Essay · Vijaya in Indian knowledge
Ganja and bhang: an unusual chapter.
The place of cannabis, known as Vijaya, in Indian tradition, medicine and law.
Few plants have been as honoured, as studied and as misunderstood as cannabis. In India it has a name that says how it was once regarded: Vijaya, the victorious.
A plant with a place in tradition
Indian tradition ties the plant to the churning of the ocean, the Samudra Manthan. In one telling it sprang up where drops of amrita fell to earth. In another, Shiva brought it forth from his own body, which is why it was called angaja, “born of the limbs”, a word that is said to have become ganja. To this day it is offered to Shiva, and the Atharvaveda names bhanga among its sacred plants.
A plant with a place in medicine
The world’s modern medical interest in cannabis began in India. In the 1830s Dr. William O’Shaughnessy, an Irish physician working in Calcutta, studied how the plant was used here and carried that knowledge to Europe. Half a century later the colonial government’s Indian Hemp Drugs Commission produced a report of more than three thousand pages. Its conclusion was that moderate use caused no appreciable harm.
A plant outside the law
In 1985 the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act prohibited ganja and charas across India. Bhang, made from the leaves, remained outside the definition and is still sold through licensed shops in several states. The Act left the door open for medical and scientific use under licence, and that is the door VVF works through.
Why it matters now
The essay asks for something modest: that a plant with thousands of years of recorded use in this country be looked at again, on the evidence, and that India recover its own name and knowledge for it. It does not promote use. VVF exists to do that work properly, through research, qualified practitioners and transparent supply.
This essay is a personal and historical perspective by its author. It is not medical advice and does not promote the use of cannabis. VVF’s own work is described on the home page and in its standards.