I am not and have not been trying to convince you or anyone else of anything. I have merely pointed out that there is no evidence (and no, your photos of statues or Scythian tapestries do not constitute evidence) for the use, past or present, of mushrooms for religious purposes in South Asia.

I also pointed out that I have personal experience of exactly the South Asian demographics you speculatively cite as being likely to use them, i.e. Tantrics and/or low caste/tribal people, and my experience at no point revealed anything remotely involving mushrooms, despite my excellent connections and personal tendencies at the time leaning heavily toward getting blitzed and staying blitzed.

If you are interested in my thoughts based on my personal experience of Aghoris of the Nath tradition, I am happy to discuss that, perhaps in another thread or privately. One thing that I can tell you is that Aghoris are not some sort of wild tribe of "feral nomads". They are people who choose a particular practice based on their particular proclivities and personality.

Of course it was staged for the camera! To suggest otherwise is absurd. It is possible that the crazy baba went off script, but the "journalist", if that's what we can call him, went there to provide his gormless viewership with something sensational, no matter what the cost in authenticity, taste or originality. I know that area on the far bank at Benares, it's where a lot of dead bodies wash up, and it's where a lot of crazies hang out, and for a little baksheesh they will put on a good show, as they have for a number of similarly assinine TV  programs before the one you linked to.

Interesting. What were the circumstances? Where was it? Was it the same place where the "charas sadhus" told you about the mushrooms? I'm intrigued.