Hey MetaMountain, (Not Mesc), Shrooms are very common in India and especially depending on what state you are in. Liiberty caps in Pune, Cubensis in much of the country. The WEstern Ghat mountains has a city known to tourists as Mushroom City. They have been going there for thirty years and have shrooms. PEter Gorman reported about the mushroosm of Tamilnadu, India. I pickjed cubensis in Orissa and Copelandia species are all over, plus sivx new spedcies of Hypholoma are now known to come from India. Read below for some information for you on where to find shrooms in India. And again, it depends onthe time of the years. India, like southeast Asia is one giant cow field with no fences in most locations. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX From the book Psychedelics Reinmmagined edited by Tom Lyttle and froman chapter buy john W. Allen and Jochen Gartz, Ph.D. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Mushroom festivals are also common in parts of India, Bali (Schultes and Hofmann, 1980; W?lty, 1981), the British Isles (Harries & Evans, 1981; Peden et al., 1982), and other European countries (Gartz,1993). India India, is a very large country comprised of many different climates, thereby providing ideal climatic environments for the growth of several varieties of psychotropic fungi. It is also probably the largest cattle pasture in the world. Cows are sacred in India and are allowed to roam freely across the land. So far only five species of psilocybian fungi have been botanically reported from India. They include: Panaeolus subbalteatus (Sarbhuy & Daniel, 1981); P. semilanceata, and Panaeolus papillionaceus from Pune, India (Bhide et al., 1987); C. cyanescens from Bengal (Bose, 1919-1928, 1920: Butler and Bisby, 1931) and recently from Madras on the Southeast coast of India (Gerhardt, 1990). While some of the four above mentioned species are probably consumed by tourists for recreational purposes, the following two species are not well known of and most assuringly not used in India for their psychoactive effects. Psilocybe atrobrunnea is reported to occur in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, India (Sinha and Padhi, 1978) but contains no active indoles (Christiansen ey al., 1981, 1984). Another species belonging to the genera Inocybe, Inocybe corydalina (Sathe and Sasangam, 1977) was just recently identified as a psilocybin containing mushroom (Gartz, 1986; Stijve and Kuyper, 1985; Stijve et al., 1985). Afirst there seemed to be some mystery regarding the presence of P. cubensis and/or P. subcubensis in India. Reports from tourists indicate that P. cubensis does occur in India (also see Guzm?n, Allen & Gartz, 1999, for the mycological reference to its locations in India). Even Terence McKenna (1988) recently questioned the existence of P. cubensis in India by stating that there is a "lack of confirmation in India of the presence of Psilocybe cubensis or other psilocybin-containing mushrooms." As noted above, there are also9 several other psilocybian species which have been botanically identified from India. Wasson (Forte, 1988) wrote that "Stropharia cubensis was known to tribals and sudras" and wondered if that species was "responsible for the elevation of the cow to a sacred status." Wasson (1982) first reported on Stropharia cubensis from India in 1970 in an article of which he was co-author along with Roger Heim. In 1965, Wasson was in Dumka in the Santal Parganas in the Indian state of Bihar. An informant, a widow of a Luthern pastor, described a fungus to Wasson, as "(big, growing only in dung mostly of cattle, and white reaching an intense cream color in the umbonate center)." Wasson noted that the description tallied with Stropharia cubensis (Wasson, 1982:595). Two years later, while during another expedition to India, this time in the Simlipal Hills of Nawana in the Indian state of Orissa, Wasson met with the chief of the village who also described the same mushroom from the dung of cattle. Wasson claimed that the chiefs description of the mushroom was similar to the one from the Lutheran pastors widow. One point of interest which has as yet not been followed up on were Wassons remarks regarding the painted designs in many of the Santal houses which Wasson visited in. Wasson wondered "does its [Stropharia cubensis] entheogenic virtue account for the colored geometrical designs, endlessly varied that decorate the exteriors of many Santal houses." Reports from foreign travelers (JWA, unpublished notes, 1989-1991) indicate that full moon mushroom festivals and other illicit drug festivals such as the ones celebrated on Koh Pha-Ngan in Thailand, are also held in India. Goa, a large European tourist populated district on the west coast of India is known by foreign travelers as a center of drug consuming activity for many trekkers and tourists who visit Goa. Several tourists (JWA, Pers. Comms., 1991) visiting the Thai European district of Bamlumpoo have mentioned that tourists and travelers in Western India often attend "full moon" drug festivals, including a small population of European "hippies" who reside in Goa and belong to the drug sub-culture that exists there. Recently, Mark D. Merlin, a professor of the University of Hawaii's Biology Department (December, 1992), reported that magic mushrooms were offered for sale to him while he traveled south of Goa along the Western coast of India. However, Dr. Merlin was unable to examine the mushrooms to determine and confirm whether the mushroom vendor had real "magic mushrooms" or not. Furthermore, a young female student at the University of Hawaii related to one of the authors (JWA), the presence of the "infamous mushroom women" who gathered magic mushrooms in the woods near her village in Tamilnadu State and then sell them to tourists. According to this student, these women supplement their income by collecting "magic mushrooms" in the Western Ghat mountains during the two monsoon seasons. Besides gathering entheogenic fungi for profit, the mushroom ladies regularly gathered wild berries, edible mushrooms and firewood. The student informed the senior author that European travelers, trekkers, and freaks referred to her home village (town) of Kodaikanadu in the Indian state of Tamilnadu as "mushroom city." She reported that psychoactive mushrooms were common in rain forest clearings near her village in the Western Ghat Mountains and that the mushrooms occurred in grass growing in Gaur and cow manure (see Gorman, 1995, for further information. Gorman also visited India in search of magic shrooms. eventually he found some but was actually chased by two mad policemen who wanted to thrash him just for being a tourists (Gorman 1985).. Gorman wrote of his shroom adventures in India in an issue of High Times magazine). XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxx XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX And here is a list from a paper by me, Guzman and Gartz on what magic shrooms are in India. India (wide distribution) Copelandia bispora (Natarajan & Raman, 1983). Copelandia cyanescens (Bose, 1920; Natarajan & Raman, 1983; Ott, 1993; Gerhardt, 1996). Copelandia tirunelveliensis (Natarajan & Raman, 1983). Copelandia tropica (Natarajan & Raman, 1983). Gymnopilus sapineus (Natarajan & Raman, 1983). Gymnopilus spectabilis (Natarajan & Raman, 1983; Ott, 1993). Hypholoma gigaspora Natarajan & Raman (Natarajan & Raman, 1985; Guzm?n,1995). Hypholoma guzmanii (Natarajan & Raman, 1983; Guzm?n, 1995). Inocybe corydalina Qu?let (Sathe & Sasangam, 1977). Panaeolina microsperma (Natarajan & Raman, 1983). Panaeolus africanus (Natarajan & Raman, 1983). Panaeolus ater (Ola'h, 1968, 1969, 1970). Panaeolus papilionaceus (Bhide et al., 1987). Panaeolus subbalteatus (Berk. & Br.) Sacc. (Ola'h, 1969; Natarajan & Raman,1983). Panaeolus venezoalanus (Gerhardt, 1996). Psilocybe cubensis (Earle) Singer (Natarajan & Raman, 1983). Psilocybe goniospora (Pegler, 1977). Psilocybe indica (Sathe & Daniel, 1980; Guzm?n, 1995). Psilocybe natarajanii (=P. aztecorum var. Bononi (Guzm?n) Guzm?n sensu Natarajan & Raman (Guzm?n, 1995). Psilocybe pseudoaztecorum Natarajan & Raman (Natarajan & Raman, 1985; Guzm?n,1995). Psilocybe semilanceata (Bhide et al., 1987; Ott, 1993). India, Bengal Copelandia cyanescens (Berk. & Br.) Singer. India, Bihar Psilocybe cubensis (Earle) Singer (Heim & Wasson, 1958; Allen & Merlin, 1992a,b). India, Kerala Psilocybe indica Sathe & Daniel (Sathe & Daniel, 1980; Guzm?n, 1995). India, Madras Psilocybe pseudoaztecorum Natarajan & Raman (Natarajan & Raman, 1985; Guzm?n,1995). Copelandia cyanescens (Berk. & Br.) Singer (Allen & Merlin, 1992a, b). India, Orissa Psilocybe cubensis (Earle) Singer. India, Pune Psilocybe semilanceata (Fr.:Secr.) P. Kumm. Panaeolus papillionaceus (Fr.:Bull.) Qu?l Sri Lanka (Ceylon) Copelandia cyanescens (Berk. & Br.) Singer (Coomarasway, 1979; Singer, 1969; Pegler, 1986). Copelandia cambodgeniensis (Gerhardt, 1996). Panaeolus Ater (Ola'h, 1969). Panaeolus rubricaulis (Gerhardt, 1996). Psilocybe goniospora (Berk. & Br.) Singer (Pegler, 1986; Guzm?n, 1983, 1995). Psilocybe ochreata (Berk. & Br.) Horak ex Guzm?n (Guzm?n, 1983; Pegler, 1986). Psilocybe rostrata (Pegler, 1986; Guzm?n, 1995). XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Six of the above noted Psilocybe species newly discoveed in India have had their names changed to the genera Hypholoma. mj XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX So my dear Mesc, as you can see, there are many shrooms to be found in India. It is just depends on where you are and who you know. They are aware of the shrooms in many areas. In fact they even pick edible shrooms so people who own cattle know of them. ANd there are millins of cattle inthat country. By the way, while Hindi's do not eat the mat of cows, they do eat Buffalo meat and other four-legged ruminants. mj
Edited by mjshroomer (04/18/03 08:54 AM)
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