Ganja
Category: Slang & Culture · Level: Beginner · Slang term
Ganja is a word for cannabis flower that comes from Hindi and Sanskrit and is used worldwide, especially in Jamaican and Rastafari culture.
Ganja is one of the oldest names for cannabis still in everyday use. It comes from the Sanskrit and Hindi gañjā, and in South Asia it traditionally means the dried flowering tops of the female plant, as distinct from charas (hand rubbed resin) and bhang (a drink or paste made from leaves). India's narcotics law of 1985 still uses that definition, which is why bhang sold at some festivals sits in a different legal position from ganja.
How the word travelled: after slavery was abolished in the British Caribbean, indentured workers from India arrived in Jamaica from 1845 and brought both the plant and the word. Ganja entered Jamaican speech, and from the 1930s the Rastafari movement adopted it as a sacrament, the holy herb smoked in reasoning sessions and associated with meditation and scripture. Reggae carried the word around the world in the 1970s, which is why it often sounds Jamaican rather than Indian to listeners today.
Use today: in English slang ganja simply means weed, often with a relaxed or reggae flavor; in Jamaica it remains the ordinary word. Jamaica decriminalized possession of small amounts in 2015, allowed home growing of a few plants, created a licensed medical industry and recognized sacramental use by Rastafari. On product labels and in law, more formal terms such as cannabis flower or marijuana are used instead.
Also known as
Weed, Herb, Kaya, Marijuana
Used in
- Recreational