Thug: The True Story Of India's Murderous Cult (53 page)

Tapti river affair
Statements of Dhunraj Seth, n.d.? 1831, cited by Thornton,
Illustrations of the History and Practices of the Thugs
pp. 134, 135–6; ‘5th or Chaupura affair’, BC F/4/1685 (67999), with a summary on fos. 94–5; for Budloo Jemadar, see BC F/4/1404 (55516) fo. 71. A second treasure party fell foul of the Thugs in the same year, this time in the Deccan, where 20,000 rupees’ worth of cash and gold was seized by a gang of 30 Thugs, hand-picked from among the most practised killers of several different gangs, who had pursued their quarry across 36 miles of country. ‘Deposition of Amanoolah Phansygur …’ n.d. [1829],
Sel.Rec
. 18–19.

Malagow affair
The treasure in this case consisted of ‘13 seers of gold, with several golden
necklaces
, 900 golden coins, 17 gold mohurs and several bars of gold’. The cotton-cleaners had a further three rupees, and the messenger a pair of silver armlets valued at 14 rupees. Feringeea’s depositions, which include these details, can be found in BC F/4/1403 (55515) fos. 169–71 and BC F/4/1404 (55516) fos. 63–4. These two files give the same case different names – it is variously referred to as the ‘6th Dhulia Malagow’ case and the ‘7th, Dhoree Cote’ affair, but although the witnesses tell the story from different perspectives, and the total of loot taken varies by Rs.10,000, it is clear from the similarities in their evidence – notably the detail that two cotton-cleaners and a dawk carrier were among the victims – that the affairs are identical. The difference in the quantity of loot mentioned can also be accounted for; one party counted the Rs.10,000 of jewels found on the bearers, the other only the gold. Yet another account of what must be the same affair, told from a third perspective, can be found in Wellesley to Swinton, 8 Sept. 1830,
Sel.Rec
. 5–7 and statements by Dhunraj Seth, n.d.? 1831, cited by Thornton, op. cit. pp. 134, 135–6. See also Thornton, op. cit. pp. 149–53;
Ramaseeana
I, 192–4; ‘Trial No. 14 of 1832: Dhulia Malagow case’, BC F/4/1490 (58672) fos. 436–538
contains
the evidence in two subsidiary trials of men rounded up after the first cases had been concluded. For the correct date of this affair – January 1828 – see Smith to Macnaghten, 4 Sept. 1833, BC F/4/1490 (58672) fos. 433–6. For the arrest of seven of the murderers, see ‘Proceedings of Mr Fraser, Acting Agent in the Saugor and Nurbudda Territories’, 4 Nov. 1829, in Sleeman correspondence, SB.

Description of Nasik and Candeish
Anon.,
Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency
XII, 1–5, 207, 310–14; XVI, 345–6, 349.

Burwaha Ghat affair
‘8th Barwaha Gat Case’, BC F/4/1404 (55516); ‘Trial No. 9 of 1832,’ BC F/4/1490 (58671) fos. 405ff; Thornton, op. cit. pp. 127–48;
Ramaseeana
II, 54–69.

…
more like a highway robbery
… See also Sleeman’s comments on the Sujaina affair of 1814 in
Rambles and Recollections
I, 96–7.

‘
khomusna
’ See Sleeman’s Thug vocabulary in
Ramaseeana
I, 67–140.

‘
by regular stages
’ Deposition of Moklal, n.d., cited by Thornton, op. cit. p. 145.

The Indian police system
Radhika Singha,
A Despotism of Law
pp. 1–25; N Majumdar,
Justice and Police in Bengal, 1765–1793
pp. 306–13; BB Misra,
The Central Administration of the East India Company, 1773–1834
pp. 300–308, 332; Chakrabarti,
Authority and Violence
pp. 1–6. The Empire’s Muslims were governed by Islamic law, its Hindus by their own code when it came to civil matters and – after the arrival of the Company in Bengal – by their conquerors’ law only in criminal cases.

Thanahs
The number of thanahs in a district varied widely over time. Misra, op. cit. p. 303,
estimated
that in the Mughal period most controlled parcels of land perhaps 4 to 10 square miles in extent – equivalent in size to an English parish. But Chakrabarti, op. cit. p. 33, shows that in two Bengal districts, in 1824, there were a mere 31 thanahs scattered among 9,500 villages controlling a total population of more than 3.2 million people – an average of one thanah to more than 300 villages.

Village watchmen
Misra, op. cit. p. 304. A second class of village policeman also existed in some communities. These men, who were known as
pashans
, divided their time between collecting taxes and guarding the local fields.

Zamindars’ breaches of the law
Cf. Chattopadhyay,
Crime and Control
pp. 104–8.

The
darogah
and the Company’s new system of justice
Ibid. pp. xiii–xiv, 37, 52–3, 67–8, 78, 87, 89–90, 125, 128–9, 141, 165, 175; Chakrabarti, op. cit. pp. 7, 24–33, 35–46, 59, 61–2, 67, 71, 76, 79, 87–8; Misra, op. cit. pp. 332, 344–50; Basudev Chatterji, ‘The darogah and the countryside: the imposition of police control in Bengal and its impact (1793–1837)’,
IESHR
18/1 (1981) pp. 19–42.

Darogah’s low pay
A further disincentive was the requirement that new darogahs post a
security
of 1,000 rupees as a guarantee of good behaviour – a sum that was forfeit in the event of dismissal. Chattopadhyay, op. cit. p. 190.

Darogahs’ income, nominal and actual
Ibid. pp. 165–6.

Can have no local knowledge
G Thompson report, October 1806, BCJC 9 Oct. 1806; cited by Chatterji, op. cit. p. 36.

Abuses of this sort
… Plainly, in these circumstances, the worst catastrophe that could befall any darogah was to police a district where there was little in the way of crime or violence. See Chatterji, op. cit. pp. 26, 33.

Would go to almost any lengths
Few robberies ever reached the ears of the local magistrate, Bengal’s Superintendent of Police conceded in 1814, because it was ‘infinitely preferable to abide by the first loss than to be subjected to the inconvenience and expense attending to a prosecution’. Chatterji, op. cit. p. 35. ‘The police invariably settled things with the highest bidder and remained loyal to the richest,’ notes Chakrabarti, op. cit. p. 71.

Villagers conceal bodies
Chakrabarti, op. cit. pp. 83, 175.

‘
The police is as dangerous
…’ Kedarnath Datta in
Sachitra Gulzarnagar
(1833), cited by Chattopadhyay, op. cit. p. 163.

Few cases heard
Anon.,
Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency
XII pp. 310–12; Singha, op. cit. pp. 173–4, 207.

Dhunraj Seth’s bank
FC Smith (Agent for Saugor & Nerbudda), ‘Report on the sessions of 1831–32’, 20 June 1832,
Sel.Rec
. 104–26, paras 25–29; Statements of Dhunraj Seth, n.d.? 1831, cited by Thornton, op. cit. pp. 134, 135–6.

Sindhia’s treasury
Farooqui,
Smuggling as Subversion
p. 41.

‘
Some of the bodies
…’ Thornton, op. cit. p. 151.

Deposition of Oda
Patel
Sleeman,
Ramaseeana
II, 71.

Cubits
An ancient measurement, normally said to be based on the length of a man’s forearm, but varying, in practice, between 18 and 22 inches.

Recovery of the bodies at Burwaha Ghat
Deposition of Narooha Kumusdar, 5 Nov. 1831, cited by Thornton, op. cit. pp. 127–9.

Beharee Lal’s involvement with the Thugs
This is a rather condensed account of an incident that, in reality, involved a great deal of to-ing and fro-ing between Beharee Lal, Sleeman in Jubbulpore, the Company’s Resident at Indore and Agent in Bundelcund, and Holkar. The full story can be found in Sleeman to Fraser (Acting Agent, Bundulcund) 7 Jan. 1830, BC F/4/1251 (50480/2) fo. 597; Sleeman to Smith, 5 Apr. 1830, ibid. fo. 601; deposition of Sleeman’s spy, n.d., ibid. fo. 603; Cartwright (Acting Resident, Indore) to Smith, 29 Apr. 1830, ibid. fos. 605–7, who expresses doubts concerning the seth’s culpability; and a statement received from the authorities at Indore, n.d., ibid. fos. 607–11; Sleeman to Smith, 13 May 1830, ibid. fos. 422–43. It is not certain whether this Beharee Lal was the same man as the ‘rich banker’ of that name living in Lucknow in 1819 whose home was attacked by two dacoit gangs, 200 strong, which relieved the seth of treasure valued at 8,000 rupees. See James Hutton,
A Popular Account of the Thugs and Dacoits
pp. 108–9.

…
60 per cent
… FC Smith, ‘Report on the Sessions of 1831–32’, para 27, 20 June 1832,
Sel.Rec
. 111.

Beharee Lal’s Thug tribunal
Ibid. See also Smith to Macnaghten, 29 May 1832, ibid. p. 82 for the Agent’s views on the unreliability of Indian courts.

‘
King of Thugs
’ This was the description applied to Beharee by FC Smith in a letter to EC Revenshaw, Officiating Resident at Hyderabad, 4 Oct. 1830, Appa Sahib & Thuggee papers, SB.

‘
He got a good deal
…’ Testimony of Moklal,
Ramaseeana
I, 190–1. ‘He moves about in state,’ Sleeman charged, ‘with a few of the Leaders, and whenever one of his numerous Gang is arrested he contrives to get him released under the pretence that he was employed by him to search for his property, and wherever anyone refuses to share with him his plunder, he manages to get some native chief or public functionary to arrest him.’ Sleeman to Smith, 13 May 1830, BC F/4/1251(50480/2) fo.435.

Invalid sergeant
Consultation No. 15 of 9 Feb. 1831, BPC P/126/27.

British interest awakened
FC Smith, ‘Report on the Sessions of 1831–32’, para 28, 20 June 1832,
Sel.Rec
. 111; deposition of Dhunraj Seth, n.d., cited in Thornton, p.134.

Borthwick’s Thugs
Numerous papers related to this case are gathered in
Sel.Rec
. 10–40.

Syeed Ameer Ali
See ‘Deposition of Syeed Ameer Allee, jemadar of Thugs, taken before Captain Sleeman from the 14th to the 22nd April 1832 at different times’, BC F/4/1406 [55521] fols. 374–464.

‘
The correspondence that passed
’ Cf. Stewart (Resident, Gwalior) to Swinton, 12 Aug. 1829,
Sel.Rec
. 11–12.

Lord William Bentinck
For the Governor General’s personality, see John Rosselli,
Bentinck
pp. 20, 24–5, 31–2, 57, 84, 95 and CH Philips (ed.),
The Correspondence of Lord William Cavendish Bentinck
I, xi–xxv.

Mutiny in Madras
Philip Mason,
A Matter of Honour
pp. 236–42.

‘
A most amiable but imbecile governor
’ Peter Auber (Secretary to the Court of Directors) to Bentinck, cited in
Correspondence
I, xxii–xxiii.

Bentinck’s motives and policies
ibid. pp. xiv, xvii; Rosselli, pp. 95, 97, 185, 189–90.

Initiation of the anti Thug campaign
Radhika Singha,
A Despotism of Law
pp. 203–04; Sleeman,
Ramaseeana
II, 379–84.

‘
We are by no means satisfied
’ ‘General letter from the Hon’ble the Court of Directors’, 6 Apr. 1830, in Philips, op. cit. I, 426.

Major Wardlow
Sleeman,
Ramaseeana
I, 46n.

‘
The hand of these inhuman monsters
’ Swinton to Stewart, 23 Oct. 1829,
Sel.Rec
. 12–15.

Circular
Fanny Parks,
Wanderings of a Pilgrim in Search of the Picturesque
I, 123–4.

Sleeman’s marriage
George Bruce, op. cit. pp. 41, 76.

Trial of 1826
Sleeman,
Ramaseeana
I, 46n.

Sleeman’s Thugs
Smith to Swinton, 5 Jul 1830,
Sel.Rec
. 40–4. Sleeman’s attention was also drawn to the Thugs by the discovery of a number of bodies by the men of the 71st Native Infantry near Golegunge on 20 October 1829. Sleeman to Smith, 1833, T&D G/1 fos. 246–9.

Difficulties in convicting Thugs
Singha,
A Despotism of Law
p.194.

‘
In order to make them assent to us
…’ Sleeman to Smith, T&D G/1 fos. 69–70, NAI.

‘
He shall make in your presence
…’ Smith to Sleeman, 20 Jan. 1831, Sleeman correspondence, SB.

‘
The mode of proceeding
…’ Anon., ‘Ramaseeana’,
Foreign Quarterly Review
21 (1838) p. 29.

‘
Sent for singly
…’ Ibid.

‘
Curiously emotionless
’ Thornton,
Illustrations
pp. 198–200. The approver in this case was Sheikh Inaent; see chapter 12.

‘
It was on my return
…’ Ibid.

Unreliable approvers
Cf. Smith to Swinton, 21 May 1832, BC F/4/1404 [55517] fo. 207; see also T&D G/1 fos. 3,5, 7.

‘
Thugs will strangle a King’s Evidence
’ ‘Dialogues with Thugs’, Paton papers Add.Mss. 41300 fo.57v, BL.

‘
All I require
…’ ‘Captain Sherriff’s Procedings in 1823, at Jhalna’,
Ramaseeana
II, 277.

Confession of Ramzan
James Sleeman,
Thug
pp. 129–30.

Thugs encouraged to think they are in service
Sleeman,
Ramaseeana
I, 186; Radhika Singha,
A Despotism of Law
p. 184&n.

‘
All my enemies now!
’ Paton papers fo. 9.

Confession of Futty Khan
James Sleeman, op. cit. pp. 130–1.

General warrants
Sleeman to Cavendish, 11 June 1832, T&D G/1; Philips, op. cit. II, 947.

‘
setting up a dismal yell
’ ‘Proceedings of a Court of Enquiry …’, 8 Oct. 1823,
Ramaseeana
II, 275; also ibid. II, 284.

Ruckbur Singh
Deposition of Ruckbur Singh, ibid. II, 289–91.

The Cotwal of Sopur
Ibid. I, 217–19; II, 141–3.

Case of Humeerchund and the chintz jacket
Ibid. I, 64–6n.

‘
Few who were in India
…’ Cited in the introduction to Meadows Taylor,
Confessions of a Thug
pp. xv–xvi.

‘
I became very busy
’ Meadows Taylor,
The Story of My Life
pp. 112–13.