Thuggee

Thuggee (or tuggee) (from the Sanskrit root sthag (P?li, thak), to conceal, mainly applied to fraudulent concealment) was an Indian cult sometimes described as the world's first mafia, operating from the 13th to the 19th centuries, worshipping Kali whose members were known as Thugs. This is where the term thug originated, as many Indian words passed into common English during British occupation of India.

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It was allegedly a hereditary cult with both Hindu and Muslim members that practiced large-scale robbery and murder of travellers by strangulation. Induction was typically passed from father to son, with the women of the household being kept ignorant of the cult activity.

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Both of the sects into which they were divided by the Nerbudda river laid claim to antiquity. While the northern, however, did not trace their origin further back than the period of the early Muslim kings of Delhi, the southern fraction not only claimed an earlier and purer descent, but adhered also with greater strictness to the rules of their profession.

Sanskrit: '...

Indian: Indian or Indians can refer to:...

Cult: :This article does not discuss "cult" in its original sense of "religious practice"; for that usage see Cult (religion). See Cult (disambiguation) for more meanings of the term "cult"....