In the article on Thug it is suggested that a large, if not the
principal, section of the Thugs were derived from the Kanjars. At the
Thug marriages an old matron would sometimes repeat, "Here's to the
spirits of those who once led bears and monkeys; to those who drove
bullocks and marked with the godini (tattooing-needle); and those
who made baskets for the head." And these are the occupations of the
Kanjars and Berias. The Goyandas of Jubbulpore, descendants of Thug
approvers, are considered to be a class of gipsy Muhammadans, akin to
or identical with the Kanjars, of whom the Multani subdivision are
also Muhammadans. Like the Kanjar women the Goyandas make articles
of net and string. There is also a colony of Berias in Jubbulpore,
and these are admittedly the descendants of Thugs who were located
there. If the above argument is well founded, we are led to the
interesting conclusion that four of the most important vagrant and
criminal castes of India, as well as the Mirasis or low-class Hindu
bards, the gipsies, and a large section of the Thugs, are all derived
from the great Dom caste.