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History of charas
Hashish has been used across the Indian sub-continent for medicinal and religious purposes for thousands of years, and was sold in government shops (along with opium) during the times of the British Raj and in independent India until the 1980s (marijuana and bhang is still being sold).
Charas plays an important and often integral role in the culture and ritual of certain sects of the Hindu religion, especially among the Shaivs — the sub-division of Hinduism holding Lord Shiva to be the supreme god (in contrast to Vaishnavs who believe Lord Vishnu is the supreme god)—and it is venerated by some as being one of the aspects of Lord Shiva.
Despite this long history, charas was made illegal in India under United States pressure in the 1980s and severe sentences were introduced. Even the mere possession had a mandatory ten year prison sentence. These laws have now been somewhat relaxed; however, charas has remained a popular medium for police to extort money from consumers of the drug.
Even at the peak of the crackdown, charas was still popular and remains so today, especially amongst Indian sadhus.
The Naga Sadhus, Aghoris and Tantric Bhairav sects smoke it freely as an integral part of their religious practice. Many smoke it in clay pipes called chillums, using a cotton cloth to cover the smoking end of the chillum and inserting a tightly packed pebble-sized ball of cannabis as filter under the chunk of charas. Before lighting the chillum they will chant the many names of Shiva in veneration.
However it is fast regaining the popularity it once enjoyed with younger generation of India regarding it as a recreational drug of choice. Its freely available in several places around India specially where there is a strong affluence of tourists (Goa, Delhi, Rishikesh, Varanasi, etc.). Although charas can be found in several places around India, its manufacturing can be traced only to specific locations in India such as, Parvati Valley, (Kasol, Rashol, Malana (“Malana cream”), Kashmir as well as several other places in the northern India.
In southern India there are also several places where charas is manufactured. Charas can be found in many places around India simply because there are people that take charas from the “source” to distribute it in areas where there is a substantial demand of it (usually areas with a lot of foreigners). The nominal price of charas in these areas is substantially higher than in the places where charas is made.
Local cultivation
High quality hashish in India comes from cannabis grown in the mountains. The variety from Himachal Pradesh is considered to be of the highest quality throughout India. It is easily available in Shimla, Naldera, Karsog, Narkanda, Kullu & Rampur—practically every area in Himachal Pradesh.
For this reason, the Indian subcontinent has become very popular with backpackers and drug smugglers. During hand-harvesting the resin sticks to one’s palms and by the end of the day one has perhaps 8 or 9 grams of charas. The faster one works, the lower the quality of charas; hence to make “Manali cream” it is necessary to go very slowly and make only a few grams a day.
Nowadays production of cannabis in the Himalayas has increased with growing demand for Malana cream; the ancient art of manufacturing is disappearing under the pressure to capitalize on the domestic and international market for charas. High quality charas were also produced in Nepal and sold in government monopoly stores in Kathmandu until the government gave in to international pressure and got out of the business in the 1970s. Rolpa district in western Nepal was a production center, with ganja and charas both an important cash crop in this extremely isolated, underdeveloped and impoverished region.
Gardaa
Gardaa is a type of hashish made primarily in Afghanistan, but also in Pakistani tribal areas, using dried cannabis of high potency. It is a very pure form of Charas; free from any additive chemicals. It is a very pliable substance which can take any shape. Usually sold in the shape of balls, gardaa starts dissolving into smaller particles even with the heat of the palm. Gardaa is an Urdu word which means “dust”. It is named gardaa due to its similarity in colour to mud or brown thick dust. Charas is mostly consumed after it is heated. After it is heated, the “brown powder” changes into a smooth “greenish mass”. The term gardaa is also some times used to describe the greenish powder-form of charas.
Gardaa has two types mainly, one is soft, solid, smooth structure known as pakka garda and the other one is kacha gardaa, kacha gardaa is a soft powder which is green (or lightly green brown sometimes). Although gardaa is available throughout Pakistan, it is made in the northern tribal areas of Pakistan and in Afghanistan. It is mainly available in Peshawar, and even though the smell may linger in bazaars, it is not sold openly—though with a help of a guide one can find it.
In K.P.K ., It can mostly be found in those areas which lie on the border with Khyber Agency, Orakzai Agency and Kurram Agency. One such place is Shah Kass which is part of Khyber Agency and borders with the Hayatabad neighborhood of Peshawar city. One “tola” (1 tola = 12 grams) on average costs 600 Pakistani Rupees. Its price has increased due to the tension in the Tribal Areas.
Mixtures with tobacco
Gardaa is smoked, usually mixed with cigarette tobacco and rolled back into the cigarette blank.
Cigarettes that burn longer due to cigarette paper/tobacco qualities are preferred for mixing and smoking gardaa. To smoke gardaa in a cigarette, cigarette tobacco is taken out and refined using hands to make it into smaller particles. Tobacco leaves with less moisture are easier to crush. gardaa is then heated to make it soft; this is often referred to as “cooking”.
The objective is to dissolve the gardaa in the tobacco to make a mix while wasting minimum smoke value (meaning heated only enough to make it soft without burning it into smoke). Once mixed with the tobacco using hands it is filled back into the cigarette blank.
The cigarette is tightly filled back to ensure maximum smoke in each puff. The cigarette commonly used is Cavenders cigarette, preferred because it is filterless. Rolling paper is also used to smoke gardaa. gardaa with tobacco mixture is filled into the rolling paper to make a joint.
Gardaa production in Kashmir
In the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, Gardaa is made from dried cannabis leaves of low quality. The leaves are put into a cornleaf, and by twisting the leaf the material is pressed into the shape of a corkscrew.
The colour ranges from green to brown, depending on the quality.
Differences in hashish from the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia
Hashish from Lebanon, Morocco and other countries in the Middle East and Central Asia is prepared in a different way, mostly by sieving dried cannabis plants over a gauze or fine sieve. The fine powder is then pressed into bricks or plates, ready to be exported. However, what is smoked locally is similar to black charras or gardaa and is sometimes called sputnik, for its less tiresome effect compared to the regular green or red export hashish.
The tiresome effect is believed to come from the amount of leaf matter that adulterates the export hashish, but may also be due to the presence of male pollen. A similar kind of Hashish is also found in the cannabis steppes from Kazakhstan to Western China (Xinjiang). It is sometimes sold in its uncompressed form as yellow “pollen”.
Photo : Serge Bouvet
From : http://sergebouvet.com/2012/05/20/une-tasse-de-bhang-ou-une-taffe-de-charas/
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She’s only 6 years old and she already works. I met this child, just as in the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. In the famous novel, Jean Valjean finds Cosette fetching a pail of water for the Thénardiers. In reality, a population of Indian children is called Cosette too.
Photo : Serge Bouvet
Article : http://sergebouvet.com/2012/05/21/60-millions-denfants-au-travail-en-inde/ -
Photo : Serge Bouvet
From : http://sergebouvet.com/blog/2011/08/sergent-tchatcho/ -
Photo : Serge Bouvet
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Mythological anecdotes of Ganesha
There are many mythological anecdotes of Ganesha. Ganesha’s elephant head makes him easy to identify. He is worshipped as the lord of beginnings and as the lord of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences, and the god of intellect and wisdom. In his survey of Ganesha’s rise to prominence in Sanskrit literature, Ludo Rocher notes that:
Above all, one cannot help being struck by the fact that the numerous stories surrounding Gaṇeśa concentrate on an unexpectedly limited number of incidents. These incidents are mainly three: his birth and parenthood, his elephant head, and his single tusk. Other incidents are touched on in the texts, but to a far lesser extent.
Puranic myths about the birth of Ganesha are found in the later Puranas (a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts), composed from about 600 CE onwards. References to Ganesha in the earlier Puranas, such as the Vayu and Brahmanda Purnasa are considered to be later interpolations made during the 7th to 10th centuries.
Hindu mythology presents many stories, which explain how Ganesha obtained his elephant or gaja head. Often, the origin of this particular attribute is to be found in the same anecdotes which tell about his birth. The stories also reveal the origins of the enormous popularity of his cult. Devotees sometimes interpret his elephant head as indicating intelligence, discriminative power, fidelity, or other attributes thought to be had by elephants. The large elephant ears are said to denote wisdom and the ability to listen to people who seek help.
Decapitation by Shiva
The most well-known story is probably the one taken from the Shiva Purana. Once, while his mother Parvati wanted to take a bath, there were no attendants around to guard her and stop anyone from accidentally entering the house. Hence she created an image of a boy out of turmeric paste which she prepared to cleanse her body (turmeric was used for its antiseptic and cooling properties), and infused life into it, and thus Ganesha was born.Parvati ordered Ganesha not to allow anyone to enter the house, and Ganesha obediently followed his mother’s orders. After a while Shiva returned from outside, and as he tried to enter the house, Ganesha stopped him. Shiva was infuriated at this strange little boy who dared to challenge him. He told Ganesha that he was Parvati’s husband, and demanded that Ganesha let him go in. But Ganesha would not hear any person’s word other than his dear mother’s. Shiva lost his patience and had a fierce battle with Ganesha. At last he severed Ganesha’s head with his trishula. When Parvati came out and saw her son’s lifeless body, she was very angry and sad. She demanded that Shiva restore Ganesha’s life at once.
Unfortunately, Shiva’s trishula was so powerful that it had hurled Ganesha’s head very far off. All attempts to find the head were in vain. As a last resort, Shiva approached Brahma who suggested that he replace Ganesha’s head with the first living being that came his way which lay with its head facing north. Shiva then sent his celestial armies (Gana) to find and take the head of whatever creature they happened to find asleep with its head facing north.
They found a dying elephant which slept in this manner, and after its death took its head, attaching the elephant’s head to Ganesha’s body and bringing him back to life. From then on, he was called Ganapathi, head of the celestial armies, and was to be worshipped by everyone before beginning any activity.
Photo : Serge Bouvet
From : http://sergebouvet.com/blog/2012/01/ganesh-et-oedipe-ou-le-drame-familial/ -
Ganesha is a popular figure in Indian art. Unlike those of some deities, representations of Ganesha show wide variations and distinct patterns changing over time. He may be portrayed standing, dancing, heroically taking action against demons, playing with his family as a boy, sitting down or on an elevated seat, or engaging in a range of contemporary situations.Ganesha images were prevalent in many parts of India by the 6th century.
The figure shown to the right is typical of Ganesha statuary from 900–1200, after Ganesha had been well-established as an independent deity with his own sect. This example features some of Ganesha’s common iconographic elements. A virtually identical statue has been dated between 973–1200 by Paul Martin-Dubost, and another similar statue is dated c. 12th century by Pratapaditya Pal.
Ganesha has the head of an elephant and a big belly. This statue has four arms, which is common in depictions of Ganesha. He holds his own broken tusk in his lower-right hand and holds a delicacy, which he samples with his trunk, in his lower-left hand. The motif of Ganesha turning his trunk sharply to his left to taste a sweet in his lower-left hand is a particularly archaic feature.
A more primitive statue in one of the Ellora Caves with this general form has been dated to the 7th century. Details of the other hands are difficult to make out on the statue shown. In the standard configuration, Ganesha typically holds an axe or a goad in one upper arm and a noose in the other upper arm.
The influence of this old constellation of iconographic elements can still be seen in contemporary representations of Ganesha. In one modern form, the only variation from these old elements is that the lower-right hand does not hold the broken tusk but rather is turned toward the viewer in a gesture of protection or fearlessness (abhaya mudra). The same combination of four arms and attributes occurs in statues of Ganesha dancing, which is a very popular theme.
Photo : Serge Bouvet
From : http://sergebouvet.com/blog/2012/01/ganesh-et-oedipe-ou-le-drame-familial/ -
Royal graffiti
Photo : Serge Bouvet
From : http://sergebouvet.com/blog/2011/12/couleurs-populaires-de-la-rue/ -
Sculpture of Krishna
Krishna (Sanskrit: कृष्ण : literally “dark, black, dark-blue”) is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is known as the eighth and “complete” avatar of Lord Vishnu, come to restore Dharma to the earth in a time of great dharmic imbalance.
Krishna is identified as a historical individual who participated in the events of the Mahabharata. Krishna is often described as an infant or young boy playing a flute as in the Bhagavata Purana, or as a youthful prince giving direction and guidance as in the Bhagavad Gita. The stories of Krishna appear across a broad spectrum of Hindu philosophical and theological traditions.
They portray him in various perspectives: a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero and the Supreme Being. The principal scriptures discussing Krishna’s story are the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana. Worship of a deity of Krishna, in the form of Vasudeva, Bala Krishna or Gopala, can be traced to as early as 4th century BC.
Worship of Krishna as svayam bhagavan, or the Supreme Being, known as Krishnaism, arose in the Middle Ages in the context of the bhakti movement. From the 10th century AD, Krishna became a favorite subject in performing arts and regional traditions of devotion developed for forms of Krishna such as Jagannatha in Orissa, Vithoba in Maharashtra and Shrinathji in Rajasthan. Since the 1960s the worship of Krishna has also spread in the West, largely due to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Photo : Serge Bouvet
From : http://sergebouvet.com/blog/2012/01/krishna-en-relief/ -
Portrait of Tamoul from Sri Lanka.
Photo : Serge Bouvet
From : http://sergebouvet.com/blog/2012/01/little-jaffna/
