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April 25, 2004
REVIEWS: To catch a thief
With the decline and fall of the Mughal Empire, India descended into anarchy and lawlessness. Robbers and murderers had a field day particularly in central and northern India. They would pick up their victims and keep company with them, sometimes for days together, before strangling them to death with a noose without arousing the least suspicion. Their cunning manners made them known as Thugs.
Lord William Bentinck, governor-general of India, launched a campaign against this menace to society. His efforts achieved the desired result due largely to a band of dedicated officers amongst whom Major General William Henry Sleeman, who is a subject of the book under review, shines brilliantly. The book is an edited reprint of Yellow Scarf written four decades back on the same subject by Francis Tucker. The present volume has been brought out by Giriraj Shah, a retired Indian Police Service Officer.
Born in Cornwall England, Sleeman started a 47-year eventful career in India by joining the Bengal Army in 1809. On secondment he joined the Indian Political Service The association earned him great laurels culminating in the KCB. Besides remaining General Superintendent for Suppression of Thugs and Dacoity, he distinguished himself as Resident Gwalior and Lucknow. He gained proficiency in Urdu, Persian and Pushto besides the Nepalese Gurkhali. His literary pursuits acquainted him with the travellers’ accounts about the reign of terror let loose by the thugs on the highways in India. The thugs’ activities drew sustenance from a religious cult in service of the goddess Kali. Killing and plundering to the thugs was the “right, moral and godly thing to do”. They spared Europeans for the reasons that the latter, being few and in a position of authority, were easily traceable.
Sleeman vowed to suppress the thugs. Even three attempts on his life did not deter him from his resolve. He faced manifold difficulties in curbing lawlessness. The chief, as revealed to him by the thugs whom he held in captivity, arose from the protection extended to them by local influentials, warlords and police officials who lived on their loot. The other handicap was the reluctance on the part of the witnesses to give evidence against the culprits either out of the fear of reprisals or proverbial delays in the legal process.
Sleeman waged war for the extermination of thugs in a systematic and organized manner. He won some amongst them over as approvers. They acted as his spies and informers and willingly provided him clues about the nefarious activities of their comrades and their dens. The secret of Sleeman’s success lay in his emphasis on the certainty of punishment for the guilty. Of the 3,689 thugs nabbed, during his stewardship, only 97 were acquitted. Of the rest 466 were gibbeted, 56 volunteered to become approvers and others sentenced to various terms of imprisonment including life. He purged the countryside of thugs completely and made the highways safe and secure for the general public earning thereby the nickname of Thugee Sleeman.
Humane, as he was, Sleeman initiated adequate measures to reform the thugs. He sought to engage the sons of approvers in trade and craft like brick making, building, cleaning, tailoring, knitting and carpet weaving. The quality of the carpets made by them came to the notice of Queen Victoria and in compliance with her order, they made one carpet, weighing about two tons, for the Windsor castle.
Apart from weeding out thugs, Sleeman played a commendable role in the eradication of the abominable practice of sati then prevailing in some parts of India. Lord Bentinck prohibited it in 1822. Sleeman also introduced in India a superior seed of sugarcane from Tahiti and Mauritius and, thus, improved the lot of the Indian peasants.
The book explains why the British colonial officers in this part are still remembered with nostalgia. It is because of their utmost sincerity and total involvement in the welfare of the people in the areas under their command. They had no vested interest. Their dedication along with their just, detached and impartial approach to the issues of public importance has made some of them a household word.
The reader learns about the social conditions and the misery and suffering of the people witnessed by Sleeman in the native states. The pathetic state of affairs in Gwalior could not help him keep the thought out of his mind “that it would be an immense blessing upon a large portion of our species if an earthquake were to swallow up this court of Gwalior and the army that surrounded it. Nothing worse could possibly succeed and something better might.” As Resident Lucknow he found King Wajid Ali Shah “a wastrel and a feeble rake who cared nothing whatsoever for the welfare of his subjects”. Yet he prophetically warned of mutiny in case of the annexation of Oudh to the British dominions.
The book is a good read for officials engaged in law enforcing agencies. It can inspire them to emulate the example of Sleeman in these days when lawlessness, kidnapping for ransom and terrorism, sadly, proliferate unchecked. Its reprint is thus highly relevant. However, its atrocious proof reading, at places, irritates the reader.
The Life and Times of Maj General William Sleeman: Elimination of Thuggies in India
Edited by Giriraj Shah
Kalpaz Publications, New Delhi
E-mail:
kalpaz@hotmail.com
Available with Indus Publications, 25 Fareed Chambers, Abdullah Haroon Road, Karachi
Tel: 021-5660242, 4801429
ISBN:81-7835-020-3
240pp. Indian Rs768
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