The Things of India

Waikato Times, Volume 114, Issue 19010, 29 July 1933, Page 11 (Supplement)

The Things of India

(Trevor Allen In John o’ London)

THE MOST RUTHLESS murderers in history were the Thugs of India. They were murderers by hereditary profession, who killed by divine t right. Their depredations were propitiated by sinister religious omens, celebrated with religious ceremonial. Plunder was a secondary consideration to the taking of human life for its own sake at the bc- • best of their goddess Bhowani, for they made little effort to ascertain the wealth of their prospective victims. Thuggee Flourished for Three Hundred Years and was probably responsible for at least a million murders. During the first half of the past century it was systematically suppressed, largely owing to the efforts of Major-General Sir William Sleeman, who compiled valuable data concerning the cult. A cross-examination of a typical Thug, which reveals the fundamentals of his belief, is quoted by Sir William’s grandson Colonel James L. Sleeman, in “ Thug, or a Million Murders.” “ Do you never feel remorse for murdering in cold blood, and after the pretence of friendship, those whom you have beguiled into a false sense of security?" asked Slecman. "Certainly not I” replied Bull ram. “Are not you yourself a shikari (hunter of big game), and do you not enjoy the thrill of the stalk, the pitting of your cunning against that of an animal, and are you not pleased at seeing it dead at your feet So with the Thug, who, indeed, regards the stalking of men as a higher form of sport. . . . game for our hunting is defended from all points save those of flattery and cunning. Cannot you imagine the pleasure of overcoming suc'h protection during days of travel in their company, the joy in seeing Suspicion Change to Friendship, until that wonderful moment arrives when the ruhmal completes the shikar—this soft ruhmal, sahib ” —here the old man exhibited a strip of coarse yellow and white cloth, Ihc Thug colours—“ which lias terminated the existence of hundreds. Remorse, sahib? Never! Joy and elation, often!” This ruhmal,‘ with which the Thug strangled his victim —for by the laws of his faith no blood must he shed —was little lugger than a handkerchief, and applied with a slip-knot. Recruits were lirst employed as scouts, then as huriers of Hie dead, then as holders of the limbs of the victim to paralyse resistance, and finally as stranglers, tho highest office or all, demanding complete insensibility to feeling. The Thug was proud of his prowess. Buhram confessed to 931 murders in forty years, and apologised for not having troubled to count many others; Ramzam’s score was 004, and Futty Khan’s 508 in twentyone years. The Thug’s art Included not only the crafty beguiling of travellers on the road, bj.it the expert disposal of their bodies, which he could bury within half an hour so adroitly that even Thugs themselves could only locate the graves later by reference to landmarks. Often they were prepared many days ahead; sometimes the Thug did not scruple to bury bodies ucncath his own lent, and Eat and Sleep Over Thom. In one classic ease a victim was induced, unwittingly,, to perform his own funeral service. A Mogul’s parly, which had been marked down for deslruction, came upon six poor Mussulman sepoys sifting weeping by lho side of a dead companion in the middle of n. dcsolnlo plain—actually live disguised Thugs with a victim. They declared piteously that they were on their way In Lucknow, and their companion had died from exhaustion. The grave was ready; would “His Highness " recite Iho funeral service from the Koran? Tho Mogul’s officer dismounting, had a carpet spread, and' nil made ready for Hm burial. As, however-, it was improper to perform the funeral service while armed, he

\ ,000,000 Murders : Crime a Religion.

Removed Hfs Array of Weapon* (how the Thugs must have chuckled ln« wardly at this, after all their failures!) and* calling for water, washed his feet, hands and face that he might not pronounce the holy words in an unclean state. This done, he knelt, and began to repeat the funeral service in a clear, loud voice, with a Thug on either side of him, and the others a few paces behind with the servants ... all being ready, the leading Thug gave the jhirnee, or signal, the ruhmals were thrown round the necks of the victims, and a few moments later the Mogul and his servants were dead and lying in the previously prepared grave. After the murder the Thugs held a sacrificial feast of consecrated gur—unrefined sugar—which they believed increased their desire for Thuggee and made them callous to suffering. One, who had strangled a beautiful young woman, explained: “We all feci pity sometimes, hut the gur of the sacrifice changes our nature .... My father made me taste of that fatal gur when I was yet a mere hoy; and if I. were to live a thousand years I should never be able to follow any other trade." The most astounding fact about ths Thug, Colonel Sleeman declares, is that, as a general rule, he was a Good Citizen and Model Husband, devoted to his family and scrupulously straight when not on his predatory expeditions. For example, “an Englishman, Dr. Cheek, had a bearer in charge of his children. The man was a special favourite, remarkable for his kind and tender,ways with his little charges. . . . Every year he obtained leave of absence for the filial purpose, as he said, of visiting his aged mother for a month. This mild and exemplary being was later discovered by Sleeman to he a Thug; kind, gentle, conscientious.’ and-,,regular at his post for eleven months of the year, devot-. ing the twelfth to strangulation.” lie quotes a remarkable case of Thugs falling in with a party of sixty, the majority soldiers trained to arms, and strangling tho whole lot, one by one from the rear as they mare lied, so silently and expertly that Hie last was utterly unconscious of the fate of the. first. Colonel Slecman’s grandfather first became seriously alive to Hie problem cf Thuggee crime when an arrested Thug turned King’s evidence and calmly pointed out. that Hie General’s camping site in a mango grove was a burial-place for victims. “ A pundit and six attendants murdered in ISIS,” lie says In his records, “lay among tho ropes of my sleeping tent, a havildar and four sepoys, murdered in 1824 day under my horses, and four Brahman carriers of Ganges water and a woman murdered soon after the pundit, lay within my sleeping tent." He proved that Thug crimes were committed by a highly organised fraternity operating in all parts of India, and was appointed General Superintendent for the suppression of the Thug gangs. Between 1826 and 1835, 15G2 prisoners were tried for the crime of Thuggee, of whom 1404 were either hanged or transported. “It is hut right.” says Colonel Sleeman, “ when British rule in India is so unfairly challenged and so unworthily attacked, that Hie extinction of tin’s ancient religion of murder should he represented as yet Another Jewel In the Crown of Empire.” Brigadier-General Sir William Horwood, late Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. emphasises in a foreword that “of all the benefits which British rule has brought to India the suppression of Thuggee must, to the Indian, constitute one of the most astounding.” This first complete history of Thuggee, a remarkable record of murder as a, cult, is liberally documented as well as graphically written. What a film could he based on Sts material l