Editing Thuggee (section)

=== 16th century onwards ===
[[File:Group of Thugs (From a Photograph).jpg|thumb|Group of Thugs (From a Photograph)]]

In the 16th century [[Surdas]], in his allegorical couplet, mentioned robbers called "thags" who would lure victims into their clutches to kill them and steal their property. [[Ibn Battuta]], on his way to [[Calicut]] from Delhi as an envoy to [[Yuan dynasty|China]], was attacked by bandits, who probably were thugs.<ref>{{harvnb|Dunn|2005|p=215}}; {{harvnb|Gibb|Beckingham|1994|p=777 Vol. 4}}</ref> The [[Janamsakhis]] used the term thag to refer to a robber who used to lure pilgrims. [[Jean de Thévenot]] in his 1665 account referred to a band of robbers who used a "certain Slip with a running noose" to strangle their victims. [[John Fryer (FRS)|John Fryer]] also mentions a similar method of strangling used by robbers from [[Surat]] whom he saw being given capital punishment by the [[Mughal Empire|Mughals]] in 1675. He mentioned that three of them were relatives, which [[Kim A. Wagner]] notices is similar to the Thugs who were thought to have engaged in this as a family profession. A decree issued by [[Aurangzeb]] in 1672 refers to a similar method and uses the term "Phansigar".{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=26-28}}

The [[garrote]] is often depicted as a weapon of the Thuggee.<ref name="Popplewell1995">{{cite book|author=Richard James Popplewell|title=Intelligence and imperial defence: British intelligence and the defence of the Indian Empire, 1904–1924|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H44J2uDSE2cC&pg=PA11|access-date=16 April 2011|year=1995|publisher=Frank Cass|isbn=978-0-7146-4580-3|page=11}}</ref><ref name="GreshWeinberg2008">{{cite book|first1=Lois H.|last1=Gresh|first2=Robert|last2=Weinberg|title=Why Did It Have To Be Snakes: From Science to the Supernatural, The Many Mysteries of Indiana Jones|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tAc7BESPBYkC&pg=PA104|access-date=16 April 2011|date=4 April 2008|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|isbn=978-0-470-22556-1|pages=104–107}}</ref> Other evidences suggest that the [[katar (dagger)]] was their personal status weapon, the Thuggee wore this weapon proudly across their chest. Early references to Thugs reported they committed their strangulation murders with nooses of rope or [[catgut]], but later they adopted the use of a length of cloth that could be used as a sash or scarf, and thus more easily concealed.<ref name="mikedash">[[Mike Dash|Dash, Mike]] ''Thug: the true story of India's murderous cult'' {{ISBN|1-86207-604-9}}, 2005</ref> This cloth is sometimes described as a [[rumāl]] (head covering or kerchief), translated as "yellow scarf"; "yellow", in this case, may refer to a natural cream or khaki colour rather than bright yellow.

[[File:Thugs Blinding and Mutilating Traveller.JPG|thumb|250px|alt=See caption|Sketch by the same artist of a group of Thugs stabbing the eyes of murdered travellers before throwing the bodies into a well.]]

The Thuggees preferred to use the method of strangulation in order to take advantage of loopholes in civil law which persisted from the times of the [[Mughal Empire]], which ruled most of India from the 1500s.<ref name="mikedash"/> For a murderer to be sentenced to death, he or she must have shed the blood of their victim. Those who murdered but did not shed blood might face imprisonment, hard labor and paying a penalty—but they would not risk execution.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

The "River Thugs" preyed upon people including Hindu pilgrims travelling using the [[Ganga]] river and became mostly active during the winter like their compatriots from Murnae, [[Bundelkhand]] and [[Awadh]]. Their dialect of Ramasee differed from the one used by their compatriots on land and used boats taken on lease from their builders or from a jemadar called Khuruck Baboo. Sleeman states that they tapped three times to give the signal to murder which they always committed during the day. To avoid detection of a corpse, they broke its back and threw it in the river to be eaten by crocodiles and only robbed money or jewels.<ref>{{cite book|first=Mike|last=Dash|title=Thuggee: Banditry and the British in Early Nineteenth-Century India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XMfasdSA9EC&pg=PA247|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta|page=247; 248; 249|isbn=9781847084736}}</ref>