Bull. Ind Inst. Hist. Med. Vol. XXIII, pp. 53 to 58

HARMFUL EFFECTS OF TOBACCO NOTICED IN HISTORY

APARNA CHATTOPADHAYYA'"

ABSTRACT

According to medical investigations tobacco srnokinq causes cancer of

lip, tongue, tonsil and other parts of the mouth. And also lung cancer,chronic bronchitis, coronary artery diseases and ernphvserna are caused by

cigarette-smoking. Three contemporary rulers, emperor Jahangir of India,

James I of England and Shah Abbas I of Persia noticed the harmful effects of

tobacco and tried to stop this practice. Khalil Pasha issued a prohibitory

decree against smoking tobacco and he announced that anybody caught

smoking would have his lips cut and eyes taken out. In 1044 Hijri, Russia

also passed cart ain regulations against smoking. In India Guru Govind Sin~lh

prohibited tobacco smoking for the members of the Sikh c omrnurutv. He

said 'Wine is bad; Indian hemp (bhang) de str ovth one generation; but

tobacco d est ro vt h all generations'.

One of the first published reportson the bad effects of tobacco onhealth, issued in 1859, showed thatall of the 68 patients in a hospital atMontpellier, France, who had cancerof the lip, tongue, tonsil, or otherparts of the mouth used tobacco(Briggs, 1989). Following worldwars I & II when cigarette smokingbecame wiele spread, health authori-ties reported that in the countrieswhere ciqare tte smoking was popular,deaths from lung cancer and certainother diseases were climbing at analarming rate. In January, 1964 a

special advisory committee appointedby the United States Surgeon Generalended with a two year study byreportinq that cigarette smoking wasassociated with the 70% increase inthe lung cancer death rate forAmerican males in 1950--60. Thereport found that cigarette smokingwas associated with lung cancer,coronary artery disease, chronicbronchitis and emphysema The pipesmoking report added, is linked withlip cancer (Benton, 1974). We alsolearned from another authority that,among many causative factors of

"'New A/2/1, Pr incip a l s colony. Banaras Hindu University. Varanas i-Zz l 005.

54

cancer, one is cigarette smoking (lungcancer). In recent years there hasbeen concern over the harmful effectof nicotine, the tarry compounds andCarbon Monoxide in tobacco smoke(Briggs, 1989).

In India tobacco was introducedduring the time of Emperor Akbar.But .Jahar.qir like his contemporariesJames I of England and Shah Abbas Iof Persia, believed tobacco 10 be anoxious drug ar.d f orb ade it:, use(Smith, 1990). It is interesting that,three monarchs who were contempor-aries realised that, tobacco washarmful and tried to stop its use.James I, has been described as themost learned man ever occupied aBritish throne, wrote verses. Hisspeeches and prose writings werevigorous and clever. His writingsinclude a 'A counterblast toTobacco' which is a violent attackupon the practice of smoking (Warnerand Marten, 1930).

In King James 1'5 counterblast toTobacco, the most valuable lines arethe following - 'A custom loathsometo the eye, hateful to the nose,harmful to the brain, dangerous tothe lungs, and in the black stinkingfume thereof nearest resembling thehorrible stygian smoke of the pit thatis bottom-less " so the badeffect of the tobacco both for brainarid lungs were pointed out by JamesI (Wilson, 1911).

Bull. Ind. lnst . Hist , Med. Vol. XXIII

In Iran tobacco had reached fromHindustan and Portugal throughtraders. Shah Abbas I the king of lra»did not like the smoke of 'Hukk a'.In 'j 026 Hijri, Jahangir sent hisambassador named Mirza BarkhordarKhan Alam to Shah Abbas I. Theambassador was addicted to smoking.In fact he was a habitual smoker. Hehad always a golden "Chap ak ' withhim. In 1028 Hijri, 27th of Rajab,he was staying with the Spanishambassador, English ambassador andthe ambassador of the Ottomanempire. Once, all of them sitting alongwith Shah Abbas I were srnokinqtogether in the house of Imam QuliKhan. The Indian ambassador smokedfrom the 'Ch ap ak ' and the blackfoul-smelling smoke went from hismouth towards the king and others.Shah Abbas I did not like this tobaccosmell but he did not say anythingout of courtesy. So he spoke inTurki to the Spanish amb as sador sothat the Indian ambassador wouldnot understand what he said and heasked the Sp anish ambassador

whether in their country people liked

to smoke tobacco. The latter said,

'In Spain, except the Red Americans

and black-skinned Africans nobody

likes tobacco'. Shah laughed at it

and to avoid smoke and the Indian

ambassador he left the place and he

showed his disgust by lifting the

turban of the host (Imam Quli) and

throwing it away

Har.mful Effects of Tobacco-Chattopadhyaya 55

"Abbas I (right) seated with the Emperor Jahangir"(Courtesy: The New Encvctopaedia Britannica 1981, Vol. 1 P.No. 4)

56

It is interesting to know thatsmoking of tobacco was so muchpopular in Iran and it was so much infashion that high officials and noblesused to smoke even on horsebackwhile they were on travel. Graduallythis addiction crept into generalpublic also and it was a fashion tooffer 'Hukk a' for the first time to theguests. Even in literary di cussions,in meetings and even in colleges thestudents used to somke and everystudent used to carry a 'hukka' Thepeople used to break their Harnzanfast with 'hukka'.

An interesting fact given inconnection with the above details isthe following. Khalil Pasha issued aprohibitory decree aqainst smokingtobacco and he announced that

Bull. Ind. Inst . Hist. Med. Vol. XXIII

anybody caught smoking 1IV0uidhavehis lips cut and eyes taken out,because he found many soldiersaddicted to smoking. And then onetrader found smoking was burnt todeath along with his bags of tobacco(Falsafi, 1332 Hijri) In 1044 Hijri,Russia also passed certain regulationsagainst srr.oking (Falsafi, 1332 Hijri).

If we turn to India again we findthe valuable observation of GuruGovind Singh regarding the perniciouseffect of smoking. The Guru whorequired the members of the brother-hood to abjure tobacco which hedetested said-"Wine is bad, Indianhepm (Bhang) destroyth onegeneration, but tobacco destroyth ailgenerations" (Smith, A. 1990).

Harmful Effects of Tobacco - Chattopadhyaya 57

REFERENCES

1. Benton, Helen Hemingway 1974 'The New Encyclopaedia Britanica'Vol. 18, Fifteenth Edition, London,p.467.

2. Briggs, AS.A. 1989 'The Longman Encyclopaedia' Long-man Group UK Ltd., Longman House,Burnt Mill, Harlow, Essex CM 202 JFEngland and Associated Companiesthrough out the World Colambia,University Press 1989, First published1989, p. 176. Ibid. a.p. 1962.

3. Falsafi, Nasrulla 1332 'Zindagani-e-Shah Abbas'(Hijri) Vol. II Teheran p. 277-279. Ibid,

a p. 270, footnote. 3,

4. Smith, V.A 1990 'The Oxford History of India' editedby percival spear, Fourth edition, EighthImpression Oxford University Press,Y.M.C.A Library Building, Jai SinghRoad, New Delhi - 110 001 p, 373.Ibid a.p. 432.

5. Warner, George Townsend& Marten, C.H.K.

1930 'The Ground work of British History',Blackie and son Ltd, London andGlasgow p. 327, footnote No.2.

6. Wilson, John Dover 1968 'Life in Shakespeare's England', Pen-guin Books Ltd, Cambridge UniversityPress, 1911, reissued in PenguinShakespeare Library, 1968, p, 149.

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