THUGS AND DACOITS.
A
POPULAR ACCOUNT
OF THE
THUGS AND DACOITS,
THE
HEREDITARY GAROTTERS
AND
GANG-ROBBERS
OF
INDIA.
BY
JAMES HUTTON.
LONDON:
WM. H. ALLEN AND CO., 7, LEADENHALL STREET.
1857.
LONDON:
W. LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, 21, FINCH LANE, CORNHILL.
Thugs and Thuggee.
They who reverence ancient descent, and a long line of ancestors, are
bound to regard the Thugs with peculiar veneration. Perhaps, neither
in Asia nor in Europe are there any other families that can date their
origin from such remote antiquity. They are said to be sprung from the
Sagartii, who contributed 8,000 horse to the army of Xerxes, and are
thus described by Herodotus, in the Seventh Book of his History:--
"These people lead a pastoral life, were originally of Persian descent,
and use the Persian language; their dress is something betwixt the
Persian and the Pactyan; they have no offensive weapons, either of iron
or brass, except their daggers; their principal dependence in action is
on cords, made of twisted leather, which they use in this manner: when
they engage an enemy, they throw out these cords, having a noose at the
extremity: if they entangle in these either horse or man, they without
difficulty put them to death."
There is some reason to believe, that in later times the descendants
of these Sagartii accompanied one of the Mahommedan invaders of India,
and settled in the neighbourhood of Delhi. In the latter part of the
seventeenth century, Thevenot makes mention of a strange denomination
of robbers, who infested the road between that city and Agra, and used
"a certain rope, with a running noose, which they can cast with so much
sleight about a man's neck, when they are within reach of him, that
they never fail, so that they strangle him in a trice." These vagrant
plunderers were divided into seven clans or families, called Bahleem,
Bhyns, Bhursote, Kachunee, Huttar, Ganoo, and Tundil, the parent stock
of all the subsequent ramifications. According to tradition, they were
expelled from Delhi by one of the emperors of the house of Gouree, on
account of the murder of a favourite slave. Their victim had long been
aware of their practices, and had connived at them, for the sake of the
handsome gratuities presented as the price of his silence. But, abusing
his power, and making exorbitant demands, he quickly experienced the
fate of those in whose plunder he had so freely participated. The
murderers were therefore driven from the neighbourhood, after being
branded on their posteriors with the current copper coin of the
empire. Five of the clans removed to Agra, whence their descendants
were afterwards called Agureea. A large body of them appear to have
travelled to Arcot, and there founded the proudest and most punctilious
branch of the fraternity. These Arcottee Thugs used to wear checkered
_loongees_, and short jackets, like the Company's Sepoys; they also
carried a knapsack on their back, a light cane in their hand, and
generally a small bag of beetel nut and paun. Their leaders, or
jemadars, frequently assumed the garb and bearing of wealthy merchants,
and had four or five attendants to cook for them, hand the hookah,
clean their pony, and do other menial offices, while the rest of the
gang followed in small parties, not to excite suspicion, but closed up
rapidly when the signal was passed along. The true Hindostanee Thugs,
however, professed to look down upon those of Arcot, and refused to
intermarry with them. The latter retorted, that the others could have
no pretensions to high birth, for at their marriages the matrons, as
they threw down the _toolsee_, were wont to exclaim, "Here's to the
spirits of those (Qulunders), who once led bears and monkeys; to those
who drove bullocks, and marked with the _godnee_ (kunjurs, or gipsies);
and to those who made baskets for the head." But this was explained by
the necessity of assuming disguises, in the first place, to escape from
Delhi, and afterwards for carrying on their terrible vocation. There
was certainly one very low Hindoo class, the _Sooseeas_, but calling
themselves _Naeks_ and _Thories_, with whom the others associated
with reluctance. These chiefly confined themselves to Malwa and
Rajpootana, travelling as merchants, with their leader indulging in a
hackery or palanquin. Sometimes they disguised themselves as Sepoys,
or as treasure-bearers. The most exclusive clan were the Chingurees,
or Mooltanee Thugs, who practised female infanticide to a frightful
extent. They preserved alive only a sufficient number to provide wives
for the members of their own clan. They were allowed to be an ancient
tribe, and were much respected by the inferior associations with
whom they had nothing in common, except the dialect peculiar to all
Thugs. They usually travelled with their families as Brinjarees, with
bullocks and cows laden with goods, and strangled their victims with
a bullock's rope. A colony of about one hundred families was settled
at Hingolee. A very clever and staunch tribe, known as the Jumaldehee
Thugs, settled in Oude, who prudently kept their wives in ignorance of
the true nature of their pursuits, nor did they initiate their sons
till they had reached the age of puberty. When they sallied forth on
their expeditions, they left a certain number of their men at home, to
take care of the women and children, and to these they allotted a full
share of their spoils. The Brinjaree Thugs were especially fortunate
in escaping detection, or even suspicion, by reason of their nomade
habits, which rendered it extremely difficult to trace any particular
crime to them. They were consequently enabled to amass considerable
riches, though they seldom renounced their wandering life. A Thug
approver told the late Major-General Sleeman, that on one occasion he
and his party fell in with a company of merchants from the westward,
who were encamped near Jyepore, and wore exceedingly high turbans.
"What enormous turbans these men wear!" he remarked to a comrade,
using their slang term, _aghasee_. The chief man among the strangers
thereupon stepped forward, and requested the travellers to sit down
with them, adding, at the same time, "My good friends, we are of your
fraternity, though our _aghasees_ are not the same." It turned out that
these supposed merchants were a gang of Brinjaree Thugs, who, having
become wealthy, had given up strangulation, but were not the less glad
to welcome those who still laboured at the pious crime.
In the beginning, as already stated, the Thugs were invariably
followers of the Prophet, but after a time Hindoos were initiated, who
inoculated their Mussulmaun teachers with their own superstitions.
Thuggee now became a divine institution, ordained by the goddess Kalee.
It is curious to observe how the amalgamation of the two religions
took place. Captain Sleeman asked a Thug approver, named Sahib, if he
thought the English would ever succeed in suppressing Thuggee? The
answer was, "How can the hand of man do away with the works of God?"
SLEEMAN.--You are a Mussulmaun?
SAHIB.--Yes; and the greater part of the Thugs of the south
are Mussulmauns.
SLEEMAN.--And you still marry, inherit, pray, eat, and drink,
according to the Koran? and your Paradise is to be the Paradise
promised by Mahommed?
SAHIB.--Yes. All, all.
SLEEMAN.--Has Bhowanee been anywhere named in the Koran?
SAHIB.--Nowhere.
It was then explained that Bhowanee was supposed to be another name for
Fatima, daughter of the Prophet, and wife of Ali. Sahib acknowledged
that Bhowanee had no power to admit her votaries into Paradise, nor
any influence over the future state, but maintained that she directed
the destinies of Thugs in this world, and that God would never punish
any one for obedience to her commands. Sleeman's Mahommedan officers
indignantly protested against the idea that Fatima and the Hindoo
goddess were identical, and professed an entire disbelief in the
divinity of Kalee. But they were somewhat disconcerted when the Thugs
asked how they reconciled this want of faith with their presence at
Kalee's festivals: they could not say that they were merely spectators,
led thither by an idle curiosity. The Thugs then adduced, as a proof
of the divine origin of their calling, the fact that they had pursued
it with impunity for nearly two centuries. Captain Sleeman having
declared that neither he nor his native officers cared one jot for
their goddess, and that they were determined to put down her worship
in this form, one of them replied, "They may say so, but they all
know that no man's family can survive a murder committed in any other
way; and yet Thugs have thrived through a long series of generations.
We have all children like other men, and we are never visited with any
extraordinary affliction."
It may be here parenthetically stated, that of the Oude Thugs
nine-tenths were Mahommedans; in the Doab, one-fifth; south of the
Nerbudda, three-fourths; in Rajpootana, one fourth; and in Bengal,
Behar, Orissa, Bundlecund and Saugor, about one-half.
Kalee, the goddess who presided over Thuggee, was worshipped also
under the names of Bhowanee, Devey, and Davey. She was the wife of
Mahadeo, or Siva, and first appeared on earth on the banks of the
Hooghly, at a spot afterwards called, in memory of the event, Kalee
Ghaut, now Calcutta. Here stands her most honoured temple, and here is
still celebrated with the most solemn rites her chief festival, the
Doorga Pooja. They who address her with the greatest reverence style
her Kunkalee, or the "man-eater," and represent her as quaffing huge
draughts of blood from men and demons. When alone, she is depicted as
black and hideous of aspect; but in company with her husband, she
is ever fair and beautiful. Once on a time the world was infested
with a monstrous demon named Rukut Beej-dana, who devoured mankind
as fast as they were created. So gigantic was his stature, that the
deepest pools of the ocean reached no higher than his waist. This
horrid prodigy Kalee cut in twain with her resistless sword, but from
every drop of blood that fell to the ground there sprung up a new
demon. For some time she went on destroying them, till the hellish
brood multiplied so fast that she waxed hot and weary with her endless
task. So she paused for a while, and from the sweat, brushed off one
of her arms, she created two men, to whom she gave a _roomal_, or
handkerchief, and commanded them to strangle the demons. When they
had slain them all, they offered to return the _roomal_, but the
goddess bade them keep it and transmit it to their posterity, with the
injunction to destroy all men who were not of their kindred. There
were many exemptions, however, from this rule. The murder of women,
for instance, was positively prohibited, and this prohibition was
seldom or never violated in Bengal, Behar, or Orissa. To the south of
the Nerbudda old women did not always escape, or even young women,
when it was found impossible to separate them from a tempting prize.
Between the Nerbudda, the Indus, and the Jumna, the Thugs had few
scruples of any kind. It was likewise unlawful to murder a Brahman
or a Kaet (member of the writer caste), or a religious mendicant
of any kind, or oilman, potter, carpenter, blacksmith, goldsmith,
elephant-driver, musician, dancing-master, or any one having a domestic
animal with him, or carrying a parent's bones to the sacred river.
But, in later times, these restrictions were either totally evaded or
confined to the first day of the expedition. To the neglect of these
and such-like regulations, the approvers ascribed the decay of the
"time-honoured craft." Davey used to protect them, they said with a
sigh, when they "had some regard for religion." She never forsook them
till they neglected her. They were merely instruments in the hands
of God. "No man is ever killed by man's killing," but through the
will of the Deity. Many "incursions" had been made at different times
against Thuggee, but never on such a scale as that instituted by the
company's officers. "The Company's Ikbal (genius, or good fortune) is
such, that before the sound of your drums, sorcerers, witches, and
demons take flight, and how can Thuggee stand?" In the early ages
of the "institution," Bhowanee used to dispose of the dead bodies
and efface all signs of the murder, but she distinctly warned her
votaries against looking back after they had again taken to the road.
Curiosity, however, at length proved too strong for the sons of Eve,
and one day it came to pass that a Thug looked over his shoulder and
beheld the goddess playing at ball with the corpses, throwing them up
into the air and catching them as they fell; or, according to another
account, she had a dead body in her mouth, the extremities projecting
on either side. After this discovery of her favourite pastimes, Kalee
refused to have anything more to do with their victims, and left it
to themselves to conceal the tokens of their "piety." But she did not
altogether abandon them. Even in her wrath she was gracious to those
who held her name in honour. She accordingly bestowed upon them one of
her teeth for a pick-axe, a rib for a knife, and the hem of her garment
for a noose: yellow and white being the colours she most affected, such
were frequently the hues of the _roomal_. To the last she "everywhere
protected the Thugs, so long as they attended religiously to their
duties." Even when through inattention to the omens she sent for their
guidance, any of them were apprehended and punished, her vengeance was
sure to overtake their oppressors. "Was not Nanha," said an approver,
"the Raja of Jhalone, made leprous by Davey for putting to death Bodhoo
and his brother Khumoolee, two of the most noted Thugs of their day?
He had them trampled under the feet of elephants, but the leprosy
broke out upon his body the very next day." Nanha was so sensible of
his guiltiness, that he did all in his power to appease Davey. "Bodhoo
had begun a well in Jhalone; the Raja built it up in a magnificent
style; he had a Chubootra (tomb) raised to their name, fed Brahmans,
consecrated it, had worship instituted upon it, but all in vain; the
disease was incurable, and the Raja died in a few months a miserable
death.... When Madhajee Scindiah caused seventy Thugs to be executed at
Mathura, was he not warned in a dream by Davey that he should release
them? And did he not, the very day after their execution, begin to
spit blood? And did he not die within three months?... When Dureear,
the Rathore, and Komere and Patore, the Kuchwaha Rajpoots, Zemindars,
arrested eighty of the Thugs who had settled at Nodha, after the
murder of Lieutenant Monsell, they had many warnings to let them go,
but they persisted and kept them till some thirty died. They collected
10,000 rupees, at the rate of 125 rupees from every Thug. What became
of their families? Have they not all perished? They have not a child
left. Rao Sing Havildar, the Gwalior Soobah of Nodha, took the money,
but that very day his only son and the best horse in his stable died,
and he was himself taken ill and died soon after a miserable death....
The Raja of Kundul, some ninety coss (180 miles) east from Hyderabad,
arrested all the Thugs in his Raj for some murders they had committed.
For three successive nights the voice of Davey was heard from the top
of every temple in the capital, warning the Raja to release them. The
whole town heard her, and urged the Raja to comply. He was obstinate,
and the third night the bed on which he and his Ranee were sleeping was
taken up by Davey, and dashed violently against the ground." They were
dreadfully bruised and frightened, and lost no time in releasing their
heaven-protected prisoners.
Kalee not only protected the Thugs, but sent them numerous omens as
encouragement or warning. An omen was, in fact, a positive command to
slay the travellers in their power, or to allow them to go unharmed. If
they did not attend to these omens, they became guilty of disobedience,
and had no longer any claim upon the goddess for protection. On
Captain Sleeman inquiring if any evil would befall them if they used
the _roomal_ without reference to the divine signals, Sahib at once
answered in the affirmative, adding, "No man's family ever survives
a murder: it becomes extinct. A Thug who murders in this way loses
the children he has, and is never blessed with more. He cannot escape
punishment." "But how," said Captain Sleeman, "how can you murder
old men and young children without some emotions of pity--calmly and
deliberately as they sit with you and converse with you, and tell you
of their private affairs--of their hopes and fears--and of the wives
and children they are going to meet after years of absence, toil, and
suffering?" The answer was such as might almost have been made by
an ancient Hebrew, had any one asked him if he felt no pity for the
wretched Canaanites he so ruthlessly murdered. "From the time that
the omens have been favourable, we consider them as victims thrown
into our hands by the Deity to be killed; and that we are the mere
instrument in her hands to destroy them: that if we do not kill them,
she will never be again propitious to us, and we and our families
will be involved in misery and want." In precisely such a spirit did
Samuel hew in pieces before the Lord, Agag, king of the Amalekites.
The Thugs were by no means insensible to domestic feelings, or even to
the charms of social and friendly intercourse. At home their conduct
was irreproachable. Their villages were usually models of cleanliness
and neatness; their lands were industriously cultivated, their wives
and children treated with all kindness and affection. When Laek, an
approver, heard of his brother's arrest, he repeated with much feeling
an Hindustani verse, which has been thus rendered into English:--"I
was a pearl, once residing in comfort in the ocean. I surrendered
myself, believing I should repose in peace on the bosom of some fair
damsel--but, alas! they have pierced me and passed a string through my
body, and have left me to dangle in constant pain as an ornament to
her nose." Their wives frequently were quite unconscious that their
husbands were murderers, though they may perchance have suspected them
of being thieves and robbers. The sons also were kept in ignorance
of the entire truth until they had completed their fourteenth or
fifteenth year. In fact, they were gradually trained to the business.
At first they were taken out as if for a pleasant excursion, and had
generally a pony to ride. Presents, too, were given them after each
murder, though they were not made acquainted with the source whence
those gifts were derived. However, before they returned home they
had usually a shrewd suspicion that their treasured prize had not
been honestly come by. Next year they were plainly told that their
parents and relations were highway robbers; but by this time they had
become too fond of the careless roving life and of their share of
the easily-acquired plunder, to listen to the still small voice of
conscience. And thus in the third year they were not horrified to learn
that they were accomplices in murder. By such gentle transitions the
best regulated mind may eventually be attuned to the most atrocious
guilt. A comical reason was given to Captain Sleeman to account for
the omission on the part of a Thug father to initiate his son. "His
father," said the witness, "used to drink very hard, and in his fits
of intoxication he used to neglect his prayers and his days of fast.
All days were the same with him. This lad, Shumshera, was always sober
and religiously disposed, and separated from his father, living always
with his uncle Dondee, who was a very worthy, good man." He, too, was
a Thug, but likewise refrained from removing the veil from the eyes
of the lad. Another relative, however, proved less considerate, and
flattered the young man's vanity by telling him that he belonged to a
very high family of the Jumaldehee Thugs. A sad tale concerning another
youngster was related by Feringeea, a noted leader, who turned king's
evidence. One Aman Soobahdar went out upon an expedition, accompanied
by his cousin Kurhora, aged scarcely fourteen, whom he gave in charge
to Hursooka, his adopted son. After a time the gang fell in with a
party of five Sikhs, whereupon Aman desired Hursooka to keep the boy
well in the rear, so that he might not witness the contemplated murder.
Kurhora, however, becoming frightened, broke away from his companion
and galloped to the front to overtake the others. Just as he came in
sight, the signal was given. In an instant the fatal noose was applied,
a few shrill cries rent the air, and five writhing human bodies lay
convulsively distorted on the ground. At the horrid spectacle Kurhora
"was seized with a trembling, and fell from his pony; he became
immediately delirious, was dreadfully alarmed at the sight of the
turbans of the murdered men, and when any one touched or spoke to him,
talked about the murders and screamed exactly like a boy talks in his
sleep, and trembled violently if any one spoke to him or touched him."
Three or four of the party remained with the poor lad, for he was a
great favourite with them all, but he never recovered his senses, and
died before the evening. Hursooka took his death so much to heart that
he retired from the world, turned Byragee (an ascetic), and passed the
remainder of his days in serving at a temple on the Nerbudda.
Feringeea, the narrator of the preceding mournful incident, was a fine
handsome fellow, greatly admired by the women, and much respected by
his associates. His name was given to him in memory of an attack made
by a party of Feringees (Europeans) under the French General Perron,
on his uncle's village in distraint of certain customs' dues. As his
mother fled from the scene of violence and brutality, she was seized
with labour pains and brought a man child into the world, whom, in
remembrance of the terror and anguish she had endured, she named
Feringeea. On one occasion Feringeea, when he had grown to man's
estate and had become a famous leader, was travelling with his cousin
Aman Soobahdar and a gang of 150 Thugs through Rajpootana, when he fell
in with a handmaid of the Peishwah Bajee Rao, on her way from Poonah
to Cawnpore. "We intended to kill her and her followers," he quietly
remarked to Captain Sleeman, "but we found her very beautiful, and
after having her and her party three days within our grasp, and knowing
that they had £15,000 worth of property in jewels and other things with
them, we let her and all her party go; we had talked to her and felt
love towards her, for she was very beautiful."
But beauty was not always equally powerful to save. At another time,
he came up with a beautiful young Moghulanee, travelling with an
old female servant, mounted on a pony, an armed attendant, and six
palanquin-bearers. The ill-fated damsel, unhappily for herself and her
companions, became enamoured of the dashing, handsome young Thug. In
vain he tried to shake her off, for he feared a scandal might arise
if he, a Brahmin, had any improper intercourse with a Mussulmaunee.
And the exchange of other than Platonic love would have saved her
life. So at last he insisted that they should "take" her, and she was
accordingly put to death. "It was her fate," he said, not excusing
himself, but putting the matter in the right light, "It was her fate
to die by our hands." Captain Sleeman, then asked Madar Buksh, who
actually strangled the poor Moghulanee, if he had no pity for the
beautiful young woman. "I had," he answered, "but I had undertaken the
duty, and we must all have food." As if hurt by the enunciation of such
a base practical motive, Feringeea here struck in, saying, "We all
feel pity sometimes, but the _goor_ (consecrated coarse sugar) of the
Tapoonee, (feast after a murder), changes our nature. It would change
the nature of a horse. Let any man once taste of that _goor_, and he
will be a Thug, though he knew all the trades and have all the wealth
in the world. I never wanted food; my mother's family was opulent, her
relations high in office: I have been high in office myself, and become
so great a favourite wherever I went, that I was sure of promotion; yet
I was always miserable while absent from my gang, and obliged to return
to Thuggee. My father made me taste of that fatal _goor_ when I was yet
a mere boy; and, if I were to live a thousand years, I should never
be able to follow any other trade." The fascination of the abominable
"trade" is almost incredible. There were many instances of Thugs
enlisting into the Company's service, and making excellent soldiers;
and yet, whenever an opportunity presented itself, they would get two
parades' leave, join some of their old associates, commit as many
murders as possible, and then, with satisfied feelings, return to their
duty.
Feringeea, after the apprehension of his gang, could have escaped to
other clans in Rajpootana and Telingana, "but," said he, "you had
secured my mother, wife, and child: I could not forsake them--was
always inquiring after them, and affording my pursuers the means of
tracing me. I knew not what indignities my wife and mother might
suffer. Could I have felt secure that they would suffer none, I should
not have been taken." He was finally captured by two striplings, whom
he could easily have overpowered, had he not imagined that they were
supported by a party of police outside the hut, and that all resistance
was therefore idle. At one period of his life, he was in General
Ochterlony's service, and a great favourite with Sir David. His wife
was not aware that he was a Thug. "Her family," he proudly remarked
to Captain Sleeman, "are of the aristocracy of Jhansee and Sumtur,
as you may know." His foster-brother, being informed the day before
his execution, that his foster-mother had been arrested, earnestly
begged, as a last favour, that he might have an interview with her
as she was led to the scaffold. His request being granted, "he fell
at the old woman's feet, and begged she would release him from the
obligations of the milk with which she had nourished him, and the care
with which she had cherished him from infancy, as he was about to die
before he could fulfil any of them. She placed her hands on his head,
and he knelt, and she said she forgave him all, and bid him die like
a man." The sons were worthy of such mothers, heroic in their firm
resolve. There is likewise on record one example of a woman, named
Baroonee, who used to assist her husband to strangle his victims. Once
she saved his life when nearly overpowered, by tightly pulling the
_roomal_ round the neck of the struggling wretch, till he fell dead at
her feet. Mothers frequently compelled their sons to go on Thuggee,
and wives their husbands; and there was one woman in the Deccan, who
kept a gang, though it does not appear that she ever accompanied them.
Among the ancient male leaders none was more venerated than Dada
Dheera, of the Bhursote clan, whose name was oft-times invoked over
spiritual potations, at certain religious ceremonies. Next to him, was
the Mooltanee leader, Jhora Naek, who, assisted only by his servant,
Koduk Bunwaree, once strangled a man possessed of property to the value
of £16,200. Instead of appropriating this valuable prize, he drove the
mule home, assembled his neighbours, and distributed to each the share
to which he would have been entitled had he been actually present at
the murder. For this remarkable display of honour and self-denial,
both he and his wife were canonized. The leadership was usually the
reward of merit. "A man," said one of them, "who has always at command
the means of advancing a month or two's subsistence to a gang, will be
called a Jemadar; a strong, resolute man, whose ancestors have been for
many generations Thugs, will soon get the title; or a very wise man,
whose advice in difficult cases has weight with the gang; one who has
influence over local authorities, or the native officers of courts of
justice; a man of handsome appearance and high bearing, who can feign
the man of rank well--all these things enable a man to get around him a
few who will consent to give him the fees and title of Jemadar; but it
requires very high and numerous qualifications to gain a man the title
of Soobahdar."
It is now time to consider what omens were good, what bad, in the
eyes of this strange fraternity. There does not seem to have been any
particular reason for deciding on the hidden meaning of the incidents
that were supposed to be sent to regulate their conduct. The division
of tokens and prodigies into auspicious and adverse was, indeed,
most arbitrary and capricious, and can scarcely in any one instance
be accounted for. The good were not so numerous as the bad, for even
these habitual murderers gladly clutched at any excuse for evading the
necessity of taking human life. Very promising was it, on first setting
out, to meet a woman, carrying on her head a pitcher full of water:
they then felt assured of a happy return to their homes, especially
if she happened to be with child. Still better was it to hear an ass
bray on the left hand, and then on the right; the expedition might last
for years, it would always be attended with success; it passed into a
proverb--_Sou puk, heroo ek dunteroo_,--"One ass is worth a hundred
birds." Another proverb,--_Baean geedee sona leedee_, intimated,
that "a jackal, crossing from right to left, brings gold." To rhymed
sayings of this kind they were partial, as an assistant to memory.
Here is a more elaborate instance:
Ratee bolee teetura,
Din ko bolee seear,
Tuj chulee wa deysra,
Nuheen puree achanuk dhar.
That is, being interpreted, "If the partridge call at night, or the
jackal during the day, quit that country, or you will be seized."
Immediate and valuable booty might be expected, if the large hill-crow
were heard croaking on a tree, with a river or tank in sight; but the
reverse was the case, if the bird were seated on a live buffalo or
pig, or on the skeleton of any dead animal. Pleasant, too, was the
prospect, if a cat came prowling to their encampment by night; and
equally cheering to see a wolf, or a shrike, crossing the road from the
right to the left; or a large male antelope, or a herd of small deer,
or the blue jay, crossing from left to right. It was good to hear the
hare calling at night, upon the left, or the loud, continued hooting
of the small owl, when sitting; or the call of the partridge, on the
left, while travelling, and on the right, while halting. If a herd of
deer came in sight, they looked, ere long, to fall in with another gang
of Thugs. The call of the sarus was the most variable of all. It was
very encouraging if heard first on the left, and then on the right, on
opening an expedition, and also on reaching a stage, if heard on the
right; if repeated on the left, a rich prize was at hand, but ill luck
was betokened if it first sounded on the left; equally inauspicious was
the cry heard on the right, on leaving a stage, unless preceded on the
left. The most frequent reference was to Pilhaoo and Thibaoo; by the
former was meant the voice or appearance of omen-endowed animals on the
left hand, by the latter, that on the right. If the Pilhaoo were good,
it was improved by being followed by the Thibaoo; if evil, the danger
was in like manner diminished. Unless both were obtained before setting
out, the expedition was deferred to a later season. On leaving a stage,
the Pilhaoo was full of promise,--the Thibaoo of warning; a rule that
was reversed on reaching a halting ground.
On the other hand, if a turban fell off, or caught fire, the gang
returned home, if at no great distance, and remained quiet for seven
days; otherwise, they offered up _goor_ (coarse sugar), and the owner
of the turban alone retraced his steps. An expedition had also to
be re-commenced, if on the first day or night it encountered the
Ansootare, literally, "tear drops;" that is, a shower of rain falling
in the dry season, or in any month save June, July, August, and
September; nor could any success be anticipated if it thundered, with
little or no rain, when a gang was ready to set out. A very dreadful
omen was the cry of the kite, heard during the interval between the
first watch and day-break. All would then start to their feet, and
betake themselves to hurried flight; though no alarm was entertained
if the cry were heard between sunset and the end of the first watch,
because then "the omen was suffocated under their sides as they turned
in their sleep." Hardly less disastrous was a lizard falling upon
a Thug; any garment that it touched must be given away in charity.
Nothing but ill luck followed the meeting a maimed person, or an
oil-vender, or a woman bearing an empty water-jar, or a leper, or any
one emaciated by sickness; to meet a donkey face to face, was called
Mataphore, or "the head-breaker." It was of evil import to see a
jackal, or a wolf, cross the road from left to right, or a large male
antelope, or small deer, from right to left. If a snake crossed either
behind or in front of the gang, they must kill it or return home;
in either case sacrifices were required. The sight of two jackals
crossing the road together, in front, foretold prison and chains. The
call of one jackal was bad; the general clamour, or "lamentation" of
a pack, still worse; but the short, broken cry of that animal, or the
noise of several fighting, rendered it necessary to take to precipitate
flight. It was ill-omened to hear the call of the kite while flying,
or that mournful sound known as the "weeping" of the wolf, or the low
hooting of the small owl, repeated two or three times; or the loud
responsive cry of two large owls, or the low clicking sound of that
bird, or the slight chirp of the small owl, either sitting or flying.
If any member of the gang sneezed, either on first setting out, or on
leaving a halting-ground, expiatory sacrifices were offered, and all
travellers then in their power were allowed to escape. Were a dog seen
to shake its head, no Thug would dream of executing any design he might
previously have formed.
It was also unlucky to hear cats fighting in the day-time, or after
the first watch at night; or the low gurgling of the large owl, which
somewhat resembles the bubbling of a hookah. If this sound were
observed on first setting out, the expedition was postponed for several
days; if, afterwards, on the left, the gang hurried on, for there
was danger behind; if on the right, they halted, for there was danger
before them. But probably, no omen was more dreaded than the sight, or
the cry, of a hare. Unless a sacrifice was immediately offered, they
were certain to perish miserably in the jungles, and the wild animals
of the forest would drink water out of their skulls: should they
impiously plunder any traveller then with them, they would obtain no
booty. One of the most intelligent approvers ascribed his apprehension
on one occasion to his neglect of this omen. "A hare crossed the road,"
he said, "we disregarded the omen--though the hare actually screamed in
crossing--and went on." On the following day he and seventeen of his
associates were arrested, and only obtained their release after a long
detention.
It has been already stated that the Thugs attributed their recent
misfortunes to their want of "religion" in neglecting omens, and
disregarding the restrictions assigned to their homicidal duties. Their
evasions of the latter were sometimes humorous. They were forbidden
to destroy any one accompanied by a woman or a cow. But a party of
fourteen, possessing both these safeguards, once fell into the hands of
a gang at Kotree, in Huttah, and were persuaded by the Thugs to sell
the cow to them, as they had made a vow to present one to the Brahmans
at Shahpore. They did actually fulfil their pretended vow, but not
until they had strangled, without any remaining compunction, every one
of their unsuspecting victims, not even excepting the female. According
to the approvers, the practice of killing women had prevailed only
five years, and became one great cause of their ruin. The principal
reluctance to woman-slaughter was entertained by the Hindoos--the
Mussulmauns, perhaps, from their larger experience of the sex, showing
little inclination to spare them. On a certain occasion a Hindoo lady,
called the Kalee Beebee, was met by a gang as she travelled in a dooly
(a sort of litter), accompanied by twelve dependents. The Thugs having
discovered that she had £400 worth of property with her, her death was
insisted upon by the Mussulmauns, and as strenuously objected to by
the Hindoos. Thereupon a violent quarrel arose between them, which was
only appeased by the former perpetrating the deed by themselves. The
Hindoos, however, did not refuse to share in the plunder, save only the
lady's personal ornaments and clothes. One of them, a Brahman, named
Purusram, was shunned by his own brother until he expiated his guilt
by feasting several hundred Brahmans at a great expense. Another member
of the gang, also a Brahman, "got worms in his body, and died barking
like a dog." A third died miserably, and the families of all became
extinct.
A more horrible instance of woman-slaughter appears to have escaped
unpunished, at least for a time. The Moonshee, Bunda Alee, in company
with his wife, an infant daughter, and six servants, was taking to her
bridegroom another daughter who had attained to a connubial age. On
the journey he fell in with a numerous gang of Thugs, the leaders of
whom contrived to ingratiate themselves with the Moonshee's party, and
all travelled on together. One evening towards dusk some of the Thugs
seated themselves, as usual, with the Moonshee at his tent door, and
began to sing and play on the sitar. One of them presently took up the
Moonshee's sword, which was lying on the ground at his feet, as if
to examine it. The signal was then suddenly given, but the Moonshee
sprung to his feet, screamed aloud, and tried to rush into the tent,
but was instantly seized and strangled. His wife, hearing his shrieks,
came running out with the infant in her arms, and shared his fate.
The bride was put to death within the tent. The servants were at that
moment engaged in grooming the horses, and one of them crept under
a horse's belly and lustily bawled out "murder!" but they were all
quickly silenced by the fatal noose. Ghubboo Khan, who had murdered
the mother, intended to adopt the infant, but was dissuaded by one of
his comrades who pointed out that it might lead to their discovery. He
therefore threw the child alive into the hole in which the dead bodies
were already deposited, and the earth was hastily shovelled in upon the
living and the dead. While this dreadful scene was enacting, a number
of Khulasies were, within sight, occupied in pitching the tents of the
European officers commanding a detachment of troops marching along the
road. The Thugs, however, had taken care to play and sing, at the top
of their voice, as soon as the butchery commenced, while others let
loose two vicious horses and chased them with vociferous shouting, so
as effectually to drown the cries of their victims.
The five years assigned as the duration of feminicide was simply a
euphuism; it prevailed through a very much longer period. In 1816 a
party of eighteen men and seven women were strangled near Shikarpore,
but the Thugs spared two boys, one of whom, however, cried so bitterly
and made so much moaning, that a ruffian seized him by the legs, swung
him round, and dashed out his brains against a stone. The dead body
was carelessly left lying on the ground, till a fisherman, passing
that way, happened to see it, and went and reported the circumstance
to the Thakoor Burjore Sing, of Powae. Guided by this clue, the
Thakoor discovered the bodies of all the victims, and, collecting as
many men as possible, gave chase to the murderers. Following their
fresh traces he came up with them while washing themselves in a stream
near the village of Tigura. Forming into a compact body, the Thugs
retired upon the village, being repeatedly charged by the Thakoor's
party, who ran one of them through the chest with a spear and sabred
another. The villagers, however, expecting a share of the booty, turned
out to the rescue of the Thugs and repulsed their assailants. Next
morning they escorted them to the neighbouring village of Simareea,
where they received the like sympathy and protection. This was no
extraordinary occurrence, for the natives generally regarded the Thugs
as a fraternity especially favoured by heaven. They would as soon have
thought of destroying a snake or a wolf, or of opposing in any other
way the decrees of Providence. The police, to save themselves trouble,
and partly also from a secret dread of these mysterious and ruthless
beings, used to declare that the dead bodies occasionally found in
ravines, wells, and dry watercourses had been killed by tigers, and
would burn them in all haste lest the marks of strangulation should
be detected by their superiors. In the Deccan the task of suppression
was rendered doubly difficult by the sullen opposition of the native
chiefs, who sometimes even ventured to maltreat the police officers
of the British Government. The Zemindars, or landowners, were always
ready to give any amount of security for Thugs, against whom there
was no sufficient evidence to justify their punishment. "They knew us
very well," said an approver, "but they had then confidence in us;
they thought we should keep our own secrets, and, if we did so, no
one else would be able to convict us, and get them into trouble. Yes,
there was then something like religion and good faith among us, and we
found friends everywhere. Where could we find them now?" The Zemindars
eagerly afforded them protection, because of the enormous rent they
were wont to pay for their lands and villages. Valuable presents,
also, were frequently made to them, at the same time that the Thugs
engaged not to compromise their patrons by committing murder too near
home. The Khyrooa chief once stood a siege from his lord, the Rajah
of Jhansee, before he would surrender some eight or ten villains who
had thrown themselves on his protection. And the Maharajah of Gwalior
was obliged to send two guns and a small army against the Zemindar,
or "laird," of Bahmanpora, to make him give up some Thugs whom he
patronised; the firing lasted for some hours, and several lives were
lost on both sides. Even those who affected to punish the miscreants,
seldom touched their persons except to extort from them their ill-got
treasures. They would seize one or two of the youngest, tie them up,
and flog them till they confessed, or until the gang, in pity for their
sufferings, pledged themselves to make up a certain sum, leaving two or
three of their number as hostages. They were then released, and allowed
to pursue their profession as before.
In the year 1812, soon after the murder of Lieutenant Monsell, a number
of Thugs were arrested by certain Zemindars and grievously beaten, in
the hope of making them bid high for their release. Their excessive
cupidity, however, defeated its own ends. During their thirteen months
imprisonment, forty of the Thugs perished from the dampness of their
dungeon, combined with the ill-treatment they endured. The survivors
insisted that their comrades were tortured to death by a demon, who
entered the prison every night during the wet season. "I saw him," said
one of them, "only once myself. I was awake while all the rest were
asleep; he came in at the door, and seemed to swell as he came in till
his head touched the roof, and the roof was very high, and his bulk
became enormous. I prostrated myself, and told him that 'he was our
Purmesur (great God), and we poor helpless mortals depending entirely
upon his will.' This pleased him, and he passed by me; but took such
a grasp at the man Mungulee, who slept by my side, that he was seized
with spasms all over, from the nape of the neck to the sole of his
foot." Of the Zemindars, who caused this atrocious suffering, he added,
"not a soul of their families is now left to pour the libation at their
funeral obsequies." How like is this to the glorious old Grecian idea
of the avenging Nemesis! In truth, this was the only sort of justice
administered in India during the supremacy of its native rulers--the
golden age, according to the gentlemen of the Manchester school.
The Thugs made use of a peculiar dialect, called Ramasee, which was
understood by the members of the fraternity throughout Hindostan, at
Mooltan as at Arcot. The signification of the word Thug itself is "a
deceiver;" they were likewise called Phanseegars, from the Hindostanee
word Phansee, "a handkerchief." One Thug could always recognise another
by his salutation _Aulae Khan, Salam_, if addressed to a Mussulmaun; or
_Aulae Bhae, Ram, Ram_, if addressed to a Hindoo, equivalent to "Peace
be with thee, friend!" A few specimens of their phraseology, selected
from Captain Sleeman's Thug vocabulary, may be not altogether devoid of
interest.