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THUGS
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THUGS . That the See also:Sanskrit See also:root sthag (See also:Pali, thak), to See also:cover, to conceal, was mainly applied to fraudulent concealment, appears from the noun sthaga, a cheat, which has retained this signification in the See also:modern vernaculars, in all of which it has assumed the See also:form thag (commonly written thug), with a specific meaning. The Thugs were a well-organized confederacy of professional assassins, who in gangs of whom 10 to 200 travelled in various guises through See also:India, wormed themselves into the confidence of wayfarers of the wealthier class, and, when a favourable opportunity occurred, strangled them by throwing a handkerchief or noose See also:round their necks, and then plundered and buried them. All this was done according to certain See also:ancient and rigidly prescribed forms and after the performance of See also:special religious See also:rites, in which the See also:consecration of the pickaxe and the See also:sacrifice of See also:sugar formed a prominent See also:part. From their using the noose as an See also:instrument of See also:murder they were also frequently called Phansigars, or " noose-operators." Though they them-selves trace their origin to seven See also:Mahommedan tribes, See also:Hindus appear to have been associated with them at an See also:early See also:period; at any See also:rate, their religious creed and practices as stanch worshippers of See also:Kali (Devi, See also:Durga), the See also:Hindu goddess of destruction, had certainly no flavour of See also:Islam in them. Assassination for gain was with them a religious See also:duty, and was considered a See also:holy and See also:honourable profession. They had, in fact, no See also:idea of doing wrong, and their moral feelings did not come into See also:play. The will of the goddess by whose command and in whose See also:honour they followed their calling was revealed to them through a very complicated See also:system of omens. In obedience to these they often travelled hundreds of See also:miles in See also:company with, or in the See also:wake of, their intended victims before a safe opportunity presented itself for executing their See also:design; and, when the See also:deed was done, rites were performed in honour of that tutelary deity, and a goodly portion of the spoil was set apart for her. The fraternity possessed also a See also:jargon of their own (Ramasi), as well as certain signs by which its members recognized each other in the remotest parts of India. Even those who from See also:age or infirmities could no longer take an active part in the operations continued to aid the cause as watchers, spies, or dressers of See also:food. It was owing to their thorough organization, the secrecy and See also:security with which they went to See also:work, but chiefly to the religious garb in which they shrouded their murders, that they could, unmolested by Hindu or Mahommedan rulers, recognized as a See also:regular profession and paying taxes as such, continue for centuries to practise their See also:craft. Both the fractions into which they were divided by the See also:Nerbudda See also:river laid claim to antiquity: while the See also:northern, however, did not trace their origin further back than the period of the early Mahommedan See also:kings of See also:Delhi, the See also:southern fraction not only claimed an earlier and purer descent, but adhered also with greater strictness to the rules of their profession.
The earliest authenticated mention of the Thugs is found in the following passage of Ziau-d din Barni's See also:History of Firoz Shah (written about 1356): " In the reign of that See also:sultan," that is, about i 290, " some Thugs were taken in Delhi, and a See also: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 See also:lower See also:country, to the neighbourhood of Lakhnauti, where they were to be set See also:free. The Thugs would thus have to dwell about Lakhnauti and would not trouble the neighbourhood of Delhi any more " (See also:Sir H. M. Elliot's History of India, iii. 141). The first See also:European travellers who speak of them without mentioning their name are Thevenot (1665) and Fryer (1673). Though instances of Thagi (Thuggee) had been known to the See also:English rulers in India for many years, and sporadic efforts had been made by them towards the extinction of the gangs, it was not till See also:Lord W. See also:Bentinck (1828–1835) took vigorous steps in this See also:matter that the system was gradually unmasked, and finally all but stamped out. His See also:chief See also:agent, See also:Captain (afterwards Sir See also: According to the Thuggee and Dacoity See also:Report for 1899, the number of registered Punjabi and Hindustani Thugs then still amounted to 344; but all of these had already been registered as such before 1852, and the whole fraternity may now be considered as See also:extinct. The Thuggee and Dacoity See also:department continued to exist until 1904, though its operations had See also:long been confined to the suppression of organized See also:robbery in native states. Its See also:place is now taken by the Central Criminal Intelligence department.
Full particulars concerning the system of Thagi are given by Dr See also:Sherwood, " On the Murderers called Phansigars," and J. Shake-See also:spear, " Observations regarding Bradheks and Thegs " (both See also:treatises in vol. xiii. (1820), of the See also:Asiatic Researches); W. N. Sleeman, Ramaseeana, or a Vocabulary of the See also:Language used by the Thugs, with an Introduction and Appendix (See also:Calcutta, 1836) ; the See also:Edinburgh See also:Review for See also:January 1837; E. See also:Thornton, Illustrations of the History and Practices of the Thugs (See also:London, 1837) ; Meadows See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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