Thug: The True Story Of India's Murderous Cult (52 page)

‘
Where the ground is soft
…’ Thornton, op. cit. p. 9.

Varying locations for murder
See the ‘Deposition of Kaimraj Phansygur’, n.d. [1829],
Sel.Rec
. 19–27 for descriptions of a wide variety of murder spots.

Temple of Kamptee
Sleeman to Smith, 31 January 1832, BC F/4/1406 (55520) fos. 248–55.

Mango groves and orchards
Sleeman,
Rambles and Recollections
pp. 80–2; Christopher Bayly,
Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars
p. 43; DEU Baker,
Colonialism in an Indian Hinterland
p. 28. The groves, notes Bayly, ‘played an important part in the rural economy of some districts, where they accounted for as much as 5 per cent of the total cultivated acreage and provided a significant source of income for the landholders’.

Matabur beles
Sleeman,
Ramaseeana
I, 243n; Paton Papers fol. 123.

High ground
‘A letter explaining how Thugs selected spots for the murder of their victims’, 1 Dec 1837, T&D E/1, NAI.

‘
The Thugs speak of such places
…’ Thornton, op. cit. p. 9.

Kali venerated by many classes
Russell and Lal,
Tribes & Castes
IV, 575.

Pickaxe consecration
Ibid. IV, 574; Sleeman,
Ramaseeana
I, 155, 176; II, 304; Reynolds,
Notes
p. 204; George Bruce,
The Stranglers
pp. 60–2.

Stratton and Sleeman’s youth
Francis Tuker,
The Yellow Scarf: The Story of the Life of Thuggee Sleeman
pp. 3–9.

Recruitment to the East India Company and education of officers
BS Cohn, ‘Recruitment and
training
of British civil servants in India, 1600–1860’, in Ralph Braibanti (ed.),
Asian Bureaucratic Systems Emergent from the British Imperial Tradition
pp. 102–24; BB Misra,
The Central Administration of the East India Company, 1773–1834
pp. 388–408; Suresh Chandra Ghosh,
The Social Condition of the British Community in Bengal, 1757–1800
pp. 16, 31–3, 43, 149; Philip Mason,
A Matter of Honour
pp. 169, 179; James,
Raj
p. 130.

Illness and mortality
Wilkinson,
Two Monsoons
pp. 1–13, 45, 172–3, 180; Kincaid,
British Social Life in India
pp. xii, 37, 46; Mason, op. cit. pp. 86, 174.

Indian climate
Vernede (ed.),
British Life in India …1750–1947
pp. 72–5; Ghosh, op. cit. pp. 102–4; AC Newcombe,
Village, Town and Jungle Life in India
pp. 77–8, 121–2.

Calcutta in 1809
Dalrymple,
White Mughals
pp. 407–13; Kincaid, op. cit. pp. 90, 96–7, 140; Ghosh, op. cit. pp. 150–2.

Griffins
Mason, op. cit. p. 175; Tuker, op. cit. p. 11.

Servants
Kincaid, op. cit. p. 131; Vernede, op. cit. pp. 96–7, 104–6; Hilton Brown,
The Sahibs
pp. 210, 212; James,
Raj
p. 160, 168; Ghosh, op. cit. p. 109.

‘
I inquired whether the cat
…’ Cited by Brown, op. cit. p. 212.

Hookah
The famous ‘hubble-bubble’ pipe so characteristic of eighteenth-century India. Probably because of its ‘native’ connotations, it fell into disuse shortly after Sleeman’s arrival, and was supplanted by the cheroot.

Marriage
Ghosh, op. cit. pp. 60–71; Kincaid, op. cit. pp. 164, 166–7; Mason, op. cit. p. 176; Brown, op. cit. p, 146. On the relative attractiveness of the women of the ‘fishing fleet’, see Fanny Eden’s comments in Dunbar,
Tigers, Durbars and Kings
p. 75: ‘It was a very remarkable ball owing to the extraordinary plainness – to use a light expression – of the ladies there, 20
altogether
. One was pointed out with great pride as ‘our only unmarried lady’: that fact was not the only remarkable thing about her. She was of that hue generally denominated orange ‘tawny’, in a bright strawberry pink gown, one yard wide, the sort of drawn-up features which allow a view of the back of the skull, and an embroidered bag hanging over her arm while she danced.’

Daily round
Kincaid, op. cit. pp. 96–7, 177–8.

Food and drink
Ibid. pp. 98–9, 160; Brown, op. cit. pp. 49, 51; Ghosh, op. cit. pp. 122, 162; Wilkinson, op. cit. p. 180.

Increasing insularity of the British community
Kincaid, op. cit. pp. xviii, 129, 166; Dalrymple, op. cit. p. 409; Vernede, op. cit. p. 25.

Sleeman’s character, appearance and early career
Tuker, op. cit. pp. 15–23, 37; PD Reeves (ed.),
Sleeman in Oudh
pp. 9–12, 14–15, 27, 30; Martine van Woerkens,
The Strangled Traveller
pp. 190–6, 201–34.

‘
probably the only British official
…’ Christopher Bayly,
Empire and Information
p. 75.

Civil administration
Michael Edwardes,
The Sahibs and the Lotus
pp. 59–60; Meadows Taylor,
The Story of My Life
I, 265–6; Wilkinson, op. cit. p. 72; Brown, op. cit. p. 128; Amal Chatterjee,
Representation of India 1740–1840
p. 74.

‘
were almost invariably high-handed
…’ Edwardes, op. cit. p. 60.

‘
The Heaven Born
’ Verende, op. cit. p. 10.

Jubbulpore
AE Nelson,
Central Provinces District Gazetteers: Jubbulpore District
; James Forsyth,
The Highlands of Central India
pp. 314–15.

Freebooters
Philip McEldowney,
Pindari Society and the Establishment of British Paramountcy in India
; idem, ‘A brief study of the Pindaris of Madhya Pradesh’,
The Indian Cultures Quarterly
27 (1971) pp. 55–70; GL Corbett and RV Russell,
Central Provinces District Gazetteers: Hoshangabad District
pp. 32–3;
Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Central India
pp. 23–4; Gordon,
The Marathas
pp. 114–15; Mason, op. cit. pp. 136–7; Edwardes, op. cit. pp. 60–62; Radhika Singha,
A Despotism of Law
pp. 177–8.

Insects
Newcombe, op. cit. pp. 100, 103.

Thermantidotes
Vernede, op. cit. p. 74.

Nursingpore
RV Russell,
Central Provinces District Gazetteers: Narshingpur District
pp. 2–5, 27, 30, 70–83, 223–4; Crispin Bates, ‘Class and economic change in central India: the Narmada Valley, 1820–1930’, in CJ Dewey (ed.),
Arrested Development in India: The Historical Perspective
pp. 241–2.

‘
disastrous failure
’ Russell, op. cit. p. 28.

‘
by far the most laborious
…’ George Bruce,
The Stranglers
p. 36.

Thugs arrested in the Nerbudda valley
These were the members of the Lucknadown gang, responsible for the death of Bunda Ali, and betrayed by a particularly unpleasant informant by the name of Motee. It is a complicated story, too convoluted to unravel here, and although a prompt trial of the Lucknadown gang in 1823–4 might conceivably have led the British authorities to take earlier action against the gangs, in the end the arrests led nowhere. Molony died before the case could be brought before the courts, his successor lasted no more than a few months, and in the general confusion the Lucknadown Thugs were
forgotten
until 1830–31. ‘Disposal of several ring leaders of Thug gangs in Bundelcund’, BC F/4/984 (27697) fos. 2–3; Consultation No. 27 of 25 July 1831, BPC P/126/26; ‘Evidence of Motee’, BC F/4/1309 (52131) fos. 296–300; Ravenshaw and Marjoribanks (Directors of the East India Company) to Bentinck (Governor General), 28 Nov. 1832, BC F/4/1483 (55514) fos. 19–26.

Thugs in Nursingpore
Sleeman,
Ramaseeana
I, 32–3.

Killing of stone-cutters at Baroda
‘Deposition of Amanoolah Phansygur’, n.d. [1829] and ‘Deposition of Kaimraj Phansygur’, n.d. [1829],
Sel.Rec
. 15–27.

Thugs’ spend on weddings
Sleeman,
Ramaseeana
, I, 173–4.

Baroda gang’s loot
‘Deposition of Amanoolah Phansygur’, n.d. [1829],
Sel.Rec
. 15–26.

…
a Thug who carefully listed
… ‘Deposition of Sheikh Dawood Newly’, 24 Nov. 1834, T&D D2 No. 1, NAI.

Thug expenses
‘Examination of Thug approver Rama Jemadar No. 1’, 1832,
Sel.Rec
. 136. ‘In general,’ Rama concluded, ‘with regard to booty acquired by myself and others, we used on our return from any excursion to dispose of it to
bunnyahs
or to give it to them in liquidation of debts.’ Ibid. p. 137. From this it would appear that some Thug expeditions actually ran at a loss. It was, in any case, relatively rare for the members of the gangs to put much money aside. ‘Their life,’ considered FC Smith, ‘is a life of pleasure; but their prosperity is evanescent. They are in a great degree during their expeditions free from the trammels of caste, and live on the fat of the land; but their wealth seldom remains with them long, being either, consumed on the spot, or expended in bribing the Jumeendars, under whose protection they reside or the authorities who connive at their atrocities or in purchasing their relief from bondage.’ FC Smith, ‘Report on the Sessions of 1831–32’, 20 June 1832,
Sel.Rec
. p. 120. ‘Thugs,’ added Sleeman, ‘were known to spend what they got freely, and never to have money by them.’
Rambles and Recollections
I, 108.

Loitering at customs posts
See Reynolds, ‘Notes on the T’hags’ p. 207.

Those with no money would sometimes be spared
Cf.
Ramaseeana
I, 233.

Mutilation of corpses
Edward Thornton,
Illustrations of the History and Practices of the Thugs
p. 10.

‘
trifling’ and ‘paltry
’ ‘Examination of Thug approver Mana No. 4’, 1832,
Sel.Rec
. 153; Thornton, op. cit. p. 218.

…
eight annas
… ‘
two pice
’ Deposition of Shumsheera before the Zillah court at Benares, June–July 1833, cited by Thornton, op. cit. p. 125. ‘The chance is that every man has a rupee or two about him in money or cloths,’ the magistrate of Chittoor, William Wright, had noted in 1812, ‘and with them the most trifling sum is a sufficient inducement to commit murder.’ Wright to Secretary of Government, 1 July 1812,
Ramaseeana
II, 308–9. In 1810, Thomas Perry had interrogated a Thug named Shuhadul, who confessed to murdering one man for a share amounting to only 12 annas. This, he added, was an unusually low amount – but certainly not hugely so:

…
the enormous sum of 200,000 rupees
… Sleeman,
Ramaseeana
I, 189.

Jhora Naek
Ibid. I, 99. The servant’s name is sometimes given as Koduk Bunwaree; see James Sleeman,
Thug
p. 35.

Rae Singh’s deceit Ramaseeana
I, 224–6.

…
one other group of Thugs
… This incident occurred in the Deccan in 1816. John Malcolm,
A Memoir of Central India
II, 189.

Sixty Soul Affair
Sleeman,
Ramaseeana
I, 164–5, James Sleeman,
Thug
pp. 83–5.

Murder of Forty
The actual number of victims was 39, as a little girl was preserved and married to a nephew of the jemadar of Thugs. Her story was particularly wrenching, and may stand for those of all the children spared and brought up by the stranglers. The child’s known relatives were all killed in the affair, and it was not until 1834 that Sleeman’s men traced her, now a woman in her late 20s, still living among the Thugs. ‘My mother and father resided in some town in the Deccan,’ she deposed. ‘Their names I do not recollect as I was only three or four years of age when my uncle and mother took me with them on a journey towards the Ganges. On the road, my mother and uncle were killed, by Thugs, with many other travellers. Kasal Singh Putuck Jemadar preserved my life and took me with him to Pahlun in Gwalior, where he brought me up; and when I became of age he married me to his son, Hunce Rao, who is now dead. As long as he lived, I lived with him; but he has been dead several years, and I have since lived with his mother, and earned my subsistence by my labour. Your sepahees found me out, and have brought me into Saugor. I had two sons by Hunce Rao; the first died when 15 months old; the other is eight or nine years of age and … is in Khyrawa in Jhansee with his grandmother. I was the only member of the party saved. There is now no Thug left in the family of Hunce Rao who can provide for me. If you will maintain me, I shall be glad to remain here; but I have never heard whether my parents had any surviving relations or not.’ Cited by Thornton, op. cit. pp. 178–84.

Economic depression
DEU Baker,
Colonialism in an Indian Hinterland
pp. 51, 55.

History of the Indian opium trade
Janin,
The India–China Opium Trade in the Nineteenth Century
pp. 5–41; Farooqui,
Smuggling as Subversion
pp. 3–24, 60–3.

Opium-eating
Thomas de Quincey (1785–1859), an essayist and a friend of Coleridge, became addicted to opium at Oxford University. His
Confessions of an English
Opium-Eater
first appeared in 1821 and was a considerable success.

Malwa opium
Farooqui, op. cit. pp. 41, 95, 115–20, 142–8, 153. Malwa opium was considered superior to the Bengali product, as it yielded smokers at least eight per cent more extract from balls of identical weight. Ibid. p. 72.

Thugs steal opium
‘Deposition of Kaimraj Phansygur …’, 1829,
Sel.Rec
. p. 23.

Indian banking
LC Jain,
Indigenous Banking in India
pp. 5–45; NK Sinha,
The Economic History of Bengal
, I, 74–6, 80, 86. The quotations from Tavenier are cited by Jain, op. cit. pp. 11–14.

‘
this bank
…’ Anna Leonowens,
Life and Travel in India
pp. 225–6.

…
invariably family concerns
… Karen Leonard, ‘Banking firms in nineteenth-century Hyderabad politics’,
Modern Asian Studies
15 (1981) pp. 180–1.

Hoondees
Leonowens, op. cit. p. 226.

Thugs burn hoondees
Cf. deposition of Amannoolah Phansygur, 1829,
Sel.Rec
. p. 17; Thornton, op. cit. p. 343.

Cash transfers and the opium trade
FC Smith, ‘Report on the sessions of 1831–32’, 20 June 1832,
Sel.Rec
. 104–26, para 9; Farooqui, op. cit. p. 41; WH Carey,
The Good Old Days of John Company
, II, 249. There does not seem to be any evidence to support recent contentions that the anti-Thug campaign was actually motivated by the Company’s desire to protect its lucrative opium trade; indeed, in so far as the Thugs’ main victims were bankers and
dealers
operating in defiance of British attempts to impose a monopoly on the drug, it could be argued that the gangs’ activities actually benefited the Bombay Presidency.

Increasing quantities
Sleeman also notes the bankers’ habit of sending ‘remittances in precious metals and jewels’ all over India ‘whenever the exchange rate makes it in the smallest degree profitable’.
Ramaseeana
I, iv.

Favourable exchange rates
Iftikhar Ahmad,
Thugs, Dacoits and the Modern World-System in Nineteenth-Century India
p. 96.

Dependability of treasure-bearers
Sleeman,
Ramaseeana
I, 5.

‘
nothing but naked bodies
…’ Sleeman,
Rambles & Recollections
I, 98.

Jhansee Ghat
‘18th, Jhansi Ghat case’, BC F/4/1405 (55519); ‘21st, or Basaini Case’, BC F/4/1406 (55520);
Ramaseeana
II, 138.

…
a group of Deccan Thugs
… This crime was committed by the notorious Arcottee Thugs, and is set out by Sleeman in
Depredations
pp. xi, xii.

The case of the filthy fakir
Ibid. pp. 23–4.

Gomashtas are ‘invested
…’ Cited in Jain, op. cit. p. 36.