian Rs 10–15 a seer, against Rs 40–50 in India, where, it said, the sale was strictly banned.[17]

Fisher wrote in 1975 that in the Terai cannabis "does not grow wild, but it is extensively cultivated there", and that most of the cannabis grown in Nepal came from the Terai, where agriculture was more productive than in the highlands. Government revenue records placed the bulk of the excise on cannabis in the Terai. The five districts that produced the most cannabis were all there: Bara, Parsa, Siraha, Dhanusa and Mahottari (Fisher's Mahatari).[5] Fisher and the Nepal Darbar's reply to the Commission disagree on whether the plant grows wild in the Terai.

Seed-trade accounts

The Real Seed Company, a seed vendor, says that "compact and narrow-leafleted" ganja landraces are grown in the Terai of Nepal.[18] Its listing for Nepalese Mountain Ganja says that ganja cultivation in the Terai "dates back to at least the 18th Century" and that large-scale ganja cultivation was introduced to lowland Nepal by Indian groups in the late 1930s.[19]

Reports today

Shakya and colleagues wrote in 2021 that cannabis in Nepal "continues to grow wild" and is also cultivated in western and southern Nepal.[20] Police seized 1,454.87 kg of marijuana being loaded into a pickup at Inaruwa in Sunsari on 19 September 2026[21] and 151 kg abandoned in a paddy field at Pachrauta in Bara on 5 September 2026.[22]

Botanical characteristics

Stature

A Purnea indigo manager told the Commission that the wild bhang of his district was "Generally dense, and in places grows to over six feet high".[23] A herbarium sheet collected in 2003 at 270 m on the way to Koilabas, in Dang District in Nepal (Shrestha 2834), is catalogued as a shrub.[24]

Some sheets from the hills record short plants. Cooper 1486, collected in Bhutan at 7,000 feet in 1914, reads Dwarf var. on sand by stream.[25] A sheet from the Darjeeling hills of 1923, credited to J. M. Cowan, is 2 Feets high.[26] Ikeda 1217005, from stony ground at 1,317 m in Darchula District in far-western Nepal, reads 30-50cm tall. All male plants.[27]

Growing Areas

No growing areas documented yet.

Accessions

No accessions documented yet.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kandel, Durga; Timilsina, Sachin; Ayer, Santosh; Chaudhary, Saroj Kumar; Gautam, Jeetendra; Adhikari, Rabindra; Bhatta, Kishor Prasad (2024). "Assessment of soil carbon stock and soil quality in different forest stands and management regimes in Terai region of Nepal". Scientifica. 2024 1739115. doi:10.1155/2024/1739115.
  2. ↑ 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. III, "The existence, prevalence, and character of the spontaneous growth", para. 83, p. 33 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 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. 26–29, 45, pp. 19–20, 24 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Regmi, Mahesh C., ed. (January–February 1982). "The Bigahatti Levy" (PDF). Regmi Research Series. 14 (1–2). Kathmandu: Regmi Research (Private) Ltd: 2–3 – via Digital Himalaya.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Fisher, James F. (1975). "Cannabis in Nepal: an overview". In Rubin, Vera (ed.). Cannabis and Culture. The Hague: Mouton. p. 248. doi:10.1515/9783110812060.247.
  6. ↑ Mondal, Debayan; Kantamraju, Prudveesh; Jha, Susmita; et al. (2021). "Evaluation of indigenous aromatic rice cultivars from sub-Himalayan Terai region of India for nutritional attributes and blast resistance". Scientific Reports. 11 4786. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-83921-7.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Hamilton, Francis (1819). An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal, and of the Territories Annexed to This Dominion by the House of Gorkha. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Company. p. 62 – via Internet Archive.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Hunter, W.W. (1876). A Statistical Account of Bengal, Volume X: Districts of Darjiling and Jalpaiguri, State of Kuch Behar. London: Trübner & Co. p. 67 – via Internet Archive.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Hunter, W.W. (1876). A Statistical Account of Bengal, Volume X: Districts of Darjiling and Jalpaiguri, State of Kuch Behar. London: Trübner & Co. p. 19 – via Internet Archive.
  10. ↑ Hunter, W.W. (1876). A Statistical Account of Bengal, Volume X: Districts of Darjiling and Jalpaiguri, State of Kuch Behar. London: Trübner & Co. pp. 116–117 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Mr. John D. Gwilt, Tea Planter, Longview Company, Limited, Darjeeling". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. IV: Evidence of Witnesses from Bengal and Assam. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. witness no. 191, p. 418 – via Internet Archive.
  12. ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Babu Sreenath Chatterjee, Brahmin, Cashier, Public Works Department, Darjeeling Division". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. IV: Evidence of Witnesses from Bengal and Assam. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. witness no. 96, p. 255 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ↑ Hamilton, Francis (1819). An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal, and of the Territories Annexed to This Dominion by the House of Gorkha. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Company. p. 231 – via Internet Archive.
  14. ↑ 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. 84–85, pp. 33–34 – via Internet Archive.
  15. ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. VI, "Preparation of the raw drugs from the cultivated and wild plant", para. 238, p. 93 – via Internet Archive.
  16. ↑ 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. 294, pp. 111–112 – via Internet Archive.
  17. ↑ Regmi, Mahesh C., ed. (1979). "Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Sarlahi and Mahottari Districts in 1948–49" (PDF). Regmi Research Series. 11 (10). Kathmandu: Regmi Research (Private) Ltd: 153–154 – via Digital Himalaya.
  18. ↑ "Semidwarf ganja landraces and Sativas". The Real Seed Company. 4 August 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2026.
  19. ↑ "Nepalese Mountain Ganja". The Real Seed Company. Retrieved 7 October 2026.
  20. ↑ Shakya, Dhana Ratna; Upadhaya, Sandesh Raj; Thapa, Milan (2021). "Cannabis use and abuse in Nepal: a review of studies". Journal of Nepal Medical Association. 59 (241): 956. doi:10.31729/jnma.6931.
  21. ↑ Police seize 1,454.87 kg of marijuana being loaded into a pickup in Inaruwa and arrest one, 19 September 2026.
  22. ↑ Police and APF seize 151 kg of marijuana abandoned in a paddy field at Pachrauta in Bara, 5 September 2026.
  23. ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Mr. A. G. M. Wodschow, Assistant Manager, Indigo and Zamindari, Dumur Factory, Purnea". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. IV: Evidence of Witnesses from Bengal and Assam. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. witness no. 193, pp. 420–421 – via Internet Archive.
  24. ↑ "Specimen WU 0156942: Cannabis sativa L." JACQ Virtual Herbaria. Retrieved 15 September 2026.
  25. ↑ "Herbarium specimen E00150672: Cannabis". RBGE Herbarium Catalogue. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Retrieved 4 October 2026.
  26. ↑ "Cannabis sativa L., specimen E00248813". Herbarium catalogue. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Retrieved 17 September 2026.
  27. ↑ "Herbarium specimen E01623297: Cannabis". RBGE Herbarium Catalogue. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Retrieved 4 October 2026.
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