Thugs operated in groups, earning the confidence of wayfarers and strangling them by throwing a handkerchief or noose round their necks
THE disintegration of the central authority of Mughal power started immediately after the death of the octogenarian emperor, Aurangzeb Alamgir, in 1707. However, signs of weakness had already appeared in the system due to his prolonged campaigns in Deccan against the Muslim states of Bejapur and Golkanda, and subsequent wars against the ascending Maratha power. During the intervening period, i.e. after the death of Aurangzeb till 1857, when the British finally took over the reigns of affairs, the Indian subcontinent went through dreadful, nightmarish convulsions.
The most horrendous and obnoxious was the rise of the thug menace. These thugs were members of a well-organized confederacy of professional assassins who travelled in gangs throughout India for several decades. These gangs were found in India since several hundred years. In the history of Firoz Shah, Zia-ud-Din Barani has narrated an incident: “In his reign, some thugs were taken in the city and a man belonging to that fraternity was the means about a thousand being captured. But not one of these did the Sultan have killed. He gave orders for them to put into boats and to be conveyed into the lower country, to the neighbourhood of Lakhnauti, where they were to be set free. The thugs would thus have to dwell about Lakhnauti, and would not trouble the neighbourhood (of Delhi) anymore.”
However, the complete chaos from which society was suffering provided impetus to their resurrection on a horrible scale. These thugs now used to operate in groups of 10-12, insinuating themselves into the confidence of wayfarers and, when a favourable opportunity presented itself, strangled them by throwing a handkerchief or noose round their necks. Thereafter, they used to plunder their victims and buried them in a way that no trace was found of the crime. All this was done according to certain ancient and strictly prescribed forms, and the performance of special religious rites in which the consecration of the pickaxe and the sacrifice of sugar formed a prominent part.
Although in their gangs both Muslims and Hindus operated in close association, they were under the influence of the Hindu deity Kali, goddess of destruction. They used to recognize each other with a sign (Ramasi). These gangs roamed in the countryside freely in search of victims in a manner that their real identity always remained unknown. After plundering, the members would return to their homes where they lived in the guise of respectable men. They normally indulged in philanthropic and social activities so as to evade any doubt. Nobody could even think of accusing them with such an abominable act. Due to their normal, respectable demeanour they continue to enjoy family life without raising doubts, even within members of their own families.
In their hometowns, they were known traders who most of the time remained out, travelling in connection with their business activities. At the appointed time, they would gather at fixed places and after practising certain mysterious rites, chalk out the programme for hunting. Their way of operation was so subtle that no thug was normally caught red-handed, so much so that even their victims did not realize that they were being trapped till it was too late.
The thugs operating in different places were recognized from the names of the locality they operated in, such as the thugs of Delhi, Banaras and Multan. Some operating in rivers were known as river thugs. The modus operandi of each gang was in accordance with the requirement of the area. But one thing common was the use of the handkerchief with which they strangulated their victims. Thousands of people who became prey simply vanished without any trace; such was the craftiness of these cruel gangs.
It was not until a thug namely Amir Ali, belonging to a respectable Syed family, was caught that the mystery was solved. His story in the shape of Confessions of a Thug was first published in 1839, wherein he narrated as to how he, as a young boy travelling from one city to other with his family, was lured by thugs. His entire family was decimated. He, however, was saved by a thug named Ismail, who adopted him as his son. In Ismail’s family, he was brought up to become a most feared and notorious thug himself.
His adventures in the field of thuggery were proverbial even within the fraternity, which he narrated without any compunction. Only through his confessions was the government of the day able to know the full extent of the inhuman activities and the crafty method of working followed by these gangs.
Thereafter, sporadic efforts were made towards the extinction of these gangs. It was not until Lord William Bentinck (British Governor-General of India from 1833-35) took vigorous steps that this merciless system was seriously attacked. His chief agent, Captain William H. Sleeman, with the cooperation of the authorities in a number of princely states, succeeded in eliminating the evil so effectively that from 1831-37, out of the 35,000 thugs reportedly roaming in the country, no fewer that 5,266 had been captured, of whom 4,512 were hanged, 483 gave evidence for the state and the remainder out of the captured were transported or imprisoned for life.
The remaining thugs who could not be apprehended had to abandon this abominable profession under the changed circumstances and merged in society. The fraternity which had survived for centuries, presumably thereafter became extinct.
