The Thugs of India - Part I
Beginning a series of articles on the most vile criminals to have walked the holy lands of India, I am going to take you through history as I read the wonderful Mike Dash - Thug: The True Story of India’s Murderous Cult.
Quite a few people have written about the Indian Thugs, but perhaps it is Mike Dash, to whom the credit for capturing their world should go. In his book, “Thug: the true story of India’s murderous cult”, he has elaborately written about these professional criminals and how the legal system struggled to contain them.
Not so long ago, between 1650-1850 CE, there lived in India one of the most notorious groups of criminals the world has ever encountered. These criminals, self-proclaimed as “Thugs”, have justifiably attracted the dread of historians, the fantasy of writers, and the disgust of civilized peoples.
Quick Questions:
Who were the Thugs?
Thugs were groups of criminals that operated in various parts of India mainly between 1650-1850 CE. They were a specialized group of criminals because they befriended travellers’ parties and always killed all the travellers before booting off with the looty.
What was the origin of the Thugs?
The Thugs seem to have had their origins in Islam, or at least the first thugs were Muslims; and many of the Thug-terms or their code language consisted of Urdu-derived words.
What was their technique?
They travelled far from their native villages and befriended wealthy or even poor travellers. At dusk or before dawn, they killed the travellers by strangling them, disposed of their bodies after mutilating them (so that the bodies won’t swell on decomposition and displace the earth leading to a mound, giving away the burial), and stole their wealth, clothes etc.
How did they never get caught initially?
Even the existence of such groups of criminals was not known for quite long because they killed all their victims and carefully disposed of their remains. There was virtually no evidence or witnesses whatsoever.
What about the law when caught?
The Thug groups from a village were usually under the protection of the local Zamindar or chief, who was given a large amount of the looty in return for protection from the law-keepers.
That’s enough for now - its a very interesting book, and a must read for any Indian history enthusiast. For the latest review, read Thugs killed millions of Indian travellers.
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[...] Thugs were a notorious band of marauding murderous highway robbers that plagued Indian roads between the 1600s and mid 1800s (Introduction to Thugs). They used to trick wealthy and not-so-wealthy travellers into traveling with them as a group. When the fatal and opportune moment arrived, they killed all the travellers, including women, disfigured the bodies and buried them in wells or ad hoc graves. Of course, theirs became the booty, right from the gold to the garments. [...]