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The word thug is bandied
around all too easily in our liberal 21st century societies. Throw rocks
at a train and you're a thug. Hurl verbals at a couple of old dears and
you're a thug. Slap someone because he supports a different football
team and you're a thug. In fact commit almost any kind of anti social
behaviour and you're likely to have the media printing THUG in bold type
on their front page to shift a few extra copies as well as show how
tough they are, from the nth floor of a skyscraper, on crime. And
while these descriptions of terror grab our attention it's likely that
the original Thugs would be turning in their grave at how easily we
retreat from a perceived fear. For these original thugs, who plagued the
highways and byways of India for several hundred years, everything about
them struck terror deep into the heart of medieval Indian travellers.
As with all good horror
stories nobody really knows the origins of the thugs. The first written
evidence comes to us from the end of the 13th century when a 1000 thugs
were arrested in Delhi but the ruler gave them clemency. (Ziaud din
Barni's history of Firoz Shah). By the 17th century the Europeans were
making inroads to the Indian hinterland and in 1666 a French traveller,
Thevenot, reported that while the road between the important Moghul
cities of Delhi and Agra was passable, as well as the dangers caused by
tigers, panthers and lions, the traveller had to beware of robbers who
attacked with great skill and stealth.
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Recommended
Reading:
Much of the information is this
article was sourced from
Thug: Or A
Million Murders by Colonel James L. Sleeman. A good
read I imagine is a new book by Mike Dash which I haven't read
yet but I'm sure that if it's as good as Batavia's Graveyard is
well worth a perusal. Check out
www.mikedash.com for more
details. |
The attackers, or
Thugs, saw themselves as carrying out holy work on behalf of Bhowani, or
Kali, the mother of Siva. Back in the dawn of time there was some
monstrous demon, so tall when he stood in the oceans of the world the
waves lapped around his naval. Bhowani tried many a time to slay this
beast but at every slash of her sword that drew blood a new demon arose.
It must have been tiring work for a god so one day as she was wiping the
sweat from her body she created two men and got them to do her killing.
She tore off the hem from her clothes and bid them use it to strangle
the demons. So good were these men at killing, and so chuffed was
Bhowani, that she bid them evermore to kill all men who were not of
their kin. Yes, back in the day there were exceptions. A true thug
shouldn't kill women, oilmen (which probably let Cheney off the hook),
goldsmiths, mahouts and musicians but as is often the case these
prohibitions became more and more neglected. It isn't fanciful to
imagine Grandpa Thug reminiscing with * year old Thug bemoaning
'youngsters of today killing anyone they might meet on the streets, why
even musicians.' As standards fell, and as the British tightened their
grip on the country the days of the Thug became numbered.
The Thugs were
irreligious. That is to say Hindu and Muslim alike carried out the deeds
but there was no initiation rite. One became a thug through bloodline,
not like today where the purchase of a Burberry cap strikes terror into
the hearts of little old ladies on council estates. And as with all
religions, symbolism and ritual were important. People were never killed
by something so uncouth as a sword or, much later, by gun fire. The
cloth that Bhowina tore off her hem was still the weapon of choice and
Thugs prided themselves on their ability to imperceptibly crawl up
behind an unsuspecting victim and have the cloth around the neck before
the mark knew something was not quite right.
In those distant days a
traveller might set out from Calcutta to visit Varanassi up river and be
gone several months before anyone would notice their absence. On the
road a gang of thugs, unarmed, pleasant looking people might fall in
with a group of travellers and accompany them for several days, all the
while plotting their swift demise. A favourite time to kill was in the
early evening as the travellers enjoyed dining with their new found
friends. At a given signal two Thugs would pinion the victim to the
ground while a third would apply the cloth round the neck and start
squeezing the life out of them. Of course, one added benefit for the
murderers from these killings was the travellers would often leave
behind their personal belongings which the thugs could then decide upon
themselves.
The Thugs were often
decent, upstanding members of the community with responsible jobs and
highly respected. Take for example the child carer of Dr Cheek. Day in,
day out this man would conscientiously take care of the children in his
care. Then once a year he would take a month's holiday to pay respects
to his family. Well, he wasn't really lying when one considers the
family ties involved within the Thugs background. It's just that for
this bearer, respecting his family meant killing strangers on the roads,
strangling them to death. After his vacation time was up he'd return to
work with the children! As one Thug put it, they were just doing God's
work 'just as a tiger feeds on a deer. Nothing personal.
Over 500 years the
Thugs struck fear into the minds of anyone setting out on a journey.
Obviously, no one can put a number of people they killed. Estimates run
into the millions. Today death on a journey still stalks the traveller
but bus crashes, train accidents and car fatalities are seen as of
interest to insurance companies and little else. But the Thug lives on
around the world, less gruesome perhaps but still as reviled. |
