Book of Grass - An Anthology on Indian Hemp

184 Pages·2003·1.01 MB·English

by  Sunrise Dancer

The Book Of Grass
An Anthology on Indian Hemp
Author: George Andrews
Publisher: Grove Press
Date: 1967
ISBN: N/A
Table of Contents

Introduction............................................................................................................1

Part One: Traces In The Course Of History..............................................................5

Part Two: Some High Voices Of The Twentieth Century.........................................61

Part Three: Medical Opinions...............................................................................102

Part Four: Potentialities For Increasing Consciousness.......................................137

Part Five: The Scene Today And The Law............................................................157

Acknowledgements And Sources..............................................................................i

i
Introduction
This book presents a wide variety of personal accounts of experiences induced by Indian
hemp. Writers of different cultural traditions and historical periods have left descriptions of
this herb. The many points of view which find expression in these pages should help to bring
the subject into its proper perspective.
Indian hemp has many names, which causes some confusion. The two most common ones
are 'marihuana' (from the Spanish 'Maria Juana') and the Arabic 'hashish'. Marihuana is
simply the dried flowers of the female plants. Hashish is the resin with which the flowers are
coated, coming off in the form of a golden powder when the plants are shaken. It is then
heated and pressed into blocks, which darkens the color. In both modern American slang
and classical Arabic, the term for hemp is 'grass'. This common denominator between
different periods of history was a decisive factor in my choice of the title for this anthology.
Although the use of marihuana is widespread, the subject is enshrouded by ignorance. I
hope that this book will dispel at least some of the misconceptions about this plant. No
practical solution to the problem is possible until the real facts are recognized. In presenting
the facts concerning Indian hemp as objectively as I can, I hope to break the taboo which
surrounds this subject in our civilization at the present time.
Marihuana has been used freely by a large proportion of the world's population since
prehistoric times. It was not prohibited by international agreement until the 1930's. Part
One of this book shows it to have been a significant feature of religious rites among the
ancient Hindus, Scythians, Iranians, and American Indians. Homer and Solomon sang of it.
The Thousand and One Nights are saturated with the odor of hashish. The story of the
Assassins shows what can happen when it is used in a destructive way. Among the most
well-known users of it in a creative way are a group of nineteenth-century French writers:
Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Nerval, and Gautier, for whom the drug revealed completely new
dimensions of consciousness, which are reflected in their dazzling poetry. R. Blondel, who
was Baudelaire's doctor, once said: 'Each one who takes hashish has the dream that he
deserves.' During recent years, painters like Diego Rivera have found that marihuana
stimulated their artistic activity, and writers such as Aldous Huxley and Henri Michaux have
carried out important experiments in this field.
There is a wide range of variation in the effects of different types of hemp. One of the
strangest things about marihuana is the difference in the 'high' depending on where the
plant was grown. It has a chameleon-like quality of reproducing the characteristics of its
environments. There is a definite relationship between the altitude at which the plant is
grown and the kind of 'high' it gives. It grows best on mountain slopes under cedar trees,
and the higher up the mountain it grows, the better it is. It may be linked to the legends of
the special food of the 'Immortals' who lived on mountain tops in ancient Greece, India, and
China.
1
In Morocco hemp from certain regions is especially valued because it gives the psychic lift
without the physical paralysis, so a man can stay 'high' and still do his daily work. From
other regions, a pipe in the morning and you stay in bed all day. This wide range of
variation in effect makes accurate medical dosage difficult, but upon further investigation it
might turn out to be a useful factor in the treatment of disease. Specimens of the different
types of hemp now existing in the world should be collected and classified by vintage like
wine or tea. Quality is all-important in the use of hemp, as the lower grades stultify rather
than activate the brain. Possibilities of mutations in the species should be studied. The
legends seem to agree that the plant available today is something different from what the
ancients had, giving only a dim echo of that original Soma from the slopes of Mount Meru.
The legends mention the plant changing color after migrations from one region to another.
The different types of hemp not only have a wide range of variation in effect, they are also
frequently of different colors. Among the marihuana smokers of today, there are a few
special names for the extra best: Acapulco gold, Panama or Rangoon red, , Yucatan blue,
Ketama green, Congo brown, Angola black.
For many centuries and in many different countries its medicinal qualities were readily
acknowledged. Just one example, the Indian Pharmacopoeia of 1868, lists it as a remedy for
tetanus, hydrophobia, delirium tremens, infantile convulsions, asthma, hay fever and
protracted labor. A very complete investigation of great value was carried out by the British
Army in India, some extracts from which are to be found in Part Three. The herb was
dropped from the American Pharmacopoeia about thirty years ago because no dependable
preparation of it was known. This is hardly surprising in the absence of any classification of
the different sub-species according to date and place of harvest. The dried Bowers are a
dependable enough preparation for millions of people all over the world. British doctors
cannot prescribe the herb itself, but they can prescribe tinctures and ointments containing
an extract of it. The ointment is particularly useful in the treatment of certain types of
ulcers.
Another point of interest is the similarity in effect between marihuana and LSD. There is a
wide gap between normal four-dimensional consciousness and the multi-dimensional
consciousness experienced with LSD. Most people find it extremely difficult to bring the two
states into coherent relation with each other. Marihuana provides a point of transition
between them, making it possible to open up multidimensional consciousness without losing
contact with four-dimensional consciousness. This point of transition may well be of major
importance in bridging the gap. However, legal restrictions have hindered research during
the whole period of the development of modern psychiatry. Recently an American professor
of psychology, Dr Timothy Leary, was sentenced to thirty years of prison plus a thirty
thousand dollar fine for being in possession of a small personal supply of marihuana. His
article on 'The Politics of Consciousness Expansion' appears in Part Four.
As Alan Watts points out in the same section, marihuana can 'bring about certain alterations
of sense perception, of emotional level and tone, of identity feeling, of the interpretation of
sense data and of the sensations of time and space.' In many cultures other than our own,
marihuana has been traditionally linked with phenomena of extrasensory perception. Tribal
medicine men all over the world have used it since the immemorial past, yet the doctors of
today have difficulty in carrying out research with the herb on human subjects because of
legal restrictions. Tinctures and ointments contain only a fraction of the active principle of
the plant, and to experience the complete effect one must use the plant itself.
2
In spite of the fact that it is illegal, throughout the Middle East hashish smoking and eating
is widespread, though considered a lower class habit. In India too, those who practice it are
regarded as old-fashioned by the rest of the population. The reverse is true in the United
States and recently in Great Britain, where smokers tend to consider themselves an
exclusive and advanced 'in-group'. Penalties for possession of marihuana vary considerably,
but are heaviest in the United States. In spite of these heavy penalties, the black market in
marihuana continues to grow. Its use is increasingly prevalent among young people,
especially students, both in the United States and Great Britain.
If society persistently treats a group of young people as criminals, it is difficult for them not
to become criminals. If one thinks of marihuana smoking as a vice, it slants the experience
in a negative direction, tending to make the activity anti-social. A vicious circle is started,
driving society and the smoker to a more and more extreme antagonism. If one considers
the herb as a stimulant like any other, beneficial if used with moderation under the proper
circumstances, something to be kept in the cupboard to celebrate special occasions, the
experience is channeled in a positive direction. However, this attitude is difficult for a
smoker to maintain in a society where possession of a small personal supply is treated as a
crime.
Scientific evidence supports the view that the present drug laws in the United States are
unwise, and, apparently, based on misconceptions. Judge Murtagh of New York stated
publicly in 1959: 'Our drug laws are immoral in principle and ineffectual in action'. It is a
well known fact that a powerful lobby exists which has every interest in perpetuating the
obscurity of the present situation. The drug laws now in effect in the United States and in
certain other countries are a greater gold mine for gangsters than the Prohibition Act ever
was. In view of this, would it not be preferable to allow smokers to obtain a small personal
supply, by legal means, from their local pharmacies?
3

Part One: Traces In The Course Of History
Indian, hemp has been in use far thousands of years. Records from the
Ancient Egyptians and Assyrians mention it, and so do some of the earliest
Chinese medical books. However, the first substantial literature on the subject
comes from India where it appears as 'Soma' in the Rig-Veda.
Soma
A. L. Basham
The Rig-Veda is the chief of the four vedas of ancient India, which consist of hymns and
prayers used in the worship of the gods. Research suggests that these hymns were being
sung well before 800 BC.
Like wild winds the draughts have raised me up.
Have I been drinking soma?
The draughts have borne me up, as swift steeds a chariot.
Have I been drinking soma?
Frenzy has come upon me, as a cow to her dear calf.
Have I been drinking soma?
As a carpenter bends the seat of a chariot, I bend this frenzy round my heart.
Have I been drinking soma?
Not even as a mote in my eye do the five tribes count with me.
Have I been drinking soma?
The heavens above do not equal one half of me.
Have I been drinking soma?
In my glory I have passed beyond the sky and the great earth.
Have I been drinking soma?
I will pick up the earth, and put it here or put it there.
Have I been drinking soma?
(Rig-Veda X 119 2-9)
Soma was a divinity of special character. Soma was originally a plant, not certainly
identified, from which a potent drink was produced, which was drunk only at sacrifices, and
which caused the most invigorating effects. The Zoroastrians of Persia had a similar drink,
which they called 'haoma', the same word as soma in its Iranian form; the plant identified
with 'haoma' by the modern Parsis is a bitter herb, which has no specially inebriating
qualities, and which cannot have been the soma of the Veda. The drink prepared from the
plant can scarcely have been alcoholic, for it was made with great ceremony in the course of
the sacrifice, when the herb was pressed between stones, mixed with milk, strained, and
drunk on the same day. Sugar and honey, which produce fermentation, were not usually
mixed with it, and the brief period between its brewing and consumption cannot have been
long enough for the generation of alcohol in any appreciable quantity. The effects of soma,
with vivid hallucinations, and the sense of expanding to enormous proportions, are rather
like those attributed to such drugs as hashish. Soma may well have been hemp, which
grows wild in many parts of India, Central Asia and South Russia, and from which modern
Indians produce a narcotic drink called ‘bhang.’
5
Like many ancient peoples, the Indians connected the growth of plants with the moon, with
which Soma, the king of plants, was later identified. So important was the god Soma
considered by the ancient editors of the Rig-Veda that they extracted all the hymns in his
honor and placed them in a separate book (mandala), the ninth of the ten which constitute
the whole.
Most of the gods were good-natured. Guilt-offerings and thank-offerings, of the kind offered
by the ancient Hebrews, are almost unheard of in the Veda.
Nevertheless the ceremony must have had its element of awe and wonder. The
worshippers, inebriated with soma, saw wondrous visions of the gods; they experienced
strange sensations of power; they could reach up and touch the heavens; they became
immortal; they were gods themselves. The priests, who alone knew the rituals whereby the
gods were brought to the sacrifice, were masters of a great mystery. With these ideas,
which are explicitly stated in the hymns, went others less obvious. Often in the Rig-Veda we
read of a mysterious entity called 'brahman'; in some contexts brahman is the magical
power in the sacred utterance (mantra), but often it has a wider connotation, and implies a
sort of supernatural electricity, known to students of primitive religion as 'mana'.
The following translation describes Indra's fight with the cloud-dragon Vrtra. The hymn
evidently refers to a well-known legend, which has since been forgotten, but which was
probably a variant of the creation myth of Mesopotamia, in which the god Marduk slays the
demon of chaos, Tiamat, and creates the universe.
Let me proclaim the valiant deeds of Indra,
the first he did, the wielder of the thunder,
when he slew the dragon and let loose the waters,
and pierced the bellies of the mountains.
He slew the dragon lying on the mountain,
for Tvastr made him a heavenly thunderbolt.
The waters suddenly, like bellowing cattle,
descended and flowed on, down to the ocean.
In his strength he chose the soma—
from three cups he drank the essence.
The Generous seized his thunderbolt,
and smote the first-born of the dragons.
When, Indra, you slew the first-born of dragons,
and frustrated the arts of the sorcerers,
creating sun and heaven and dawn,
you found no enemy to withstand you.
The Vedic Hymns
Traditional
The following extracts, also from the Vedas, give an idea of the part that the Soma plant
played in the religion of the ancient Hindus.
O Poet, O all-knowing Soma, you are the ocean.
Yours is the space of the five regions of the sky!
You have risen above the sky and the earth.
You are the stars, the sun, O clear Soma!
(Rig-Veda IX 86, 29)
6
1
The wave of honey has risen from the breast of the ocean,
together with the stalk of Soma she has attained the land of the immortals,
she has mastered the secret name of the ritual Ghee:
'tongue of the gods', navel of immortality.
2
We are going to proclaim the name of the ritual Ghee,
we are going to sustain it by our praise in this sacrifice.
As soon as it is spoken, may the priest take heed!
It comes from the Buffalo with four horns.
3
The Buffalo has four horns, three feet,
he has two heads and seven hands.
Held by three chains, the Bull roars powerfully:
the mighty god has entered the land of the mortals.
4
The gods discovered the ritual Ghee in the primordial Cow,
although it had been concealed by the demons in three forms.
Indra created one, the Sun another,
the last was extracted from the Poet's own flesh.
5
This flowing Ghee spreads from the ocean of spirits;
a hundred barriers prevent the enemy from seeing it.
I ardently contemplate this flowing Ghee,
which surrounds Soma's golden phallus.
6
Words flow like rivers,
clarifying through thought what is in the heart.
These waves of Ghee spread
like gazelles who flee before a hunter.
7
Like whirlpools in the current of a river,
they leap forth and catch the wind,
these young waves of Ghee, like nuts growing wild
which break their shells, swelling with the waves.
8
They sprinkle the Fire smiling
like beautiful women on their way to a feast.
The waves of Ghee caress the logs,
and the Fire, happy to play their game, courts them.
9
7
I ardently contemplate them, they are like girls
who are painting their faces before being married.
There where the Soma is pressed, where the sacrifice is made,
the flowing Ghee pours to be clarified.
10
Let glorious praise flow forth,
celebrate a tournament with abundant cattle,
bring us good fortune and wealth! Lead this our sacrifice to the gods!
The flowing Ghee is clarified like honey.
11
The entire universe is fixed on your essence,
on the internal ocean, on the heart, on the number of life-breaths.
May we master your wave made of honey
which was brought to the place where Soma is mixed with water in the
presence of the gods!
(Rig-Veda IV 58)
1
May Indra conqueror of the demon drink
Soma from Saryanavat
if he wishes to put strength in his soul
to accomplish a heroic deed!
Flow, O liquor, for Indra all around!
2
Purify yourself, master of the dawns,
Soma from Mount Arjika, O benefactor!
You who are pressed with incantations,
with truth, with belief and enthusiasm!
Flow, O liquor, for Indra all around!
3
The daughter of the Sun brought along with her
the Buffalo who was raised by the God of Rain.
Celestial musicians greeted him,
they put into the Soma this fragrance.
Flow, O liquor, for Indra all around!
4
You speak like a holy man, you whose aura is holy,
you speak in truth, you whose act is true,
you speak according to the belief, O King Soma,
O Soma which the priest carefully prepares.
Flow, O liquor, for Indra all around!
5
8