Ganja

A term derived from the Sanskrit language in India to designate Cannabis sativa. At the end of the 19th century, «ganja» entered the vocabulary through the Indian workers in Jamaica, where it became commonplace among Jamaican workers.

Origin

In Sanskrit, ganja is the term for unfertilized female cannabis flowers. Indian swamis had a profound relationship with ganja. Cannabis was used as a remedy for phlegm overproduction and diarrhoea from the third to the eighth century BC, and was later used in Indian folk medicine as an aphrodisiac and analgesic.

The term really gained popularity when it was adopted by Jamaicans - and, in particular, by Jamaicans who are followers of the Rastafari movement, a religion born on the island in the 1930s.

Rastas, another term for followers of the Rastafari movement, use ganja as part of their spiritual practice. The musician Bob Marley was Jamaica's most visible Rasta and often referred to Rastafarian ideals and ganja in his music (notably in songs like «Ganja Gun» and «One Drop»).

Cannabis was illegal in Jamaica during the rise of the Rastafari movement. The plant was criminalized by the Ganja Act of 1913, but as Rastafari gained more and more followers - and the elites feared political unrest from the lower class - amendments were made in 1941 and 1961 that made the restrictions much more severe. In fact, ganja has only been decriminalized in Jamaica than in 2015.

Other cannabis terms derived from «ganja».

The term «ganja» gave birth to in other words, in the cultivation of cannabis, including :

Ganjapreneur: an entrepreneur whose business is focused on cannabis in regions where the plant has been legalized. This may include growers, dispensary owners, cannabis educators or any other cannabis-related business owner.

Ganj: shortened slang term for «ganja».