Editing Thuggee

{{Short description|Indian gangs of robbers and murderers (14th–19th centuries)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox criminal organization
| name = Thuggee
| image = Group of Thugs.gif
| image_size = 250px
| caption = Group of Thugs {{circa|1894}}
| founded = unknown, possibly early 1300s{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=26}}
| named after = Sanskrit word for concealment
| founding_location = [[Central India]] and [[Bengal]]
| years_active = {{circa|14th century – late 19th century}}
| territory = [[Indian subcontinent]]
| membership = Unknown
| activities = Murder, robbery
| allies =
| rivals = [[British Raj]], [[merchant]]s
}}

'''Thuggee''' ({{IPAc-en|UK|θ|ʌ|ˈ|ɡ|iː}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|θ|ʌ|g|i}}) was a network of [[organized crime]] in [[British Raj]] India in the [[19th century]] of gangs that traversed the [[Indian subcontinent]] murdering and robbing people.<ref name="thugs">"[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-aug-03-tr-books3-story.html Tracing India's cult of Thugs]". 3 August 2003. ''Los Angeles Times''.</ref> A member of Thugee was referred to as a ''Thug''.

The Thugs were purported to have murdered their victims by strangling using a [[Kerchief|bandana]] as a tool.<ref name="David Scott Katsan 2006 141" /> The Thugs were believed to practice their killings as a form of worship toward the goddess [[Kali]].<ref name="Will Sweetman, Aditya Malik" /> For centuries, the authorities of the [[Indian subcontinent]], such as the [[Khalji dynasty]],<ref name="Martine van Woerkens 2002 110" /> the [[Mughal Empire]],{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=26}} and the [[British Raj]], attempted to curtail the criminal activities of Thuggee during their rule.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=7}}

Contemporary scholarship is increasingly sceptical of the ''thuggee'' concept, and has questioned the existence of such a phenomenon,<ref name="Cambridge Scholars Publishing">{{cite book|title=Tabish Khair: Critical Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DnExBwAAQBAJ|first1=Cristina M.|last1=Gámez-Fernández|first2= Om P.|last2= Dwivedi|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|year=2014|isbn=9781443857888}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA"/> which has led many historians to describe ''thuggee'' as the invention of the British colonial regime.<ref name="S. Shankar 2001">{{cite book|title=Textual Traffic: Colonialism, Modernity, and the Economy of the Text|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PuFw9xDqojgC&pg=PA29|author=S. Shankar|publisher=[[SUNY Press]]|year=2001|isbn=978-0791449929}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
ठग ({{IAST|Thuggee|''ṭhag''}}), translated from [[Hindi]] as "[[swindler]]" or "deceiver". It is related with the verb ''thugna'' ("to deceive"), from the [[Sanskrit]] स्थग ({{IAST|''sthaga''}} '[[wikt:cunning|cunning]], [[wikt:sly|sly]], [[fraudulent]]') and स्थगति ({{IAST|''sthagati''}}, 'he conceals').<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/T/THU/thugs.html|title=Thugs|website=1902encyclopedia.com|access-date=1 October 2017}}</ref> This term, describing the murder and robbery of travellers, was popular in the northern parts of the [[Indian subcontinent]], especially the [[North India|northern]] and [[East India|eastern regions]] of India.<ref name="thugs"/> The English word [[Thug (disambiguation)#People|thug]] is derived from the same roots as the term "Thuggee".<ref>{{cite book |author1=Jan Alber |author2=Frank Lauterbach |title=Stones of Law, Bricks of Shame: Narrating Imprisonment in the Victorian Age |date=2009 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1442693135 |pages=78, 81  |language=En}}</ref>

The Thuggee reportedly operated as gangs of [[highwaymen]] who tricked and murdered their victims by [[strangling]]. To take advantage of their victims, the thugs would join travellers and gain their confidence, which would allow them to surprise and strangle the travellers with a handkerchief or noose.<ref name="David Scott Katsan 2006 141">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DlMUSz-hiuEC&pg=RA4-PA141|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature, Volume 1|publisher=Oxford University Press |page=141|year=2006|author=David Scott Katsan|isbn=9780195169218}}</ref> 
One of the Thuggee would befriend their potential targets (even to the point of assuming their religion) and accompany them for a while to assess their potential wealth.<ref name="Mike Dash 193">{{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=PA193|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta|page=193|isbn=9781847084736}}</ref><ref name="Mike Dash; Thuggee" /> Eventually, as one Thug managed to distract their victims by engaging them in conversation, the other members who were tasked with the killing would strangle them swiftly from behind.<ref name="Thug; True story of india" /> After the murder, they sometimes mutilated the corpses to hide evidence,<ref name="Mike Dash 73">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XMfasdSA9EC&pg=PA73|title=Thug: The True Story Of India's Murderous Cult|first=Mike|last=Dash|page=73|isbn=9781847084736|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta Publications }}</ref> and buried the remains.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XMfasdSA9EC&pg=PA79|title=Thug: The True Story Of India's Murderous Cult|first=Mike|last=Dash|page=79|isbn=9781847084736|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta Publications }}</ref>{{sfn|Rost|1911}} Their [[modus operandi]] led to the thugs being called ''Phansigar'' ("using a [[noose]]"), a term more commonly used in southern India.<ref name="RussellLai1995">{{cite book|author1=R. V. Russell|author2=R. B. H. Lai|title=The tribes and castes of the central provinces of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=76c1VSYnPE0C&pg=PA559 |access-date=19 April 2011|year=1995|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=978-81-206-0833-7|page=559}}</ref> 

[[File:Datura metel Fastuosa2944475918.jpg|thumb|''[[Datura metel]]'' 'Fastuosa' (Hindi: काला धतूरा ''kāla dhatūra'' – "black datura"), the deliriant herb sometimes used by the Thugs to stupefy their victims.]]
Although strangulation is one of their most-recognised methods of murder, they also used blades and poison.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=116}} The Thuggee gangs usually commenced their act in the evening,<ref name="Thug; True story of india" /> and attacked travelling groups whose numbers were smaller than their own groups to avoid unnecessary losses.<ref name="Mike Dash; Thuggee" /> To avoid suspicion, they carried only a few swords.<ref name="Thug; True story of india">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XMfasdSA9EC&pg=PA77|title=Thug: The True Story Of India's Murderous Cult|first=Mike|last=Dash|page=77|isbn=9781847084736|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta Publications }}</ref> The poisonous ingredients which prepared by the Thuggee were consisted of ''[[Datura metel]]'', the Indian thornapple, (family [[Solanaceae]]), a poisonous plant sacred to [[Shiva]]<ref name= "Siklos VMT">{{cite journal |last1=Siklós |first1=Bulcsu |title=Datura rituals in the Vajramahabhairava-Tantra |journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |date=1994 |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=409–416 |jstor=23658487 }}</ref><ref name= "Geeta & Gharaibeh">{{cite journal |last1=Geeta |first1=R. |last2=Gharaibeh |first2=Waleed |title=Historical evidence for a pre-Columbian presence of Datura in the Old World and implications for a first millennium transfer from the New World |journal=Journal of Biosciences |date=December 2007 |volume=32 |issue=S3 |pages=1227–1244 |doi=10.1007/s12038-007-0132-y |pmid=18202447 |s2cid=11871048 }}</ref> with powerful [[deliriant]] properties, were sometimes used by thugs to induce drowsiness or stupefaction, making strangulation easier.<ref name="mikedash"/> The [[Hindi]] name for the plant ''धतूरा'' (''dhatūra'') is derived from the [[Sanskrit]] and was adapted by [[Linnaeus]] into the Latinate genus name ''[[Datura]]''.<ref>Schultes, Richard Evans; Hofmann, Albert (1979). The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens (2nd ed.) pub. Springfield Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. Pages 283 and 288</ref><ref name= "Symon & Haegi">'Datura (Solanaceae) is a New World Genus' by D.E. Symon and L. Haegi in (page 197 of) ''Solanaceae III: Taxonomy Chemistry Evolution'', Editors J.G. Hawkes, R.N. Lester, M. Nee & N. Estrada, published by The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK for The Linnean Society of London 1991. {{ISBN|0-947643-31-1}}.</ref>

A leader of a Thuggee was called ''[[jemadar]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XMfasdSA9EC&pg=PA67|title=Thug: The True Story Of India's Murderous Cult|first=Mike|last=Dash|page=67|isbn=9781847084736|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta Publications }}</ref> This was derived from military-style ranks such as jemadar and ''[[subedar]]'' among Thugs as well as reference to individual members as a "[[Private (rank)|private]]", suggests that the organisation of their gangs had a military link.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=110}} They used a jargon known as ''Ramasee'' to disguise their true intentions from their targets.<ref name="Mike Dash 73"/> The Thuggee members comprised some who had inherited Thuggee as a family vocation, and others who were forced to turn to it out of necessity.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=135}} The leadership of many of the groups tended to be hereditary with family members sometimes serving together in the same band. Such thugs were known as ''aseel''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XMfasdSA9EC&pg=PA87|title=Thug: The True Story of India's Murderous Cult|first=Mike|last=Dash|page=87|isbn=9781847084736|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta Publications }}</ref> According to a Thuggee testimony, a young initiate who joined the group was usually trained by a senior experienced Thuggee member who held the title of ''[[guru]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XMfasdSA9EC&pg=PA84|title=Thug: The True Story Of India's Murderous Cult|first=Mike|last=Dash|page=84|isbn=9781847084736|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta Publications }}</ref> While they usually kept their acts a secret, female thugs also existed and were called ''baronee'' in Ramasee, while an important male Thuggee was called ''baroo''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5HPc_EgwUg8C&pg=PA146|title=The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India|author=Martine van Woerkens|page=146|isbn=9780226850856|date=November 2002|publisher=University of Chicago Press }}</ref>

The Thuggee usually avoided killing the children of the victims and instead adopted them.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=107}} However, sometimes they resorted to killing women and children to eliminate witnesses.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5HPc_EgwUg8C&pg=PA147|title=The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India|author=Martine van Woerkens|date=November 2002|page=147|publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226850856}}</ref> Some of the thugs avoided murdering victims they considered proscribed according to their beliefs and let other unscrupulous members commit the murder or were forced to let them by those who did not believe in their customs like the Muslim thugs.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XMfasdSA9EC&pg=PA95|title=Thug: The True Story Of India's Murderous Cult|first=Mike|last=Dash|date=3 February 2011|page=92|publisher=Granta Publications |isbn=9781847084736}}</ref> Many of them avoided committing the robberies near the areas in which they lived, to avoid recognition and criminal repercussion.<ref name="Mike Dash; Thuggee">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XMfasdSA9EC&pg=PA33|title=Thug: The True Story Of India's Murderous Cult|first=Mike|last=Dash|page=33|isbn=9781847084736|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta Publications }}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Thugs About To Strangle Traveller.jpg|right|thumb|A watercolour by an unknown Indian artist from the early 19th century purporting to show a group of Thugs in the process of distracting a traveller on a highway in India while he is about to be strangled with a [[Strangling#Ligature strangulation|ligature]].]]
[[File:Thugs Strangling Traveller.jpg|thumb|250px|alt=See caption|Watercolour (1837) by unknown artist of three Thugs strangling a traveller; one holds his feet, another his hands and a third tightens the ligature around his neck. Created in [[Lucknow]], based on descriptions from imprisoned Thuggee leaders (Dash, 2005)]]
[[File:Thugs_and_poisoners.jpg|thumb|''Hindoo thugs and poisoners'' - By Mr. W. Carpenter]]

=== Origins ===
There were numerous traditions about their origin: 
* One theory stated the Thuggee existed back to 1760. Based on genealogies which were recounted by some thugs, historian [[Mike Dash]] stated that the origin of the Thuggee can be dated back to the second half of the 17th century. A general consensus among them was that they originated in Delhi. A Thuggee named Gholam Hossyn who was caught in early 1800s stated that his accomplices believed that thugs had existed since the time of [[Alexander the Great]]. Another tradition among Thugs who lived in the early 1800s stated that they had lived in Delhi till the time of [[Akbar]] and consisted of seven great [[Muslim]] clans, although they had [[Hindu]] names, during the period. After one of them killed a favoured slave of Akbar, they left Delhi for other regions to avoid being targeted by the emperor.<ref name="Mike Dash 28, 36 & 37"/> 
* The earliest known reference to the Thugs as a band or fraternity, rather than ordinary thieves, is found in Ziau-d din Barni's ''History of Firoz Shah'' (written about 1356).<ref name="brit">{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/594263/thug|title=Thug – Indian bandit|website=Britannica.com|access-date=1 October 2017}}</ref> He narrated an incident of the sultan [[Jalal-ud-din Khalji]] having arrested 1,000 Thugs, and expelling them to the [[Gauḍa (city)|Lakhnauti]].<ref name="Martine van Woerkens 2002 110">{{cite book|author=Martine van Woerkens|title=The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5HPc_EgwUg8C&pg=PA110|year=2002|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=9780226850856|page=110}}</ref> At first, Jalal-ud-din took a lenient attitude towards the Thuggees as he thought he could make them obedient with a softer approach. However, this approach proved counter productive according to modern historian Syama Prasad Basu, and encouraged insolence towards the Sultan.<ref name="Rise and Fall of Khilji Imperialism; 33">{{cite book |author1=Syama Prasad Basu |title=Rise and Fall of Khilji Imperialism |date=1963 |publisher=U. N. Dhur |series=History of the Khilji rulers of India, 1290-1320. |page=33 }}</ref>
* [[Donald Friell McLeod]] theorised the Thuggee members originated from some Muslim tribes formed from those who fled Delhi after murdering a physician. Another source traced it to some great Muslim families who fled after murdering a favored slave of Akbar.<ref name="Mike Dash 28, 36 & 37">{{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=PA36|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta|pages=28, 36 & 37|isbn=978-1-84708-473-6}}</ref> According to this view, the original Muslim Thugs spread Thuggee amongst Hindus.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|pp=154-155}}
* Another tradition preserved by the Thuggee clan members stated that they were [[Kanjar]]s or descended from those who worked in the Mughal camps.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=92}} <ref name="Martine van Woerkens 136">{{cite book|author=Martine van Woerkens|title=The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EiSYciTbyc4C&pg=PA136|date=3 February 2011|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|page=136|isbn=978-0-226-85086-3}}</ref><ref name="Mike Dash 37">{{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=PA37|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta|page=37|isbn=9781847084736}}</ref> A Thuggee member has testified that some of his predecessors were forced to disguise themselves as members of the Kanjar tribe after fleeing Delhi, although they were originally descended from certain [[Caste system among South Asian Muslims|high-caste Muslim]] tribes. The said Thuggee, however, stated that their claimed descent was unverified and that some of them may be partially descended from the lower castes who worked in the [[Mughal army]]'s camps. However, Mike Dash stated that the Thuggee's claim of being closed to outsiders is contradicted by the fact that people of all backgrounds were allowed to join them by the early 19th century according to available evidence.<ref name="Mike Dash 37"/> A Brahmin Thuggee who was interrogated by British Raj counselor [[William Henry Sleeman]] referred to the Muslim Thuggees as [[Kanjar]] tribesmen. However, another member of Thuggee refuted this.<ref name="Martine van Woerkens 136"/>
* [[Donald Friell McLeod]], Lieutenant Governor of [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab Province]], who led the campaign against them in the [[Rajputana Agency]], recorded the traditions of their origins. According to them, they were originally Muslims and were taught Thuggee by the deity [[Devi]] or Bhavani. They then joined the [[Lodha people]] and migrated to Delhi, where 84 tribes—which were a part of all the criminal clans of India—also became a part of the Thugs. A physician who belonged to these 84 tribes gained prominence after curing a royal elephant and was murdered by other Thugs. A schism developed and they left Delhi, which in turn resulted in the existence of seven Muslim tribes. According to McLeod, these tribes were named Bhyns, Bursot, Kachinee, Hutar, Kathur Gugra, Behleem and Ganoo. According to him, the thugs from Delhi were separated into more than 12 "classes".{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=112}}

=== 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>

===British suppression===
{{See also|Thuggee and Dacoity Suppression Acts, 1836–48}}
[[File:The_Thugs_of_India_-_Halt_at_the_Shrine_of_Ganesh,_by_August_Schoefft,_ca.1841.jpg|thumb|The Thugs of India: ''Halt at the Shrine of Ganesh'', by August Schoefft, c.1841]]
[[File:Thuggees typically strangled their victims during the night, image from ‘Confessions of a Thug’.jpg|thumb|Thugs typically strangled their victims during the night, image from ''[[Confessions of a Thug (novel)|Confessions of a Thug]]'' (1839), by [[Philip Meadows Taylor]]]]
The British found out about them in [[Southern India]] for the first time in 1807, while in [[North India|Northern India]] they were discovered in 1809 with an effort to suppress them being carried out from 1809 to 1812.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|pp=7-8}}

[[File:William-Henry-Sleeman.jpg|thumb|alt=Portrait of a middle-aged man in uniform|[[William Henry Sleeman]], superintendent of the Thuggee and Dacoity Department]]

After a dispute developed between the [[Zamindar]] official named Tejun with a Thuggee named Ghasee Ram in 1812, the latter took refuge with his family under another landlord called Laljee. Tejun in turn revealed the thugs of Sindouse to Nathaniel Halhed.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=167}} Thomas Perry, the magistrate of [[Etawah]], assembled some soldiers of the [[East India Company]] under the command of Halheld in 1812 to suppress the Thugs.<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=PA44|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta|page=193|isbn=9781847084736}}</ref> Laljee and his forces including over 100 Thugs were defeated, with the village of Murnae, a headquarter of the Thugs, destroyed and burnt by the Company soldiers.<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=PA48|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta|page=48|isbn=9781847084736}}</ref> Laljee fled to [[Rampura, Jalaun|Rampura]] and the southern banks of [[Sindh River]] but was caught by the Marathas who turned him over to the company.<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=PA49|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta|page=49|isbn=9781847084736}}</ref>{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=168}}

British authorities had occasionally captured and prosecuted Thugs, circulating information about these cases in newsletters or the journal ''Asiatick Researches'' of [[The Asiatic Society]]. However, Sleeman seems to have been the first to realize that information obtained from one group of stranglers might be used to track and identify other thugs in a different district. His first major breakthrough was the capture of "Feringhea" (also known as Syeed Amir Ali, Khuda Buksh, Deahuct Undun and Daviga Persaud<ref name="David Scott Katsan 2006 141"/>), who was persuaded to [[Turn state's evidence|turn King's evidence]]. (Feringhea's story was the basis of the successful 1839 novel ''[[Confessions of a Thug (novel)|Confessions of a Thug]]''). Feringhea brought Sleeman to a mass grave with a hundred bodies, told him the circumstances of the murders and named the Thugs who had committed them.<ref name=Twain>{{cite book
|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2895
|title= Following the Equator
|access-date= 27 February 2011
|last= Twain
|first= Mark
|author-link= Samuel Clemens
|date= 18 August 2006
|format=ASCII
|publisher=Project Gutenberg
}}</ref>

After initial investigations confirmed what Feringhea had said, Sleeman began an extensive campaign using [[Offender profiling|profiling]] and intelligence. Sleeman was made superintendent of the [[Thuggee and Dacoity Department]] in 1835, an organ of the Indian government first established by the [[East India Company]] in 1830.<ref>{{cite book|first=Giriraj|last=Shah|title=Image Makers: An Attitudinal Study of Indian Police|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0sHAmkBpUoIC&pg=PA52|access-date=15 September 2019|date=1 January 1993|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-295-6|page=52}}</ref> ([[Dacoity]] referred to organised [[banditry]], distinguished from thugs most notably by its open practice and due to the fact that murder was not an intrinsic element of their ''modus operandi''.) Sleeman developed elaborate intelligence techniques that pre-dated similar methods in Europe and the US by decades.<ref name="mikedash" /> During the 1830s, the thugs were targeted for eradication by the [[Governor-General of India]], [[Lord William Bentinck]], and his chief captain, [[William Henry Sleeman]].{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Records were made in which the accused were given prisoner numbers, against which their names, residences, fellow thugs, and the criminal acts for which they were blamed were also noted. Many thugs' names were similar; they often lacked surnames since the Thuggee naming convention was to use the names of their tribes, castes and job assignments in the gangs. Accurate recording was also difficult because the thugs adopted many aliases, with both Muslim and Hindu thugs often posing as members of the other religion. By the testimony from a Thuggee named Ghulam Hussain, Hindu and Muslim Thuggees avoided eating together, such was not the case for drinking and smoking.<ref name="Mike Dash 193"/><ref name="David Scott Katsan 2006 141"/>

The campaign relied heavily on captured thugs who became informants. These informants were offered protection on the condition that they told everything that they knew. According to historian [[Mike Dash]], who used documents in the UK archives, suspects were subject to [[bench trial]]s before British judges. Though the trials were lacking by later standards (e.g., suspects were not allowed legal representation), they were conducted with care to protocols of the time. While most suspects were convicted, Dash notes that the courts genuinely seemed interested in finding the truth and rejected a minority of allegations due to mistaken identity or insufficient evidence. Even by later standards, Dash argues, the evidence of guilt for many thugs was often overwhelming.<ref name="mikedash" /> Because they used boats and disposed of their victims in rivers,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sleeman |first1=Sir William Henry |title=The Thugs or Phansigars of India: comprising a history of the rise and progress of that extraordinary fraternity of assassins; and a description of the system which it pursues, and of the measures which have been adopted by the supreme government of India for its suppression, Vol. 2 |date=1839 |publisher=Carey & Hart |page=159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=07UiAAAAMAAJ&q=river+thugs&pg=PA159 |access-date=15 September 2019 |language=en}}</ref> the "River Thugs" were able to evade the British authorities for some time after their compatriots on land were suppressed. They were ultimately betrayed to the authorities by one of their compatriots, from Awadh. Forces under Sleeman's command hunted them down in 1836.<ref name="Mike Dash 249">{{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=PA249|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta|page=249|isbn=9781847084736}}</ref>

In 1870s the practice of thuggee was thought to have ceased. However, the history of Thuggee led to the [[Criminal Tribes Act]] (CTA) of 1871. Although the CTA was repealed at [[Partition of India|Indian independence]] in 1947, [[Denotified Tribes|tribes considered criminal]] still exist in India.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/history/thugs.shtml |title=Thugs Traditional View |access-date=17 September 2007 |format=shtml |publisher=BBC |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071017065206/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/history/thugs.shtml <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 17 October 2007}}</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/jun/11/featuresreviews.guardianreview3 Sinister sects: Thug, Mike Dash's investigation into the gangs who preyed on travellers in 19th-century India] by Kevin Rushby, ''[[The Guardian]]'', Saturday, 11 June 2005.</ref> The Thuggee and Dacoity Department remained in existence until 1904, when it was replaced by the [[Central Criminal Intelligence Department]] (CID).{{sfn|Rost|1911}}

In ''[[Following the Equator]]'', [[Mark Twain]] wrote about an 1839 government report by William Henry Sleeman:<ref name=Twain/>

{{Quote|There is one very striking thing which I wish to call attention to. You have surmised from the listed callings followed by the victims of the Thugs that nobody could travel the Indian roads unprotected and live to get through; that the Thugs respected no quality, no vocation, no religion, nobody; that they killed every unarmed man that came in their way. That is wholly true—with one reservation. In all the long file of Thug confessions an English traveller is mentioned but once—and this is what the Thug says of the circumstance:
{{Quote|"''He was on his way from [[Mhow]] to [[Bombay]]. We studiously avoided him. He proceeded next morning with a number of travellers who had sought his protection, and they took the road to [[Baroda]]''."}}

We do not know who he was; he flits across the page of this rusty old book and disappears in the obscurity beyond; but he is an impressive figure, moving through that valley of death serene and unafraid, clothed in the might of the English name.

We have now followed the big official book through, and we understand what Thuggee was, what a bloody terror it was, what a desolating scourge it was. In 1830 the English found this cancerous organization embedded in the vitals of the empire, doing its devastating work in secrecy, and assisted, protected, sheltered, and hidden by innumerable confederates—big and little native chiefs, customs officers, village officials, and native police, all ready to lie for it, and the mass of the people, through fear, persistently pretending to know nothing about its doings; and this condition of things had existed for generations, and was formidable with the sanctions of age and old custom. If ever there was an unpromising task, if ever there was a hopeless task in the world, surely it was offered here—the task of conquering Thuggee. But that little handful of English officials in India set their sturdy and confident grip upon it, and ripped it out, root and branch! How modest do Captain Vallancey's words sound now, when we read them again, knowing what we know:
{{Quote|"''The day that sees this far-spread evil completely eradicated from India, and known only in name, will greatly tend to immortalise British rule in the East''."}}

It would be hard to word a claim more modestly than that for this most noble work.|Chapter xlvi, conclusion}}

== Thug beliefs ==
[[File:The Thugs Worshipping Kalee (1850, p. 98) - Copy.jpg|thumb|alt=Drawing of two men worshiping before a statue|''The Thugs Worshiping Kalee'', around 1850<ref name=MissionaryRepository1850>{{cite journal|title=The Thugs Worshipping Kalee|journal=The Missionary Repository for Youth, and Sunday School Missionary Magazine|date=1848|volume=XII|page=98|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0FkEAAAAQAAJ|access-date=6 November 2015}}</ref>]]
Thugs considered themselves to be the children of [[Kali]], having been created from her sweat.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Brigitte|last1=Luchesi|author2=Kocku von Stuckrad|author2-link=Kocku von Stuckrad|title=Religion im kulturellen Diskurs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-uSxOSwDclYC&pg=PA623|access-date=20 April 2011|year=2004|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-017790-9|pages=623–624}}</ref> However, many of the Thugs who were captured and convicted by the British were Muslims,<ref>{{cite book|first=Douglas M.|last=Peers|title=India Under Colonial Rule: 1700-1885|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dyQuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA57|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-31-788286-2|page=57}}</ref> perhaps up to a third.<ref name="mikedash"/>{{page needed|date=October 2024}} 

According to colonial sources, Thugs believed that they played a positive role in saving human lives. Without the Thugs' sacred service, Kali might destroy all mankind:
* "It is God who kills, but Bhowanee has [a] name for it."
* "God is all in all, for good and evil."
* "God has appointed blood for [Bhowanee's] food, saying 'khoon tum khao': feed thou upon blood. In my opinion it is very bad, but what can she do, being ordered to subsist upon blood!"
* "Bhowanee is happy and more so in proportion to the blood that is shed."<ref name="WœrkensTihanyi2002">{{cite book|first1=Martine van|last1=Wœrkens|first2=Catherine|last2=Tihanyi|title=The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EiSYciTbyc4C&pg=PA170|access-date=19 April 2011|year=2002|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-85086-3|page=170}}</ref>

The Muslim thugs, while retaining their monotheistic faith, had functionalised [[Bhavani]] for Thuggee and she was syncretised as a spirit subordinate to [[Allah]]. A Muslim thug caught by Sleeman stated, "In my heart, I take the name of God, when I strangle a man – saying ''"God thou are [[Malik|King]]!"'' ''"Alla, toomee Malik!"'' I do not pray to Bhowanee, but I worship her." Other Muslim Thugs who had agreed to testify for Sleeman, stated they had [[syncretism|assimilated]] Bhavani and started the practice of Thuggee.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=141}}

In the view of the historian [[Mike Dash]], the Thuggee had no religious motivation in their murderous conduct. When religious elements were present among Thugs, their beliefs, in principle, were little different from the religious beliefs of many others who lived on the Indian subcontinent and attributed their success or failure to supernatural powers: "Indeed all of the Thugs's legends which concerned the goddess [[Kali]] featured exactly the [[cautionary tale|cautionary notes]] which are typically found in [[folklore]]."<ref name="mikedash"/>

Kim Wagner asserts that we can analyse their traditions about events after their flight from Delhi "to a much greater advantage". A tradition which was recounted by a captive stated that Thuggee had originally tried to settle in [[Agra]] and they later settled in Akoopore in the [[Doab#Yamuna-Ganga Doab|Doab region]]. However, they had to flee to Himmutpur and later they fled to Parihara after their kings started demanding a larger share of the plunder. In turn the original Muslim and [[Kayastha]] Thugs helped spread Thuggee amongst other groups like the [[Brahmin|Brahmins]], [[Rajput|Rajputs]], other Hindus, the [[Lodhi (caste)|Lodhi people]] and the [[Ahir]] people.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|pp=154-155}}

The Thuggee generally considered that it was forbidden to kill women, ''[[fakirs]]'', ascetics, bards, musicians and dancers.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XMfasdSA9EC&pg=PA92|title=Thug: The True Story Of India's Murderous Cult|first=Mike|last=Dash|page=92|isbn=9781847084736|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta Publications }}</ref> Like the ancient Hindu texts which distinguished robbery from the murder of Brahmins, women or children as violent crimes, many Thugs considered it taboo to kill people who belonged to such categories.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5HPc_EgwUg8C&pg=PA111|title=The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India|author=Martine van Woerkens|date=November 2002|page=111|publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226850856}}</ref> Those who worked in lowly professions, the diseased and disabled were also forbidden as victims based on their [[folk belief]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XMfasdSA9EC&pg=PA93|title=Thug: The True Story Of India's Murderous Cult|first=Mike|last=Dash|date=3 February 2011|page=93|publisher=Granta Publications |isbn=9781847084736}}</ref> The Thuggee cults believed that breaking these rules would incur [[divine retribution]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5HPc_EgwUg8C&pg=PA165|title=The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India|author=Martine van Woerkens|date=November 2002|page=165|publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226850856}}</ref>

== Groups ==
{{multiple image
|total_width=300
|image1=ORIENTAL HEADS p099 Multhoo Byragee Jogee. T'hug Convict, Native of Ajmere, aged 90.jpg
|width1=1942
|height1=2136 
|alt1=Two drawings of an older, bearded man
|caption1=Guru Multhoo Byragee Jogee, a native of Ajmere aged 90, in jail (1840)
|image2=ORIENTAL HEADS p095 Murdan Khan T'huc, Native of Lucknow, ect..jpg
|width2=1986
|height2=2379
|alt2=Sketch of three standing men, of different ages
|caption2=Murdan Khan and gang from [[Lucknow]] (1840)
}}

The [[East India Company]] officers since the time of Thomas Perry, who was appointed to [[Etawah]] in 1811, came to understand that there were many Thuggee groups and they all viewed themselves to be different from the other groups.<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=PA39|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta|page=16; 39|isbn=9781847084736}}</ref>

The Thuggee groups were often formed based on their native hometown, although some were also formed based on their professions. The group called "Jamuldahee" was named so because its members lived along the [[Yamuna river]], they hailed from the [[Doab#Yamuna-Ganga Doab|Doab]] and [[Awadh]] regions. Another stated origin is that their ancestor was the Thuggee Jumulud Deen. The Telinganie originated from [[History of Telangana|Telangana]], Arcottees from [[Arcot]] and Beraries from [[Vidarbha|Berar]]. The "Lodaha" group, mostly concentrated in [[History of Bihar|Bihar]], were caravaneers named after the ''lodha'' or load they carried and according to a Thuggee from the Doab, originated from the same ancestors of his clan. The Lodahas were prevalent in the region around [[Kingdom of Nepal|Nepal]] in Bihar and [[British Bengal|Bengal]] during the tenure of Perry and originally hailed from Awadh which they left around 1700. A [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]] Thuggee stated that the "Hindu Thugs of Talghat", located around the [[Krishna River]], didn't marry with the Telinganies whom they considered to be descendants of lower classes as a result of their professions.<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=PA37|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Granta|page=38; 39|isbn=9781847084736}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Martine van Woerkens|title=The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=EiSYciTbyc4C&pg=PA134|page=134|isbn=9780226850863|date=November 2002|publisher=University of Chicago Press }}</ref> The "Telinganie" group were also disparagingly called ''Handeewuls'' (from ''[[handi]]'') due to their eating habits.<ref>{{cite book|author=Martine van Woerkens|title=The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=EiSYciTbyc4C&pg=PA133|page=133|isbn=9780226850863|date=November 2002|publisher=University of Chicago Press }}</ref>

The Pungoo or Bungoo of Bengal derived their name from the region, with the Lodhees or Lodaha also present. The Motheea group of Rampur-[[Purnia]] region was from a caste of weavers and their name derived from the practice of giving "handful" (''muhti'') of the spoils to the head. In the modern-day [[Uttar Pradesh]], the groups were: the "Korkureeas" from Kohrur, "Agureeas" of [[Agra]], "Jumaldahees", "Lodhees" and "Tundals". The "Multaneea" were from [[Multan]]. In [[Madhya Pradesh]], the groups were: "Bangureeas" or "[[Banjara]]s", "Balheems" or "Bulheems", "Khokhureeas" and "Soopurreeas" of [[Sheopur]]. In modern [[Rajasthan]], the groups were "Guguras" whose name derives from river [[Ghaggar]], and the "Sooseeas" who were part of the [[Dhanuk]] clan. The "Dhoulanee" group existed in modern-day [[Maharashtra]]. The "Duckunies" of [[Deccan]] were from [[Munirabad]] and "Kurnaketies" from the [[Carnatic region]]. Another group was called "Kathurs" whose name derives from a bowl called ''kathota'', based on a tradition of a man who held it during celebrations by Thugs. The "Qulundera" group's name was derived from the Muslim saints called ''[[Qalandar (title)|qalandar]]''. There were also [[Jogi (caste)|Jogi]] thugs who were divided into twelve sub-groups.<ref>{{cite book|author=Martine van Woerkens|title=The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EiSYciTbyc4C&pg=PA133|page=133;134|isbn=9780226850863|date=November 2002|publisher=University of Chicago Press }}</ref>

According to Feringheea, the Brahmins of Tehngoor village of Parihar were taught Thuggee after they accompanied the kings of [[Meo (ethnic group)|Meos]] to Delhi, and later helped in spreading it in the region around Murnae. He also stated that two of his ancestors had settled and intermarried with Brahmins of Murnae about seven generations ago, which led to the introduction of Thuggee in the area. A thug hailing from [[Shikohabad]] whilst talking of his clan's origin, recounted to Perry a tradition that the Munhars were influenced to take up Thuggee after witnessing the immense plunder acquired by Afghans, [[Meo (ethnic group)|Mewatties]] and the [[Shaikhs in South Asia|Sheikhs]].{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=154-155}}

Sleeman in 1839 identified a band called "Meypunnaists" who he stated abducted children to sell them further. Another band called "Tashmabazes" who used methods introduced by a soldier named Creagh who was deployed at [[Kanpur|Cawnpore]] in 1802 were also identified by him.<ref>{{cite book|author=Martine van Woerkens|title=The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5HPc_EgwUg8C&pg=PA103|page=103|isbn=9780226850856|date=November 2002|publisher=University of Chicago Press }}</ref> The group called "River Thugs" were based deep in the [[Hugli-Chinsura|Hooghly]] region.<ref name="Mike Dash 249"/>

== Historical evaluations ==
Worship of Kali was particularly emphasized by the British contemporaries. McLeod commented, "It is a notable fact that not only amongst the Thugs, but in an especial manner among all lawless fraternities, and to a certain extent throughout the uneducated population of [[Central Provinces|Central India]], the Mussulmans vie with the Hindus in a devotion of this sanguinary deity (''Devi'' or ''Bhavani'') far exceeding that they pay to any other."{{sfn|Wagner|2007|pp=140-141}} Sleeman thought that some [[Brahmins]] acted as intelligence providers to thugs, claiming that they profited from Thuggee and directed it.<ref name="University of California Press">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NJwyyizvjpAC&pg=PA159|title=Encountering Kālī: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West|date=2003| publisher=[[University of California Press]]|isbn=9780520232396}}</ref> [[David Ochterlony]] blamed the [[Pindari]]s for the rise of Thuggee while Sleeman blamed it on Indian rulers dismissing their armies which took away the jobs of many soldiers.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=92}} Based on Sleeman's writings about the Thugs, [[Robert Vane Russell]] claimed that most of them were [[Kanjar]]s. He viewed the Muslim Kanjars as having recently converted to Islam.<ref name="Martine van Woerkens 136"/>

The British generally took the view that Thuggee was a type of ritual murder practiced by worshippers of Kali. Sleeman's view of it as an aberrant faith was based on the contemporary British view that Hinduism was a despicable and immoral faith founded on idol-worship.<ref name="Will Sweetman, Aditya Malik">{{cite book |author= Will Sweetman, Aditya Malik |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XW02DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA49|title= Hinduism in India: Modern and Contemporary Movements|date=23 May 2016|publisher=SAGE Publications India|isbn= 9789351502319}}</ref> R. C. Sherwood in ''Asiatick Researches'' published in 1820 traces this phenomenon back to the [[Muslim conquests of India]] and suggests links to Hindu mythology.<ref>{{cite book|first=Bart|last=Moore-Gilbert|title=Writing India, 1757-1990: The Literature of British India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ifTnAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA86|date=1996|publisher=[[Manchester University Press]]|page=86|isbn=9780719042669}}</ref> [[Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet|Charles Trevelyan]] viewed Thugs as representatives of the "essence" of Hinduism (rather than as a deviant sect), which he considered to be "evil" and "false".<ref>{{cite book |author= P.D. Reeves |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DK8sbjtgBREC&pg=PA38|title=Sleeman in Oudh: An Abridgement of W. H. Sleeman's A Journey Through the Kingdom of Oude in 1849–50|date=10 June 2010|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9780521153096}}</ref>

In 1882, [[Alexander Cunningham]] commented on [[Hiouen-Thsang]]'s remarks about "people who visited [[Kahalgaon]] and forgot to leave it", speculating that the actual reason might not have been that posited by the monk and noting Kahalgaon's later reputation as a place frequented by the "River Thugs".<ref name="Martine van Woerkens 2002 110"/>

=== Modern scepticism ===
Modern contemporary scholars have become increasingly sceptical of the "thuggee" concept, and have even questioned the existence of such a phenomenon.<ref name="Cambridge Scholars Publishing">{{cite book|title=Tabish Khair: Critical Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DnExBwAAQBAJ|first1=Cristina M.|last1=Gámez-Fernández|first2= Om P.|last2= Dwivedi|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|year=2014|isbn=9781443857888}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/13642520802193262|title = Thuggee: An orientalist construction?| journal=Rethinking History| volume=12| issue=3| pages=383–397|year = 2008|last1 = MacFie|first1 = Alexander Lyon|s2cid = 144212481}}</ref><ref name="S. Shankar 2001"/> The British representation of Thuggee is held by some critics to be full of inconsistencies and exaggerations. Numerous historians have described "thuggee" as basically the invention of the British colonial regime.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2OADAAAQBAJ|title=Engaging Colonial Knowledge: Reading European Archives in World History|publisher=Springer|year=2011|author1=R. Roque|author2= K. Wagner|isbn=978-0230360075}}</ref> However, the more radical critics in this camp have themselves been criticized for focusing overly on British perceptions of thuggee rather than on the historical accuracy of primary source documents, but conclude that "the colonial representation of thuggee cannot be taken at face value".{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=7}}

Martine van Woerkens of [[École Pratique des Hautes Études]] writes that evidence for a Thuggee group in the 19th century was the product of "colonial imaginings", arising from British fear of the little-known interior of India, as well as limited understanding of the religious and social practices of its inhabitants.<ref name="woerkens">van Woerkens, Martine (2002). ''The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India''.</ref>

[[Cynthia Ann Humes]] states that the testimony of most of the thugs captured by Sleeman does not support his view of priests profiting from and directing the thugs. She adds that the Islamic idea of fate was more commonly invoked during Thuggee acts, while invoking the Hindu [[Bhavani]] was far more rare.<ref name="University of California Press" />

Historian Kim Wagner views the policies of [[East India Company]] in relation to the dismissal of armies of the conquered Indian kingdoms as being responsible for the development of Thuggee. Roaming bands of freelance soldiers had often joined one kingdom or another during the pre-British era, with the main income of many armies coming from plunder. After being dismissed from military service, they turned to robbery as a means of subsistence.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=92}} He also contested whether the thugs mentioned by [[Firuz Shah Tughlaq]]'s biography were actually the same thugs the British authorities fought against.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=156}}

Sagnik Bhattacharya agrees with the sceptics and claims the thug-phenomenon to be nothing but a manifestation of the fear of the unknown that dawned on the British Raj at the thought of being alone in the wilderness of Central India. Using literary and legal sources, he has connected the "information panic" of the thug-phenomenon to the limitations of British demographic models that fell short of truly capturing the ethnic diversity of India. He explains the "Thuggee hysteria" around 1830s as being caused by the Raj's angst at realizing its own ignorance of local society.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bhattacharya|first=Sagnik|date=4 May 2020|title=Monsters in the dark: the discovery of Thuggee and demographic knowledge in colonial India|journal=Palgrave Communications|language=en|volume=6|issue=1|pages=1–9|doi=10.1057/s41599-020-0458-8|issn=2055-1045|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
{{refimprovesect|date=September 2024}}
*One of the c.&nbsp;1600 ''[[Janamsakhis]]'' fictionalizing the life of Sikh [[Guru Nanak]] describes an encounter with a Thug, Sheikh Sajjan, whom the guru reforms.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Johnson |first1=Toby Braden |title=Living and Learning with Guru Nanak: Participation and Pedagogy in the Janam-Sakhi Narratives |date=2014 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8xt8v3dm }}</ref>
*The 1826 novel ''Pandurang Hari, or Memoirs of a Hindoo'' by William Browne Hockley provides in Chapter 11 the earliest British fictional account of the Thugs.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/45006400/Were_Thugs_of_India_religious_terrorists_or_mere_bandits_The_evidence_of_Hockley_s_Pandurang_Hari "Were Thugs of India religious terrorists or mere bandits? The evidence of Hockley’s Pandurang Hari"] by Ayusman Chakraborty, ''Academia Letters'', Article 198, January 2021.</ref> But they are depicted only as thieves, not as murderers.
*The 1839 novel ''[[Confessions of a Thug (novel)|Confessions of a Thug]]'' by [[Philip Meadows Taylor]] is based on the Thuggee cult, revolving around a fictional Thuggee who is named Ameer<ref>[https://www.punjnud.com/Aarticles_detail.aspx?ArticleID=5771&ArticleTitle=Hindustani%20Thug%20Aur%20Ameer%20Ali%20Thug%20Ki%20Dastan History of Ameer Ali Thug]</ref> Ali. The novel popularized the word "thug" in the English language.
* Thuggees, including Faringhea himself, play a substantial role in the 1845 novel, ''The Wandering Jew'' by Eugene Sue.
* Several of [[Emilio Salgari]]'s ''[[Sandokan]]'' novels describe a struggle with the Thugs.  Many of his novels are about [[The Pirates of Malaysia|Sandokan]]'s adventures, and feature the Thuggee as enemies of the heroes.  The first of them – [[:it:I misteri della jungla nera|I misteri della jungla nera]] (1887) – was originally published with the title ''Gli strangolatori del Gange'' ("The Stranglers of the Ganges"). His novel ''I misteri della giungla nera'' (1895) revolves around the main character Tremal Naik's fight to save Ada Corisant, the daughter of a British officer, who has been kidnapped by the Thugs.
* The 1886 novel ''Kalee's Shrine'' by Grant Allen and May Cotes features a British female Thug.<ref>[http://rupkatha.com/v13n112/ "Thuggee in England: Tracing the Origin and Development of Fantasies of Thug-invasion and Reverse Colonization in late nineteenth century British Fiction"] by Ayusman Chakraborty, ' ' Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities ' ', vol. 13, no. 1. 2021.</ref> 
* Sir [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] introduces the Thugs in his 1887 short story "Uncle Jeremy's Household". Miss Warrender, the Anglo-Indian governess in this story, is the daughter of the fictional Thuggee prince Achmet Genghis Khan.
*The 1931 crime novel ''The Case of the Frightened Lady'' by [[Edgar Wallace]] makes an indirect reference to the Thuggee murders by featuring "Indian scarves" which are used as murder weapons, as do its [[The Case of the Frightened Lady (film)|1940]] and [[The Indian Scarf|1963 West German]] film adaptations.
*The 1939 film ''[[Gunga Din (film)|Gunga Din]]'' features British soldiers' conflict with a resurgent sect of Thuggee cultists.
*The Thuggees and their method of killing are made reference to in the 1945 film ''[[Hangover Square (film)|Hangover Square]]''.
*''[[The Stranglers of Bombay]]'' (1959) is a film which is centered around a lone British officer who investigates and uncovers the doings of the Thuggee cult.
*''[[Kali Yug: Goddess of Vengeance|Kali Yug, la dea della vendetta]]'' and ''[[:fr:Le Mystère du temple hindou|Il mistero del tempio indiano]],'' films by [[Mario Camerini]] (1963), feature [[Klaus Kinski]] as Thug leader.
*[[Help! (film)|''Help!'']] (1965), a film which revolves around [[The Beatles]]' encounters with an Eastern Cult, is thought to parody the Thuggee.<ref name="Magic Circles">{{cite book |last1=McKinney |first1=Devin |title=Magic Circles: The Beatles in Dream and History |date=2003 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-01202-8 |page=78 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NODXwtg3SIkC&dq=%22Help!%22+Beatles+Kali&pg=PA78 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Vampires' Most Wanted">{{cite book |last1=Enright |first1=Laura |title=Vampires' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Bloodthirsty Biters, Stake-wielding Slayers, and Other Undead Oddities |date=30 June 2011 |publisher=[[Potomac Books]], Inc. |isbn=978-1-59797-752-4 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kbM7fOH5SI0C&dq=%22Help!%22+Beatles+Kali&pg=PT12 |language=en}}</ref>
*In ''[[Our Man Flint]]'' (1966), the character Derek Flint wears a turban and shouts "Kali!" while shooting a gun into the air in order to safely empty a club of its patrons before setting off an explosive.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://trailersfromhell.com/the-deceivers/ | title=The Deceivers | date=9 November 2021 }}</ref>
*''[[Sunghursh]]'' (1968), an Indian [[Hindi cinema|Hindi film]], gives a fictionalized account of a Thuggee who tries not to join his family business, which is Thuggee.
*''[[Thagini]]'' (1974) an Indian Bengali-language film about a lady Thug, directed by [[Tarun Majumdar]] and based on a short story of [[Subodh Ghosh]].
* ''[[Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom]]'' (1984), set in 1935, showcases the Thuggee cult with fictionalized religious ritual and the primary antagonist, [[Mola Ram (Indiana Jones character)|Mola Ram]], being a Thuggee High Priest of Kali.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ganguly |first1=Swagato |title=Idolatry and the Colonial Idea of India: Visions of Horror, Allegories of Enlightenment |date=2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1351584678 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r_0wDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Indiana+Jones+and+the+Temple+of+Doom%22+kali&pg=PT12 |access-date=6 January 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
*''[[The Black Company]]'' (1984–present), a dark fantasy series by [[Glen Cook]], features a cult called the Deceivers, largely based on the Thuggee, which plays a major role in the later novels.
*The fictional [[DC Comics]] villain [[Ravan (comics)|Ravan]] (starting 1987), a member of the [[Suicide Squad]], is a modern-day member of the Thuggee cult.
*[[The Deceivers (film)|''The Deceivers'']] (1988) is an adventure film about the murderous Thugs of India which is based on the 1952 [[John Masters]] [[The Deceivers (Masters novel)|novel with the same name]]. [[Pierce Brosnan]] plays William Savage, a tax-collector for a British-Indian company who goes under cover in 1825 to investigate a Thuggee sect.
*''Ameer Ali thug na peela rumal ni gaanth'', a novel in three parts by the famous Gujarati thriller writer [[Harkisan Mehta]], is a fictionalized account of the Thuggee Amir Ali, with references to the infamous [[Pindari]] chief Chitu Pindari.
*''[[Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru]]'' (2017; Tamil) an honest police officer finds himself transferred again and again due to his sincerity. After his latest transfer, he comes across a file that involves a gang of ruthless thieves who loot and kill along the highway. A group of 13 people whose roots go back to these Thuggee tribes whose members camouflaged themselves as logistics and goods delivery vendors and plundered random cities and brutally murdered families, including women and children. [[Tamil Nadu Police]] took this matter seriously when a member of the legislative assembly was victimized. This cult was brought down after a country-wide operation was conducted with limited resources for over 18 months.
*''[[Thugs of Hindostan]]'' (2018), an Indian Hindi-language action-[[adventure film]] about a band of Thugs which resists the [[British East India Company]]'s [[Company rule in India|rule in India]]. The film stars [[Amitabh Bachchan]], [[Aamir Khan]], [[Katrina Kaif]], [[Fatima Sana Shaikh]] and [[Lloyd Owen]].
* ''The Strangler Vine'' (2014) by [[Miranda Carter|MJ Carter]], a novel set in Calcutta in 1837, sees two representatives of the East India Company search for a missing author deep within the territory of the murderous Kali-worshipping Thugs.
* ''[[Grimm (TV series)|Grimm]]'' (2014), in season 4, episode 6, entitled "Highway of Tears", Nick, Hank, and Wu confront a "Phansigar," a Wesen that worships [[Kali]] with a sacrifice, every 3 years. 
* ''Firingi Thagi'' (2015), a Bengali-language novel by Indian author Himadri Kishor Dashgupta, is a fictionalized rendering of Sir [[William Henry Sleeman]]'s operations against the Thugs.
*''Ebong Inquisition'', a Bengali-language novel series by Indian writer Avik Sarkar, also features events in which the Thuggees are the key participants, with references to Sleeman, Feringhea, Khuda Baksh.
* The strategy game ''[[Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties]]'' features Thuggees and dacoits, both of whom are available to players as hired mercenaries, though they are somewhat inaccurately depicted as using pistols and musket.
* ''Thugs of Ramaghada'' (2022), an Indian Kannada-language film based on band of Thugs who try to rob rich gangsters, directed by Karthik Maralabhavi and starring Ashwin Hassan, Chandan Raj and [[Mahalakshmi (Kannada actress)|Mahalakshmi]]
*In ''[[Highlander: The Series]]'' season 4 episode 9, "The Wrath of Kali", the immortal Kamir is presented as the last of a Thuggee cult who tries to steal a statue of the Hindu goddess Kali and murder the half-Indian professor who acquired it for her university.
* In 2018 there was an episode in [[CID (Indian TV series)|CID]] based on this group

==See also==
* [[Thug Behram]]
* [[Pindari]]
* [[Gangster]]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Thugs|volume=26|page=896|first=Reinhold|last=Rost|author-link=Reinhold Rost}}
*Dash, Mike ''Thug: the true story of Indias murderous cult'' {{ISBN|1-86207-604-9}}, 2005
* {{Citation |last=Dunn |first=Ross E. |title=The Adventures of Ibn Battuta |year=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24385-9 |author-link=Ross E. Dunn}}. First published in 1986, {{ISBN|0-520-05771-6}}.
*Dutta, Krishna (2005) The sacred slaughterers. Book review of ''Thug: the true story of India's murderous cult'' by Mike Dash. In ''The Independent'' (Published: 8 July 2005) [https://web.archive.org/web/20050712080240/http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/article297528.ece text]
* {{Citation |title=The Travels of Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, A.D. 1325–1354 (Volume 4) |year=1994 |editor-last=Gibb |editor-first=H.A.R. |place=London |publisher=Hakluyt Society |isbn=978-0-904180-37-4 |editor-last2=Beckingham |editor-first2=C.F. |url=https://archive.org/details/travels-of-ibn-battuta/The%20Travels%20of%20Ibn%20Battuta-1325%E2%80%931354-Volume-IV/page/ii/mode/2up }}. 
* Guidolin, Monica "Gli strangolatori di Kali. Il culto thag tra immaginario e realtà storica", Aurelia Edizioni, 2012, {{ISBN|978-88-89763-50-6}}.
* Paton, James 'Collections on Thuggee and Dacoitee', British Library, Add MS 41300
*Woerkens, Martine van  ''The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India'' (2002),
* Wagner, Kim, ''Stranglers and Bandits: A Historical Anthology of Thuggee'' (2009), Oxford University Press

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|Thuggee}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061001013418/http://www.csas.ed.ac.uk/fichiers/LLOYD.pdf ''Acting in the "Theatre of Anarchy": 'The Anti-Thug Campaign' and Elaborations of Colonial Rule in Early-Nineteenth Century India by Tom Lloyd (2006) in PDF file format ]
* [http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft8s20097j&chunk.id=ch2 ''Parama Roy: Discovering India, Imagining Thuggee. In: idem, Indian Traffic. Identities in Question in Colonial and Postcolonial India. University of California Press 1998. (in html format)'' ]
* [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/10577493/Confessions-of-Indias-real-life-Thugs.html Confessions of India's real-life Thugs]
* {{cite book |title=Selected Records: Collected from the Central Provinces and Berar Secretariat relating to the suppression of Thuggee (1829–1832) |date=1939 |publisher=Government Printing, C P & Berar |location=Nagpur |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.66211/page/n1/mode/2up?q=thug&view=theater |access-date=6 May 2022}}
* {{cite book|last= Wagner|first=Kim Ati|author-link=Kim A. Wagner|title=Thuggee: Banditry and the British in Early Nineteenth-Century India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R1CBDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26|year=2007|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-230-59020-5}}

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[[Category:Indian bandits]]
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