Tambaku-Walah
This article is an extract from
THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
NOTE 1: Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all.
NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from a very old book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot scanning errors are requested to report the correct spelling to the Facebook page, Indpaedia.com. All information used will be duly acknowledged.
Tambaku-Walah
The use of tobacco spread with wonderful rapidity through-the East. In 1565, Sir John Hawkins first brought it to England; in 1601, the Portuguese introduced it into Java,1 and the same year Asad Beg procured some at Bijapur, which he presented to Akbar. It was then supposed to have come from China, but the leaf was already in use at Mecca and Madinah.2 According to the author of the Dara Shikohi, the plant was first cultivated in India, by order of Akbar, in 1605. In 1617, the smoking of tobacco "having taken very bad effect upon the health and minds of many persons," Jahangir ordered that no one should practice the habit, but the Khan-i-'Alam was so addicted to it that he could not abstain.3
The use of tobacco extended, notwithstanding a prohibitory edict of Shah 'Abbas (1582-1627), and in 1637, Mandelalo4 found both rich and poor in Teheran smoking it, and drinking "Cahwa." The plant was grown near Baghdad, and in Kurdistan, but its preparation being defective, "Inglis tambaku" was preferred. The Persians smoked it through a cocoa nut, a dried pumpkin, or a glass vessel half filled with scented water.
1 Crawford's "Dictionary.
2 Elliot's "History of India,"vi, 165.
3 Op. cit., vi, 351.
4 I, 576.
Chardin,1 who lived in Persia from 1664 to 1670, mentions that the English first introduced "Tabac de Brezil" about 1630, but finding it too strong, the Persians took to cultivating the plant for themselves, the finest quality being grown at Hamadan and towards the Gulf. To increase its stimulating effects, Indian hemp was usually mixed with it.
It was probably owing to a spirit of opposition to what was then a Hindu and Muhammadan custom, that Guru Govind (1675-1708) forbad the use of snuff by his followers, and at the present day the Sikhs abstain from tobacco in all forms.
In India a name for tobacco is Surati, from Surat, where it was first imported; but physicians pronounce this sort to be possessed of very drying properties, and only fit for use when washed in rose-water, or "Bed-mushk."
According to the Hakims, tobacco is hot and dry, being good for cold and lymphatic temperaments, but prejudicial to thin, spare habits, as it tends to consume, and still further emaciate the body. Its corrector (Muclih) is milk, and when mixed with molasses the injurious effects of the weed are counteracted. In Eastern Bengal, tobacco from Kochh Bihar is considered the finest; but that grown at Lucknow, Benares, or Patna is preferred by some, while tobacco grown locally is generally wanting in pungency, but a variety called "Wilayati," evidently introduced by the English, and remarkable for its small leaves, is highly commended for its strength.
With very few exceptions all men smoke in Bengal, and boys scarcely able to walk may be seen inhaling the fragrant weed. Muhammadan women smoke and many chew, while, on the other hand, Hindu women only chew, and no high caste female will smoke.
Tobacco leaf is sold by Hindus of different castes, but Muhammadans alone will sell it ready made for smoking. Tobacco in towns is prepared for use by mixing the cut leaf with molasses, and then pounding them together in a mass, but in villages the leaf is merely cut up, mixed with molasses and kneaded with the hands.
Nine-tenths of the native population smoke tobacco in one or other of these forms, but connoisseurs object to the pungency of the weed thus prepared, and prefer spiced tobacco (Macalah ka tambaku), consisting of various ingredients, kept ready mixed, and sold by the tobacconists to customers of known tastes. Camphor, foenu-greek, bay-leaves, and grated sandal wood are ordinarily used in Bengal; but by Hindustanis, conserve of roses, Jack-fruit juice, or that of the pineapple "Keora" (pan-
1 III, 15. George Sandys, in his travels of 1610, is the first Englishman who describes tobacco-smoking among the Turks. In Russsel's "Aleppo," i, 378, further particulars regarding the introduction of tobacco in the East are given.
danus) or "Kus-kus" are fancied Among the higher classes of Muhammadans the white part of the Harsingar (Nyctanthes) flower is dried in the sun, and the expressed juice, mixed with tobacco, is said to impart the most delicious flavour to the weed.
Strong tobacco is, as a rule, chewed, the mild smoked. In Upper India tobacco leaf mixed with lime is generally chewed; but in Bengal, women, who are the most inveterate chewers, mix it with pan. The saliva is always expectorated, and there is no more repulsive sight in the Zananas than that of walls, mats, and floors disfigured by the stains of the tobacco chewer.
When tobacco leaf is torn into small pieces, and the pipe-bowl filled, it is called "Sulfa," and again, when a plate of zinc or copper is put between the tobacco and the lighted charcoal, it is designated "Tawa."
Snuff (Nas), which is generally retailed by Muhammadans who keep miscellaneous stores, is rarely used except medicinally, being said to cure headaches by eliminating morbid humours from the brain. Two sorts of snuff are sold, the Benares and Masulipatam.
As a cure for a cold in the head, a very popular remedy is tobacco-leaf, which has been broken and dried before a fire. A pinch or two of this snuffed up, is said to cure the most obstinate cold.
