Rare Books on Thugs and Dacoits (Criminal Tribes)

A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THE THUGS AND DACOITS,
THE HEREDITARY GAROTTERS AND GANG-ROBBERS OF INDIA,
BY
JAMES BUTTON.
LONDON:
WM. H. ALLEN AND CO., 7, LEADENHALL STKEET.
1857.
LONDON :
W. LEWIS AND BON, FK1NTERS, 21, F1KCU LANE, COKMM1.L.
CIroga rair
>v
THEY who reverence ancient descent, and a long line of ancestors, are bound to regard the Thugs
with peculiar veneration. Perhaps, neither in Asia nor in Europe are there any other families
that can date their origin from such remote antiquity. They are said to be sprung from the
Sagartii, who contributed 8,000 horse to the army of Xerxes, and are thus described by Herodotus,
in the Seventh Book of his History :" These people lead a pastoral life, were originally
of Persian descent, and use the Persian language ; their dress is something betwixt the
Persian and the Pactyan ; they have no offensive weapons, either of iron or brass, except their
daggers ; their principal dependence in action is on cords, made of twisted leather, which they use
in this manner : when they engage an enemy, they throw out these cords, having a noose at
the extremity : if they entangle in these either
1545528
6 ANTIQUITY OF THE THUGS.
horse or man, they without difficulty put them to death." There is some reason to believe, that in later
times the descendants of these Sagartii accompanied one of the Mahommedan invaders of India,
and settled in the neighbourhood of Delhi. In the latter part of the seventeenth century, Thevenot
makes mention of a strange denomination of robbers, who infested the road between that
city and Agra, and used " a certain rope, with a running noose, which they can cast with so much
sleight about a man's neck, when they are within reach of him, that they never fail, so that they
strangle him in a trice." These vagrant plunderers were divided into seven clans or families,
called Bahleem, Bhyns, Bhursote, Kachunee, Huttar, Ganoo, and Tundil, the parent stock of all
the subsequent ramifications. According to tradition, they were expelled from Delhi by one of
the emperors of the house of Gouree, on account of the murder of a favourite slave. Their victim
had long been aware of their practices, and had connived at them, for the sake of the handsome
gratuities presented as the price of his silence. But, abusing his power, and making exorbitant
demands, he quickly experienced the fate of those in whose plunder he had so freely participated.

THUGS OF ARCOT. 7

The murderers were therefore driven from the neighbourhood, after being branded on their
posteriors with the current copper coin of the empire. Five of the clans removed to Agra,
whence their descendants were afterwards called A gureea. A large body of them appear to have
travelled to Arcot, and there founded the proudest and most punctilious branch of the fraternity.
These Arcottee Thugs used to wear checkered loongees, and short jackets, like the Company's
Sepoys ; they also carried a knapsack on their back, a light cane in their hand, and generally a
small bag of beetel nut and paun. Their leaders, or jemadars, frequently assumed the garb and
bearing of wealthy merchants, and had four or five attendants to cook for them, hand the hookah,
clean their pony, and do other menial offices, while the rest of the gang followed in small parties,
not to excite suspicion, but closed up rapidly when the signal was passed along. The true
Hindostanee Thugs, however, professed to look down upon those of Arcot, and refused to intermarry
with them. The latter retorted, that the others could have no pretensions to high birth,
for at their marriages the matrons, as they threw down the tool see, were wont to exclaim,
" Here's to the spirits of those (Qulunders), who once led

8 MOOLTANEE THUGS.

bears and monkeys ; to those who drove bullocks, and marked with the godnee (kunjurs, or gipsies);
and to those who made baskets for the head." But this was explained by the necessity of assuming
disguises, in the first place, to escape from Delhi, and afterwards for carrying on their
terrible vocation. There was certainly one very low Hindoo class, the Sooseeas, but calling themselves
Naeks and T/tories, with whom the others associated with reluctance. These chiefly confined
themselves to Malwa and Rajpootana, travelling as merchants, with their leader indulging
in a hackery or palanquin. Sometimes they disguised themselves as Sepoys, or as treasurebearers.
The most exclusive clan were the Chingurees, or Mooltanee Thugs, who practised female
infanticide to a frightful extent. They preserved alive only a sufficient number to provide wives
for the members of their own clan. They were allowed to be an ancient tribe, and were much
respected by the inferior associations with whom they had nothing in common, except the dialect
peculiar to all Thugs. They usually travelled with their families as Brinjarees, with bullocks
and cows laden with goods, and strangled their victims with a bullock's rope. A colony of about
one hundred families was settled at Hingolee.

BRINJAREE THUGS. 9

A very clever and staunch tribe, known as the Jumaldehee Thugs, settled in Oude, who prudently
kept their wives in ignorance of the true nature of their pursuits, nor did they initiate
their sons till they had reached the age of puberty. When they sallied forth on their
expeditions, they left a certain number of their men at home, to take care of the women and
children, and to these they allotted a full share of then* spoils. The Brinjaree Thugs were especially
fortunate in escaping detection, or even suspicion, by reason of their nomade habits,
which rendered it extremely difficult to trace any particular crime to them. They were consequently
enabled to amass considerable riches, though thev seldom renounced their wandering life. A Thug approver told the late Major General Sleeman, that on one occasion he and his party fell in with a company of merchants from the westward, who were encamped near Jyepore, and wore exceedingly high turbans. " What enormous turbans these men wear ! "he remarked to a comrade, using their slang
term, ayhasee. The chief man among the strangers thereupon stepped forward, and requested the travellers to sit down with them, adding, at the same time, " My good friends, we are of.your

A 2
10 INOCULATION OF HINDOOISM.

fraternity, though our agliasees are not the same." It turned out that these supposed merchants
were a gang of Brinjaree Thugs, who, having become wealthy, had given up strangulation, but
were not the less glad to welcome those who still laboured at the pious crime.
In the beginning, as already stated, the Thugs were invariably followers of the Prophet, but
after a time Hindoos were initiated, who inoculated their Mussulmaun teachers with their own
superstitions. Thuggee now became a divine institution, ordained by the goddess Kalee. It is
curious to observe how the amalgamation of the two religions took place. Captain Sleeman
asked a Thug approver, named Sahib, if he thought the English would ever succeed in suppressing
Thuggee ? The answer was," How can the hand of man do away with the works of God ?"
SLEEMAN. You are a Mussulmaun 1
SAHIB.- Yes; and the greater part of the
Thugs of the south are Mussulmauns.
SLEEMAN. And you still marry, inherit, pray,
eat, and drink, according to the Koran ? and
your Paradise is to be the Paradise promised by
Mahommed 1
SAHIB. Yes. All, all.
FATIMA HINDOOIZED. 11
SLEEMAN. Has Bhowanee been anywhere
named in the Koran ?
SAHIB. Nowhere.
It was then explained that Bhowanee was supposed
to be another name for Fatima, daughter
of the Prophet, and wife of Ali. Sahib acknowledged
that Bhowanee had no power to admit
her votaries into Paradise, nor any influence over
the future state, but maintained that she directed
the destinies of Thugs in this world, and that
God would never punish any one for obedience
to her commands. Sleeman's Mahoimnedan
officers indignantly protested against the idea
that Fatima and the Hindoo goddess were identical,
and professed an entire disbelief in the
divinity of Kalee. But they were somewhat
disconcerted when the Thugs asked how they
reconciled this want of faith with their presence
at Kalee's festivals : they could not say that
they were merely spectators, led thither by an
idle curiosity. The Thugs then adduced, as a
proof of the divine origin of their calling, the
fact that they had pursued it with impunity for
nearly two centuries. Captain Sleeman having
declared that neither he nor his native officers
cared one jot for their goddess, and that they
were determined to put down her worship in
12 THE GODDESS KALEE.
this form, one of them replied,
"
They may say
so, but they all know that no man's family can
survive a murder committed in any other way ;
and yet Thugs have thrived through a long
series of generations. We have all children like
other men, and we are never visited with any
extraordinary affliction."
It may be here parenthetically stated, that of
the Oude Thugs nine-tenths were Mahommedans;
in the Doab, one-fifth ; south of the Nerbudda,
three-fourths ; in Rajpootana, one fourth ; and
in Bengal, Behar, Orissa, Bundlecund and Saugor,
about one-half.
Kalee, the goddess who presided over Thuggee,
was worshipped also under the names of Bhowanee,
Devey, and Davey. She was the wife of
Mahadeo, or Siva, and first appeared on earth on
the banks of the Hooghly, at a spot afterwards
called, in memory of the event, Kalee Ghaut, now
Calcutta. Here stands her most honoured temple,
and here is still celebrated with the most
solemn rites her chief festival, the Doorga Pooja.
They who address her with the greatest reverence
style her Kunkalee, or the "
man-eater,"
and represent her as quaffing huge draughts of
blood from men and demons. When alone, she
is depicted as black and hideous of aspect ; but
DIVINE ORIGIN OF THUGGEE. 13
in company with her husband, she is ever fair
and beautiful. Once on a time the world was
infested with a monstrous demon named Rukut
Beej-dana, who devoured mankind as fast as
they were created. So gigantic was his stature,
that the deepest pools of the ocean reached no
higher than his waist. This horrid prodigy
Kalee cut in twain with her resistless sword, but
from every drop of blood that fell to the ground
there sprung up a new demon. For some time
she went on destroying them, till the hellish
brood multiplied so fast that she waxed hot and
weary with her endless task. So she paused for
a while, and from the sweat, brushed off one
of her arms, she created two men, to whom she
gave a roomdl, or handkerchief, and commanded
them to strangle the demons. When they had
slain them all, they offered to return the roomal,
but the goddess bade them keep it and transmit
it to their posterity, with the injunction to destroy
all men who were not of their kindred.
There were many exemptions, however, from this
rule. The murder of women, for instance, was
positively prohibited, and this prohibition was
seldom or never violated in Bengal, Behar, or
Orissa. To the south of the Nerbudda old
women did not always escape, or even young
14 THUGS DIVINELY PROTECTED.
women, when it was found impossible to separate
them from a tempting prize. Between the Nerbudda,
the Indus, and the Jumna, the Thugs
had few scruples of any kind. It was likewise
unlawful to murder a Brahman or a Kaet (member
of the writer caste), or a religious mendicant
of any kind, or oilman, potter, carpenter, blacksmith,
goldsmith, elephant-driver, musician, dancing-
master, or any one having a domestic animal
with him, or carrying a parent's bones to the
sacred river. But, in later times, these restrictions
were either totally evaded or confined to
the first day of the expedition. To the neglect
of these and such-like regulations, the approvers
ascribed the decay of the "time-honoured craft."
Davey used to protect them, they said with a
sigh, when they
" had some regard for religion."
She never forsook them till they neglected her.
They were merely instruments in the hands of
God. " No man is ever killed by man's killing,"
but through the will of the Deity. Many
"
incursions"
had been made at different times
against Thuggee, but never on such a scale as
that instituted by the company's officers.
" The
Company's Ikbal (genius, or good fortune) is
such, that before the sound of your drums, sorcerers,
witches, and demons take flight, and how
PROFANE CURIOSITY PUNISHED. 15
can Thuggee stand?" In the early ages of the
"
institution," Bhowanee used to dispose of the
dead bodies and efface all signs of the murder,
but she distinctly warned her votaries against
looking back after they had again taken to the
road. Curiosity, however, at length proved too
strong for the sons of Eve, and one day it came
to pass that a Thug looked over his shoulder and
beheld the goddess playing at ball with the
corpses, throwing them up into the air and
catching them as they fell; or, according to
another account, she had a dead body in her
mouth, the extremities projecting on either side.
After this discovery of her favourite pastimes,
Kalee refused to have anything more to do with
their victims, and left it to themselves to conceal
the tokens of their "piety." But she did not
altogether abandon them. Even in her wrath
she was gracious to those who held her name in
honour. She accordingly bestowed upon them
one of her teeth for a pick-axe, a rib for a knife,
and the hem of her garment for a noose : yellow
and white being the colours she most affected,
such were frequently the hues of the roomal.
To the last she
"
everywhere protected the Thugs,
so long as they attended religiously to their
duties." Even when through inattention to the
16 DIVINE PROTECTION.
omens she sent for their guidance, any of them
were apprehended and punished, her vengeance
was sure to overtake their oppressors.
" Was
not Nanha," said an approver, "the Raja of
Jhalone, made leprous by Davey for putting to
death Bodhoo and his brother Khumoolee two
of the most noted Thugs of their day ? He had
them trampled under the feet of elephants, but
the leprosy broke out upon his body the very
next day." Nanha was so sensible of his guiltiness,
that he did all in his power to appease
Davey.
" Bodhoo had begun a well in Jhalone ;
the Raja built it up in a magnificent style ; he
had a Chubootra (tomb) raised to their name,
fed Brahmans, consecrated it, had worship instituted
upon it, but ah1
in vain ; the disease was
incurable, and the Raja died in a few months a
miserable death When Madhajee
Scindiah caused seventy Thugs to be executed
at Mathura, was he not warned in a dream by
Davey that he should release them ? And did
he not, the very day after their execution, begin
to spit blood? And did he not die within
three months ? . . . . When Dureear, the
Rathore, and Komere and Patore, the Kuchwaha
Rajpoots, Zemindars, arrested eighty of the
Thugs who had settled at Nodha, after the
KALEE PROTECTRIX. 17
murder of Lieutenant Monsell, they had many
warnings to let them go, but they persisted and
kept them till some thirty died. They collected
10,000 rupees, at the rate of 125 rupees from
every Thug. What became of their families?
Have they not all perished ? They have not a
child left. Rao Sing Havildar, the Gwalior
Soobah of Nodha, took the money, but that very
day his only son and the best horse in his stable
died, and he was himself taken ill and died soon
after a miserable death The Raja
of Kundul, some ninety coss (180 miles) east
from Hyderabad, arrested all the Thugs in his
Raj for some murders they had committed. For
three successive nights the voice of Davey was
heard from the top of every temple in the
capital, warning the Raja to release them. The
whole town heard her, and urged the Raja to
comply. He was obstinate, and the third night
the bed on which he and his Ranee were sleeping
was taken up by Davey, and dashed violently
against the ground." They were dreadfully
bruised and frightened, and lost no time in
releasing their heaven-protected prisoners.
Kalee not only protected the Thugs, but sent
them numerous omens as encouragement or
warning. An omen was, in fact, a positive com18
mand to slay the travellers in their power, or to
allow them to go unharmed. If they did not
attend to these omens, they became guilty of
disobedience, and had no longer any claim upon
the goddess for protection. On Captain Sleeman
inquiring if any evil would befall them if they
used the roomal without reference to the divine
signals, Sahib at once answered in the affirmative,
adding,
" No man's family ever survives a
murder: it becomes extinct. A Thug who
murders in this way loses the children he has,
and is never blessed with more. He cannot
escape punishment."
" But how," said Captain
Sleeman,
" how can you murder old men and
young children without some emotions of pity
calmly and deliberately as they sit with you and
converse with you, and tell you of their private
affairs of their hopes and fears and of the
wives and children they are going to meet after
years of absence, toil, and suffering?" The
answer was such as might almost have been
made by an ancient Hebrew, had any one asked
him if he felt no pity for the wretched Canaariites
he- so ruthlessly murdered. "From the time
that the omens have been favourable, we consider
them as victims thrown into our hands by the
Deity to be killed; and that we are the mere
RESPECTABILITY OF THE THUGS. 19
instrument in her hands to destroy them : that
if we do not kill them, she will never be again
propitious to us, and we and our families will be
involved in misery and want." In precisely
such a spirit did Samuel hew in pieces before
the Lord, Agag, king of the Amalekites. The
Thugs were by no means insensible to domestic
feelings, or even to the charms of social and
friendly intercourse. At home their conduct
was irreproachable. Their villages were usually
models of cleanliness and neatness ; their lands
were industriously cultivated, their wives and
children treated with all kindness and affection.
When Lack, an approver, heard of his brother's
arrest, he repeated with much feeling an Hindustani
verse, which has been thus rendered into
English :
"
I was a pearl, once residing in comfort
in the ocean. I surrendered myself, believing
I should repose in peace on the bosom of
some fair damsel but, alas ! they have pierced
me and passed a string through my body, and
have left me to dangle in constant pain as an
ornament to her nose." Their wives frequently
were quite unconscious that their husbands were
murderers, though they may perchance have
suspected them of being thieves and robbers.
The sons also were kept in ignorance of the
20 JUVENILE EDUCATION.
entire truth until they had completed their fourteenth
or fifteenth year. In fact, they were
gradually trained to the business. At first they
were taken out as if for a pleasant excursion, and
had generally a poney to ride. Presents, too,
were given them after each murder, though they
were not made acquainted with the source whence
those gifts were derived. However, before they
returned home they had usually a shrewd suspicion
that their treasured prize had not been
honestly come by. Next year they were plainly
told that their parents and relations were highway
robbers but by this time they had become
too fond of the careless roving life and of their
share of the easily-acquired plunder, to listen to
the still small voice of conscience. And thus in
the third year they were not horrified to learn
that they were accomplices in murder. By
such gentle transitions the best regulated mind
may eventually be attuned to the most atrocious
guilt. A comical reason was given to Captain
Sleeman to account for the omission on the part
of a Thug father to initiate his son.
" His
father," said the witness,
" used to drink very
hard, and in his fits of intoxication he used to
neglect his prayers and his days of fast. All
days were the same with him. This lad, ShumDEATH
FROM HORROR. 21
shera, was always sober and religiously disposed,
and separated from his father, living always with
his uncle Dondee, who was a very worthy, good
man." He, too, was a Thug, but likewise
refrained from removing the veil from the eyes
of the lad. Another relative, however, proved
less considerate, and nattered the young man's
vanity by telling him that he belonged to a very
high family of the Jumaldehee Thugs. A sad
tale concerning another youngster was related
by Feringeea, a noted leader, who turned king's
evidence. One Aman Soobahdar went out upon
an expedition, accompanied by his cousin Kurhora,
aged scarcely fourteen, whom he gave in charge
to Hursooka, his adopted son. After a time the
gang fell in with a party of five Sikhs,, whereupon
Aman desired Hursooka to keep the boy
well in the rear, so that he might not witness
the contemplated murder. Kurhora, however,
becoming frightened, broke away from his companion
and galloped to the front to overtake the
others. Just as he came in sight, the signal
was given. In an instant the fatal noose was
applied, a few shrill cries rent the air, and five
writhing human bodies lay convulsively distorted
on the ground. At the horrid spectacle Kurhora
" was seized with a trembling, and fell from his
22 FERINGEEA.
pony ; he became immediately delirious, was
dreadfully alarmed at the sight of the turbans of
the murdered men, and when any one touched
or spoke to him, talked about the murders and
screamed exactly like a boy talks in his sleep,
and trembled violently if any one spoke to him
or touched him." Three or four of the party
remained with the poor lad, for he was a great
favourite with them all, but he never recovered
his senses, and died before the evening. Hursooka
took his death so much to heart that he
retired from the world, turned Byragee (an
ascetic), and passed the remainder of his days
in serving at a temple on the Nerbudda.
Feringeea, the narrator of the preceding
mournful incident, was a fine handsome fellow,
greatly admired by the women, and much respected
by his associates. His name was given
to him in memory of an attack made by a party
of Feringees (Europeans) under the French
General Perron, on his uncle's village in distraint
of certain customs' dues. As his mother fled
from the scene of violence and brutality, she was
seized with labour pains and brought a man
child into the world, whom, in remembrance of
the terror and anguish she had endured, she
named Feringeea. On one occasion FerinFERINGEEA
AND THE MOGHULANEE. 23
geea, when he had grown to man's estate and
had become a famous leader, was travelling with
his cousin Arnan Soobahdar and a gang of 150
Thugs through Rajpootana, when he fell in with
a handmaid of the Peishwah Bajee Rao, on her
way from Poonah to Cawnpore.
" We intended
to kill her and her followers," he quietly remarked
to Captain Sleeman,
" but we found her
very beautiful, and after having her and her
party three days within our grasp, and knowing
that they had 15,000 worth of property in
jewels and other things with them, we let her
and all her party go ; we had talked to her and
felt love towards her, for she was very beautiful."
But beauty was not always equally powerful
to save. At another time, he came up with a
beautiful young Moghulanee, travelling with an
old female servant, mounted on a pony, an
armed attendant, and six palanquin-bearers. The
ill-fated damsel, unhappily for herself and her
companions, became enamoured of the dashing,
handsome young Thug. In vain he tried to
shake her off, for he feared a scandal might
arise if he, a Brahmin, had any improper intercourse
with a Mussulmaunee. And the exchange
of other than Platonic love would have saved her
24 FASCINATION OF THUGGEE.
life. So at last he insisted that they should
" take
"
her, and she was accordingly put to
death.
"
It was her fate," he said, not excusing
himself, but putting the matter in the right light,
" It was her fate to die by our hands." Captain
Sleeman, then asked Madar Buksh, who actually
strangled the poor Moghulanee, if he had no
pity for the beautiful young woman. "
I had,"
he answered,
" but I had undertaken the duty,
and we must all have food." As if hurt by the
enunciation of such a base practical motive,
Feringeea here struck in, saying, "We all feel
pity sometimes, but the goor (consecrated coarse
sugar) of the Tapoonee, (feast after a murder),
changes our nature. It would change the nature
of a horse. Let any man once taste of that goor,
and he will be a Thug, though he knew all the
trades and have all the wealth in the world. I
never wanted food; my mother's family was
opulent, her relations high in office : I have been
high in office myself, and become so great a
favourite wherever I went, that I was sure of
promotion ; yet I was always miserable while
absent from my gang, and obliged to return to
Thuggee. My father made me taste of that
fatal goor when I was yet a mere boy ; and, if I
were to live a thousand years, I should never be
APPREHENSION OF FERINGEEA. 25
able to follow any other trade." The fascination
of the abominable "
trade
"
is almost incredible.
There were many instances of Thugs enlisting
into the Company's service, and making excellent
soldiers ; and yet, whenever an opportunity presented
itself, they would get two parades' leave,
join some of their old associates, commit as many
murders as possible, and then, with satisfied
feelings, return to their duty.
Feringeea, after the apprehension of his gang,
could have escaped to other clans in Rajpootana
and Telingana,
"
but," said he,
"
you had secured
my mother, wife, and child : I could not forsake
them was always inquiring after them, and
affording my pursuers the means of tracing me.
I knew not what indignities ray wife and mother
might suffer. Could I have felt secure that they
would suffer none, I should not have been taken."
He was finally captured by two striplings, whom
he could easily have overpowered, had he not
imagined that they were supported by a party of
police outside the hut, and that all resistance was
therefore idle. At one period of his life, he was
in General Ochterlony's service, and a great
favourite with Sir David. His wife was not
aware that he was a Thug.
" Her family," he
proudly remarked to Captain Sleeman, "are of
26 HEROIC FEMALE THUGS.
the aristocracy of Jhansee and Sumtur, as you
may know." His foster-brother, being informed
the day before his execution, that his fostermother
had been arrested, earnestly begged, as a
last favour, that he might have an interview with
her as she was led to the scaffold. His request
being granted,
" he fell at the old woman's feet,
and begged she would release him from the obligations
of the milk with which she had nourished
him, and the care with which she had cherished
him from infancy, as he was about to die before
he could fulfil any of them. She placed her hands
on his head, and he knelt, and she said she forgave
him all, and bid him die like a man." The sons
were worthy of such mothers, heroic in their firm
resolve. There is likewise on record one example
of a woman, named Baroonee, who used to assist
her husband to strangle his victims. Once she
saved his life when nearly overpowered, by tightly
pulling the roomal round the neck of the struggling
wretch, till he fell dead at her feet.
Mothers frequently compelled their sons to go on
Thuggee, and wives their husbands ; and there
was one woman in the Deccan, who kept a
gang, though it does not appear that she ever
accompanied them. Among the ancient male
leaders none was more venerated than Dada
SAINTS AND JEMADARS. 27
Dheera, of the Bhursote clan, whose name was ofttimes
invoked over spiritual potations, at certain
religious ceremonies. Next to him, was the Mooltanee
leader, Jhora Naek, who, assisted only by his
servant, Koduk Bunwaree, once strangled a man
possessed of property to the value of 16,200.
Instead of appropriating this valuable prize, he
drove the mule home, assembled his neighbours,
and distributed to each the share to which he
would have been entitled had he been actually
present at the murder. For this remarkable display
of honour and self-denial, both he and his
wife were canonized. The leadership was usually
the reward of merit. "A man," said one of
them,
" who has always at command the means
of advancing a month or two's subsistence
to a gang, will be called a Jemadar ; a strong?
resolute man, whose ancestors have been for
many generations Thugs, will soon get the title ;
or a very wise man, whose advice in difficult
cases has weight with the gang; one who has
influence over local authorities, or the native
officers of courts of justice ; a man of handsome
appearance and high bearing, who can feign the
man of rank weU all these things enable a man
to get around him a few who will consent to give
him the fees and title of Jemadar ; but it requires
28 GOOD OMENS.
very high and numerous qualifications to gain a
man the title of Soobahdar."
It is now time to consider what omens were
good, what bad, in the eyes of this strange fraternity.
There does not seem to have been any
particular reason for deciding on the hidden
meaning of the incidents that were supposed to
be sent to regulate their conduct. The division
of tokens and prodigies into auspicious and adverse
was, indeed, most arbitrary and capricious,
and can scarcely in any one instance be accounted
for. The good were not so numerous as the bad,
for even these habitual murderers gladly clutched
at any excuse for evading the necessity of taking
human life. Very promising was it, on first
setting out, to meet a woman, carrying on her
head a pitcher full of water : they then felt
assured of a happy return to their homes, especially
if she happened to be with child. Still
better was it to hear an ass bray on the left hand,
and then on the right ; the expedition might last
for years, it would always be attended with success
; it passed into a proverb Sou puk, heroo
ek dunteroo,
" One ass is worth a hundred
birds." Another proverb, Baean geedee sona
leedee, intimated, that
" a jackal, crossing from
right to left, brings gold." To rhymed sayings
GOOD OMENS. 29
of this kind they were partial, as an assistant
to memory. Here is a more elaborate instance :
Batee bolee teetura,
Din ko bolee seear,
Tuj chulee \va deysra,
Nuheen puree achanuk dhar.
That is, being interpreted,
" If the partridge call
at night, or the jackal during the day, quit that
country, or you will be seized." Immediate and
valuable booty might be expected, if the large
hill-crow were heard croaking on a tree, with a
river or tank in sight ; but the reverse was the
case, if the bird were seated on a live buffalo or
pig, or on the skeleton of any dead animal.
Pleasant, too, was the prospect, if a cat came
prowling to their encampment by night; and
equally cheering to see a wolf, or a shrike, crossing
the road from the right to the left ; or a large
male antelope, or a herd of small deer, or the
blue jay, crossing from left to right. It was good
to hear the hare calling at night, upon the left,
or the loud, continued hooting of the small owl,
when sitting; or the call of the partridge, on
the left, while travelling, and on the right, while
halting. If a herd of deer came in sight, they
looked, ere long, to fall in with another gang of
Thugs. The call of the sarus was the most
30 PILHAOO AND THIBAOO.
variable of all. It was very encouraging if heard
first on the left, and then on the right, on opening
an expedition, and also on reaching a stage,
if heard on the right ; if repeated on the left, a
rich prize was at hand, but ill luck was betokened
if it first sounded on the left ; equally inauspicious
was the cry heard on the right, on leaving
a stage, unless preceded on the left. The most
frequent reference was to Pilhaoo and Thibaoo ;
by the former was meant the voice or appearance
of omen-endowed animals on the left hand, by
the latter, that on the right. If the Pilhaoo were
good, it was improved by being followed by the
Thibaoo ; if evil, the danger was in like manner
diminished. Unless both were obtained before
setting out, the expedition was deferred to a
later season. On leaving a stage, the Pilhaoo
was full of promise, the Thibaoo of warning ;
a rule that was reversed on reaching a halting
ground.
On the other hand, if a turban fell off, or
caught fire, the gang returned home, if at no
great distance, and remained quiet for seven
days ; otherwise, they offered up goor (coarse
sugar), and the owner of the turban alone retraced
his steps. An expedition had also to be re-commenced,
if on the first day or night it encounEVIL
OMENS. 31
tered the Ansootare, literally,
"
tear drops ;" that
is, a shower of rain falling in the dry season, or
in any month save June, July, August, and September
; nor could any success be anticipated if
it thundered, with little or no rain, when a gang
was ready to set out. A very dreadful omen was
the cry of the kite, heard during the interval
between the first watch and day-break. All
would then start to their feet, and betake themselves
to hurried flight ; though no alarm was
entertained if the cry were heard between sunset
and the end of the first watch, because then " the
omen was suffocated under their sides as they
turned in their sleep." Hardly less disastrous
was a lizard falling upon a Thug ; any garment
that it touched must be given away in charity.
Nothing but ill luck followed the meeting a
maimed person, or an oil-vender, or a woman
bearing an empty water-jar, or a leper, or any
one emaciated by sickness; to meet a donkey
face to face, was called Mataphore, or
" the headbreaker."
It was of evil import to see a jackal,
or a wolf, cross the road from left to right, or a
large male antelope, or small deer, from right to
left. If a snake crossed either behind or in front
of the gang, they must kill it or return home ;
in either cases sacrifices were required. The
32 EVIL OMENS.
sight of two jackals crossing the road together,
in front, foretold prison and chains. The call of
one jackal was bad; the general clamour, or
" lamentation
"
of a pack, still worse ; but the
short, broken cry of that animal, or the noise of
several righting, rendered it necessary to take to
precipitate flight. It was ill-omened to hear the
call of the kite while flying, or that mournful
sound known as the "
weeping
"
of the wolf, or
the low hooting of the small owl, repeated two or
three times ; or the loud responsive cry of two
large owls, or the low clicking sound of that bird,
or the slight chirp of the small owl, either sitting
or flying. If any member of the gang sneezed,
either on first setting out, or on leaving a haltingground,
expiatory sacrifices were offered, and all
travellers then in their power were allowed to
escape. Were a dog seen to shake its head, no
Thug would dream of executing any design he
might previously have formed.
It was also unlucky to hear cats fighting in the
day-time, or after the first watch at night; or the
low gurgling of the large owl, which somewhat
resembles the bubbling of a hookah. If this
sound were observed on first setting out, the
expedition was postponed for several days ; if,
afterwards, on the left, the gang hurried on, for
OMEN OF THE HARE. 33
there was danger behind ; if on the right, they
halted, for there was danger before them. But
probably, no omen was more dreaded than the
sight, or the cry, of a hare. Unless a sacrifice
was immediately offered, they were certain to
perish miserably in the jungles, and the wild
animals of the forest would drink water out of
their skulls : should they impiously plunder any
traveller then with them, they would obtain no
booty. One of the most intelligent approvers
ascribed his apprehension on one occasion to his
neglect of this omen. " A hare crossed the road,"
he said,
" we disregarded the omen though the
hare actually screamed in crossing and went
on." On the following day he and seventeen of
his associates were arrested, and only obtained
their release after a long detention.
It has been already stated that the Thugs
attributed their recent misfortunes to their want
of "religion" in neglecting omens, and disregarding
the restrictions assigned to their homicidal
duties. Their evasions of the latter were
sometimes humorous. They were forbidden to
destroy any one accompanied by a woman or a
cow. But a party of fourteen, possessing both
these safeguards, once fell into the hands of a
gang at Kotree, in Huttah, and were persuaded
B 2
34 WOMAN-SLAUGHTER.
by the Thugs to sell the cow to them, as they
had made a vow to present one to the Brahmans
at Shahpore. They did actually fulfil their pretended
vow, but not until they had strangled,
without any remaining compunction, every one
of their unsuspecting victims, not even excepting
the female. According to the approvers, the
practice of killing women had prevailed only
five years, and became one great cause of their
ruin. The principal reluctance to womanslaughter
was entertained by the Hindoos the
Mussulmauns, perhaps, from their larger experience
of the sex, showing little inclination to spare
them. On a certain occasion a Hindoo lady,
called the Kalee Beebee, was met by a gang as
she travelled in a dooly (a sort of litter), accompanied
by twelve dependents. The Thugs having
discovered that she had 400 worth of property
with her, her death was insisted upon by the
Mussulmauns, and as strenuously objected to by
the Hindoos. Thereupon a violent quarrel arose
between them, which was only appeased by the
former perpetrating the deed by themselves.
The Hindoos, however, did not refuse to share
in the plunder, save only the lady's personal
ornaments and clothes. One of them, a Brahman,
named Purusram, was shunned by his own
MURDER OF A MOONSHEE. 35
brother until he expiated his guilt by feasting
several hundred Brahmans at a great expense.
Another member of the gang, also a Brahman,
"
got worms in his body, and died barking like
a dog." A third died miserably, and the families
of all became extinct.
A more horrible instance of woman-slaughter
appears to have escaped unpunished, at least for
a time. The Moonshee, Bunda Alee, in company
with his wife, an infant daughter, and six servants,
was taking to her bridegroom another
daughter who had attained to a connubial age.
On the journey he feU in with a numerous gang
of Thugs, the leaders of whom contrived to
ingratiate themselves with the Moonshee's party,
and all travelled on together. One evening
towards dusk some of the Thugs seated themselves,
as usual, with the Moonshee at his tent
door, and began to sing and play on the sitar.
One of them presently took up the Moonshee's
sword, which was lying on the ground at his
feet, as if to examine it. The signal was then
suddenly given, but the Moonshee sprung to his
feet, screamed aloud, and tried to rush into the
tent, but was instantly seized and strangled.
His wife, hearing his shrieks, came running out
with the infant in her arms, and shared his fate.
36 INFANT BURIED ALIVE.
The bride was put to death within the tent.
The servants were at that moment engaged in
grooming the horses, and one of them crept
under a horse's belly and lustily bawled out
"murder!" but they were all quickly silenced
by the fatal noose. Ghubboo Khan, who had
murdered the mother, intended to adopt the
infant, but was dissuaded by one of his comrades
who pointed out that it might lead to their
discovery. He therefore threw the child alive
into the hole in which the dead bodies were
already deposited, and the earth was hastily
shovelled in upon the living and the dead.
While this dreadful scene was enacting, a number
of Khulasies were, within sight, occupied in
pitching the tents of the European officers commanding
a detachment of troops marching along
the road. The Thugs, however, had taken care
to play and sing, at the top of their voice, as
soon as the butchery commenced, while others
let loose two vicious horses and chased them
with vociferous shouting, so as effectually to
drown the cries of their victims.
The five years assigned as the duration of
feminicide was simply a euphuism; it prevailed
through a very much longer period. In 1816 a
party of eighteen men and seven women were
BARBAROUS MURDER OP A CHILD. 37
strangled near Shikarpore, but the Thugs spared
two boys, one of whom, however, cried so bitterly
and made so much moaning, that a ruffian
seized him by the legs, swung him round, and
dashed out his brains against a stone. The
dead body was carelessly left lying on the ground,
till a fisherman, passing that way, happened to
see it, and went and reported the circumstance
to the Thakoor Burjore Sing, of Powae. Guided
by this clue, the Thakoor discovered the bodies
of all the victims, and, collecting as many men
as possible, gave chase to the murderers. Following
their fresh traces he came up with them
while washing themselves in a stream near the
village of Tigura. Forming into a compact body,
the Thugs retired upon the village, being repeatedly
charged by the Thakoor's party, who
ran one of them through the chest with a spear
and sabred another. The villagers, however,
expecting a share of the booty, turned out to
the rescue of the Thugs and repulsed their assailants.
Next morning they escorted them to the
neighbouring village of Simareea, where they
received the like sympathy and protection. This
was no extraordinary occurrence, for the natives
generally regarded the Thugs as a fraternity
especially favoured by heaven. They would as
38 THUGS PROTECTED BY ZEMINDARS.
soon have thought of destroying a snake or a
wolf, or of opposing in any other way the
decrees of Providence. The police, to save
themselves trouble, and partly also from a secret
dread of these mysterious and ruthless beings,
used to declare that the dead bodies occasionally
found in ravines, wells, and dry watercourses had
been killed by tigers, and would burn them in
ah1 haste lest the marks of strangulation should
be detected by their superiors. In the Deccan
the task of suppression was rendered doubly
difficult by the sullen opposition of the native
chiefs, who sometimes even ventured to maltreat
the police officers of the British Government.
The Zemindars, or landowners, were always ready
to give any amount of security for Thugs, against
whom there was no sufficient evidence to justify
their punishment.
"
They knew us very well,"
said an approver,
" but they had then confidence
in us; they thought we should keep our own
secrets, and, if we did so, no one else would be
able to convict us, and get them into trouble.
Yes, there was then something like religion and
good faith among us, and we found friends everywhere.
Where could we find them now ?" The
Zemindars eagerly afforded them protection, because
of the enormous rent they were wont to
STAUNCH PATRONS. 39
pay for their lands and villages. Valuable presents,
also, were frequently made to them, at the
same time that the Thugs engaged not to compromise
their patrons by committing murder too
near home. The Khyrooa chief once stood a
siege from his lord, the Rajah of Jhansee, before
he would surrender some eight or ten villains
who had thrown themselves on his protection.
And the Maharajah of Gwalior was obliged to
send two guns and a small army against the
Zemindar, or
"
laird," of Bahmanpora, to make
him give up some Thugs whom he patronised ;
the firing lasted for some hours, and several lives
were lost on both sides. Even those who affected
to punish the miscreants, seldom touched their
persons except to extort from them their ill-got
treasures. They would seize one or two of the
youngest, tie them up, and flog them till they
confessed, or until the gang, in pity for their
sufferings, pledged themselves to make up a
certain sum, leaving two or three of their number
as hostages. They were then released, and
allowed to pursue their profession as before.
In the year 1812, soon after the murder of
Lieutenant Monsell, a number of Thugs were
arrested by certain Zemindars and grievously
beaten, in the hope of making them bid high
40 THE DEMON OF RHEUMATISM.
for their release. Their excessive cupidity, however,
defeated its own ends. During their thirteen
months imprisonment, forty of the Thugs
perished from the dampness of their dungeon,
combined with the ill-treatment they endured.
The survivors insisted that their comrades were
tortured to death by a demon, who entered the
prison every night during the wet season.
"
I
saw him," said one of them,
"
only once myself.
I was awake while all the rest were asleep; he
came in at the door, and seemed to swell as he
came in till his head touched the roof, and the
roof was very high, and his bulk became enormous.
I prostrated myself, and told him that
' he was our Purmesur (great God), and we poor
helpless mortals depending entirely upon his
will.' This pleased him, and he passed by me ;
but took such a grasp at the man Mungulee,
who slept by my side, that he was seized with
spasms all over, from the nape of the neck to the
sole of his foot." Of the Zemindars, who
caused this atrocious suffering, he added,
" not
a soul of their families is now left to pour the
libation at their funeral obsequies." How like
is this to the glorious old Grecian idea of the
avenging Nemesis 1 In truth, this was the only
sort of justice administered in India during the
SALUTATION. 41
supremacy of its native rulers the golden age,
according to the gentlemen of the Manchester
school.
The Thugs made use of a peculiar dialect,
called Ramasee, which was understood by the
members of the fraternity throughout Hindostan,
at Mooltan as at Arcot. The signification of
the word Thug itself is "a deceiver ;
"
they
were likewise called Phanseegars, from the Hindostanee
word Phansee,
" a handkerchief." One
Thug could always recognise another by his
salutation Aulae Ktian, Saldm, if addressed to a
Mussulmaun; or Aulae Bhae, Earn, Earn, if
addressed to a Hindoo, equivalent to
" Peace be
with thee, friend!" A few specimens of their
phraseology, selected from Captain Sleeman's
Thug vocabulary, may be not altogether devoid
of interest.
Aulae, or Bora, signified a Thug ; Beetoo, or
Kuj, everybody not a Thug ; Bagh, Phool, a
rendezvous ; Boj' ha, the Thug who carried the
bodies to the grave ; Bhukote, or Bhurtote, the
strangler ; Beyl, site for murder ; Bykureea, the
scout of river Thugs; Beyl' ha, one who chose
the place of murder; Bunij, literally merchandize
technically a traveller ; Bunij Ladhna,
"
to
load goods," i.e., to murder ; Bhara and Ghurt'
42 THUGS' SLANG.
ha, dead bodies of victims ; Bisul purna, to be
awkwardly handled to have the roomal caught
on the face or head, instead of being slipped
round the neck the contrary of soosul purna : a
Thug who was frequently guilty of bungling in
this manner, was deposed from the honourable
post of strangler; Chookadena, or Thibaedena,
to get travellers to sit down and look up, by
pointing out some star or object in the air, so
that, the chin being raised, the handkerchief
might be more easily passed round the throat ;
CAumoseea, or Shumsheea, the Thug whose duty
it was to sieze the victim's hands ; Chumeea, the
Thug who held down the struggling victim ;
Chandoo, an expert Thug ; C/ieesa, a blessing
from heaven, a rich traveller ; D/tonkee, or Ronkee,
a policeman or guard ; Dul, weight ; Duller,
the head ; Doonr, the shrieks of a victim ;
Jywaloo, left for dead, but afterwards recovering,
which occasionally happened when there was not
time to bury the bodies, or when it was judged
imprudent to stab and slash them after being
strangled ; Kuboola, a tyro the opposite of
Borka an adept. The latter could always
gather together a band, for he was acquainted
with the rites of initiation and the signification
of omens, of which a Kuboola was generally
THE SHEIKH AHMED. 43
quite ignorant. It was, consequently, found unnecessary
to sentence the latter to perpetual imprisonment,
as they could do little harm without
the guidance of a Borka. A Kuboola, of the
old Sindouse stock, once attempted to form a
gang, into which he admitted all sorts of vagabonds,
weavers, braziers, bracelet-makers, &c.,
who killed men and women indiscriminately, and
neglected the most ordinary precautions. The
natural consequence was, that they were soon
detected, seized, and punished. On the other
hand, one of the most noted Thugs on record
was Sheikh Ahmed, of Arcot, whose gang consisted
of sixty Borkas, disguised as recruits.
This able leader had picked up the English words
of command, with some knowledge of the Company's
drill, and could even express himself intelligibly
in English. He never displayed his
wealth, which was considerable, or travelled in
an ostentatious manner. On the contrary, when
sixty years old and able to command the services
of a hundred men, he would wander about for
months with his wife, cooking his own food,
going on foot, and living like a very poor man.
His riches were concealed in various caches,
regardless of the Horatian maxim, that silver
shines only with reflected light from a temperate
44 THUGS' SLANG.
and judicious use. However, he escaped apprehension,
and added, every year, with impunity,
to his long catalogue of crime. But to return to
the vocabulary Koojaoo, an informer, or one
who extorted hush-money from Thugs ; Khullee,
a Thug who, from ignoble care-giving impecuniosity,
concealed himself on his return home to
avoid his creditors for the natives of Hindostan
enjoy many of the blessings of an ancient and
refined civilization; KJiomusna,io rush in upon travellers
when there was not sufficient time for the
ordinary preparations ; Kanthuna, or Kanth dalna,
to stab when no opportunity was afforded for
strangling a very exceptional case or to slash
the suffocated victim, either to prevent revival, or
the swelling of the body when buried, owing to
the evolved gases finding no vent for escape.
This gaseous inflation of the corpse was apt to
cause the imposed earth to crack and open, when
the horrid effluvia attracted jackals to the spot,
who, by digging up the bodies, might discover
the fact of a murder having been committed, and
so lead to the detection of the murderers ; Kathee
kurna, to inveigle travellers, or to consult secretly
as to the mode of doing away with them ; Kharoo,
a gang of Thugs ; Kkuruk, the sound of the
consecrated pick-axe in making a grave, supposed
THUGS' SLANG. 45
to be audible only to the initiated; Kurwa, a
square, or oblong grave, for one corpse or for
many ; Gobba, a circular grave, with a small
pillar of earth left in the middle it was believed
to crack less than the ordinary grave, and was
therefore preferred when the dead bodies were
very numerous ; Kuthowa, the Thug whose office
it was to cut and stab the dead bodies ; LugJta,
the grave-digger ; Lutfameea, a very small purse,
used exclusively by Thugs and professional
thieves ; Maulee, or PJioola, the Thug entrusted
with the duty of taking to Jthe village the money
sent by the absent gang for the maintenance of
their wives and families ; Nawureea, a novice on
his first expedition sometimes they were compelled
to kick the first murdered man five times
on the back; Nissar, safe, as applied to any
suitable place for lodging at, murdering, or
dividing spoil opposed to tikkur, unsafe ; Paoo,
an accomplice of Thugs ; PeMoo, or Sikka, or
Roomed, the handkerchief. This was, rather, a
turban unfolded, or the long narrow cloth, or
sash, worn round the waist. It was doubled to
the length of about thirty inches, with a knot
formed at the doubled extremity, and about
eighteen inches from that a slip knot. The distance
between these two knots was regulated by
46 THUGS' SLANG.
preparing the fatal instrument on the knee,
which was made to do temporary duty for a
neck. The use of the two knots was to give a
firm hold. When the victim was fairly prostrated,
the strangler adroitly loosened the slip
knot, and made another fold of the cloth round
his throat. Then placing his foot upon the back
of his victim's neck, he drew the cloth tightly,
as if to use the informant's own words he
were "
packing a bundle of straw." Pehloo
dena, to instal as a strangler, of which more
hereafter ; Phank, a. useless thing, a traveller
without property ; Pungoo, or JBungoo, a river
Thug of Bengal, who murdered on board his
kuntee or boat ; P/tur, same as Beyl, also a spot
for dividing the plunder ; Phurjhana, to clean
the murder-spot after a nocturnal murder, some
of the gang were generally left behind to remove
any signs of the crime that might be visible by
daylight ; Phuruck dena, to wave a cloth as signal
of danger ; Pusur, the direction of an expedition ;
Euhna, a temporary grave ; Soon, a Thug by
birth, but not yet initiated ; Saur, one who
escaped from Thugs ; Sotha, the inveigler ; Tome,
an article of extraordinary value; Tilha, a spy;
Thap, a night encampment ; Tuppul, a bye-path
into which they often inveigled their unsuspecting
PICTURESQUE PHRASEOLOGY. 47
travelling companions, as more convenient for
their purposes. A rich traveller was called
" a
delicacy;" a poor one "a stick;" an old man
" a barber's drum." Some of their signals, too,
were quaint. The necessity of caution was inculcated
by drawing the back of the hand along
the chin, from the throat outwards; the open
hand placed over the mouth and drawn gently
downwards, implied the absence of danger.
"
Sweep the place,
"
signified to look out ;
"
bring firewood," take your places that is, the
place assigned to each Thug preparatory to
action ;
"
take out the handkerchief with the
beetel," get the roomal ready, as already described;
"
eat beetel," or
" hand the beetel," despatch
him this was called the J7tirnee, or signal to
fall en ;
" look after the straw," get the body
ready for burial ;
"
the straw is come out,"
jackals have dug up the body. Another form of
the Jhirnee was Ae ho to gliyree ckulo,
"
if you
are come, pray descend." "When the scouts
wished to report that all was safe, they called
out as if to a comrade, "Bajeed Khan," or
"
Deo," or
"
Deoseyn." If the scouts saw any
danger at hand, or a traveller coming along, they
would call out " Sheikh Jee," or
" Sheikh Mahommed,"
if they were Mussulmauns ; and
48 SIGNALS.
" Luchmun Sing," or
" Lucbee Ram," or
"
Gunga
Ram," if they were Hindoos. Sometimes the
advanced guard of a gang, with victims in their
power, would meet with a party of travellers, of
whom they considered their friends in the rear w
were capable of disposing. In which case they
sent some one back to tell Bajeed Khan, or
Deoseyn, to make haste and overtake them. The
others receiving this message understood that
the coast was clear in front, and on meeting the
travellers, lost no time in putting them to death.
If a gang happened from any cause to get
separated, they rallied with the cry, Bukh, Bukh,
Bukh,
"
come, come, come." When the leader
judged that the time was at hand for selecting a
beyl, or site for murder, he would say to the
Thug on whom that duty devolved, Jao, kutoree
manj Jao,
"
go and clean the brass cup." When
he desired every one to repair to his post, he
gave the kkokee, that is, he made a great noise
of hawking up phlegm from his throat ; if anything
then occurred to cause the suspension of
operations, he gave the thokee, or spit out the
phlegm. Otherwise, he exclaimed aloud "
Surbulund
Khan," or
" Dulur Khan," or " Surmnst
Khan," whereupon the stranglers made ready
and only awaited the jhirnee. Then the fatal
SIGNALS. 49
words were pronounced, Tombako Jcha lo, or pee
lo, "eat," or "drink (i.e., smoke) your tobacco"
or one of the other formulae was used and
the next instant the roomal was round the throat
of the ill-fated wretch.
In order to avoid the suspicions likely to be
engendered by very large bands of men travelling
together, the Thugs used to break up into
small parties of from three or four to a dozen or
so, communicating with one another by a series
of telegraphic signs, which enabled them to concentrate
at any given point with amazing celerity.
Thus, on coming to cross-roads, the leading files
drew their feet along the dust in the direction
they had taken. If they wished their comrades
to follow quickly, they piled up some dust along
the toe-line of their footmarks, on which they
sometimes impressed their heel. Where there
was no dust easily procurable, they left two
stones, one upon the other, or strewed a few
leaves to indicate the right path : if haste was needful,
they would dispose the leaves in a long line.
Great as was the veneration entertained for
the roomal, still greater was that accorded to the
kussee, or pick-axe. It was consecrated with
peculiar rites. On a day pronounced by the
Pundit to be propitious, the leader betook him
c
50 CONSECRATION OF THE PICK-AXE.
to a blacksmith of course a member of his own
fraternity and closing the door, constrained him
to relinquish all other work until the axe had
been duly fabricated. One of the four auspicious
days, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday,
was then selected for the d/ioop, or offering of
incense, which took place within a house or tent,
the shadow of no living thing being allowed to
fall upon the axe. A Thug, renowned for his
ceremonial lore, being appointed to officiate, the
consecration was attempted attempted, for it
did not always succeed at the first trial. The
officiating minister having taken his seat facing
the west, received from the leader the pick-axe
on a lordly brazen dish. A pit was then dug,
over which the axe was held, and washed with
water, and afterwards in succession with a mixture
of sugar and water, sour milk, and ardent spirits,
care being taken that the various liquids should
flow into the pit. The next proceeding was to
mark the axe from head to point with seven spots
of red lead, and again place it on the brazen
dish, together with a cocoa-nut, some cloves,
paun leaves, gogul gum, inderjon, sessamum
seeds, white sandal wood, and sugar. Ghee, or
clarified butter, was also put into a small brass
cup, standing by the side of the dish. A fire
CONSECRATION OF THE PICK-AXE. 51
being now kindled with dried cow-dung and
mango, or byr-wood, all these articles were thrown
into it, excepting the cocoa-nut. So soon as the
flames blazed high and bright, the priest, holding
the axe in both hands, passed it through them
seven times. Then, stripping off the rough outer
coat of the cocoa-nut, he placed the fruit on the
ground, and taking up the axe by the point,
asked of the assembled Thugs,
"
Shall I strike ?"
All having replied in the affirmative, he struck
the nut with the butt-end of the axe, and usually
shivered it into fragments. The whole of the
shell and some of the kernel being thrown into
the fire, the axe was wrapt in a clean white cloth
and laid on the ground, pointing to the west,
the Thugs facing the same quarter of the heavens
and worshipping. This act of adoration done,
they all partook of the cocoa-nut, and collecting
the fragments, threw them into the pit. Should
the Thibaoo now be heard, all was duly performed,
and the axe was a holy thing no longer a kodalee,
but a kussee. But if the Pilhaoo first smote upon
their ears, or the priest failed to crack the nut at
a blow, the ceremonies must be repeated all had
been done in vain.
On the march, the sacred kussee was always
intrusted to a Thug of approved sobriety and
52 THE SACRED AXE.
steadiness, who carried it in his waist-belt. While
encamped it was buried in a secure place, with the
point turned towards the direction intended to
be pursued. If a better road could be taken,
the axe would be found pointing that way. No
human foot was allowed to tread the ground beneath
which it reposed ; nor should the touch of
any unclean man or thing ever pollute its purity.
If a well happened to be near, it was thrown into
it, instead of being buried ; and when the gang
was ready to set out, being duly summoned, it
came of its own accord to its bearer. Nay, more,
if a dozen kussees were thrown into the same
well, each would fly unerringly to its proper
guardian. When this startling assertion was
made, Captain Sleeman suggested it was a clever
piece of jugglery ; whereupon an approver indignantly
exclaimed :
" What ! shall not a hundred
generations of Thugs be able to distinguish the
tricks of man from the miracles of God? Is
there not the difference of heaven and earth between
them ! Is not one a mere trick, and the
other a miracle, witnessed by hundreds assembled
at the same time ?
"
Another approver capped
his rhetorical friend, by declaring that he had
seen with his own eyes this miracle performed
in favour of the Arcottee Thugs, as the reward
VIRTUES OF THE KTJSSEE. 53
of their superior piety and strict observance of
omens.
The burnt-offerings were repeated on all holy
days, and after any unusual interval between
murders. After being used, it was washed with
solemn rites. There was no more binding oath
than to swear by the kussee. If the axe itself
were not procurable, it sufficed to make an effigy
of it in cloth or clay. The person attested, held
it in his hand as he swore, and then drank the
water in which it had been previously bathed,
A perjurer died an awful death within six days
after his guilt, his head gradually turning round
till his face stood over his back. After all, this
is not more strange than the old Hebrew trial
of jealousy, as described in the fifth chapter
of the Book of Numbers ; nor more ridiculous
than any ordeal in which supernatural effects
were expected from simple and natural causes.
If the kussee fell from the hand of -its bearer, his
death was certain to ensue within twelve months,
or else some dire calamity befel the gang. The
immediate results of the untoward accident were
his deposition from his high office, a change of
route, and a fresh consecration of the axe. It
has been before remarked, that no one but a
Thug could hear the sound of the kussee, when
54 SECURITY AGAINST GHOSTS.
used in digging graves. It had likewise another
virtue, in common with the roomal.
" Are you
never* afraid," asked Captain Sleeman, one day,
of some of the approvers,
"
of the spirits of the
persons you murder ?
"
"
Never," they replied,
"
they cannot trouble
us."
"Why? Do they not trouble other men when
they commit murder ?
"
" Of course they do. The man who commits
a murder is always haunted by spirits. He has
sometimes fifty at a time upon him, and they
drive him mad."
" And how do they not trouble you ?
"
" Are not the people we kill, killed by the
orders of Davey 1 Do not all whom we kill, go
to Paradise, and why should their spirits stay to
trouble us ? A good deal of our security
from spirits is to be attributed to the roomal,
with which we strangle."
"
I did not know that there was any virtue in
the roomal"
"
Is it not our sikka (ensign), as the pick-axe
is our nishan (standard) ? . . . . More is attributable
to the pick-axe. Do we not worship it
every seventh day ? Is it not our standard ? Is
its sound ever heard when digging the grave of
INITIATION. 55
any but a Thug? And can any man ever swear
to a falsehood upon it ?
"
Next to the leader of the gang, the most
important personages were the stranglers. Before
a Thug could hope to attain this honourable
distinction, he must have served on several expeditions,
and given proof of courage and impassibility.
The usual gradations were, employment
as a scout, then as a grave-digger, afterwards as
a holder of hands, and finally he might become a
strangler. So soon as his mind was inflamed
with this ambition, he had recourse to one of the
oldest and most famous of the brotherhood, and
besought him to act as gooroo, or spiritual preceptor,
and to accept him as his cheyla, or disciple.
If his request were granted, the gooroo
led him into a field, with three or four experienced
Thugs, and all placed themselves facing
the direction in which the gang was about to
move. Then the gooroo lifted up his voice, and
prayed aloud: "O Kalee, Kunkalee, Bhudkalee
! Kalee, Mahakalee, Calcutta Walee ! if
it seemeth to thee fit that the traveller now at
our lodging should die by the hands of this thy
slave, vouchsafe us the Thibaoo." Should the
auspicious omen be refused, the candidate must
wait until another opportunity. But if the god56
THE FIRST MURDER.
dess smiled upon his vows, the party returned to
their quarters, and the gooroo, taking a handkerchief,
and looking towards the west, tied a knot
in one end of it, inserting therein a rupee or
other silver coin. This knot was called goor ghaut,
or the classic knot, and was a very artistic performance,
the end of the roomal being skilfully
folded inwards. The disciple thereupon respectfully
took the handkerchief in his right hand, and
went and stood over his sleeping victim for a
feeble person, and one asleep, was generally
chosen for the maiden trial of skill. When all
was ready, the Shumsheea, or hand-holder, suddenly
awakened the sleeper with the cry that
a snake or a scorpion was under or beside him.
As he started up, bewildered with sleep and
terror, the roomal was slipped over his neck, and
in a few seconds he had ceased to fear either
reptiles or baser men. The deed being satisfactorily
accomplished, the cheyla bowed lowly before
his preceptor, and touched his feet with both
hands, a compliment he also paid to all theyooroo's
relatives and friends there present. After the
Thibaoo had again been heard, he untied the
knot, and presented the coin, with whatever
silver he possessed, to his teacher, who added to
it whatever money he happened to have upon his
THE TAPOONEE. 57
own person. Of this amount half a crown was
expended in the purchase of goor, or coarse
sugar, and the rest in sweetmeats. The Tapoonee
feast was then held under a neem, mango, or
byr-tree, the clieyla sitting with the Bhurtotes, or
stranglers, and receiving a like share of the consecrated
ffoor. At the conclusion of the expedition,
the tyro entertained his preceptor's family,
and gave to him and his wife a present of new
clothes. The entertainment was returned by the
gooroo, between whom and his pupil an indissoluble
connection existed ever afterwards unto death.
The Tapoonee, to which allusion has just been
made, was a sacrifice offered to Bhowanee after
every murder. A half-crown's worth of coarse
sugar having been procured through the instrumentality
of one of their most plausible members
for the purchase of so large a quantity at a
time might have excited strange surmises it
was placed on a blanket, or sheet, spread upon
a clear spot of ground. The Jcussee, or sacred
pickaxe, and a silver coin by way of roop dursim,
or silver offering were also laid upon the sheet,
beside the pile of sugar. The most experienced
of the leaders there present then seated himself
on the edge of the sheet, facing to the west, and
on either side of him were ranged as many
c2
58 THE TAPOONEE.
Bhurtotes as could be accommodated on the
carpet, but taking care that they should make an
even number. The others sat behind these. The
leader next made a hole in the ground, and
dropping into it a pinch of the goor, raised his
eyes to the sky, and, with clasped hands, devoutly
prayed aloud :
" Great goddess ! as thou didst
vouchsafe one lakh and 62,000 rupees (16,200)
to Jora Naick and Koduk Bunwaree in their need,
so, we pray thee, fulfil our desires !" These
words were repeated by the entire assembly;
after which the leader sprinkled a little water
over the pit and the Jcussee, and placed some
goor on the hand of every Thug seated on the
blanket. Some one then uttered the jhirnee,
or signal for strangulation, and the goor was
eaten in solemn silence. Not a word was spoken
until the whole of the consecrated pile had disappeared,
and been washed down with a draught
of pure water. If any crumbs fell on the ground
they were carefully picked up and thrown
into the hole ; for should any beast of the
field, or bird of the air, partake of the holy
offering, the wrath of the goddess would burn for
years. The silver coin being restored to its
owner, the unconsumed sugar was distributed
among the lower and junior grades of the assoTAKING
THE OMENS. 59
elation. But if any one of the uninitiated, by
chance or design, tasted of that to which the
stranglers only were entitled, he was straightway
irresistibly impelled to Thuggee, and never could
the charm that bound him be broken or counteracted.
When necessity, or the weariness of inactivity, or
the fascination of their terrible calling, urged them
to leave their tranquil homes, their wives and
families; the leader of the gang, accompanied by
four of his ablest followers, would seat themselves
on a blanket around a long- experienced and
venerable sage ; while the vulgar herd sat down
surrounding this group at a little distance. In
front of the pundit was placed a brass plate containing
a few grains of wheat and rice, and two
copper coins. The leader having respectfully inquired
on what day they should set out, and in
what direction, the pundit went through various
ceremonies, too trivial to be particularized, and
then indicated the day, the hour, and the route.
When the appointed period had arrived it could
not be a Wednesday, or a Thursday, or in the
months of July, September, or December the
leader filled a lotah, or brass vessel, with water,
and carried it with his right hand over its mouth
and holding it by his side. Some turmeric, two
60 TAKING THE OMENS.
copper coins and one of silver, together with the
head of the pickaxe, were next tied up separately
in a clean white handkerchief, which the leader
pressed against his breast in his left hand. Then
turning to the heaven-selected direction he slowly
moved with all the gang to a field outside the village,
where finding a suitable spot, and still preserving
the same attitude, he paused, and in seeming
abstraction, prayed :
" Great goddess ! Universal
Mother ! If this our meditated expedition
be good in thy sight, vouchsafe unto us help, and
the signs of thy approbation !" The other Thugs
repeated his words, and praised their patron,
Bhowanee. Within half an hour afterwards the
Pilliaoo ought to be heard on the left and the
Thibaoo on the right hand. Then, and not till
then, the leader relaxed from his statue-like
attitude, and putting the lotah on the ground,
himself sat down, still looking in the same direction.
Thus he remained seven hours communing
with himself, his abstraction being finally interrupted
by his followers bringing him food and
informing him that all things were ready. The
silver and copper coins and the turmeric he carefully
preserved throughout the expedition, arid on
his return presented them to some poor Brahman,
unless great good fortune had attended his party,
LEAVING HOME. 61
in which case they were kept for the opening of
the next expedition. If the lotah had fallen from
his hand before the omens were given, he would
assuredly have died within twelve, or at the latest,
within twenty-four months. The preparations
being completed, the gang struck off in the direction
indicated by the pundit ; but after taking
a few steps they could turn aside as circumstances
might seem to recommend.
During the first seven days after their departure
the females of their respective families held
no intercourse with those belonging to another
gang, lest the victims intended for their own
friends should fall into the power of the others.
The Thugs, themselves, for the like period abstained
from animal food, and even from their
favourite yhee, and partook of no other food
than fish, goor, and dot (a kind of pulse). Nor
did they shave or allow their clothes to be washed,
or indulge in alms'-giving which, with personal
abstinence, constitutes the Hindoo notion of practical
religion. On the seventh day they had a
grand feast, in which green vegetables of some
kind made a prominent figure. If a victim, however,
were obtained within these seven days of
probation, all restraints were at once cancelled
and abandoned. Should the expedition last no
62 GOOD AND BAD OMENS.
longer than one year, they frequently denied
themselves the taste of milk throughout, and
likewise refrained from brushing their teeth.
Any bad omens encountered prior to the second
halt sufficed to break off the expedition ; after
that point they could be averted by expiatory
rites. It was considered unfortunate to hear
any one lamenting the dead as they started, or
to meet an inhabitant of their own village, or
an oil-vender, carpenter, potter, dancing-master,
a maimed or lame person, a fakir (Mussulmaun
religious mendicant) with a brown waist-band,
or a jogee (Hindoo religious mendicant) with
long interwoven hair. But it promised well to
fah
1
in with a fair in any other village than their
own, or a corpse, or to see a party of female
friends weeping round a bride as she left her
parents' house to go to her husband's.
As a general rule, the different divisions of a
gang used to encamp near each other at the
various halting grounds, and were always in
frequent communication with one another. No
sooner had one of them fallen in with a party
of travellers than the intelligence was conveyed
to all the others, and every one was on the alert.
Their leaders, travelling as merchants, gentlemen,
soldiers, or peasants, usually succeeded by their
PERSEVERANCE OF THE THUGS. 63
plausible manners in ingratiating themselves with
the strangers. And there was nothing formidable
or repulsive in their outward appearance.
On the contrary, they are described as being
mild and benevolent of aspect, and peculiarly
courteous, gentle, and obliging. Unlike most of
the natives of India, they travelled unarmed,
with the exception of two or three who carried
daggers. It was therefore an apparently reasonable
request on their part to be allowed to
proceed under the protection of those who made
a grand display of their swords and spears and
fire-arms.
This request being usually accorded, the united
parties journeyed on together, chatting and prattling
with the volubility and easy familiarity of
orientals. Sometimes days would elapse before a
favourable opportunity occurred. There is an instance
mentioned of a gang having accompanied a
family of eleven persons for twenty days, during
which they had traversed upwards of 200 miles,
and then murdered the whole of them, though the
head of the family had only one arm, and ought
therefore to have been spared. Another gang
accomplished 160 miles in twelve days, -in company
with a party of sixty men, women and
a child before they found an eligible occasion.
64 MODE OF OPERATION.
They preferred committing murder in the evening,
when the travellers would be seated on the
ground, mingled with themselves, talking, smoking,
singing, and playing the sitar. Where it
could be done without suspicion, three Thugs
were allotted to every victim. So soon as the
fatal signal was given, one seized hold of his
hands, the second grasped his legs and held him
down, while the strangler tightened the roomed
round his neck, and only relaxed the strain when
life was extinct. Then the bearers of the daggers
slashed the dead bodies, the grave-diggers quickly
excavated a deep trench, the corpses were stripped
and thrown in, the earth was hastily shovelled in
and trampled down, and in an incredibly short
space of time all traces were completely effaced
of the terrible tragedy. When the ground was
too hard to admit of a grave being dug, or any
other cause intervened to prevent the burial, the
bodies were flung into a ravine, or well, or water
course, or concealed in the jungle. Not unfrequently
it happened that no convenient opportunity
was presented for murdering the travellers
while seated. In this case, an experienced Thug
would be sent forward to select a beyl, or suitable
spot, on arriving at which, if the scouts reported
a clear coast, the gang would close upon their
GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS. 65
unsuspecting companions and speedily put them
to death. It was more difficult when the travellers
were mounted, though the fleetest charger
could not avail to save his rider. A horseman
was always attacked by three men ; one walked
at his horse's head, a second a little way in the
rear, and a third by his side, pleasantly conversing
with him until the signal was given,
when he suddenly dragged him out of the saddle
and, with the assistance of his comrade, strangled
him before he could recover his self-possession.
It was thought a subject for just pride when
a Thug pulled a traveller from his horse and
murdered him without aid. Such an exploit
was a patent of 'nobility, and conferred credit
upon the third and fourth generation. The
Thugs, even as approvers, used to glory in the
recollection of their past achievements, and spoke
of them with as much animation as a sportsman
exhibits in describing a good day's shooting
or a capital run with the hounds. To avoid confusion,
they would distinguish the grand murders
by the number of victims they had killed. Thus,
in the chaleesrooh, or forty-soul affair, thirty-one
men, seven women and two girls were murdered
by a collective force of 360 Thugs, who divided
among themselves 1,700 worth of plunder. A
66 THE SIXTY-SOUL AFFAIR.
few days previously 160 of this gang had disposed
of a party consisting of a widow, a slave-girl and
twelve armed followers. The Sartrooh, or sixtysoul
affair, is an excellent illustration of their ordinary
mode of operations. The Thugs travelled
with this numerous party, consisting of fifty-two
men, seven women, and a Brahman boy, about
four years old, for twenty days before they consummated
their purpose. At Sehora they persuaded
their companions to quit the high road
and take one that led through the jungles. However,
they patiently went on with them, gaining
more and more upon their confidence, till they
had come to Chittakote. "
There," said one of
them to Captain Sleernan,
" we sent on people as
usual to select a place for the murder, and they
found one about five miles distant, in a very extensive
jungle, without a human habitation for
many miles on either side. We persuaded the
party to set out soon after midnight ; and as they
went along, we managed to take our appointed
places, two Thugs by every traveller, and the
rest in parties of reserve at different intervals
along the line, every two managing to keep the
person they were appointed to kill, in conversation.
On reaching the place chosen, the signal
was given at several different places, beginning
BHOWANEE AS SEXTON. 67
with the rear party, and passing on to that in
front ; and all were seized and strangled except
the boy. It was now near morning, and too late
to admit of the bodies being securely buried ; we
made a temporary grave for them in the bed of
the river, covered them over with sand, and
went on with the boy and the booty to Chittakote,
intending to send back a large party the
next night and have the bodies securely buried.
The rains had begun to set in, and after the murders
it rained very heavily all the day. The
party, however, went back, but found that the
river had risen and washed away all the bodies,
except two or three, which they found exposed,
and pushed into the stream to follow the rest."
So recently as 1830 Bhowaneewas believed to
have saved her votaries the trouble of burying
their victims. A gang after wandering about
Loodhiana, Sirhind, and Umballah, came to
Goolchutter, where they performed their ablutions
in the sacred tank and rested three days.
"
Having then proceeded two miles towards Kurnal,
they overtook two travellers from Mooltan
on their way to Muttra, mounted on ponies.
They were in appearance very poor." So poor,
indeed, that it was judged they would not pay for
the trouble of killing them, and they had nearly
68 BHOWANEE AS SEXTON.
escaped until a speculative Thug offered to give
10 for whatever might be found upon them.
"Their death was accordingly determined on,
and they were conducted by the Thugs to Turowlee
where they rested in the Serai ('accommodation
for man and beast'), and Cheyne Jemadar
invited the poor wretches to partake of a repast."
The travellers, being religious mendicants, had
many anecdotes to tell of their adventures and
travels, and pleasantly beguiled the early hours
of darkness. Next morning they all set out together
and had not gone very far before the^Vnee
was given, and the mendicants ceased to beg
and to breathe. But while their grave was being
dug, the neighing of horses was heard coming
along the road, which caused the Thugs to flee to
a place of concealment, leaving the corpses on the
ground. The horsemen passed on, and saw or
suspected nothing. Then the Thugs came out
from their hiding places, but lo ! the bodies had
disappeared but not so their property which
amounted to .the value of several hundred pounds.
It is true religious mendicants were exempted
from strangulation, but this was clearly an exceptional
case, for Bhowanee had positively commanded
their death by sending favourable omens;
she had, besides, rewarded her worshippers with
UNPROFITABLE VICTIMS. 69
a rich booty, and even disposed of the dead bodies,
whose souls had gone straight to Paradise.
They were not, however, always equally fortunate.
A gang once learnt from the spies that
four travellers with property, were trudging along
the road towards Baroda. Instantly, twenty fine
stout fellows set out after them, and after a long
chase came up with the travellers and murdered
them. " To the great disappointment and chagrin
of us all," bewailed one of the gang, "no
property was found upon them, for they turned
out to be common stone-cutters, and their tools
tied in bundles, which they carried over their
shoulders, deceived the spies into the supposition
that they were carrrying treasure." At another
time a gang fell in with two Ganges-water carriers,
two tailors, and a woman, and next day
they were joined by two very poor travellers, of
whom they tried in vain to disembarrass themselves.
They would start at night without awakening
them, but somehow the others would hear
their preparations and insist upon accompanying
them. The Thugs then appointed four of their
brethren to detach these unconscious suicides
from the rest of the party and keep them on the
high road while the others struck off down a
byepath. This device also failed, for they became
70 MURDER CHEAP.
frightened and could be satisfied with nothing
less than a junction with the main body. Their
obstinacy sealed their fate. Half a dozen of the
Thugs went on with them in advance, and strangling
them, found upon them only one rupee
worth about two shillings. The others soon shared
the fate of the two poor travellers, but turned out
a more profitable prize, as they yielded among
them twenty pounds. A smaller sum, however,
than one shilling will often times tempt a Hindoo
to commit murder, even though he have
nothing to do with Thuggee. What value the
latter attached to life may be inferred from the
testimony of one of themselves.
"
I have never
strangled any one," said he,
" but have aided in
throwing bodies into wells. Eight annas (one
shilling) is a very good remuneration for murdering
a man, We often strangle a victim who is
suspected of having two pice (one farthing)." But
it seldom happened that a murder produced less
than two pounds; the average being probably
about fifteen pounds. It is almost comical to
read that these dread beings were sometimes
robbed at night by vulgar pilferers, though they
usually set a watch. The same sort of retribution
is observable in the fate of twenty-seven Dacoits,
or gang-robbers, who had in their possession at
MUTUAL COURTESY. 71
the time above 1,300 worth of money, gold
ornaments, gems, and shawls. A gang of one
hundred and twenty-five Thugs having met with
them, begged to be allowed to travel under their
protection. The Dacoits carelessly assented, and
were shortly afterwards all put to death.
Eager as they were for booty the Thugs appear
to have been courteous and forbearing towards
one another, and equitable in the division of their
spoils. Feringeea and twenty-six of his gang
were one day cooking their dinners under some
trees by the road-side when five travellers came
bye, but could not be persuaded to stop and
partake of their meal, saying they intended to
sleep at Hirora that night, and they had yet
eight miles to go. The Thugs followed after
them, and also reached Hirora, but could discover
no traces of the travellers. Feringeea, therefore,
inferred that they must have fallen into the hands
of another gang, and suddenly recollected having
passed an encampment of Brinjarees (bullockdrivers)
not far from the town. On the following
morning he accordingly went back with a few
of his comrades, and at once recognised a horse
and a pony which he had observed in the possession
of the travellers.
" What have you done
with the five travellers, my good friends?" he
72 DIVISION OF SPOILS.
said.
" You have taken from us our merchandize."
They apologised for what they had done, pleading
ignorance, and offered to share the booty ; but
this Feringeea declined, saying that he had no
claim to a share, as none of his party was present
at the loading.
The division of the spoils was regulated with
great nicety. The leaders were usually entitled
to every tenth article, and to one anna in the
rupee (one sixteenth) of actual money, besides
their share as individuals. If the gang consisted
of twenty, including the Jemadar, the booty was
divided into twenty-one equal parts, of which the
Jemadar received two. Five per cent, was then
set aside for the stranglers, and the rest divided
into three equal heaps, corresponding to as many
equal sections of the gang. Each section marked
a cowree (a shell), and the three were put into
a man's hand without his knowing to which
either belonged, who then placed one on each
pile. The sections afterwards divided among
themselves each its own lot.
A feast was sometimes held in honour of
Davee, in the course of an expedition. If the
expenses were defrayed by subscription, as was
most customary, it was called a Punchaetee
Kotee, and was usually celebrated during the
THE PUNCHAETEE KOTEE. 73
Hooley or Dusserah festivals. Occasionally a single
member provided the feast ; but, to be entitled to
do so, he must have been a strangler, or at least a
Thug in the third generation. The feast was in
this wise. Having procured some goats, of whom
two must be perfectly black, without speck or
blemish, and a sufficient quantity of rice, ghee,
spices, and spirits, they assembled in a room
the doors and windows of which could be closed,
so as to prevent any prying, eyes from seeing
what was passing within. The floor being carefully
swept and plastered with cow-dung, a
square space, measuring a cubit each way, was
drawn in the middle of the apartment, with a
mixture of turmeric and lime. On this square
was spread a clean white sheet, whereon was
placed some boiled rice, and on the top of that
the half of a cocoa-nut shell filled with ghee,
in which floated two cotton wicks lying across
each other, so as to give four lights. If a
cocoa-nut was not procurable, a vessel of the
same form was shapened in dough. Upon the
sheet were then laid the sacred pickaxe, the
dagger of the gang (the misericorde), and the
spirits. The two black goats were next washed
and thoroughly wetted, and placed with their
faces to the westward If one, or both of them
74 RIVER THUGS.
shook off the wet with lusty vigour, it was a
sign that the sacrifice was acceptable ; otherwise,
the rice and spirits alone were consumed,
and without any further ceremony. But in the
former case, if Mahommedans, they chaunted
a sort of grace as they cut the throats of the
whole of the animals ; if Hindoos, they struck
off their heads at a blow. The skins, bones, and
offal were thrown into a pit dug for the purpose.
When every man's appetite was satiated, they
washed their face and hands over the pit, and
filled it up and levelled it with the ground.
Should any profane eye witness any part of the
preparations, or a spark fall on the sheet and
burn a hole, or any animal touch the offal, the.
leader must expect to die within a year and
all his companions would come to grief.
Besides the land Thugs there was a bold and
skilful clan calling themselves Bungoos, or Pungoos,
who practised the same vocation on the
Hooghly river, going up as far as Benares or
even Cawnpore, but chiefly infesting the Burdwan
district. Their system and dialect differed considerably
from those of their land brethren.
Their leaders assumed the appearance of the
proprietor or captain of a passenger boat, while
some of his gang bent to the oars or towed the
RIVER THUGS. 75
vessel along the bank, and the others, dressed
as pilgrims or shopkeepers, took their seat on
deck ; these were the stranglers and their assistants.
A few of the most plausible and insinuating
members were employed as Sothas, or
inveiglers. These wandered on the roads leading
to the various Ghauts, or landing places, and contrived
to get into conversation with the travellers
who seemed bound for the river. On arriving
at the Ghaut they would see a clean tidy boat,
already partially filled with passengers and ready
to swing off. They naturally hastened on board,
rejoicing at not being detained. The river Thugs
always faced their victims, sitting in a row on
one side of the deck opposite to them. So soon
as an opportunity presented itself, the look-out
man smote the deck three times with his hand.
Then the helmsman gave the jhirnee, by exclaiming
Bhugna ko paun do,
"
give my sister's son
some paun." Up sprang the pretended voyagers,
and throwing the roomal round the neck of their
victims pressed it tightly in front, bending their
head backwards, while their assistants held their
feet and hands. Though sometimes one Thug
would almost suffice for the purpose, nine of
them have been known to strangle seven men
stronger than themselves, and twelve have over76
RIVER THUGS.
powered ten. When the convulsive writhings had
ceased, they made certainty doubly sure by breaking
the backbone and violently kicking or punching
their victims with their elbows. The bodies
were then pushed into the river through a window
made in either side of the boat, immediately
above the water-mark. The greatest care was
taken to avoid shedding any blood, which by discolouring
the stream might lead to suspicion
and detection. If a drop were spilt, they returned
home and offered up expiatory sacrifices. Women
were invariably permitted to escape, and all
property of a suspicious character was at once
destroyed. Their proceedings, however, were no
secret to the river police, whose silence was secured
by rich presents. Their very existence was thus
kept from the knowledge of the European magistrates
until the year 1836, but in little more
than twelve months afterwards 161 of the miscreants
had been arrested, and the names obtained
of thirty-eight others. There were usually about
fourteen to each boat, and there were eighteen
boats regularly occupied in this dreadful business,
besides several engaged for occasional service.
The hot and wet seasons were deemed equally
unfavourable, as few travellers were then abroad ;
the most productive months being November,
AN " AFFAIR" ON THE RIVER. 77
December, January, and February. A party of
river Thugs, occupying two boats, contrived to
become acquainted with the Manjee, or commander
of a boat laden with tobacco and hemp, and
persuaded him and his crew to stop with them
at a chur, or sand-bank, and cook their dinners
together. After the repast the Thug leader
asked the others to join his party in fulfilling a
vow he had made to the god Hurry Sote. So
they all sang the song of Hurry Sote, when the
leader suddenly exclaimed,
"
Now, Hurry, give us
our plunder !" Five Thugs instantly leaped on"
the throats of the Manjee and his crew, threw
them back upon the sand and strangled them.
Then their comrades fell upon the lifeless corpses,
broke their backbones, punched them on the ribs
with their fists and elbows, and dragging them
into the deep running water let them float down
the stream.
Perhaps a better idea than has yet been given
of the nature and extent of Thuggee, may be
derived from Captain Sleeman's Official Report
of an Expedition into Malwa, Guzerat, Kandeish,
and Berar, by gangs from Gwalior, Bundlecund,
and the Saugor districts, in 1827-28. The
leader was our old friend Feringeea, who started
from Gorha with twenty-five Thugs and proceeded
78 FERINGEEA'S EXPEDITION.
to Moghul ka Serai, where he fell in with two
Mahrattas. These were put to death about three
miles further on. Arriving at Tuppa, in Indore,
the gang was then joined by eleven more Thugs,
who all went on together to Raghooghur, where
they met two Mahrattas and a Marwaree on
their way from Saugor to Indore. Here Soper
Sing and fifteen Thugs came up with them,
escorting a bird-catcher and two shopkeepers
journeying from Indore to Patna, All six were
strangled in the night and buried in one grave.
Next morning Feringeea's party, with five of
Soper Sing's crossed the Nerbudda at the Puglana
Ghaut, and at Samneer murdered three
Sipahees, in search of service, at mid-day, and
left their bodies by the road side. The next
stage was Kurajgow Kuringee, whence they accompanied
a traveller, who was going towards
the south, for sixteen miles, where they killed
him and buried his corpse beneath the walls of a
small Hindoo temple. Thence they passed
through Omrowtee to Larun Kurnajee, and in
their camp in a grove killed a traveller whom
they had brought on with them from Bam ; and
also a thief found skulking among some tombs,
who had one hundred and ten pounds worth
of stolen goods in his possession. At Busum
FERINGEEA'S EXPEDITION. 79
their numbers were swelled by a reinforcement
of fifty Thugs under four leaders. Going on
together in one body they encamped near Nandair,
and there murdered five travellers. Some
of the new arrivals having again left them, the
others held on to Rovegow, where they overtook
nine persons, whom they accompanied about three
miles and strangled just before daybreak. At
Hyderabad they lodged near the bridge over the
Hoosa Nuddee, where they killed and buried a
Brahman and two Rajpoots with whom they
had scraped an acquaintance in the Bhegan
Bazar. Wandering on to Gungakhera they fell in
with three Marwarees, whom they escorted a
stage on the Holwa road. One of the travellers
being accidentally thrown from his horse, was
instantly strangled, and his companions of course
shared the same fate. As they had not reached
the appointed Beyl, they left the bodies upon
the ground, a prey to jackals and carnivorous
birds. Their next encampment was at Purureea,
in Holwa, where they murdered a Soobahdar
(native commissioned officer), five sepoys, and a
woman. At Doregow they met three Pundits
and with them a Byragee (Hindoo ascetic),
mounted on a pony, plastered over with sugar
and covered with flies. Driving away the men80
FERINGEEA'S EXPEDITION.
dicant, they killed and buried the Pundits. On
leaving Doregow the Byragee again joined them
and went on in their company to Raojana, where
they overtook six cloth-merchants travelling
from Bombay to Nagpore. As the mendicant
was much in their way, they pelted him with
stones, and having thus got rid of him they killed
the merchants, burying their bodies in the grove.
The next day the Byragee again joined them and
proceeded with them to Mana, where they fell in
with two bearers and a sepoy. Shaking off their
troublesome companion, they hastened on to the
spot selected for the contemplated murder, where
the mendicant once more came up with them.
Their patience being exhausted, they offered one
of the gang ten shillings extra to kill him and
take the sin upon himself. All four were then
strangled, and, to their astonishment, the Byragee
proved the most valuable prize of all ; for
upon him and his pony they found many pounds
weight of coral, 350 strings of small pearls,
fifteen strings of large pearls, and a gilded necklace.
Soon after they arrived at Omrowtee,
between which and Nadgow they got hold of two
men, whom they murdered at their encampment.
They were treasure bearers and had with them
400 worth of silver. These are a peculiar class
FERINGEEA'S EXPEDITION. 81
of men, excessively poor, but famed for their
honesty. They were never known to betray their
trust, and would rather yield their life than surrender
their charge. They bore no weapons,
chiefly relying on the poverty of their garb and
external appearance. The Bombay and Surat
merchants used to employ them in conveying
specie through Kandeish and Surat to Indore and
Rajpootana, and they generally succeeded in
escaping the notice of mere marauders ; but it
was a different thing with the Thugs who took
life officially and professionally, content with a
farthing but oftener reaping a fruitful harvest.
From Nadgow the band proceeded to Kuragow,
and soon afterwards in passing through a
small dry ravine fell in with four men driving
two bullocks laden with copper pice. The men
were instantly put to death, and their bodies
slightly covered with stones and rubbish. Aftef
this affair two of their leaders with their respective
followers returned home, while the others
strolled onwards through Burhanpore to Indore,
where they received an accession of strength by
the junction of three leaders with sixty Thugs.
Three Marwarees being here inveigled into a
house occupied by a part of the gang, never again
went forth into the road. They remained at In-
D 2
82 FERINGEEA'S EXPEDITION.
dore a whole day, but were not idle, for Feringeea
prevailed upon four more Marwarees to accompany
him to the encampment of the remainder of
the gang, and they likewise were dismissed to
Hades. Soon after leaving Indore they fell in
with four travellers, whom they murdered in camp
that evening. Feringeea's party then diverged
from the main body and passed through Saugor to
Chutterpore, where intelligence was received that
a body of armed men were in pursuit of them.
They, therefore, doubled back and came to
Kondee, a short distance from which they murdered
two travellers. At Raghooghur they were
reinforced by twelve of their fraternity, and on
the following day by thirty more under Sheikh
Inaent : and at Dubohee, near Bhilsa, they
were joined by two more leaders with twenty
Thugs. Here they murdered two sepoys. After
this affair fifty of them under Sheik Inaent went
on to Baroda, where they all fell sick and were
glad to return to Bheelpore. Their convalescence
was celebrated by the murder of two Bearers.
Encouraged by this success they journeyed to
Oodeypore in the Dhar Pergunnah. Three sepoys
and another man were strangled next morning
about two miles from the town. A little further
on they overtook an elephant driver, in the
FERINGEEA'S EXPEDITION. 83
service of the Oodeypore Rajah, and him they
murdered at night at a village called Amjhera.
Passing through Mhow, to a village on the
side of Raghooghur, they fell in with three
Bearers, whom they strangled next morning.
They then held on through Ashta till they encountered
a Havildar (non-commissioned native
officer), a sepoy, and another, of whom they disposed
the following morning. Shortly afterwards a
large portion of this gang returned home, whereon
the Sheikh went off and rejoined Feringeea. Their
junction had scarcely been effected before it was
announced that the police were close upon their
track. Many more of the Thugs then started off
homewards, and others retreated to a stream
near Peepala, where, notwithstanding their fears,
they made away with two sepoys, another man,
and a woman.
A village called Jhundawala was the scene of
their next exploit a Bearer their next victim.
After that they came to Tuppa, and, as they
were setting out next morning, were joined by a
Havildar, a sepoy, and two women, whom they
murdered on the following day. Arriving at
Kenjarra they strangled two more sepoys, and
four more a few days afterwards. The gang
then broke up, and Feringeea returned to his
84 A LARGE EXPERIENCE.
home in Tehree. Since lie last parted from his
wife, unconscious of his crimes, he had been an
accomplice in the murder of one hundred men
and five women. Let not this appalling number
appear incredible. In the kingdom of Oude, a
fair sample of native government, there were 1406
miles of road infested by Thugs, and no fewer
than two hundred and seventy-four Beyls, or sites
of murder; that is, one in every five miles and a
half. Twenty Thugs, admitted as Approvers,
acknowledged that they were present, respectively,
at 508, 931, 350, 377, 604, 119, 42, 103, 264,
203, 195, 294, 117, 322, 340, 28, 65, 81, 153,
and twenty-four murders, the least experienced
having witnessed twenty-four murders, and the
most 931 thus giving an average of 256 murders
to each of the twenty. The same Beyl
was not unfrequently the scene of several murders.
Captain Sleeman mentions a striking instance
of this. When Feringeea was first brought
before him a prisoner, in December 1830, he
offered, if his life were spared, to give information
that would lead to the arrest of some large gangs
who had appointed to rendezvous at Jyepore in
the following February. Some incredulity as to
his power to do so having been expressed, he
begged to be allowed to accompany the
" Sahib"
A BEYL. 85
a short distance on his official tour of inspection,
when he would afford ample evidence as to his
knowledge of Thuggee. He promised no more
than he was able to perform. Two stages from
Saugor on the road to Seronge, Captain Sleeman
encamped for the night in a small mango grove
near the village of Selohda. At an early hour
of the next morning Feringeea desired to see
him, and pointing to three different spots declared
they were so many graves.
" A Pundit and six
attendants, murdered in 1818, lay among the
ropes of my sleeping tent, a Havildar and four
Sipahees murdered in 1824, lay under my horses,
and four Brahman carriers of Ganges-water and
a woman, murdered soon after the Pundit, lay
within my sleeping-tent. The sward had grown
over the whole, and not the slightest sign of its
ever having been broken was to be seen." All
night long Mrs. Sleeman had tossed about in her
sleep, tormented by horrible dreams, probably
engendered by the foul air arising from so many
graves certainly not caused by the spirits of
the departed, and, perhaps, many a ghost story
may owe its origin to some similar cause. Still
doubting, Captain Sleeman sent for the police
and a posse of villagers, who after digging down
about five feet came upon the skeletons of the
86 CONNIVANCE OF ZEMINDARS.
Havildar and his comrades, and afterwards the
others were discovered in succession. Feringeea
then proposed to discover other graves in the
neighbouring groves, but Captain Sleeman could
stand no more of such horrors for that morning.
It transpired that the Pundit's horse had been
presented to the proprietor of the village, in
which some of the gang actually resided, and that
the others came thither everyyear andstopped some
time "feasting, carousing and murdering," and yet
neither the police nor the inhabitants appeared
to have the slightest suspicion of the real nature
of their pursuits. It must be remembered that
they never murdered any but strangers and
wayfarers, and that the villagers and their property
would be perfectly secure. It would be an excess
of charity, however, to suppose that the Zemindar
had not a shrewd guess as to the means by which
his horse was obtained. During the three years,
1822 to 1824, both inclusive, that Captain Sleeman
was magistrate of the Nursingpore district
in the Nerbuddah valley, and as he imagined
cognizant of every crime and every bad character
within its limits, he was perfectly unconscious
that there was a Thug village only 400 yards
from the Court-house, and that only a few miles
distant the groves of Mundaisur contained fully
NUMBER OF VICTIMS. 87
one hundred dead bodies. These groves were a
favourite place of rendezvous for gangs coming
from Upper India and from the Deccan, with the
connivance and under the protection of two
respectable landholders, descendants of the pious
individuals who had planted those trees to shelter
the unhoused wanderer.
The destruction of life and property since the
commencement even of the present century must
have been enormous. It is known that in 1826-27,
two hundred and five men and six women were
murdered by different gangs in Malwah and Rajpootana.
In 1827-28, three hundred and sixtyfour
males and twenty-one females were strangled
in Kandeish, Berar, and Guzerat. In 1828-29,
two hundred and twenty-six men and six women
were thus disposed of in Malwah and Kandeish.
In 1829-30, ninety-four men, four women, and
a child perished in Baroda and Bundlecund. In
1830-31 the Bundlecund gangs destroyed fiftyseven
males and one female. In 1830-31-32,
one hundred and seventy males and five females
were murdered in Rajpootana and Guzerat. And
in 1832-33, forty-one males were strangled in the
Gwalior district alone. It has been estimated
that on an average more than ten distinct cases
of murder occurred in every expedition, and that
DURATION OF THUGGEE.
every Thug went upon at least ten expeditions,
which would assign to each a guilty complicity
in fully one hundred murders. The amount of
property of which they despoiled the public must
also have been very great, and occasionally individual
prizes were of no trivial value. Thus in
1826 a party of fourteen were murdered by a
gang of one hundred and fifty Thugs, and a booty
secured worth 2,500. In 1827, seven men were
murdered by three hundred and fifty Thugs, and
robbed of 2,200. In 1828, the murder of nine
persons by a gang of one hundred and twentyfive
yielded 4,000 ; and in 1829, that of six
persons produced 8,200, to be divided between
one hundred and fifty Thugs.
It must seem incredible, but it is nevertheless
the simple fact, that this terrible system of murder
flourished for nearly two centuries under
those native governments of whose excellence so
much has been said in certain quarters. The
division of the vast peninsula into many separate,
independent, and jealous states, no doubt, encouraged
the perpetration of crime by facilitating
escape and rendering detection and apprehension
almost impossible. So long as their own subjects
or tenants were not molested, neither princes
nor landed proprietors considered themselves
PRUDENCE OF THE THUGS. 89
bound to interfere with an institution of which
they entertained a mysterious dread, and whence
they derived goodly gifts and a handsome revenue.
Superstition and cupidity were powerful allies in
favour of the Thugs, who, besides, in their palmy
days, exhibited admirable prudence and tact in
avoiding whatever might be offensive to their
patrons and injurious to themselves. They were
especially careful not to touch any European, for
they well knew that from such they were more
likely to receive lead than gold, and that search
would be made for the missing man; nor, indeed,
was the like facility afforded for familiarity, owing,
in a great measure, as Fuseli would say, to " de
d d ignorance of de language." All tell-tale
property they quickly destroyed, and never committed
a murder near home, or where they were
known ; nor after a murder did they ever proceed
in the direction whence their victims had
come, lest they should be betrayed by a horse,
a bullock, or an ass, being anywhere recognised.
The native custom of sending remittances in the
form of jewels and precious metals without any
armed escort, and of carrying considerable sums
upon the person, increased the temptation of
doing honour to Bhowanee. The vast population,
too, was always in motion. Parties of tra90
DISCOVERY OF THUGGEE.
vellers, or lonely wanderers, on foot, or on horseback,
streamed along the roads and bye-paths,
reposing in the intense heat of the day or during
the moonless hours of the night beneath the
hospitable shade of a grove of mangoes and other
stately trees, or around the well that owed its
origin to pious vanity. And the very terror felt
for their unknown enemies made the travellers
an easier prey, for in seeking to avoid the danger,
they frequently ran into it by inviting the company
of the mild, cheerful and intelligent companions,
who were ever ready to converse with
them, to walk with them, and to murder them.
Their existence was first known to the English in
1799, after the fall of Seringapatam, when a
hundred Phanseegars, or Thugs, were taken prisoners
at Bangalore, though even then they were
not suspected of pursuing an hereditary profession.
The first regular information concerning
their habits was not obtained until 1807, when
a gang of them was arrested between Chittore
and Arcot. It had frequently been remarked,
indeed, that very many sepoys never returned to
their regiments on the expiration of then* leave
of absence, and they were struck off the rolls as
deserters. But when the true cause of their
absence was discovered, the Commander-in-Chief,
DIFFICULTY OF SUPPRESSION. 91
Major-General St. Leger, issued a general order
in 1810, warning the native troops against associating
with chance companions on the road, and
advising them to send their money to their homes
by means of hoondees, or bills, and not to travel
by night. The evil, however, was of too monstrous
a growth to be thus easily checked. And
there was likewise great difficulty experienced in
bringing home any particular crime, even when
the perpetrators happened to be in custody. The
merchants and bankers whose property had been
stolen were reluctant to appear in court to give
evidence : it was looked upon as somewhat of an
indignity, and the cautious delays of English jurisprudence
caused a waste of time they could ill
endure. Their money was gone, and there was
an end of it. It was predestined that it should
go in that manner. The thieves were merely
instruments working out the will of Providence.
Against them they bore no malice or vindictive
feeling. Even the relatives of murdered men
refused to come forward until they obtained a
promise that they should not be summoned to
appear in a distant court. And in the majority
of cases it was impossible to ascertain who were
the murdered persons, or whence they came.
A few isolated cases of conviction did, indeed,
92 MEASURES FOR SUPPRESSION.
occur, as in 1823, when Mr. Molony arrested a
gang of 115 in the valley of the Nerbudda, and
convicted the whole of them; and again in
1826, when a large gang was arrested in the
same valley by Major Wardlaw, and their guilt
proven. But these exceptions rather tended to
make the Thugs more cautious than to induce
them to relinquish their ancestral vocation. It was
not until 1829-30 that the task of suppression
was fairly commenced. The honour of the initiative
was reserved for Lord William Bentinck,
who passed certain acts rendering Thuggee the
object of a special judicature, and giving a wider
discretion to the officers employed in its suppression.
His lordship was fortunate in his
selection of the special officers. It is needless to
do more than mention the names of the late
Major General, then Captain, Sleeman, Major,
now Colonel, Borthwick, Colonel Stewart, Captain
Patton, Captain Malcolm, Captain G. Rollings,
and Mr. F. C. Smith. The best proof of the ability
and energy displayed by these gentlemen is the fact
that by the year 1840 the committals amounted
to 3,689. Of this number, 466 were hanged,
1,504 transported, 933 imprisoned for life, 81
confined for different periods, 86 called upon to
give ample security for their future good conTHEIR
SUCCESS. 93
duct, 97 acquitted, and 56 admitted as approvers
: 12 effected their escape, and 208 died
a natural death before sentence was passed.
The approvers were not absolutely pardoned, or
even released from custody. Sentence was passed
upon them in the usual manner, but respited as
long as they showed signs of repentance and
reformation. The utmost caution was used in
sifting their evidence and in confronting them
with the accused, but their testimony was so
clear and so thoroughly substantiated that no
reasonable man could entertain the slightest
doubt as to their veracity. So complete was the
success of the measures now adopted that on the
17th of August, 1840, Hoossain Dost Khan, a
powerful Talooqdar (baronial lord) in the Nizam's
dominions, previously an avowed opponent of the
British, wrote a letter to Captain Malcolm, from
which the following is an extract :
"
Seeing that
the best arrangements have been made in this
matter, "the whole of the inhabitants of the country,
and travellers, have been emancipated from
the fear of Thugs ; day and night they raise their
hands in prayer to state that in the days of
kings bygone no such peace and comfort existed.
Thanks to Almighty God, the power of conferring
this great boon, a source of great renown
94 COMMITTALS AND CONVICTIONS.
has been reserved for you from the beginning of
the world, in order that this matter should be so
arranged. Where are the murdered men? How
can there be any, when you do not even hear the
slightest allusion to Thugs ? The whole world
are giving thanks for this." It must be confessed,
however, that there was some slight exaggeration
in the worthy Talooqdar's congratulations,
for in the course of the next seven years
531 more Thugs were apprehended and committed
for trial. Of these, 33 were hanged, 174
transported, 267 imprisoned for life and 27 for
shorter periods, 5 called upon to put in bail, 125
acquitted, and 46 admitted as approvers : besides
11 who died, and 2 who made their escape. It
was no easy matter to prevent the last contingency,
so great was their patience and ingenuity.
Towards the close of 1834, twenty-seven prisoners
escaped from the Jubbulpore gaol, by cutting
through their irons and the bars of their windows,
with thread smeared with oil and then incrusted
with finely-powdered stone. In 1848 also there
were 120 committed, of whom 5 were hanged,
24 transported, 11 imprisoned for life and 31 for a
limited period, 7 required to find substantial
bail, 1 2 acquitted, and 9 admitted as approvers :
2 died, and 10 remained under trial. Since that
THE JUBBULPORE JAIL. 95
year Thuggee appears to have quite died out. In
1853, indeed, some cases occurred in the Punjaub,
but vigorous measures being at once
adopted, under the superintendence of Captain
Sleeman, whose happy lot it was to complete the
good work inaugurated by his distinguished
father, its final suppression was almost coincident
with its revival.
The question that next presented itself for the
anxious consideration of the Government was the
means of providing for the families of the approvers.
If left to their own devices, or the
suggestions of want, there was too much reason
to apprehend that the elder members, who had
already witnessed the taking of human life, might
be tempted to revert to the practices of their forefathers.
Accordingly, in the year 1838, on the
recommendation of Captain Charles Brown, a
School of Industry was founded at Jubbulpore,
for the purpose of teaching the sons of the approvers
a trade or craft by which they might
earn an honest livelihood. At first their parents
were opposed to the idea, but soon joyfully
acquiesced when they came to understand the
benevolent motives of the Government. For a
time the old Thugs continued to speak with
animation of their past achievements, but, gradu96
THE JUBBULPORE JAIL.
ally weaned from their former habits and associations,
they learned to look back with shame
upon their antecedents and studiously avoided
any further allusion to them. By the end of
1847 the school possessed 850 inmates, of whom
307 were employed as guards, brickmakers,
builders, cleaners, &c., &c. ; while the remaining
543 applied their superior ingenuity to the
manufacture of lac dye, sealing-wax, blankets,
satringees (a sort of strong drugget), fine cloth
for trousers, dhotees, or body cloths, newar tape
of sorts, cotton wicks, stockings, gloves, towels,
tents, and carpeting. In that year the product
of their labour amounted to 131 tents, 3324
yards of Kidderminster carpeting, forty-six woollen
carpets, and a vast quantity of towels, tablecloths,
plaids, checks, &c., which realised upwards
of 3,500. Of this sum 500 were given to the
Thugs as an encouragement, and to form a capital
for such as were allowed after a time to establish
themselves in Jubbulpore on their own account.
And nearly 300 were paid to their wives for
spinning thread for the factory. Much of the
success of this institution has no doubt been
due to the excellent and judicious superintendence
of Mr. Williams, formerly a patrol of the
Delhi Customs.
BENEFITS OF BRITISH RULE. 97
Let British supremacy in India cease when
it will, the suppression of Thuggee will ever
remain a glorious monument to the zeal, energy,
and judgment of the civil and military servants
of the East India Company. It is easy to direct
epigram and inueudo against the idea of a body
of merchants ruling a vast empire with enlightened
and disinterested beneficence. But
the impartial student of Anglo-Indian history
can readily adduce many such examples as the
preceding for instance, the suppression of
Suttee, human sacrifices, and infanticide ; the
repression of torture, gang robberies, and voluntary
mutilation in order to prove that these
merchants were truly princes, these traffickers
the honourable of the earth.
THE Tusma-Baz Thugs were the fruit of
European civilization grafted on the Asiatic
stock. At the commencement of the present
century one Creagh, a private in an English
regiment stationed at Cawnpore, initiated three
natives of low degree into the mysteries of an
art, formerly practised by thimble-riggers in
this country, and known as
"
pricking the
garter." The game, designated Tusma-bazee by
his Hindoo disciples, was played in this manner
: a strap being doubled into many folds,
the bystanders were requested to insert a stick
where the first double took place, which it was impossible
to do without the consent of the juggler.
Creagh's three apostles speedily became the
leaders of as many schools or gangs, numbering
in the year 1848, when they were brought to
justice, about fifty persons, chiefly residing in
the outskirts of Cawnpore. They had long been
known to the police authorities as professional
gamblers, and had more than once been either
punished for that offence or required to furnish
PRICKING THE GARTER. 99
security for their good behaviour. It was not
their custom, however, to confine their depredations
to then* native town. On the contrary,
they travelled to a considerable distance to the
westward, preferring those districts which still
remained under the misrule of petty independent
princes. Their first proceeding was to
conciliate the police, which was usually effected
by the promise of one-fourth of their profits.
Having thus provided against all chance of molestation,
they would meet as strangers, and
accidentally, near some well frequented spot, and
gradually begin to play. By degrees a crowd
gathered around them, and some one or another
was certain to be tempted to try his fortune.
At first he was, of course, allowed to win, but it
rarely happened that he finally escaped being
fleeced of his last coin. The leader received a
double share of the plunder, in consideration of
the risk and expence he incurred in maintaining
his followers until a sufficient booty had been
secured to render them independent. If any
one of the gang was arrested, it was the leader's
duty to use every means in his power to release
him, and for every rupee he expended for this
purpose he was allowed two pice interest. The
balance, after deducting the captain's share was
100 PERFIDIOUS HOSPITALITY.
equally divided among the rest, and was generally
squandered in drinking and gambling among
themselves. It was, however, a light and lucrative
profession, and they frequently remitted considerable
sums of money to their families. But
they did not solely rely on their superior sleight
of hand. When the opportunity was favourable
they did not scruple to add murder to robbery.
Their ordinary plan seems to have been by means
of medicated sweetmeats, or sugar, hospitably
pressed upon the unwary who ventured to test
their skill in play. The drug mostly used was
expressed from the seed of the datura plant, a
powerful and dangerous narcotic. To call them
Thugs was evidently a misnomer, for they had
none of the observances of that ancient fraternity,
nor did they lay any claim to religious motives.
They were simply organized bands of vagrants of
the most worthless characters, who preferred fraud
to labour and murder to industry. Their detection
would have taken place at a much earlier
period, had not the police been bribed to connive
at their proceedings. It is almost superfluous
to remark that their practices were no sooner
discovered by the European magistrates than their
occupation was gone, and themselves severely
punished.
aorite, 0r <Sang-|jtoWrjer8 0ff
IN India, under its native rulers, murder
and robbery were hereditary professions. The
Thugs, or hereditary murderers, have been completely
put down ; but the work of suppression
has not yet been equally successful with regard
to the hereditary robbers, as they ever found a
ready harbour of refuge in the waste lands of the
late kingdom of Oude, and, indeed, in every independent
state. They usually lived in colonies, in
the midst of wild jungles, difficult of access. With
incredible rapidity they would sweep down on
some distant town or village, plunder some house
previously selected for the purpose, and before
any pursuit could be organized they were far
advanced on their homeward journey. To avert
suspicion they assumed various disguises with
admirable adaptability. North of the Jumna
they generally travelled as holy-water carriers,
because long files of that class of men were continually
traversing the roads of that district.
But to the south of the Jumna they appeared as
102 CONVENIENT DISGUISES.
Brinjaras, or drivers of laden bullocks, or as
pilgrims journeying to some sacred shrine, or as
sorrowing relatives conveying the bones of the
departed to the banks of the Ganges ; or as the
friends of a bridegroom going to fetch home his
bride. In the funeral processions to the
"
holy
Gunga," men's bones were borne in red, those
of women in white bags, neither of which were
ever allowed to touch the earth, but at their
halting grounds were suspended from the apex of
a triangle formed by three short poles or staves.
These were afterwards useful to the Dacoits as handles
for the spear-heads which they carried in their
waist-bands. Instead of the bones of their parents
they contented themselves with those of inferior
animals, wild or domestic. The chief advantage
of this disguise was that such mourners were
every where treated with the utmost respect, and
never subjected to inconvenient inquiries as to
whence they came or whither they were going.
In Central India a more successful mummery
was to assume the garb and appearance of Alukramies,
a peculiar class of pilgrims, who travelled
in small parties accompanying a high-priest personated
by the leader of the gang.
"
They had
four or five tents, some of white and some of
dyed cloth, and two or three pairs of Nakaras, or
PRETENDED PILGRIMS. 103
kettle-drums, and trumpets, with a great number
of buffaloes, cows, goats, sheep, and ponies.
Some were clothed, but the bodies of the greater
part were covered with nothing but ashes, paint,
and a small cloth waist-band. Those who had
long hair went bare-headed, and those who had
nothing but short hair wore a piece of cloth"
round the head." The pretended Alukramies
always took the precaution of hiring the services
of half a dozen genuine Byragees, or ascetics,
whom they put forward in difficult emergencies.
They would often stop for days together in one
place, awaiting favourable tidings from the scouts
they sent out in all directions. On arriving at a
village the drums were beat and the trumpets
sounded to announce their approach, and some
of the party were sent in, with silver sticks, in the
name of the high-priest to bring the headman to
pay his respects and offer the established Nuzzurana
of 1J- rupee (two shillings and sixpence). If
this offering were not punctually and promptly
made, double the amount was exacted on the
following day, and he must have been a bold
man who would venture, by a refusal, to incur
the displeasure of the gods. The landholder, or
proprietor of the village, was also expected to
furnish, gratuitously, a sufficient number of men
104 THE BUDHUK DACOITS.
to carry the tents, flags, drums, and trumpets of
these pious cormorants, whose demands, however,
were usually complied with without a murmur.
They were distinguished from other wandering
mendicants by
"
a large red flag upon a long pole,
with the figure of Hunooman, or the Sun and Moon,
embroidered upon it. On one occasion they (the
Dacoits) prevailed upon Cheytun Das, a celebrated
Byragee of Hindoon in Jyepore, then eighty years
of age, to enact the high priest, and he was accompanied
by his chief disciple, or son, Gunga Das."
There were various clans, or colonies, of Dacoits.
The Budhuks lived in the Oude Teraie, or belt of
forest land lying along the foot of the Nepaul
hills, whence they made frequent incursions into
the British territory, especially to the eastward in
the direction of Goruckpore. They were men
of low caste, and would eat anything but bullocks,
cows, buffaloes, snakes, foxes, and lizards.
Agricultural employments they abhorred as too
toilsome. According to a familiar proverb,
"once a Budhuk, always a Budhuk, and all
Budhuks are Dacoits." Their leaders were almost
invariably men of good descent : some of them
affected to trace back their ancestors for twenty
generations, and adduced their long impunity as
a proof that they were predestined to be what
ADVANTAGES OP POLYGAMY. 105
they were, and that, consequently they could
never be anything else.
" The tiger's offspring,"
they would say,
" are tigers the young Budhuks
become Dacoits." In their palmy days they were
able to maintain ten or a dozen wives, but when
misfortunes came upon them they were compelled
to reduce the pleasing burden to four or five.
And they were not altogether a burden, for each
wife received in the division of spoil a sum equal
to two-thirds of her husband's share. A penitent
Budhuk once made the logical, but ungallant
remark, that it was the women who ought to be
transported, for then no more Budhuks would be
born into the world. Nevertheless, in times of
trouble the old women were not without their
use. They would then assume the semblance of
extreme poverty, and, mounted on wretched
ponies, would travel many a long weary mile to
the place where their relatives were confined, and
by judicious presents to the native officers in
authority, generally succeeded in mitigating the
lot, if they failed to accomplish the release, of the
prisoners. In this labour of love they not unfrequently
expended between one and two hundred
pounds. There were also Budhuks by adoption,
but these were never allowed to eat with the
hereditary robbers, though they might smoke the
E 2
106 THE WOLF REGIMENT.
same hookah. As a matter of choice they preferred
to avoid bloodshed, but in self-defence, or
to secure the success of their attack they never
scrupled either to wound or to slay outright. Shoojah-
ood-Dowlah, Nawab of Oude, once attempted
to direct their love of enterprise into an honorable
channel by enrolling 1,200 of them into a corps,
commanded by their own leaders. But their
depredations became so intolerable that they
acquired the appropriate epithet of the
" Wolf
Regiment," and as they were continually mutinying
they were soon afterwards disbanded. A brief
narrative of a few cases of Dacoitee committed
by the Budhuks will give the best idea of the
system they pursued.
In the early part of 1818 a powerful gang
started from Khyradee in Oude with the intention
of cutting off a treasure, escorted by sixty
armed police, on the way from Benares to
the westward. They disguised themselves as
bird-catchers and took with them "
falcons and
1
hawks of all kinds, well trained, also mynas,
parrots, and other kinds of speaking and mocking
birds." They had also a boat prepared to convey
them across the river. Having learnt from their
scouts that the treasure would be lodged on a
particular night in the Chobee-ka-Serai between
A SPIRITED AFFAIR. 107
Allahabad and Cawnpore, they fitted handles to
their axes and spear-heads, and made some rude
ladders by means of which, about two hours after
dark, they scaled the wall of the Serai. "A guard
which had been told off for the purpose broke
open the gate from the inside and stood over it
to prevent any attack from without, or escape
from within, while the rest attacked the escort
and secured the treasure." In this spirited affair
the Dacoits killed eight and wounded seventeen
of the police, carried off 7,600 in specie, and
made their escape without the loss of a single
man.
In April of the same year the Governor of
Bharaitch forwarded to the General Treasury
at Lucknow the sum of 2,600 in silver and
600 in gold mohurs, in two carts, escorted
by thirty soldiers of the royal army. It was
lodged, for one night, outside the gate of a
small fort, two loaded guns commanding the only
approach. A noted leader, named Naeka, with
a gang of eighty Dacoits undertook to cut out
the prize. First of all, he divided his followers
into three parties. One division of twenty men
rushed upon the guns and spiked them. A
second, of equal force, fastened the gate of the
fort with a strong chain to prevent the garrison
108 JUSTICE IN OUDE.
from sallying forth ; while the others boldly
attacked the guard and killed four of them two
of their own party, however, being wounded.
As they were returning in hot haste to their
homes they were themselves assailed by two large
land owners, who took from them 2,000 in rupees
and the whole of the gold. They in their
turn fell into the hands of the king's troops
Naeka and sixty of his associates being also apprehended.
After six years' detention in the
Seetapore gaol they were all released, the landowners
paying a fine of 2,000 in addition to
their booty, and the Dacoits a further sum of
1,000.
Fortune, certainly, did not always smile upon
them, notwithstanding her proverbial partiality
for the brave. Two gangs having united one
day in May, 1819, attacked the house of Sah
Beharee Lall, a rich banker, residing in the heart
of Lucknow, the capital city of Oude. At first
all went well with them, and they carried off.
upwards of 4,000 into a jungle not far from
Khyrabad. A dispute then arose among the
leaders respecting the division of the plunder, and
one of them, thinking himself unjustly treated,
rode off" to Lucknow and gave information that
led to the apprehension of two hundred men,
THE NURSINGPORE AFFAIR. 109
women, and children. A long and tedious imprisonment
awaited them, until in despair they
rose upon their guard, in 1834, and seventy
of them effected their escape, leaving five of
their comrades on the ground, two of them
being killed upon the spot. The others were
released in 1839,
The boldness and suddenness of their onset
usually assured their success. One evening in
the month of February, 1822, a party of men,
carrying canes in their hands, and about forty in
number, were observed hurrying along in a loose
straggling manner towards the military station
of Nursingpore. On reaching the rivulet that
separates the town from the cantonments they
were challenged by the sentry for a picket of
soldiers was always posted on the bank, under a
native officer. Carelessly answering that they
were cowherds and that their cattle were coming
on after them, they proceeded without molestation
up the principal street, but suddenly halted in
front of a shop of some pretensions. Striking
their torches against pots containing combustible
matter, with which they had previously provided
themselves, they were instantly surrounded with
a blaze of light. Already bewildered, the bystanders
were terrified into silence by a few rapid
110 THE NURSINGPORE AFFAIR.
thrusts of the spears, into which the canes had
been instantaneously transformed. The house
was rifled as if by magic, ten or a dozen persons
were killed or wounded, and in a quarter of an
hour from their entrance into the town, the Dacoits
were on their way to the jungles. Within
twenty paces on one side of the house was a
police station, and not a hundred paces on the
other side was the picket of sepoys already alluded
to. But as marriage processions were just then
of frequent occurrence, it was supposed that the
noise and the glare of the torches belonged to
those very uproarious festivities, until a little boy
creeping along a ditch whispered to the native
officer that they had killed his father. The alarm
was immediately given, but before the troops
could turn out, the Dacoits had got a fair start,
which carried them beyond the reach of both
horse and foot.
A bolder exploit was performed towards the
close of that year. Two skilful leaders, having
collected some forty followers and distributed
among them ten matchlocks, ten swords, and
twenty-five spears, waylaid a treasure going from
the native Collector's treasury at Budrauna to
Goruckpore. The prize consisted of 1,200, and
was guarded by a Naik, or corporal, with four
AN AMBUSH. Ill
sepoys and five troopers. It had to pass through
a dense jungle, and it was settled said one of
them in after years
" that the attack should
take place there ; that we should have strong
ropes tied across the road in front and festooned
to trees on both sides, and, at a certain distance
behind, similar ropes festooned to trees on one
side, and ready to be fastened on the other,
as soon as the escort of horse and foot should
get well in between them." Having completed
these preparations the gang laid down on either
side of the road patiently awaiting their prey.
"About five in the morning," continued the
narrator,
" we heard a voice as if calling upon
the name of God (Allah), and one of the gang
started up at the sound and said,
* Here comes
the treasure !
' We put five men in front with
their matchlocks loaded not with ball but shot,
that we might, if possible, avoid killing anybody.
When we had got the troopers, infantry, and treasure
all within the space, the hind ropes were run
across the road and made fast to the trees on the
opposite side, and we opened a fire in upon the
party from all sides. The foot soldiers got into
the jungle at the sides of the road, and the troopers
tried to get over the ropes at both ends, but in
vain." The corporal and a horse were killed, two
112 PREPARATORY CEREMONIES.
troopers wounded, and the treasure carried off in
spite of a hot pursuit.
One of the most famous Budhuk chiefs was
named Maherban, who lived in his fort at Etwa
in the Oude forest. He had seven wives, who
frequently accompanied him in his expeditions,
with the exception of his chief wife, from whom no
such toils and risk were expected. Late in the
autumn of 1818 he and his brother assembled
about two hundred men, women, and children,
and wisely settled beforehand the rates of division
of plunder, setting aside a portion for the families
of those who might die or be killed. They then
sacrificed ten goats, and, each dipping a finger
into- the blood, swore mutual fidelity ; after which
they ate and drank and made merry. On the
following evening Maherban and twenty of the
principal Dacoits advanced a little way in front
of the rest of the party, and spat in the direction
they were about to pursue. Then raising his
hands towards heaven Maherban thus prayed
aloud :
"
If it be thy will, God ! and thine,
Kalee! to prosper our undertaking, for the sake
of the blind and the lame, the widow and the
orphan, who depend upon our exertions for subsistence,
vouchsafe, we pray thee, the call of the
female jackal !
"
His followers likewise lifted up
ATTACK ON A SERAI. 113
their hands, and having repeated the prayer after
their leader, all sat down in attentive silence.
The auspicious omen was presently heard three
times upon the left. Thus assured of success,
Maherban purchased a palanquin for his second
wife suitable for a man of wealth and dignity.
The gang now started for Benares in small detachments,
and took lodgings in different parts of
that city where they stayed a whole month,
making offerings and inquiries. Intelligence was
at length received of a cartload of treasure going
towards the west, under the care of an armed
police force. On the first night of December the
escort rested with their precious charge in a public
Serai at Josee near Allahabad. Having procured
staves for their spears and handles for their axes,
the gang left the palanquin, their wives, and
superfluous clothes, in a grove about four miles
distant. At midnight they arrived at the Serai
and were agreeably surprised to find the gate
open. Here one detachment halted and mounted
guard, while another overawed the police, and the
rest plundered the treasure. A brave merchant,
named Kaem Khan, likewise reposing in the Serai,
in vain endeavoured to infuse courage into
the panic-stricken escort by word and gesture.
Disgusted with their pusillanimity he continued
114 TOO MANY BY HALF.
to lay about him with his long straight sword,
wounding two of his assailants and severing in
twain many a spear, until a Dacoit got behind
him and felled him with a bludgeon, when he was
quickly put to death. They then carried off
twenty bags containing in all 14,000 Spanish
dollars, and had their wounded men tended at a
neighbouring village. As some compensation for
their sufferings they presented each of them with
10 in addition to his share.
A career of triumph had the same effect upon
Maherban as upon greater heroes : it made him
indolent and luxurious, and his followers repined
at their forced inactivity.
" One day, while he
was sitting with two of his wives, Mooneea and
Soojaneea, they taunted him on the long interval
of rest he had enjoyed, while his more active brother
had been covering his followers and family
with honour and money.
' You have/ said Soojaneea,
' been now some ten months without
attempting any enterprise worthy your reputation ;
you are at your ease, and indulging in sports no
doubt very agreeable to you, but without any
honour or profit to us, while these your followers,
men of illustrious birth and great courage, are
suffering from want, and anxiety about their
families. They have been told of a boat coming
A CONSIDERATE PILGRIM. 115
from Calcutta, laden with Spanish dollars ; if you
do not wish to go yourself and take it, pray lend
us your swords, and we will go ourselves, and
try what we can do, rather than let your brave
fellows starve.' Maherban was deeply stung by
these reproaches, and waxed very warm, but was
too angry to make any reply to his wives. He
got his followers together, and leaving his principal
wife, Mooneea, behind him, he set out in the
character of a chief of high rank, going on a pilgrimage,
with Soojaneea carried in a splendid
litter as a princess ; and in four months they returned
with some 40,000 Spanish dollars." While
on his way homewards from this successful expedition
he "
gave a large sum of money to a gardener
at Seosagur, about three miles from Saseram, to
plant a grove of mango-trees near a tank, for the
benefit of travellers, in the name of Rajah Maherban
Sing, of Gour in Oude, and promised him
further aid on future occasions of pilgrimage, if
he found the work progressing well, saying,
' that
it was a great shame that travellers should be left
as he had been, without shade for themselves and
their families to rest under, during the heat of
the day.'
' As he approached his forest home
all the women went forth to meet him in holiday
116 CONSEQUENCES OF AN ELOPEMENT.
attire, and welcomed "the conquering hero"
and the dollars with music and dancing.
Encouraged by this brilliant success Maherban
resolved to proceed at the close of the season to
Sherghottee to intercept another boat-load of
dollars, which his spies told him was to be conveyed
from Calcutta to Benares. First of all he
engaged a discharged Sepoy to instruct his men
in the Company's drill, and very apt scholars they
proved themselves. But while this parade work
was going on, one of them eloped with Heera
Sing's pretty wife. The injured man straightway
applied to Maherban for redress, but the chief
was too busy with his preparations to attend to a
merely personal affair, and probably deemed the
loss of a reluctant wife no very serious matter.
Heera Sing then betook himself to the other
leaders, but failed to enlist their sympathy, for
a man who cannot bind a wife by her affections
deserves to lose her. Foiled at all points, he determined
upon a large and base revenge : he gave
information of- Maherban's movements to the
English magistrates.
Suspecting no treachery, Maherban at length
set out as a Hindoo prince with a noble retinue,
and attended by a numerous guard of soldiers
A BUDHUK STRONGHOLD. 117
dressed in the Company's uniform. Unfortunately
for him and his followers, the Dacoitee of the
previous year had been carefully tracked out and
the guilt lodged at the door of the real criminals.
Mr. Cracroft, the magistrate of Jaunpore, was
accordingly authorized to proceed to surprise his
fastness with four companies of native infantry
under the command of Captain Anquetil. Their
march was unmolested, and in the heart of a dense
unhealthy jungle though not so experienced by
the Dacoits themselves they came upon his fort,
a parallelogram sixty yards long by forty wide.
It was surrounded by a ditch with an embankment
within, formed of the mud there excavated.
At a short distance was another colony of about
five hundred able-bodied Budhuks governed by
Cheyda, Maherban's brother. These united with
the few who had been left at home by the latter,
and opened a warm but ill- directed fire upon the
troops, as they advanced with cheers to the assault.
The simple works were carried at the first rush,
and whatever was combustible was committed to
the flames. But it was impossible to follow up
the retreating Dacoits, and having inflicted this
trivial injury Captain Anquetil had no alternative
but to extricate his detachment from their dangerous
position, and return to head-quarters.
118 A FEMALE DACOIT.
Meanwhile measures were taken by the magistrates
at Jaunpore, Behar, and Benares, to intercept
and arrest the gang under Maherban himself.
That chief was artfully induced to leave the high
road and make a pilgrimage toGunga. Here he was
given to understand that there was an informality
in the payment of customs' dues, and that he must
halt until the matter could be adjusted. While
encamped in a mango grove he was suddenly surrounded
by the police, but still imagining that his
apprehension was entirely due to the supposed
irregularity, his followers offered no resistance, and
only discovered their mistake on being committed
for trial as robbers and murderers. Maherban
himself was hanged in 1821, and the whole of
his gang, 160 in number, imprisoned for life or
for limited periods.
After Maherban's execution his principal widow
Mooneea succeeded to the government of the survivors
of his colony. In the autumn of 1823 the
adventurous dame joined some noted leaders in
fitting out an expedition, consisting of eighty men
and seven women, with the intention of cutting
off a treasure party going to Katmandoo. Having
taken the auspices in the usual manner, but actually
guided by their pre-determination,they moved
in small parties towards Junnukpore in the Nepaul
A DARING EXPLOIT. 119
territory. While travelling in disguise, some of
them fell in with a detachment of eighty Goorkhas
(Nepaul highlanders) escorting fifteen bullocks
laden with 64,000 rupees (6,400). Two of them
contrived to attach themselves to the escort, while
the others separated to collect their comrades.
When about fifty had got together they resolved
to make the attack without waiting for the others.
The guard lodged that night about twelve miles
from Jungpore, in a place surrounded by a wall
and ditch, outside of which was an encampment
of nearly 500 merchants, itinerant traders, and
other travellers. The night was clear and bright,
but they nevertheless kindled their torches, and
with the aid of two stout ladders hastily constructed,
effected an entrance, surprised the guard,
and possessed themselves of the treasure. It was
too cumbersome, however, to be all carried off at
once, and they were consequently obliged to bury
about 17,000 rupees. The news of this outrage
having reached the Nepaul military station of Jalesnr,
all suspicious persons were detained, and
among them some members of the gang who,
under the lash, confessed their complicity and led
to the arrest of twenty-nine others, and to the
death of two, who foolishly resisted. These also
being subjected to the lash pointed out the caches
120 A PRACTICAL THANKSGIVING.
where the 17,000 rupees had been buried, and
35,000 more were found upon their persons : the
others got off with the rest of the treasure. The
information obtained from the prisoners furnished
the clue to the apprehension of a vast number of
Dacoits whom the Oude authorities threw into
prison without undergoing even the form of a
trial. With like irregularity some of them were
released as a Khyrat, or "thanksgiving to God,"
whenever the King or any member of the royal
family recovered from an illness.
The scanty remnants of this last gang finding
their former fastnesses no longer secure, fled for
refuge to the Rajah of Kottar within the British
territories, who readily accepted their presents, and
in return promised them his protection. From these
new head-quarters they frequently sallied forth,
and joining their old comrades, made inroads into
Rohilcund and the Doab. Being unable to plunder
in western Oude, because the landowners in their
strongholds defied both king and Dacoits, they
confined their depredations to the Company's territories,
and so constantly attacked and plundered
the treasuries of the native collectors, that the
Government was compelled to fortify them and
impose a guard. Even this did not always prevail,
and large sums of money were oftentimes
THE SEEAR MARWARS. 121
carried off, after the guard had been surprised
and overpowered.
The Budhuks dwelling in the eastern part oft
the Teraie were better known as Seear Marwars,
and were originally husbandmen, but took to
Dacoitee in the Nawabship of Sh6"ojah-ood-
Doolah. They numbered in all from four to six
thousand males, but were divided into colonies of
three or four hundred each, clustered round a
rude fort. They were in the habit of giving
25 per cent, of their booty to the Zemindars
whose protection they enjoyed, and by whom
they were generally subsidized to fight their
battles with their neighbours, or with the farmers
of the revenue. In 1826-27 Mr., now Sir,
Frederick Currie, the magistrate of Goruckpore,
organised a system of repression by means of a
corps of Irregular Cavalry under Major Hawkes,
and an augmentation of his own police force.
That gentleman flattered himself that he had
completely put down this tribe of Dacoits, but,
in fact, he had only driven them into another
district. Their old haunts no longer sheltering
them from pursuit, they removed their household
gods to Rohilcund, the Doab (" Mesopotamia"),
Rajpootana, and Gwalior. The Budhuk colonies,
however distant from one another, kept up an
p
122 INTERMARRIAGES.
interchange of civilities and intermarried with
one another. Members of the same gote, or
family, though belonging to different colonies,
could not intermarry, but as there were several
ffotes in every colony, the different settlements
could interchange sons and daughters. For
instance Solunkee (" Mr. Brown") could not
marry a person of the same name in his own, or
in any another colony, but there was no objection
to his taking to wife the daughter of Powar
("Mr. Jones,") or Dhundele ("Mr. Robinson")
however closely they might be connected with
him.
Mr. Currie certainly did succeed in momentarily
checking the depredations of the plunderers
in his own district, but within three years the
evil had returned to its former dimensions. And
of these some idea may be formed from the statement
that between 1818 and 1834, the Budhuks
of the Oude Teraie were known to have committed
118 Dacoitees, in which 172 men were
killed, 682 wounded, and property carried off to
the value of nearly 115,000 : although 457 of
the miscreants were arrested, only 186 could be
legally convicted. But the actual number of
gang-robberies far exceeded that which was reported.
Many of the Dacoits boasted that they
LUCKA. 123
had been engaged in a dozen or fifteen expeditions.
One of them confessed to Mr. Hodgson,
in 1824, that he had participated in seven
Dacoitees, yielding a total of 36,900. A noted
leader, named Lucka, was engaged in forty-nine,
in the course of twenty-five years, some of them
taking place at a distance of four or five hundred
miles from his home. A Chumbul Dacoit confessed
to thirty-eight in twenty-seven years, and
another to twenty-three in twenty-two years ;
and another Oude Budhuk to thirty-nine in
thirty-three years. They generally commenced
at an early age, from eighteen to twenty, according
to the vigour of their constitution. Lucka,
of whom mention is made above, was arrested
under the disguise of a Byragee, his body smeared
with ashes and a house of peacock's feathers on
his back : but the restlessness of his eye, and the
nervous movements of his limbs betrayed him.
Arrest and punishment, however, were always
endured with commendable resignation, being
considered as the accidents of their profession.
The achievements of Bukshee and other leaders
soon proved the fallacy of Mr. Currie's complacent
belief in the efficacy of his repressive measures.
In -November, 1830, Bukshee's gang
slowly travelled through Oude, in the disguise of
124 BUKSHEE'S AFFAIR.
Ganges water-carriers, moving in small parties
and encamping in groves to avoid unpleasant
interrogatories. Arriving at the frontiers, they
gradually concentrated towards Sursole in the
Cawnpore district, where they were informed by
their spies that a private treasure was on its way
from Mirzapore to Furruckabad. Having cut
handles for their axe and spear heads, they
crossed the Ganges in a boat previously purchased
for the occasion, and worked by two welldisposed
ferrymen. After reaching the opposite
bank they had still ten miles to go, so that it was
almost midnight before they attained their destination.
A sudden rush was all that was then
necessary, though to increase the panic caused
by their irruption they deemed it expedient to
wound six or seven of the escort. Breaking
open the boxes, they abstracted twenty-five bags,
each containing 1000 rupees (in all, 2,500), and
made off to the river. But by that time it was
daylight, and the ferrymen had run their boat
under the shelter of a high bank, and were fast
asleep. Afraid to make a noise by hallooing to
them, the Dacoits buried then* treasure in the
sands and dispersed themselves among the neighbouring
villages until nightfall. In the meantime
the police had discovered their boat, but
THE MIRZAPORE EXPEDITION. 125
being assured by the men that it had brought
over only some fodder for cattle, they immediately
gave it up. Soon after sunset the robbers met
at the appointed rendezvous, where they found
the boatmen anxiously expecting them. So,
digging up the treasure, they went on board and
were safely ferried over to the other side, presenting
each of these men with fifty rupees.
About the same season of the following year
Bukshee again took the field in his old disguise,
and moved down to Allahabad. This was the
place of rendezvous for the different detachments,
and here they made their offerings to the
gods, and received the blessings of the priests
and prayers for success in all their undertakings.
They then returned to the left bank and dropped
down the river till they came opposite to Bindachul,
where there stood a celebrated temple to Davee.
Again crossing to the right bank they worshipped
at the shrine of the goddess of destruction,
and were rewarded for their devotion by the
intelligence that a merchant's shop in Mirzapore,
only four miles distant, promised a rich booty.
Accordingly, so soon as it was dusk they advanced
two miles in that direction, and throwing
off their disguise concealed themselves in a hollow
till past eight o'clock to allow the streets to
126 A CHARACTERISTIC INCIDENT.
get empty. Then they hurried on to the town
and stopped before the house chosen for their
operations, every avenue to which was guarded
by parties told off for that purpose. Suddenly
lighting their torches they rushed in at the still
open door, stabbing and slashing right and left,
and carried off between four and five thousand
pounds sterling. A few minutes afterwards they
were again clear of the town. Returning to their
place of concealment they resumed their garments,
hastened thence to the river, and presented
each of the boatmen with a hundred
rupees for conveying them safely across. In due
time they reached their forest homes without
hurt or molestation. Connected with this expedition
there occurred a characteristic incident.
To avoid disputes Bukshee had stipulated before
hand that he should receive one-fifth of the plunder
in addition to his proper portion and the repayment
of the outlay he incurred in fitting out
and maintaining the gang, in order to ransom his
parents who had been detained in the gaol at
Lucknow for the last twelve years. He was no
doubt sincere in his intention to apply these funds
in the manner he had stated, but unhappily he
had several wives, who somehow absorbed the
whole amount, and his parents accordingly reCONVENIENT
MORALITY. 127
mained in confinement. When reproached with
having obtained the money under fraudulent pretences,
Bukshee excused himself by the patriotic
remark that his father was now too old to be of
any service to the colony : he did not, however,
offer to refund the eight thousand rupees he had
thus obtained.
The Dacoits do not appear to have possessed
the honour that is supposed to exist among
thieves in so high a degree as the Thugs. A
notable instance of the laxity of their mutual
engagements was furnished about the same time
that Bukshee successfully defrauded his followers.
A gang of forty Dacoits, under two brothers,
named Hemraj and Mungul Sing, and their
cousin Dhurmoo, were lying at Sherghottee, in
the hope of intercepting a treasure then on the
way from Calcutta to Benares. Here they were
joined, much against their inclination, by a party
of fourteen under Ghureeba, who threatened to
inform against them unless they agreed not only
to admit him into partnership, but also to set
aside a proportionate share of the plunder for a
gang of twenty-five under Bureear, from, whom
he had recently parted. After considerable altercation
Ghureeba carried his point, and the convention
was ratified by oaths of mutual fidelity.
128 HONOUR AMONG THIEVES.
Then they all went on together to the village of
Dungaen, at the foot of the hills, where they
attacked the treasure-party at night, and, after
killing four and wounding sixteen of the escort,
carried off twenty-eight bags, each containing
2,500 rupees (in all, 6,000). Hemraj and
Mungul Sing now adhered so far to their previous
engagements, that they allowed to Ghureeba
and the absent Bureear the shares to which they
were entitled, but refused to burden themselves
in behalf of a party who had rendered them no
assistance. Ghureeba expostulated with them
to no purpose, and declared he would hold them
answerable for the whole amount. After some
further jangling, it was finally arranged that
30,000 rupees should be buried until Bureear
could fetch them himself, and this labour was
voluntarily undertaken by Mungul Sing. On
their return home, Bureear displayed such indignation
at their unfriendly conduct that they were
constrained to pacify him with a present of 2,000
rupees, and a month afterwards Mungul Sing
and some others set out with him to dig up the
treasure. But instead of 30,000, they found
only 18,000 rupees. As might be expected, this
discovery of the treachery of his associates did
not tend to mollify the already exasperated
AN ORDEAL. 129
Bureear. In his wrath he applied for redress to
Rajah Gung Sing, of Dhera Jugdeespore, in the
kingdom of Oude, and appointed him arbiter.
The Rajah proposed to decide the question by
an appeal to heaven, and to this Mungul Sing
and his party were compelled to assent. A
blacksmith was thereupon ordered to make some
cannon-balls red hot, and these were placed with
tongs on the palms of the suspected persons'
hands, defended only by a thin peepul leaf. The
ordeal was to carry these balls a certain distance
without being burned, but after taking a few
paces they all gave in. They were consequently
pronounced guilty, and were sentenced to refund
the money they had purloined, and to pay a fine
of 500 rupees to the Rajah. In default of restitution,
they were delivered over in irons to
Bureear, who kept them in confinement for
several months, and threatened to cut off their
ears unless they made good his loss. But, finding
that his own followers were opposed to any
further severity, he prudently connived at their
escape.
" The hands of Boohooa, who afterwards
rose to the distinction of a leader, still
(1849) bear the marks of the burning he got;
and, in showing them to me (Captain Sleeman)
one day, he confessed that the ' decision of the
F 2
130 ATTACK ON B1THORE.
Deity' in that case was a just one ; that he had
really assisted Mungul Sing in robbing Ghureeba
on that occasion of 10,000 rupees, by burying
them in a pit at some distance from the rest ;
and that he, Nundran, and another of the party,
afterwards helped themselves to three out of the
ten thousand, unknown to Mungul Sing." What
became of the two thousand still unaccounted
for the total deficiency being 12,000 he was
unable to say.
The same Bukshee, of whom so much has
already been said, was informed by his spies, in
January, 1833, that the ex-Peishwah Bajee Rao
had hoarded a large amount of gold coin at
Bithore, on the right bank of the Ganges, not
far from Cawnpore. He accordingly assembled
a numerous band of Dacoits, who, after receiving
their instructions, broke up into small parties,
which concentrated at a particular spot at the
appointed time. They then boldly stormed the
ex-Peishwah's palace, wounded eighteen of his
servants, and carried off 50,000 rupees in silver
and 15,000 gold mohurs, each worth fifteen
rupees. As they approached their homes they
were met by their female relatives in triumphant
procession, to whom they made a largesse of
fifteen mohurs and twenty rupees to lay out in
THE QUEEN OF OUDE.
sweetmeats for themselves and their children.
On the following day every man in the village
received five gold mohurs, seven rupees, and two
four-anna pieces (worth sixpence a piece). A
series of the most shocking debaucheries ensued,
which resulted in the death of Chunda, the
second leader of the gang. Six months afterwards
the Oude authorities surprised the colony,
when Bukshee and a hundred of his followers
were put to the sword, and nearly three hundred
taken prisoners ; a considerable quantity of plunder
was seized at the same time. The Budhuks,
however, were soon released, and the king even
entertained the idea of restoring the recovered
property to its rightful owner. But the queen is
said to have suggested to his majesty
"
that if
he suffered the ex-Peishwah to recover his property
in this way, he would expose himself to a
demand from the honourable company for all
that had been taken by gangs from the same
colonies in their attacks upon numerous public
treasuries and private storehouses in all parts of
their dominions, and add to the grounds already
urged for depriving him of his country ; but
that if he allowed the property to be quietly, the
noise about it would soon cease, while he would
escape all further responsibility and odium."
132 THE JHANSI AFFAIR.
Her majesty's advice was both too prudent and
too palatable to be lightly rejected, and the property
was, accordingly,
"
quietly absorbed."
A yet more dashing, though not equally profitable
enterprise was that of the famous Budhuk
chief, Gujraj, in 1839. In the absence of the
Rajah of Jhansi, who had gone with nearly all
his armed retainers to a marriage festival in the
Duteea Rajah's family, Gujraj, with fifty
followers,
scaled the wall of that town, attacked
the bankers' shops, killed one man and wounded
another, and finally got off unmolested with
4,000 worth of plunder. This leader was
warmly patronised by the Rajah of Nurwur, who
had always half a. dozen of his men to guard
him while he slept.
In Rajpootana, Gwalior, and Malwa the
Dacoits called themselves Bagrees, or Bagorras.
This clan numbered about 1,200 families, principally
settled, or rather bivouacked, on the
banks of the Chumbul. Of their proceedings
less is known than concerning those of their
Oude brethren. They were greatly favoured by
the native princes and powerful landholders, and
even when they were seized their punishment
seldom went further than a compulsory restitution
of the stolen property. They rarely insulted
BHART SING. 133
women beyond demanding of them their gold
and silver ornaments, and their reckless liberality
made them so popular with the poorer classes
that when some of the petty princes were urged
by the Indian Government to take steps to put
down Dacoitee within their respective territories,
they excused themselves on the ground that it
would cause a revolution. They were, besides,
much prized as auxiliaries in the state of perpetual
warfare that existed among these independent
princes. When the Alwar Chief, in
1783, renounced his allegiance to the Rajah of
Jyepore, his sword and shield was Kishna,
the great Bagree leader. At a later period, his
grandson, Bijee Sing, rendered an important
service to the lord of Alwar, for which he received
an estate worth 4,000 rupees a year, rent
free for ever. The commander of the Jyepoor
forces had reduced the Alwar Chief to great
straits, when the latter invoked the aid of Bhart
Sing and Bijee Sing, who came to his assistance
with 500 Bagrees, resolute and well armed men.
The Manukpoor Gotra estate was offered as a
reward to any one who would assassinate the
enemy's leader. The Dacoits accepted the adventure.
"Bhart Sing approached the tent at
night with only four or five followers, whom he
134 MILITARY DUTIES.
left outside. He entered the tent, and found
the minister asleep and entirely defenceless. He
could not kill a man in that state, and taking up
his sword, shield, and turban, which lay by the
bedside, he returned with them to Bijee Sing,
saying that he could never stab a brave man in
that defenceless state. Bijee Sing then went,
entered the tent which was still without a sentry,
and stabbed the minister to the heart."
At another time the Rajah of Kerowlie engaged
a small band of Bagrees to assist him in besieging
his cousin the Thakoor Luchmun Sing, in the
city of Ameergur.
" The duty assigned to us"
said one of them " was to cut off all supplies,
and at night to attack the advanced batteries
thrown out by the garrison upon elevated places.
The commandant allowed us to select as many
as we wanted of his best soldiers on whose courage
we could most rely, and we generally took
about the same number as we ourselves. We
then reconnoitred the strongest batteries, sometimes
in the daytime in all manner of disguises,
sometimes at night creeping along the ground
like wild animals, till we got up close to them,
and saw all that we wanted to see. After we
had become well acquainted with the positions,
in three or four days we entered upon the attack.
MILITARY DUTIES. 135
Well armed with swords, shields, and spears, and
some with muskets, we advanced close to the
ground till we got so near that we could rush in
upon them before the enemy could deliver their
fire. No man is permitted to carry a matchlock
on such occasions ; nor do we, indeed, ever carry
them in our enterprises, because the light of the
matches might warn people of our approach and
bring their fire upon us. When within the proper
distance the signal is given, and we start up,
and rush in, and kill every man we can. There
are always supporting parties of troops close behind
us, to follow up our attack and keep possession
of the surprised batteries. In this way we
in one night surprised and took three of the
batteries which Luchmun Sing had placed upon
a hill near his fort. The night was dark, and we
attacked them all at the same time. We were
about forty Bagrees, and we had with us about
sixty select soldiers, and for each battery we had
from thirty to thirty-five men; but we knew
every inch of the ground we were to act upon,
and we could rely upon each other. We on such
occasions stop all supplies that they try to get
into the besieged fort. We watch for several
nights and permit the people to take in all they
please unmolested; and when we know all the
136 PIOUS SCOUKDRELS.
roads by which the supplies go in, we attack
them all in one night, and are allowed to keep
what we get for ourselves."
, These Bagrees were as scrupulously devout in
their way as the Italian banditti are said to be,
whom they resembled in more than one point.
Ajeet Sing, the leader of a Chumbul gang, in
describing a Dacoitee that had yielded 40,000
rupees, went on to say :
" Four thousand five
hundred rupees were taken to cover the expenses
of the road, to offer to the gods who had guided
us, and to give in charity to the poor. For
offerings to the gods we purchase goats, sweet
cakes, and spirits ; and having prepared the feast,
we throw a handful of the savoury food upon the
fire in the name of the gods who have most
assisted us ; but of the feast so consecrated, no
female but a virgin can partake. The offering is
made through the man who has successfully invoked
the god on that particular occasion ; and
as my god had guided us on this, I was employed
to prepare the feast for him, and to throw
the offering on the fire. The offering must be
taken up before the feast is touched, and put
upon the fire, and a little water must be sprinkled
upon it. The savoury smell of the food as
it burns, reaches the nostrils of the god and
AN ARISTOCRAT. 137
delights him. On this, as on most occasions, I
invoked the spirit of Gunga Sing, my grandfather,
and to him I made the offering. I considered
him to be the greatest of all my ancestors
as a robber, and him I invoked on this trying
occasion. He never failed me when I invoked
him, and I had the greatest confidence in his aid.
The spirits of our ancestors can easily see whether
we shall succeed in what we are about to undertake
; and when we are to succeed, they order us
on, and when we are not, they make signs to
us to desist."
The same Ajeet Sing described a singular
superstition that existed among the Bagrees.
One of his comrades happened to be severely
wounded on the wrist, and became so faint from
loss of blood that he was obliged to be carried.
As he passed under a Banyan tree,
"
the spirit of
the place fell upon him, and the four men who
carried him fell down with the shock." The
phenomenon was thus explained.
"
If any man
who has been wounded on the field of battle, or
in a Dacoitee, be taken bleeding to. a place
haunted by a spirit, the spirit gets very angry
and lays hold of him : he comes upon him in all
manner of shapes, sometimes in that of a buffalo,
at others in that of a woman, sometimes in the
138 THE SPIRIT OF THE LIVER.
air above, and sometimes from the ground below;
but no one can see him except the wounded person
he is angry with and wants to punish. Upon
such a wounded person we always place a naked
sword, or some other sharp steel instrument, as
spirits are much afraid of weapons of this kind.
If there be any good conjuror at hand to charm
the spirits away from the person wounded, he
recovers, but nothing else can save him. When
the spirit seized Gheesa under the tree, we had
unfortunately no conjuror of this kind, and he,
poor fellow ! died in consequence. It was evident
that a spirit had got hold of him, for he
could not keep his head upright ; it always fell
down upon his right or left shoulder as often as
we tried to put it right, and he complained much
of a pain in the region of the liver. We therefore
concluded the spirit had broken his neck,
and was consuming his liver."
Dead bodies were usually burned, and the
ashes thrown into the sacred stream. Sometimes
this could not be done, as, for instance, when
one died upon an expedition, and there was no
time or means to make a funeral pyre. In such
cases the body would be hastily buried, or, as
once occurred, thrust into a porcupine's hole,
and some of the fingers cut off and carried home
BENEFIT OF ANCESTRY. 139
to the sorrowing relatives. The part was then
burned for the whole, and the gang presented a
widow with money to distribute in alms, and
enabled her to make a handsome offering to the
family priest. Each colony had two or three
especial deities, who were the spirits of ancestors
distinguished in the "
imperial business," as
they proudly designated their vocation. When
they desired to know who of their forefathers
was the most sympathetic, the most interested
in their welfare, they carefully noted the incoherent
ravings of a delirious man, or one suffering
from epilepsy. His rambling talk was attributed
to the temporary possession of his tongue
by some departed spirit. If there were any
doubt as to whose it was, the family priest, or a
relative of the sick man, would throw on the
ground a few grains of wheat, or coloured glass
beads, mentioning the name of some ancestor,
and at the same time crying odd or even. If
they cried correctly two or three times consecutively,
they had discovered the demigod. They
then sacrificed a goat, or some other animal, that
the pleasant odour of the culinary operations
might gratify the nostrils of the "
daimon,"
while the assembled friends loudly sang his
praises. If the patient began to amend during
140 TAKING THE AUSPICES.
the sacrifice, it was deemed a full confirmation
of their belief, and a new " Lar familiaris," or
household god was added to the polytheism of
the colony.
The chief deities worshipped by the Dacoits
in common were Kalee or Davee, and Sooruj
Deota or Sun God. Before setting out upon
an expedition, they were always careful to take
the auspices; which was done in this manner.
Having procured several goats, the principal men
assembled, and while one of them held some
water in his mouth, the others prayed,
" thou
Sun God ! And all ye other gods ! if we are
to succeed in the enterprise we are about to
undertake, we pray ye to cause these goats to
shake their bodies !
"
If they do not shake
them after the gods have been thus duly invoked,
the enterprise must not be entered upon, and
the goats are not sacrificed. We then try the
auspices with the wheat ; we have a handful of
wheat, a large shell, a brass jug, cloth, and
frankincense (gogul), and scented wood (dhoojp)
to burn. We burn the frankincense and scented
wood, and blow the shell; and taking out a
pinch of the grains, put them on the cloth and
count them. If they come up odd, the omen
is favourable; if even, it is bad. After this,
THE BOWREES. . 141
which we call the auspices of the Akut, we take
that of the Seearnee, or female jackal. If it
calls on the left, it is good ; if on the right, it is
bad. If the omens turn out favourable in all
three trials then we have no fear whatever ; but
if they are favourable in only one trial out of
the three, the enterprise must be given up."
The Bowrees appear to have been an off-set of
the Bagree Dacoits. They affected to be descended
from Rajpoots, but in truth very little is
known as to their origin. Their peculiar dialect,
however, was Guzerattee, though for generations
past they had not even visited that province, but
the circumstance is in favour of the theory that
traces them to Chittore, the capital of Mewar,
adjacent to Guzerat, whence they are believed to
have emigrated when Akhbar captured that city
in 1567. According to the deposition of Dhokul
Sing, made in 1839, the Bowrees were "not a
people of yesterday we are of ancient and
illustrious descent." Their ancestor, Pardhee, was
one of the companions of Ram in his expedition
for the recovery of Seeta.
"
If," said this approver,
"
if any prince happens to have an enemy
that he wishes to have made away with, he sends
for some of our tribe, and says,
'
Go, and bring
142 "ALL, HONOURABLE MEN?"
such or such an one's head.' We go, and steal
into his sleeping apartments, and take off the
person's head without any other person knowing
anything about it. If the prince wanted, not
the head of his enemy, but the gold tassels of
the bed on which he lay asleep, we brought them
to him. In consequence of our skill in these
matters, we were held everywhere in high esteem ;
and we served princes and had never occasion to
labour at tillage. We who came to the Delhi
territory (they were mostly located about Delhi,
Mozuffernugur, and Meerut), and were called
Bowrees, took to thieving. Princes still employed
us to take off the heads of their enemies, and
rob them of their valuables. At present the
Bowrees confine themselves almost exclusively to
robbing tents; they do not steal cattle, or cut
into ("dig through") houses ; but they will rob
a cart on the highway occasionally any other
trade than robbery they never take to." During
the absence of the men on some thriving expedition,
their wives and families were protected
and maintained by the Zemindar, on whose land
they resided, and who likewise was ever ready to
advance a small sum of money to enable his
respectable tenants to take to the road secure
COGNATE TRIBES. 143
of repayment with usury. Before setting out
they sacrificed a goat to Davee, and offered burnt
offerings.
They also presented sweetmeats to the goddess,
and vowed no stinted quantity should they return
successful from their wanderings. To omens
they paid great regard. A couplet in familiar
use among them was to the effect, that
"
if the
cow and the deer cross from the left to the right,
and the snake from right to left, and the blue
jay from left to right, even the wealth that has
gone from thee shall come back."
Of the cognate tribes of Sanseea and Bereea
Dacoits some interesting details may be gathered
from the official reports of the Commissioners for
the suppression of Dacoitee. According to tradition
there lived a long time ago, in the province
or Mharwar, two uterine brothers named Sains
Mull and Mullanoor. Sains was very illiterate
and found it extremely difficult to earn a livelihood
by his own exertions. So he went to the
god Bhugvvan and represented his case. The
deity heard him with compassion and gave him
an order upon every village in the world for the
payment of half a crown from each. Returning
home the foolish fellow showed the paper to his
brother, who, moved by envy, tore it in pieces.
144 MERCENARY MINSTRELS.
A fraternal squabble naturally ensued, which at
length terminated by both of them repairing to
Bughvvan. But the god declined to give a second
order, and advised Mullanoor to assume the life
of a mendicant, while his brother was to maintain
himself by singing and dancing. From the former
were descended the Bereeas, who wandered
about the country, playing the dUol (a kind of
drum), begging and stealing : the men and
women living together in a promiscuous state of
extreme socialism. The descendents of the other
brother were called Sanseeas, also a roving tribe,
pretending to deal in cattle, goats, horses, cloth,
grain, or anything else that came into their hands.
They were generally in great request as Shuts,
or Bards at the marriage festivals of the Jats.
Their business was to trace the lineage of their
entertainer to the founders of the Jat family, and
celebrate the heroic virtues of his ancestors. If
the host proved a niggard, and refused to comply
with the exorbitant demands of these vagabond
minstrels, they would make an effigy of his father
and parade it up and down before his house ;
or even, in extreme cases, suspend it from a bamboo
and fix it over his door, by which means he
temporarily lost caste, so that none of his neighbours
would drink or smoke with him. In former
THE SANSEEAS. 145
times these Bhats almost lived upon the Jats,
each claiming, as his peculiar province, fifty or a
hundred families who, in succession, gave him
yearly one day's food and two shillings and sixpence
in money. The Sanseeas were divided
into two sub-clans, the Malhas and the Kalkas
the former being descended from Sains Mull's
son, and the latter from his grand-daughter by
an adopted son. A Malha could not marry a
Malha, nor a Kalka a Kalka, but the young men
of the one family chose their wives from among the
young women of the other. Originally the Sanseeas
confined themselves to mendicancy, minstrelsy,
and cattle-lifting, but after a time, emboldened
by poverty or impunity, they took to
Dacoitee, which they reduced to a regular system.
In their expeditions they left their old men and
women, and their children at home, under the
protection of a friendly Zemindar, but took with
them a few young women and such as had children
at the breast, with a view to avert suspicion.
When they arrived within two days' march of
the scene of their projected operations, the main
body halted, while the leader with a small party
of followers, male and female, went on to reconnoitre
and make the necessary preparations.
Their usual plan was to enter a liquor shop, and
G
146 PRELIMINARY PREPARATIONS.
while purchasing some spirits, to ask the name of
some respectable money-changer or banker. They
thus learnt the address of the one who was
esteemed the wealthiest. On the following morning
at early dawn they repaired to his. shop,
because at that hour he would be obliged te go
to his treasure-chest, whereas, later in the day he
would have a small supply of money beside him
for ordinary business. Having now ascertained
where his hoard was deposited, and such other
particulars as might be useful, they proceeded to
the bazar and procured a sufficient quantity of
bamboos for spear-staves. These they buried
near the town on their way back to the camp.
All things being ready they took some spirituous
liquor and spilling a little on the ground, prayed
aloud :
" O Davee ! Mother ! If we succeed in
our business and get a good deal of booty, we
will make a grand pooja/t (religious festival) to
thee, and offer thee a cocoa-nut !" The goddess
being propitiated, the next step was to assign to
every man his particular post : some to act as
scouts, others to guard the avenues, others again
to rush into the house, while the Jemadar, or
leader, reserved to himself the task of breaking
open the money-chest with his trusty hatchet.
Early next morning they advanced to an easy
A DACOITEE. 147
distance of the place, and some of them went forward
for the spear-staves buried on the previous
day. A Sanseea, of approved tact and intelligence
again entered the town to purchase oil for
the torches, and to make the final reconnoissance.
So soon as darkness descended, the gang threw
off their clothes and started at a rapid pace,
without once looking behind. If they had reason
to expect that the local police would be vigilant
a rare occurrence they concealed their
spears in a bundle of reeds or coarse straw, which
one of them carried on his head, followed by
another to personate the purchaser of the fodder.
On arriving in front of the shop, the bundle was
thrown on the ground, the cord hastily loosened,
the spears extracted and the torches lighted. Then
the Jemadar invoked the aid of his patron deity
and vowed a grateful offering if the chest should
at once yield to his blows. Raising their warcry
Deen ! Deen ! they furiously assaulted the
bystanders, pelting them with stones, striking
them with their spears, and even wounding them
if obstinate. The Jemadar, the torch-bearers, and
four or five determined men, under favour of the
tumult, broke into the house, smashing doors and
all other impediments. In a few minutes afterwards
the house was abandoned by the unwel148
RETURN HOMEWARDS.
come intruders, who moved off to the place of
rendezvous as fast as their weighty plunder would
permit them ; the Jemadar piously imploring
of Bhugwan to send their pursuers in a wrong
direction. Should one of the gang happen to
have been slain, his spirit was likewise invoked,
and spirituous liquor and a goat promised to his
manes. At every temple on the road, and at
every stream they had to cross, they threw down
a rupee or two to propitiate the genius of the
place. When within a couple of miles of their
encampment they called aloud Koo-Koo. If no
response were heard they pushed on rapidly,
occasionally imitating the call of the partridge :
when close at hand they uttered a hissing noise.
On their actual arrival they were certain to find
everything packed up and ready for a start.
Mounted on their rough, hardy little ponies they
would cover a distance of sixty to eighty miles in
twenty-four hours for two or three consecutive
days, until fairly beyond all danger of pursuit.
Any one was allowed to join a gang on payment
of a few rupees, though not to carry a spear or
enter the house until his coolness and courage
had been freely tested. If a Dacoit committed
homicide he was obliged to expiate his bloodguiltiness
by making apooja/i, at which he trusted
RELIGIOUS CREED. 149
his comrades with half a crown's worth of liquor.
In the division of spoils the Jemadar claimed onetenth
in addition to the repayment of his advances
towards fitting out the expedition. The balance
was then divided among the entire gang, the
leader again sharing, and provision was made for
the wounded and for the widows of those who
had fallen.
The religious creed of the Sanseeas was sufficiently
simple.
"
I believe" said one of them,
"in Ram (God), Bhowanee, and Sheik Fureed,
whose shrine is at Gierur, about eighteen miles
from Hingunghat. There we make offerings after
a successful expedition. Sheikh Fureed acquired
his saintship thus : he first performed a devotional
penance of twelve years, carrying about
with him a load of wood tied to his stomach, but
that was not accepted : next another, in which
he ate nothing but forest leaves for twelve years
not accepted : lastly, his third trip, he hung
himself up by the heels in iron chains in a Baolee
(a well) at Gierur ; then he was taken up and
asked what he wanted ; he said, to have every
request granted ; this was promised, and he disappeared.
Many people now pray to him for
luck."
Like the Thugs and the other Dacoits, the
150 OMENS.
Sanseeas prided themselves on the exact observance
of omens. They looked upon it as unfortunate
to hear the cry of the jackal or the cat, a
kite screaming while sitting on a tree, the braying
of an ass, a flute, or the lamentation over the
dead. It was equally inauspicious to see a dog
run away with any one's food, a woman break a
water-pitcher, a hare, a wolf, a fox, a chamelion,
an oil-vender, a carpenter, a blacksmith, two cows
tied together, or a thief in custody. If they
encountered a corpse, or if a turban fell off, or
the Jemadar forgot to put some bread in his
waist-belt, or left his spear or axe behind him
the expedition must be deferred. But nothing
could be more promising than to meet a woman
selling milk, or any one carrying a bag of money,
or a basket of grain, or fish, or a pitcher of water.
Nor was it less encouraging to see a calf sucking,
or a pig, or a blue jay, or a marriage procession.
Their most binding form of attestation was by
means of a piece of new cotton cloth, exactly
1J- cubit square, in which was tied up half-apound
of coarse sugar. The accuser hung the
parcel upon the branch of a peepul tree, and
challenged the accused to touch it. If the latter
foreswore himself, he would sicken within three
days. Another ordeal was to tie seven peepul
ORDEALS. 151
leaves, one over the other, on the palm of the
suspected person's hand, on which a red-hot iron
plate was then placed. Unless he carried this
seven paces without suffering any inconvenience
and deposited it upon seven thorns arranged to
receive it, he was pronounced guilty. At other
times a Punchayut, or Council of Elders, seated
themselves on the bank of a river, when one
of them stepped forward and fired two arrows
together from one bow, the one in the name of
Bhugwan, the other in that of the Punchayut.
The furthest one was then stuck upright in the
ground, while a man walked into the stream up
to his breast and planted a bamboo in the channel.
The accused also entered the water and
laid hold of the pole. A member of the Punchayut
having clapped his hands seven times as a
signal for him to plunge his head under the
water, set off at the top of his speed for the
arrow, brought it back, and again clapped his
hands seven times. If the accused had kept his
head immersed until this second signal, he was
deemed innocent : otherwise, his guilt was held
to be satisfactorily proven.
When a male child was born, his head was
carefully shaved, with the exception of a small
spot dedicated to Bhugwan. This lock of hair
152 FUNERAL RITES.
was all that he was permitted to wear until the
completion of his tenth or twelfth year, when it
also was shorn off by the barber, and his relatives
gave a grand entertainment to the tribe. Those
who died before this ceremony were simply buried
with the face downwards : the only solemnity
being the preparation of some sweet cakes, of
which three were given to a dog and the rest
consumed by relatives and friends. But those
who survived this important epoch of their lives
were, after death, placed on a funeral pyre. When
the fire was extinguished, the ashes were carefully
examined and the bones buried on the spot.
Great feasting and jollity then followed, and the
spirit of the deceased, propitiated by an offering
of swines' flesh and spirits, was invoked to aid
and protect his family.
Matrimony was a matter of arrangement between
the parents ; a Punchayut deciding the
amount of the dower to be given by the father
of the bridegroom to the bride's father. The
marriage ceremony consisted in a libation of
spirits to Bhugwan, the Supreme Being, and a
public declaration that the boy and girl were
henceforth man and wife ; the whole concluding
with a feast. If a man happened to be touched
by the petticoat of his mother-in-law, or daughTHE
BOLAIIUM DACOITEE. 153
ter-in-law, he lost caste, and therefore took care
never to go near them. The same result was
the consequence of his being struck by his wife's
petticoat in the course of connubial strife. By
thus losing caste he was incapacitated from joining
his tribe in worship, or in funeral rites, though
he was still allowed to eat and drink with them.
However, a handsome entertainment to his brother
robbers and a humble offering to the gods
removed all impurities, social and religious.
The Bolarum Dacoitee committed in 1837 is
such an excellent illustration of the system
adopted by the Sanseeas that no apology need be
offered for the length of the narrative, as given
to Captain Malcolm ten years afterwards by one
of the Dacoits actually engaged in it.
"From this place (Sadaseopath) I and four
others came on to Hyderabad, where we looked
about us for five days, but finding nothing likely
to suit our purpose, we went to Bolarum, and took
up our quarters at a buneeya's (tradesman's) shop
in the village of Alwal, close to the cantonments.
In the cantonments we soon discovered a respectable
looking shop, which appeared well suited
for a Dacoitee. Early one morning I took fifty
shuhr-chelnee rupees with me and went to the
shop, where I found the owner transacting busi-
G 2
154 THE BOLARUM DACOITEE.
ness. I asked him to exchange the shuhr-chelnee
for bagh-chelnee rupees, and when I had agreed
to give him one pice discount on each rupee, he
went and unlocked one of two large -sized boxes,
which I saw in an inner room, and out of which
he took the money I required. I also noticed
some silver horse-furniture hanging upon a peg
on the wall, and in a niche a dagger and a pair
of pistols."
"
Having thus obtained all the information
I required as to the exact spot where
the property was likely to be found, I next
examined the position of the different guards
likely to interrupt us in the act of breaking into
the house. I found that a guard of eighteen
men was stationed at the chowrie (police station)
some distance off, and that a sentry was posted
at night at a place where four streets met, close
to the shop I had reconnoitred. Prom the latter
I feared no opposition, as he could easily be overpowered,
and we calculated upon breaking into
the house before the chowrie-guard could turn
out and come to the rescue of the banker."
"
I then returned to my comrades, with whom
I remained for two days, making ourselves acquainted
with all the localities about the place, the
roads leading from it, and in fact with everything
that might be of use to us in the enterprise we
THE BOLARUM DACOITEE. 155
were about to undertake. Among other things,
we learnt that after gun-fire, or eight o'clock, the
guard had orders to stop all parties entering the
cantonments, and we therefore determined to
commence operations before that hour."
" We then returned to Sadaseopath (forty miles
distant), and on relating the result of our proceedings
to the gang, it was determined to risk
a Dacoitee on the Sowar's house at Bolarum.
Our next proceeding was to convey as secretly
as possible to the vicinity of that place sufficient
arms and axes to answer our purpose ; these
were made up into bundles and entrusted to
four men, who proceeded in the night time to
Puttuncherroo, and on the following night, a couple
of hours before daybreak, we reached a small
nullah (ravine) behind the mosque near Bolarum,
where the axes and spears were carefully buried
in the sand. The rest of our party in the meantime
struck their camp, and, leaving the high
road, made to the village of Tillapoor, about
eight or nine miles from the fort of Golcondah."
"The gang chosen for the Dacoitee consisted
of twenty-four able men, under Rungelah Jemadar
and myself, and left Tillapoor about ten
o'clock in the forenoon, and, in small parties of
two and three, reached at twilight the spot where
156 THE BOLARUM DACOITEE.
our arms were concealed. We then procured
some oil from the shop in the cantonments, and,
about half-past seven or nearly eight o'clock, we
proceeded in straggling order towards the shop
about to be attacked, and which we reached
without being challenged by any one. The sentry
posted near the shop we were about to attack did
not appear to suspect or notice us ; and the
moment our mitssal (torch) was lighted, he was
speared by Baraham Shah and Kistniah, while
others commenced breaking in the doors of the
inner room, the outer partition of the shop having
been found open. Three bankers, whom we
found writing their accounts in the outer shop,
rushed into the house and disappeared. The
lock of the door yielded to one blow from the
axe of Rungelah, and, on throwing down the
planks of which it was formed, we found the box
which I had seen on a former occasion, unlocked
and open. Out of this we took sixteen bags full
of money, leaving four, which we were obliged to
relinquish, as we were pressed for time, and had
not sufficient men at hand to remove them. The
whole place now was in a state of commotion and
uproar ; and, as we drew off as fast as we could,
we were followed by a crowd of camp-followers
and Sipahees, to the place where a number of
DIFFICULTIES OF SUPPRESSION. 157
bullocks were picketed. We here struck into the
paddy (rice) fields, and across these our pursuers
did not attempt to follow us. A short distance
from Bolarum, two of the bags -broke, and the
money fell to the ground ; and as it was dark,
and we had no time to search for it, we lost
nearly 1,500 rupees." Nevertheless, they got
off with 14,500 rupees, and with silver horsefurniture
valued at 15 more.
The impossibility of guarding against these
organized attacks by large bodies of armed men,
through the means of the ordinary police, induced
Lord Auckland in 1838 to appoint Captain Sleeman
commissioner for the suppression of Dacoitee,
in addition to his duties as General Superintendent
of measures for the suppression of Thuggee.
The task was a difficult one. Not only were the
Dacoits protected and screened by the native
princes, land owners, and magistrates their own
numbers and determination rendered their apprehension
a matter of some danger. It was afterwards
ascertained that in 1839 there were no
fewer than seventy-two leaders south of the
Jumna who could gather together 1,625 followers;
and to the north of that river forty-six
leaders, supported by 1,445 men. In the Oude
jungles were many powerful colonies, who were
158 PROGRESS OF SUPPRESSION.
usually warned by friendly Zemindars of the
approach of danger, and thus enabled to flee to
less accessible fastnesses. On one occasion 1,500
of them escaped into Nepaul where they temporarily
dispersed, to meet again at a given rendezvous.
The Commissioner himself aptly compared
their colonies to a ball of quicksilver, which, if
pressed by the finger, will divide into many
smaller globules, all certain to come together
again and cohere as firmly as before. However,
the constant alarms to which they were now
subjected, compelled them to conceal themselves
in such unhealthy spots that they were decimated
by disease. In the Goruckpore district a gang,
consisting of ninety-four men and 280 women
and children, suffered so much from this cause
that they voluntarily surrendered themselves.
Others were hunted down from one district to
another, until in despair they yielded themselves
prisoners, or endeavoured to abandon their illegal
vocation and settle down to agricultural pursuits.
Many of the prisoners, being conditionally pardoned,
were admitted into the police force, where
they distinguished themselves by their courage
and intelligence. It is a remarkable trait in the
character of the Dacoits that they rarely forfeited
their word. If once they pledged themATTRACTIONS
OF DACOITEE. 159
selves not to revert to their former evil habits,
there was little danger of a relapse. An experimental
colony was formed of the approvers and
their families near Moradabad, at a place called,
de nomine facti, Buddukabad. The result has
been satisfactory, though the Dacoits usually
complained of the difficulty of confining their
expenditure to the comparatively small means
furnished by honest industry. A Budduk, they
would say, cannot live on eight rupees a month
(three rupees being the wages of an ordinary
labourer) : he requires at least two rupees a day,
because he eats meat and takes large quantities
of ghee and rice, and loves liquor, and is addicted
to polygamy. One of them, who had been ten
years in prison, being asked by Capt. Ramsay
if, in the event of his liberation, he would promise
to amend his life, shook his head and answered
with a merry laugh :
"
No, no, that would never
do. Why should I become an honest man work
hard all day in the sun, rain, and all weathers,
and earn what ? Some five or six pice a day !
We Dacoits lead very comfortable and agreeable
lives. When from home, which is generally only
during the cold season, we march some fourteen
or sixteen miles a-day
1
for, perhaps, a couple of
months, or say four, at the outside commit a
160 DIFFICULTY OF REPENTANCE.
Dacoitee and bring home money sufficient to
keep us comfortable for a year, or perhaps two.
When at home we amuse ourselves by shooting,
or visiting our friends, or in any way most
agreeable eat when we please, and sleep when
we please can, what you call an honest man,
do that?"
Another who had passed a like period within
the gaol at Lucknow, returned to Dacoitee a fewmonths
after his release.
"
I was then young,"
said he,
" and in high spirits I had been confined
with many other old Dacoits and in gaol
I used to hear them talking of their excursions,
how they got 50,000 rupees here and 20,000
rupees there ; and I used to long for my release,
that I might go on Dacoitee and enjoy myself."
The confessions of both these men would be
readily endorsed by many inmates of our own
prisons. Evil associations and the charms of a
contraband career are equally potent in Europe
and in Asia. But among the natives of India
the profession of a Dacoit was not regarded as
one of shame and disgrace. Indeed, even the
Commissioner avowed he could see little difference,
ethically, between expeditions in quest of
plunder, and those for the purpose of conquest ;
it was a question of degree, not of principle.
AN IMPERIAL BUSINESS. 161
They themselves gloried in their calling. "Ours,"
they said,
" has been a Padshahee Kam (an imperial
business) ; we have attached and seized
boldly the thousands and hundreds of thousands
that we have freely and nobly spent : we have
been all our lives wallowing in wealth and basking
in freedom, and find it hard to manage with
a few copper pice a day we get from you." So
energetic, however, and persevering were the
measures adopted for the suppression of this
" Padshahee Kam" that within a very few years
after their inauguration, there existed in the Upper
Provinces scarcely even the nucleus of a gang.
The few who still remained at liberty were known
by name and personal appearance, and only
escaped apprehension by leading simple and inoffensive
lives, gaining their daily bread by their
daily labour.
The task of suppression in the Lower Provinces
has been attended with so many peculiar
difficulties, from the natural configuration of the
country, that Dacoitee can hardly yet be said to
be extinguished. But its days are numbered,
and a marked diminution of cases is observable
every year. The apathy of their victims has, undoubtedly,
been one great cause of the impunity
so long enjoyed by these daring marauders.
162 RELUCTANCE TO PROSECUTE.
This reluctance to prosecute, though partly owing
to a well founded dread of incurring the vengeance
of the comrades of convicted Dacoits, is
chiefly attributable to the repugnance felt by all
respectable natives to appear in Court even as
complainants. The tedious formalities of legal
proceedings appear to them in the light of studied
annoyances, and their dignity is offended by the
distrust with which their statements are necessarily
received. Perhaps, the ancient mode of
administering justice would be, after all, the most
efficacious, and certainly most in accordance with
the native character. The elders of the town, or
village, seated at the gate, or beneath the grateful
shade of stately trees, and presided over by an
English gentleman conversant with their habits
and language, and possessed of tact, patience, and
good sense, would probably dispense more evenhanded
justice than is obtained by all the costly
paraphernalia of courts of law founded on a totally
different phase of civilization. Be this as it may,
enough has now been said to disprove the vulgar
allegation of indifference to the welfare of their
fellow subjects so flippantly and frequently urged
against the Government of the East India Company.
And these are only two out of many instances
that might be adduced to show that their
A GRATEFUL RECOMPENCE. 163
administration has been one of continued and
consistent progress. It is reserved for posterity
to admire the gratitude that seeks to reward the
annexation and improvement of a vast empire by
maligning the motives of those to whom this
country is indebted for the brightest gem in the
imperial crown, vilipending their services, and
depriving them of power and patronage.
SOME curious and interesting information has
been furnished by Captain C. Barr, of the Bombay
Native Infantry, with regard to the Mangs,
or Kholapore Dacoits. It is needless to observe,
that Kholapore was one of the early divisions of
the Mahratta empire, or that it separated from
the main body in 1729, under the auspices of
one of the younger branches of Sivajee's family.
The Mangs occupied the very lowest grade in the
ladder of society or, rather, they were looked
upon as outcasts, and quite beyond the pale of
society. They harboured in wilds and forests,
and lived upon carrion, roots, and wild fruits.
Their real occupation, however, was that of border
robbers ; and yet it was a source of pride among
them that their wives should remain ignorant of
the nature of their pursuits. They never robbed
or defrauded one another ; they even believed
that the spoliation of
"
the Gentiles
"
necessitated
an expiation, which usually assumed the form of
a gift of a pair of shoes to a Brahman, and alms
THE NAICK. 165
to the poor. Experience had taught them the
expediency of employing a peculiar dialect perhaps
it was the original language of their race.
Their leader, or headman, was called the Na'ik,
and was selected by the majority of votes for his
skill in planning an expedition, his bravery in
carrying it out, and his integrity in the division of
the spoils. The office was, consequently, not hereditary
; but they so far believed in the efficacy
of blood, as to allow considerable weight for a
father's merits. The Na'ik's person and property
were alike inviolable. On all ceremonial occasions
his precedence was allowed; in disputes, his
decision was final ; and on him devolved the duty
of laying out plans for robberies. To every band
was attached an informer, who was also the
receiver of the stolen goods. These scoundrels generally
pretended to be, and perhaps were, banglesellers,
dealers in perfume, goldsmiths, jewellers,
&c., &c. In this capacity they were admitted into
women's apartments, and so enabled to form a
correct notion of the topography of a house, and
a shrewd guess as to the wealth of its inmates.
Their mode of conducting a Dacoitee was in all
respects similar to those already described. The
only persons exempt from their depredations were
bangle-sellers and agricultural labourers, who, in
166 SUPERSTITIONS.
return, afforded them refuge and hospitality in
the hour of need. After a successful foray, each
of the gang contributed one-fourth of his share to
the Na'ik, towards the common fund for defraying
the expenses of preparation, absolution, and feasts
of triumph. The informer was not entitled to
any specific sum ; but, as he enjoyed the privilege
of pre-emption of the booty, his interests are
not likely to have been overlooked.
Like all barbarous tribes, and all persons addicted
to criminal practices, the Mangs were
extremely superstitious. They never, for instance,
set out upon an expedition on a Friday.
The new-born child was bathed in a spot
previously prepared for the purpose, and baptized
by the Brahman, in the name of the deity
presiding over that particular hour. In the
family, however, and throughout life, the neophyte
sinner was known by some household name.
Danger was encountered at an early period of
life. The mother and another woman stood on
opposite sides of the cradle, and the former tossed
her child to the other, commending it to the
mercy of Jee Gopal, and waited to receive it back
in like manner, in the name of Jee Govind.
The Mangs usually married young in life. If
a girl happened to hang heavy on hand, she was
TEST OF A SON-IN-LAW. 167
married, at the age of puberty, to the deity. In
other words, she was attached as a prostitute to
the temple of the god Khundoba, or the goddess
Yellania. Those belonging to the service of the
latter were wont, in the month of February, to
parade the streets in a state of utter nudity.
It was customary, previous to a secular marriage,
for the parents of the bridegroom to ask for the
hand of the bride. A test of the aspirant's
address was then demanded. In one instance,
the father of the maiden filled a silver vessel
with water up to the brim after carefully suspending
it over his head in bed, so that the
slightest touch would be certain to splash the
water on to his face. The suitor, however, was
not daunted by the difficulty of the enterprise.
Procuring some dry porous earth, he employed
it as a sponge, carefully applying it to the surface
of the water. Having thus reduced the level of the
surface, he cut the strings, carried off the vessel,
and next morning claimed his bride. The marriage
ceremonies were by no means interesting,
except when a bachelor wooed a widow. In
this case he was first united to the asclepias
gigantea, which was immediately transplanted.
Withering away and dying, it left him at liberty
to marry the charming widow. If a lady sur168
A WIDOW'S SUBSTITUTE.
vived the sorrow caused by the death of two or
three husbands, she could not again enter the
holy state unless she consented to be married
with a fowl under her armpit the unfortunate
bird being afterwards killed to appease the manes
of her former consorts.
Each family had its household god, but all
agreed in the common worship of Davee, as the
tutelar deity of the tribe. Their chief festival
was the Dusserah, on which day they usually set
out on their expeditions, armed with sword and
shield, and iron crowbar. Unhappily, the Mangs
must be spoken of in the past tense. The servants
of the East India Company, actuated, no
doubt, by mercenary motives, have put an end
to their depredations and compelled them to
resort to honest and common-place industry.
Thus are sentimentality and romance crushed at
the India House.
IN the year 1851 it was accidentally discovered
that the British territories had long been infested
with gangs of thieves from the Banpoor States.
These Sunoreahs, or Oothaeegeerahs, who extended
their depredations into the very heart of
Calcutta, had carried on their vocation with impunity
for many generations. Their existence
was well known, however, to the native authorities,
from whom they received protection and
encouragement. The head man of each village
was ex officio chief of the Sunoreahs, and kept a
registry of the various
"
nals," or gangs under
his own jurisdiction usually from seven to ten
in number. In Tehree they were estimated at
4,000, in Banpoor at 300, and in Dutteeah also
at 300. There were in all twelve villages occupied
by them, presided over by a Government officer,
whose duty it was to act as umpire in all disputes
arising out of the division of spoils.
Shortly after the Dusserah festival the chiefs
H
170 THE MOOKEEA.
of each village repaired to their favourite Brahman
priest to ascertain in what direction they
were to bend their steps. This having been duly
indicated, together with the auspicious day and
hour, they started off in a body to some place of
considerable note. Here the gang, consisting,
probably, of fifty or sixty men, was subdivided
into parties of ten or twelve, and detached to
adjacent towns and villages, while the leader,
with a strong party, remained at the point of
separation. Hither they all returned in the
month of July ; and, if their joint exertions had
produced fifty or sixty rupees for each man, they
then hastened home to prepare their fields for
the summer crop. But should fortune have
proved unfavourable they again took to the road,
while their leader alone hastened back to the
village laden with plunder for their respective
families. The office of Mookeea, or leader, was
hereditary, and, in default of male issue, descended
to females. If among the booty there
happened to be any object of peculiar elegance
or value, it was ceremoniously presented to the
chief of the state. Thus, the head of the Tehree
Government acknowledged a present of two
valuable pearl nose ornaments, by bestowing on
the thief a grant of land, rent free, in perpetuity;
DEPOTS. 171
and the Rajah of Banpore was known to have
accepted two handsome watches and a pair of
arm ornaments. There was no mystery in the
disposal of their stolen goods. These were openly
sold in the market places and bazaars at half
their value, and, during the absence of the
Sunoreahs on their thieving expeditions, the
village money-lender unhesitatingly supplied their
families with whatever they might require. Of
course, care was taken never to commit any
depredations within the territories of their protectors
and patrons.
The Sunoreahs had "
chounees," or depots in
all parts of India, where they could always find
a ready sale for their effects. Near Calcutta
their head quarters were at the serai of the
Rajah of Burdwan, whose ostentatious hospitality
oftentimes maintained as many as 200 of them.
Though usually possessed of ample means, they
never scrupled to accept alms with the Byragees,
or religious mendicants at Burdwan. No matter
how widely they might have roamed from their
native villages, they always found ready purchasers
for their pilferings, and they themselves
easily recognised each other by means of a peculiar
"
bolee," or slang.
When their proceedings first became known to
172 ATTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES.
Major P. Harris, Superintendent of Chundeyree,
that officer immediately addressed the Rajah of
Banpoor on the subject, and elicited from him
a most naive and characteristic reply, the following
extract from which well exemplifies the native
notions of morality and good government :
"
I have to state that from former times these
people following their profession, have resided in
my territory and in the states of other native
princes ; and they have always followed this calling,
but no former kings, or princes or authority
have ever forbidden the practice ; therefore these
people for generations have resided in my territory
and the states of other princes ; proceeding
to distant districts, to follow their occupation,
robbing by day for a livelihood for themselves
and families, both cash, and any other property
they could lay hands on. In consequence of
these people stealing by day only, and that they
do not take life, or distress any person, by personal
ill-usage, and that they do not break into
houses, by digging wells or breaking door-locks,
but simply by their smartness manage to abstract
property ; owing to such trifling thefts I looked
on their proceedings as petty thefts, and have
not interfered with them. As many States as
there may be in India, under the protection of
TRIFLING THIEVES. 173
the British Government, there is not one in which
these people are not to be found, and it is possible
that in all other States who protect them, the
same system is pursued towards them as in my
district ; and besides, these people thieving only
by day, the police officers in the British territories
are not expected to exert themselves, the loss
having occurred simply through the owner's
negligence. Owing to this circumstance, your
friend looking on their transgressions as trifling,
I have not caused my police to interfere with
them. The British Government, who issue orders
to all the native powers in India, have never
directed the system of Sunoreahs to be stopped.
From this I conclude that their offence is looked
upon by the British Government, as trifling ; and
probably this is the reason that neither the British
Government, nor any other authority, have ever
directed me to stop their calling; and on this
account, from property that they have brought
home, and I have heard that it suited me, or that
they themselves, considering the article to be a
curiosity from a distant province, have presented
to me through my servants ; thus, viewing the
offence as trifling, that there was no owner to
the property, I received it from them, and gave
them a trifle in return."
LONDON :
LEWIS AND SON, HUNTERS, 21, FINCH LANE, COENRILL.



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By
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TISS