A drawing of Thugs and Poisoners published by Illustrated London News, C. The Illustrated London News was a Magazine founded by Herbert Ingram and his friend Mark Lemon, the editor of Punch 1857

Thuggee (or tuggee, ठग्गी) (from Hindi thag ‘thief’, from Sanskrit sthaga ‘scoundrel’, from sthagati ‘to conceal’) was an Indian network of secret fraternities engaged in murdering and robbing travellers, operating from the 17th century (possibly as early as 13th century) to the 19th century. Click here for Indian Rebellion of 1857 Year 1857 ( MDCCCLVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical This article is about the history of South Asia prior to the Partition of British India in 1947 As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar This is the origin of the term "thug", as many Indian words passed into common English during British Imperial rule of India. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States For usage see British rule in India British Raj ( rāj, lit "reign" in Hindustani) primarily refers to the British

Working method

Thugs were active all over the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent. Etymology and ethnology The exact origin of the word Bangla or Bengal is unknown though it is believed to be derived from the Dravidian-speaking tribe Bang This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia For geopolitical treatments see South Asia. Maps showing the possessions of the British East India Company in 1765 and 1805

Thuggee groups practiced large-scale robbery and murder of travellers. The Honourable East India Company ( HEIC) referred to most commonly as the East India Company, also historically and colloquially as John Company, or Robbery is the Crime of seizing Property through Violence or Intimidation. Murder is the unlawful killing of another human person with Malice aforethought, as defined in Common Law countries Their modus operandi was to befriend unsuspecting travellers and win their trust; when the travellers allowed the thugs to join and walk with them (sometimes for hundreds of miles), the group of thugs killed them at a suitable place and time before robbing them. Modus operandi (often used in the abbreviated forms MO or simply Method) is a Latin phrase approximately translated as " mode of operation Trust is a relationship of reliance A trusted party is presumed to seek to fulfill policies, ethical codes Law and their previous promises Their method of killing was very often strangulation, performed by throwing a yellow scarf, called a Rumaal, around the neck. A Rumāl ( Punjabi: ਰੁਮਾਲ is a piece of clothing similar to a Handkerchief or Bandana. Usually two or three thugs would strangle one traveller. Because they used strangulation as the method of murder they were also frequently called "Phansigars", or "noose-operators". The thugs then hid the corpses, often by burying them or by throwing them into wells. ^[1].

Thuggee groups consisted of Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims, though their patroness was the Hindu Goddess Kali, whom they often called Bhowanee. A Hindu ( Devanagari: हिन्दू is an adherent of the philosophies and scriptures of Hinduism, a set of religious, Philosophical Sikh (English or; ਸਿੱਖ sikkh, IPA) is the title and name given to an adherent of Sikhism. A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion Kali redirects here See Kali (disambiguation for other uses Not to be confused with Kali (demon, the personification of Kali Yuga ^[2][3][4]Some historians classify the thugs as a cult or sect.

Thugs preferred to kill their victims at certain suitable places, called beles, that they knew well. They killed their victims usually in darkness while the thugs made music or noise to escape discovery. Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. is a one volume manga created by Tsutomu Nihei as a prequel to his ten-volume work Blame!. Each member of the group had its own function, like luring travellers with charming words or that of guardians to prevent escape of victims while the killing took place. The leader of a gang was called jamaadaar.

Origin and recruitment

A group of thugs, ca. 1863

The earliest authenticated mention of the Thugs is found in the following passage of Ziau-d din Barni's History of Firoz Shah (written about 1356):

In the reign of that sultan (about 1290), some Thugs were taken in Delhi, and a man belonging to that fraternity was the means of about a thousand being captured. But not one of these did the sultan have killed. He gave orders for them to be put into boats and to be conveyed into the lower country, to the neighbourhood of Lakhnauti, where they were to be set free. WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details --> Gaur, or Gour, as it is spelt mostly in modern times or Lakhnauti is a ruined city in the The Thugs would thus have to dwell about Lakhnauti and would not trouble the neighbourhood of Delhi any more. " (Sir HM Elliot's History of India, iii. 141).

Though they themselves trace their origin to seven Muslim tribes, the Hindu followers only seem to be related during the early periods of Islamic development; at any rate, their religious creed and staunch worship of Kali, one of the Hindu Tantric Goddesses, showed no Islamic influence. A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion A Hindu ( Devanagari: हिन्दू is an adherent of the philosophies and scriptures of Hinduism, a set of religious, Philosophical For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. Kali redirects here See Kali (disambiguation for other uses Not to be confused with Kali (demon, the personification of Kali Yuga Tantra ( Sanskrit: तन्त्र; " Weave " denoting continuity) tantricism or tantrism is any of several esoteric The practice of Thuggee was categorically stamped out by the British by the early 19th century. Year 19 was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Julian calendar. It should be noted that even at the time, a very small minority of the followers of Kali were Thuggees, whereas the majority of followers did not share the Thuggee viewpoint.

Induction was sometimes passed from father to son; the leaders of the thug groups tended to come from these hereditary lines. Sometimes the thugs did not kill the young children of the travellers and groomed them to become thugs themselves. Some men became thugs to escape great poverty. Poverty (also called penury) is deprivation of common necessities that determine the quality of life including food clothing shelter and safe Drinking water, and A fourth way of becoming a thug was by learning it from a guru. ^[1]

Number of victims

Estimates of the total number of victims depend heavily on the estimated length of existence of the thugs for which there are no reliable sources. According to the Guinness Book of Records the Thuggee cult was responsible for approximately 2,000,000 deaths. Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records (and in previous U The British historian Dr. Mike Dash estimated that they killed 50,000 persons in total, based on his assumption that they only started to exist 150 years before their eradication in the 1830s. Mike Dash (born 1963 is a Welsh writer journalist and researcher Events and trends Electromagnetic induction discovered by Michael Faraday.

Yearly figures for the early 19th century are better documented, but even they are inaccurate estimates. For example, gang leader Behram has often been considered to be the world's most prolific serial killer with 931 killings between 1790 and 1830 attributed to him. "Behram" redirects here For the sixth Sultan of Delhi see Muiz ud din Bahram. A serial killer is a person who Murders usually three or more people with a "cooling off" period between each murder and whose motivation for killing is largely based Reference to contemporary manuscript sources, however, shows that Behram actually gave inconsistent statements regarding the number of murders he had committed, and that while he did state that he had "been present at" 931 killings committed by his gang of 25 to 50 men, elsewhere he admitted that he had personally strangled around 125 people. Having turned King's Evidence and agreed to inform on his former companions, furthermore, Behram never stood trial for any of the killings attributed to him, the total of which must thus remain a matter of dispute. ^[5]

British destruction of the secret society

The Thuggee cult was suppressed by the British rulers of India in the 1830s,^[1] due largely to the efforts of the civil servant William Sleeman, who started an extensive campaign involving profiling and intelligence. The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for over a century was the foremost global power. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Sir William Henry Sleeman ( August 8, 1788 - February 10, 1856) was a British soldier and administrator in India. Offender profiling is a behavioral and investigative tool that helps investigators to profile unknown criminal subjects or offenders Intelligence (also called intellect) is an Umbrella term used to describe a property of the Mind that encompasses many related abilities such as the capacities A police organization known as the 'Thuggee and Dacoity Department' was established within the Government of India, with William Sleeman appointed Superintendent of the department in 1835. The word Dacoity is the anglicized version of the Indian word dakaitee (डकैती or ڈکیتی or ডাকাতি which comes from Sir William Henry Sleeman ( August 8, 1788 - February 10, 1856) was a British soldier and administrator in India. Thousands of men were either put in prison, executed, or expelled from British India. ^[1] The campaign was heavily based on informants recruited from captured thugs who were offered protection on the condition that they told everything that they knew. By the 1870s, the Thug cult was extinct, but the concept of 'criminal tribes' and 'criminal castes' is still in use in India. ^[6] The Department remained in existence until 1904, when it was replaced by the Central Criminal Intelligence Department. Year 1904 ( MCMIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting on The defeat of the Thuggees played a part in securing Indian loyalty to the British Raj. This page is about loyalty as faithfulness to a cause For its use in business see Loyalty business model or Loyalty Marketing. For usage see British rule in India British Raj ( rāj, lit "reign" in Hindustani) primarily refers to the British

Previous attempts at prosecuting and eliminating the thugs had been largely unsuccessful due to the lack of evidence for their crimes. The thugs' modus operandi yielded very little evidence: no witnesses, no weapons, and no corpses. A weapon is a Tool used either in Hunting, or attack or defence in Combat for the purpose of subduing enemy personnel or to destroy enemy weapons Besides, the thugs usually made no confessions when captured. Another main reason was the fact that thug groups did not act locally, but all over the Indian subcontinent, including territories that did not belong to British India in combination with the fact that there was then no centralised criminal intelligence agency, but only local, often corrupt police. This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia For geopolitical treatments see South Asia. For usage see British rule in India British Raj ( rāj, lit "reign" in Hindustani) primarily refers to the British

Possible misinterpretation of Thuggee by the British

In her book The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India (2002), Martine van Woerkens suggests that evidence for the existence of a Thuggee cult in the 19th century was in part the product of "colonial imaginings" — British fear of the little-known interior of India and limited understanding of the religious and social practices of its inhabitants. For a comparison, see Juggernaut and the Black Hole of Calcutta. Please do not put information about the X-Men character on this page The Black Hole of Calcutta was a small Dungeon in Fort William where troops of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, held British

Krishna Dutta, while reviewing the book Thug: the true story of India's murderous cult by the British historian Dr. Mike Dash in The Independent, argues:^[7]

"In recent years, the revisionist view that thugee was a British invention, a means to tighten their hold in the country, has been given credence in India, France and the US, but this well-researched book objectively questions that assertion. Mike Dash (born 1963 is a Welsh writer journalist and researcher The Independent is a British compact Newspaper published by Tony O'Reilly 's Independent News & Media. "

In his book Dash rejects scepticism about the existence of a secret network of groups with a modus operandi that was different from highwaymen, such as dacoits. The word highwayman is first attested from the year 1617 The term "highwayman" is mainly applied to robbers who travelled on horseback as opposed to those who robbed on foot The word Dacoity is the anglicized version of the Indian word dakaitee (डकैती or ڈکیتی or ডাকাতি which comes from To prove his point Dash refers to the excavated corpses in graves, of which the hidden locations were revealed to Sleeman's team by thug informants. In addition, Dash treats the extensive and thorough documentation that Sleeman made. Dash rejects the colonial emphasis on the religious motivation for robbing, but instead asserts that monetary gain was the main motivation for Thuggee and that men sometimes became thugs due to extreme poverty. He further asserts that the Thugs were highly superstitious and that they worshipped the Hindu goddess Kali, but that their faith was not very different from their contemporary non-thugs. Kali redirects here See Kali (disambiguation for other uses Not to be confused with Kali (demon, the personification of Kali Yuga Faith is a Belief in the trustworthiness of an Idea. Formal usage of the word "faith" is usually reserved for concepts of Religion, as in He admits, though, that the thugs had certain group-specific superstitions and rituals.

In popular culture

In literature

• The story of Thuggee was popularised by books such as Philip Meadows Taylor's novel Confessions of a Thug, 1839, leading to the word "thug" entering the English language. Philip Meadows Taylor ( September 25, 1808 &ndash Menton May 13, 1876) an Anglo-Indian administrator and Novelist Confessions of a Thug is an English Novel written by Philip Meadows Taylor in 1839 based on the Thuggee cult in Year 1839 ( MDCCCXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Ameer Ali, the protagonist of Confessions of a Thug was said to be based on a real Thug called Syeed Amir Ali. The Protagonist or main character is the central figure of a story.
• John Masters' novel The Deceivers also deals with the subject. Lieutenant Colonel John Masters, DSO (1914&ndash1983 was an English officer in the British Indian Army and Novelist. A more recent book is George Bruce's The Stranglers: The cult of Thuggee and its overthrow in British India (1968). Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Dan Simmons's Song of Kali, 1985, features a Thuggee cult. Dan Simmons (born April 4, 1948 in Peoria, Illinois) is an American Author most widely known for his Hugo Award Year 1985 ( MCMLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar)
• The 19th century American writer Mark Twain discusses the Thuggee fairly extensively in chapters 9 and 10 of "Following the Equator: Volume II", 1897, THE ECCO PRESS, ISBN 0-88001-519-5. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30 1835 – April 21 1910 better known by the Pen name Mark Twain, was an American Humorist, satirist
• Christopher Moore's novel, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, describes a Thuggee ritual. Christopher Moore (born 1957 in Toledo, Ohio) is an American writer of Absurdist fiction. Lamb The Gospel According to Biff Christ's Childhood Pal is the sixth Novel by Absurdist author Christopher Moore, published
• Sci-Fi/Fantasy author Glen Cook uses an India-like setting and Thuggee as a plot vehicle in his books Shadow Games (June 1989), and Dreams of Steel (April 1990). Glen Cook (born July 9, 1944) is a contemporary American Science fiction and Fantasy author best known for his fantasy series The A Shadow Game, or Game of Darkness ("Yami no Game" literally "Game of Darkness" or "Dark Game" as it is known in the original Japanese Dreams of Steel is the fifth novel in Glen Cook 's ongoing series The Black Company. The books and later ones that continue the storyline form part of Cook's Black Company series. The Black Company or the Black Troops was a unit of Franconian mercenaries during the Peasant's Revolt in the 1520s during the Protestant
• The Serpent's Shadow by Mercedes Lackey has a Hindu villain, whose minions are Thuggee, almost without exception. Mercedes Lackey (born June 24, 1950) New York New York (also known as Misty Lackey) is a prolific American author of fantasy novels
• Author William T. Vollmann draws upon Sleeman in his story The Yellow Sugar, which is one of two tales in his collection The Rainbow Stories dealing with the colour yellow. William Tanner Vollmann (born July 28, 1959 in Los Angeles California) is an American Novelist Journalist, Short
• Arthur Conan Doyle attributes the disfigurements of the protagonist in his Sherlock Holmes novel The Adventure of the Crooked Man to his capture and torture by Thuggee rebels opposing the British occupation of India. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930 was an Anglo-Scottish Author most noted for his stories about the Sherlock Holmes is a famous fictional detective of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who first appeared in Publication in 1887 The Adventure of the Crooked Man, one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle
• Italian writer Emilio Salgari (1862-1911) wrote about thugs in I Misteri della Jungla Nera (1895) and Le Due Tigri (1904) and other short stories. Emilio Salgari (correctly salˈgaːɾi but often erroneously; August 21, 1862 – April 25, 1911) was an Italian writer of
• Francisco Luís Gomes's novel (in Portuguese language), Os Brahamanes (1866), describes Thuggee rituals, while Magnod, the main character, joins in group.
• Greg Iles developed one of the lead antagonists of his book, Mortal Fear, using the Thuggee as an explanation of the historically violent past the antagonist lead. Greg Iles (born 1960 is an American bestselling Novelist who lives in Natchez Mississippi.
• In "Around the World in 80 Days" there is a reference to the Thuggee.

In film

• The two most popular depictions of the cult in film are the 1939 film, Gunga Din and the 1984 film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Gunga Din is a 1939 RKO Adventure film loosely based on the poem by Rudyard Kipling, combined with elements of his novel Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 period Adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The Indiana Jones movie is notable for Amrish Puri's villain, who is shown chanting lines such as "maaro maaro sooar ko, chamdi nocho pee lo khoon" - literally "Kill, Kill the pig, flay his skin, drink his blood". Amrish Lal Puri ( Hindi: अमरीश पुरी Urdu: اَمریش پُری June 22, 1932 – January 12, 2005) Temple of Doom was temporarily banned in India for an allegedly racist portrayal of Indians. Both films have the heroes fighting secret revivals of the cult to prevent them from resuming their reigns of terror, although Temple of Doom included features that were never part of the Thuggee, such as cardiectomy. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 period Adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg.
• In the 1956 film Around the World in Eighty Days, starring David Niven, Passepartout rescues a princess captured by the Thugee and sentenced to burn to death in the funeral pyre with her deceased husband. James David Graham Niven (1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983 was an English Academy Award -winning Actor probably best known for his role as the punctuality-obsessed (In the original Jules Verne novel, Thuggee are mentioned only briefly, and not directly in connection with this princess. Jules Gabriel Verne ( February 8 1828 &ndash March 24 1905) was a French Author who pioneered the science-fiction Around the World in Eighty Days (Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours is a classic Adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first )^[8]
• In 1959 legendary British horror studio Hammer Film Productions released The Stranglers of Bombay. Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. In the film, Guy Rolfe portrays an heroic British officer battling institutional mismanagement by the British East India Company, as well as Thuggee infiltration of Indian Society, in an attempt to bring the cultists to justice. Guy Rolfe ( 27 December 1911 &ndash 19 October 2003) was an English actor The Honourable East India Company ( HEIC) referred to most commonly as the East India Company, also historically and colloquially as John Company, or
• In 1965, Thuggee were portrayed in the Beatles film "Help!". Help! is a 1965 film starring The Beatles and featuring Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti, John Bluthal, Roy
• The 1968 Indian film Sangharsh, based on a story by Jnanpith Award winner Mahasweta Devi, presented the depiction of Thuggees that is considered to be very accurate. The Jnanpith Award is a literary award in India. Along with the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, it is one of the two most prestigious literary honours in the country Mahasweta Devi ( Bengali: মহাশ্বেতা দেবী Môhashsheta Debi) (born 1926 in Dacca in what is now Bangladesh
• The 1988 film version of The Deceivers, produced by Ismail Merchant and starring Pierce Brosnan, is a fictionalised account of the initial discovery and infiltration of the Thuggee sect by an imperial British administrator. Events Michael Jackson 's first film was Moonwalker Top grossing films (U This page is about a 1952 novel For pages with a similar name see the disambiguation page Deceiver. Ismail Merchant ( December 25, 1936 – May 25, 2005) was an Indian born Film producer, best known for the results of Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE Honour and so holds an honorary OBE
• The 1954 film "I Misteri della Giungla Nera" directed by Gian Paolo Callegari and starring Lex Barker, where a group of religious fanatics in India, the Thugs, prey upon European and natives alike by capturing and offering them up in sacrifice to their frightful goddess, Kali (from imdb. ) Adapted from Emilio Salgari's book by the same name.

In television

• The word jamaadaar was the inspiration for the species called the Jem'Hadar in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In the fictional Star Trek universe the Jem'Hadar are the Shock troops of the powerful Dominion located in the Gamma Quadrant.
• In an episode of Highlander: The Series, "The Wrath of Kali", Duncan MacLeod deals with immortal Kamir (played by Indian actor Kabir Bedi), last of the Thuggee. Highlander The Series is an English language Fantasy / Sci-fi Television series featuring Duncan MacLeod ( Adrian Paul To see each highlander season and a brief summary of each episode please check List of Highlander episodes This article contains episode summaries for Duncan MacLeod, also known as the Highlander, is a Fictional character from the Highlander universe Kabir Bedi کبِر بیدِ is an Indian international Actor who originated from Bollywood, worked in Hollywood, and became a star in Europe
• The fifth episode of the short-lived Clerks: The Animated Series featured a plot twist where the Little League World Champions were kidnapped by the Thuggee, where they were forced to chip rock away from walls (much like the Thuggee in the Indiana Jones film). "Dante and Randal and Jay and Silent Bob and a Bunch of New Characters and Lando Take Part in a Whole Bunch of Movie Parodies Including But Not Exclusive To The Bad News Bears The Last Little League Baseball is the name of a Non-profit organization in the United States which organizes local children's leagues of baseball and Softball
• The 2006 television movie Obituary, starring Josie Bissett, features many references to the thuggees and Kali. Josie Bissett ( October 5, 1970) is an American actress best known for her role as Jane Mancini on FOX-TV's " Melrose Place. Kali redirects here See Kali (disambiguation for other uses Not to be confused with Kali (demon, the personification of Kali Yuga
• In an episode of Dad's Army, Corporal Jones tries to strangle a Captain in a training exercise with a makeshift 'Thuggee Scarf' which is a piece of cloth with Half a Crown in one end. Dad’s Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard in the Second World War.
• In the Episode "The Yellow Scarf Affair" of the series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Agent Napoleon Solo uncovers a revival of the Thuggee cult while investigating a plane crash in India. The Man from UNCLE is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January

Notes and references

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone

Bibliography

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
• Dash, Mike Thug: the true story of India's murderous cult ISBN 1-86207-604-9, 2005
• Dutta, Krishna (2005) The sacred slaughterers. Mike Dash (born 1963 is a Welsh writer journalist and researcher Book review of Thug: the true story of India's murderous cult by Mike Dash. In the Independent (Published: 8 July 2005)text
• Paton, James 'Collections on Thuggee and Dacoitee', British Library Add. Mss. 41300
• Woerkens, Martine van The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India (2002),

External links