S.A.M.
02-04-08, 12:16 PM
Thuggee (or tuggee) (from Hindi thag ‘thief’, from Sanskrit sthaga ‘scoundrel’, from sthagati ‘to conceal’) was an Indian network of secret fraternities engaged in murdering and robbing travellers, operating from the 17th century (possibly as early as 13th century) to the 19th century. This is the origin of the term "thug". Thuggee groups consisted of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims though their patron was the Hindu Goddess Kali whom they often called Bhowanee.[2]Some historians classify the thugs as a cult or sect.
The earliest authenticated mention of the Thugs is found in the following passage of Ziau-d din Barni's History of Firoz Shah (written about 1356):
In the reign of that sultan (about 1290), some Thugs were taken in Delhi, and a man belonging to that fraternity was the means of about a thousand being captured. But not one of these did the sultan have killed. He gave orders for them to be put into boats and to be conveyed into the lower country, to the neighbourhood of Lakhnauti, where they were to be set free. The Thugs would thus have to dwell about Lakhnauti and would not trouble the neighbourhood of Delhi any more." (Sir HM Elliot's History of India, iii. 141).
Though they themselves trace their origin to seven Muslim tribes, the Hindu followers only seem to be related during the early periods of Islamic development; at any rate, their religious creed and staunch worship of Kali, one of the Hindu Tantric Goddesses, showed no Islamic influence.
Induction was sometimes passed from father to son; the leaders of the thug groups tended to come from these hereditary lines. Sometimes the thugs did not kill the young children of the travellers and groomed them to become thugs themselves. Some men became thugs to escape great poverty. A fourth way of becoming a thug was by learning it from a guru.
The murdering was done according to certain ancient and rigidly prescribed forms, and after the performance of special religious rites, in which the consecration of the pickaxe and the sacrifice of jaggery or gur formed a prominent part. The pickaxe was a necessary tool to dig graves.
According to 19th century writings about Thuggee, the will of the goddess by whose command and in whose honour they followed their calling was revealed to them through a very complicated system of omens. When the deed was done, rites were performed in the deity's honour, and a significant portion of the spoils was set apart for Her.
They believed each murder prevented Kali's arrival for one millennium.[citation needed] The fraternity also possessed a jargon of their own, the cant Ramasi, as well as certain signs by which its members recognised each other in the most remote parts of India. Even those who, from age or infirmities, could no longer take an active part in the ritual murder continued to aid the cause as watchers, spies, or dressers of food.
Because of their thorough organisation, the secrecy and security of their operation, and the religious pretext in which they shrouded their murders, they were recognised as a regular tax-paying profession and continued for centuries to practice their craft, free of inquiry from Hindu rulers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggee
The earliest authenticated mention of the Thugs is found in the following passage of Ziau-d din Barni's History of Firoz Shah (written about 1356):
In the reign of that sultan (about 1290), some Thugs were taken in Delhi, and a man belonging to that fraternity was the means of about a thousand being captured. But not one of these did the sultan have killed. He gave orders for them to be put into boats and to be conveyed into the lower country, to the neighbourhood of Lakhnauti, where they were to be set free. The Thugs would thus have to dwell about Lakhnauti and would not trouble the neighbourhood of Delhi any more." (Sir HM Elliot's History of India, iii. 141).
Though they themselves trace their origin to seven Muslim tribes, the Hindu followers only seem to be related during the early periods of Islamic development; at any rate, their religious creed and staunch worship of Kali, one of the Hindu Tantric Goddesses, showed no Islamic influence.
Induction was sometimes passed from father to son; the leaders of the thug groups tended to come from these hereditary lines. Sometimes the thugs did not kill the young children of the travellers and groomed them to become thugs themselves. Some men became thugs to escape great poverty. A fourth way of becoming a thug was by learning it from a guru.
The murdering was done according to certain ancient and rigidly prescribed forms, and after the performance of special religious rites, in which the consecration of the pickaxe and the sacrifice of jaggery or gur formed a prominent part. The pickaxe was a necessary tool to dig graves.
According to 19th century writings about Thuggee, the will of the goddess by whose command and in whose honour they followed their calling was revealed to them through a very complicated system of omens. When the deed was done, rites were performed in the deity's honour, and a significant portion of the spoils was set apart for Her.
They believed each murder prevented Kali's arrival for one millennium.[citation needed] The fraternity also possessed a jargon of their own, the cant Ramasi, as well as certain signs by which its members recognised each other in the most remote parts of India. Even those who, from age or infirmities, could no longer take an active part in the ritual murder continued to aid the cause as watchers, spies, or dressers of food.
Because of their thorough organisation, the secrecy and security of their operation, and the religious pretext in which they shrouded their murders, they were recognised as a regular tax-paying profession and continued for centuries to practice their craft, free of inquiry from Hindu rulers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggee