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.

Origins

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.

Related Topics:
Cult - Hindu - Muslim - Strangulation

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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.

Related Topics:
Nerbudda - Delhi

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The earliest authenticated mention of the Thugs is found in the following passage of Ziau-d din Barni's History of Firoz Shah (written about 1356):

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:"In the reign of that sultan (about 1290), some Thugs were taken in Delhi, and a 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 lower country, to the neighborhood of Lakhnauti, where they were to be set free. The Thugs would thus have to dwell about Lakhnauti and would not trouble the neighborhood of Delhi any more." (Sir HM Elliot's History of India, iii. 141).

Related Topics:
1290 - Lakhnauti

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Though they themselves trace their origin to seven Muslim tribes, the Hindu followers only seem to be related during the early periods of Islamic development; at any rate, their religious creed and staunch worship of Kali, one of the Hindu Tantric Goddesses, showed no Islamic influence. Assassination for gain was a religious duty for them, and was considered a holy and honorable profession, in which moral feelings did not come into play. It should be noted however that not all followers of Kali are thuggees, and the majority do not share the thuggee viewpoint.

Related Topics:
Muslim - Hindu - Kali

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