MEDICALLY, it is now established that smoking is hazardous for health and, therefore, to discourage habitual and addicted smokers, there are laws and social restrictions which are in force to keep public places clean from smoking.
But there was a time when its introduction thrilled the people of Europe and they readily became addicted to the new drug that was brought first by the Spaniards, and then the Portuguese from the New World. When some of the fellows of Columbus saw the inhabitants of Cuba smoking tobacco, their observation was recorded as such: “They light it at one end and at the other, they suck, chew, or draw in with their breath that smoke with which their flesh is benumbed and so to speak, it intoxicates them, and in this way, they say they do not know fatigue.”
Soon, it became popular throughout Europe. The Portuguese brought it to southern India and from there it reached the court of Akbar in 1604-5 by a Mughal noble whose name was Asad Beg. He was sent by Akbar as an ambassador to Bijapur. There, he saw tobacco and knowing that Akbar was fond of rare and new things, he decided to bring it as a present to him. According to him, when Akbar noticed something in the try “he expressed great surprise and examined the tobacco, which was made up in pipeful; he inquired what it was, and where I had got it. Nawab Khan-i-Azam replied: “This is tobacco, which is well known in Makkah and Madina, and this doctor has brought it as a medicine for your majesty.”
Akbar became curious and wanted to smoke it. Asad Beg brought a handsome pipe for Akbar. It “was three cubits in length, beautifully dried and coloured, both ends being adorned with jewels and enamel.” The court physician tried to forbid the emperor not to smoke a new drug which might be dangerous to his health, but Akbar insisted and to please Asad Beg, smoked a little. He then asked the druggist who was brought to the court about tobacco and its qualities. His reply was that there was nothing about it in his books. Then followed an interesting discussion which indicates the intellectual atmosphere at the court of Akbar. A physician said: “It is an untried medicine, about which the doctors have written nothing. How can we describe to Your Majesty the qualities of such unknown things? It is not fitting that Your Majesty should try it.”
To that, Asad Beg replied to the physician: “The Europeans are not foolish as not to know all about it. There are wise men among them who seldom err or commit mistakes. How can you, before you have tried it a thing and found out all its qualities, pass a judgment on it that can be depended on by physicians, kings, great men and nobles? Things must be judged according to their good or bad qualities, and the decision must be according to the facts of the case.”
The physician responded: “We do not follow the Europeans in adopting a custom which is not sanctioned by our own wise men without trial.”
Asad Beg replied: “It is a strange thing, for every custom in the world has been new at one time or other; from the days of Adam till now, they have gradually been invented. When a new thing is introduced among a people, and becomes well known in the world, everyone adopts it. Wise men and physicians should determine the good or bad qualities of a thing; the good qualities may not appear at once.”
Akbar enjoyed the discussion and commented that: “truly, we must not reject a thing that has been adopted by the wise men of other nations merely because we cannot find it in our books; or how shall we progress?”
Asad Beg brought large quantities of tobacco and a number of pipes that he generously gifted to nobles and his friends. Akbar himself never smoked it again. The author of Ma’asir-i-Rahimi also testifies that tobacco first came during Akbar’s reign and soon became popular among the Mughal nobility However, it is assumed that there was also strong opposition to smoking it. Jahagir, in 1617, mentions in Tuzuk that: “As the smoking of tobacco had taken a bad effect upon the health and mind of many persons, I ordered no one should practice the habit. My brother, Shah Abbas, also being aware of its evil effects, had issued a command against the use of tobacco.”
It appears that in the 17th century, there was widespread opposition to tobacco smoking. That is why the ruler of England, James I, forbade its use. It was also banned by the Ottoman Sultan Murad (1623-1640). There was a death penalty for those who violated the ban.
Thomas Roe, the English ambassador who visited the Mughal court during 1615-1618, found it difficult to procure tobacco in India because of its ban and wrote to his friend, Popwell, in England, to send him four or five pounds for his personal use. When a German traveller, Mandeslo, visited India during Shah Jahan’s period, he observed that smoking was common among the nobility as well as among the common people.
We find that the later Mughal rulers had a separate department for smoking known as Bhandar Khana. Kings and nobles made elaborate arrangements for smoking the hukkah. When the British came to India, in the early period they also adopted the habit. It no longer remained a habit of the nobility but common people adopted it with enthusiasm as well. The hukkah became a symbol of communal fraternity.
