Thug: The True Story Of India's Murderous Cult

by Mike Dash

  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.

  11 Approvers

  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.

  12 The Omen of the Owl

  ‘Before the establishment of tranquillity …’ ‘Deposition of Poorun Phansygur or Thug, Caste Lodha, Age upward of 60 years …’, n.d. [1829], Sel.Rec. 27–8.

  ‘Homes in Bundelcund’ Feringeea himself was at this time living in the town of Alumpore, in Holkar’s territory. Deposition of Hureea, 21 July 1830, BC F/4/1251 (50480/2) fo. 444.

  Feringeea’s expedition of 1827–8 Sleeman, Report on the Depredations Committed by the Thug Gangs pp. 22–7. On Feringeea’s short imprisonment, see deposition of Hureea, loc. cit.

  Knew most Thug leaders Later British records of Thug depositions feature numerous tables showing which captured Thugs had been recognized by which approver. Feringeea regularly named twice as many suspected stranglers as any other approver, and the column headed by his name was often made twice as wide as those allotted to his fellow jemadars so as to contain the extra information he provided.

  Zolfukar This jemadar’s name also appears in the British records as Zoolfikar, Zoolfakar and Zoolfakir.

  Origins of Sheikh Inaent Sleeman, Ramaseeana I, 160; Oliver (Captain, 73rd Native Infantry) to Sleeman, 10 Dec. 1829, BC F/4/1430 (55515) fo. 493. Inaent was born in 1787 or 1788 and had been active since at least 1803; see Ramaseeana I, 240 and II, 239–44. In 1829 he was living in the village of Gueara in Jhansee, close to Feringeea’s home. Sleeman, Depredations p. 50.

  disastrous outcome … The likelihood that his own finances had become strained is indicated by the fact that he returned to the roads during the hot season of 1830; see below.

  Expedition of 1828–9 Depositions of Hureea, 26 Apr., 21+23 July 1830, BC F/4/1251 (50480/2) fos. 443–51; Sleeman, Depredations pp. 46–50 and Ramaseeana I, 188. The value of the loot taken at Dhoree is not certain. The first British officer on the scene put it at in excess of 100,000 rupees (9th or Dhoree affair’, BC F/4/1404 (55517) fo. 3). Later estimates put it at somewhere between 70,000 and 80,000 rupees; Ramaseeana I, 194–6; Smith to Swinton, 20 June 1832, Sel.Rec. 110.

  The closing net ‘Proceedings of Mr Fraser … in the Saugor & Nerbudda Territories dated the 4th Nov. 1829’, Appa Sahib & Thuggee papers, SB; Smith to Swinton, BC F/4/1251 (50480/2) fos. 408–9.

  Arrest of Sheikh Inaent Sleeman, Ramaseeana I, 227–30; Oliver to Sleeman, 10 Dec. 1829, BC F/4/1251 (50480/2) fos. 493–4; Sleeman to Smith, 13 May 1830, ibid. fos. 422–3.

  Murder of Gosains Sleeman to Smith, 13 May 1830, ibid. fos. 422–4; Nicholson (Assistant superintendent, roads) to Sleeman, 10 Dec. 1829, ibid. fo. 501; Ramaseeana I, 230–2; deposition of Rambuksh in Thornton, Illustrations pp. 399–401. On the Gosains and their wealth, see Bernard Cohn, ‘The role of the Gosains in the economy of 18th and 19th century Upper India’, IESHR 1 (1964).

  Further murders by Feringeea ‘13th or Bhilsa affair’, BC F/4/1404 (55517) fos. 393–5; Ramaseeana I, 231–2.

  Zolfukar’s foal and the chiraiya’s call Sleeman, Ramaseeana I, 232–4. Feringeea, in ibid. I, 171, conflates two separate incidents and says the omen was heard directly after the party buried the body of the woman, blaming their subsequent capture on disobedience of the proscription on murdering females.

  Dacoit belief in omens Ranjan Chakrabarti, Authority and Violence in Colonial Bengal, 1800–1860 p. 143. Sneezing was generally thought to be bad luck because it was taken as a sign that a bhut (mischief spirit) had entered or left a person. Thugs shared the same superstition. William Crooke, Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India p. 223.

  Thug omens and portents Sleeman to the editor of the Government Gazette (n.d., published 7 Oct. 1830), in AC Das Gupta (ed.), The Days of John Company p. 583; FC Smith, ‘Report on the Sessions of 1831–32’, 20 June 1832, Sel.Rec. 123–4; Ramaseeana I, 68, 87, 102, 122; Fanny Parkes, Wanderings of a Pilgrim I, 151. RV Russell and Hira Lal provide further examples, and a useful commentary, in The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India IV, 582–5. It seems worth noting that, while the Company m
en who set down the first accounts of these omens tended to assume that all Thugs obeyed the same portents, it is just as likely that beliefs varied from province to province, and even from gang to gang.

  ‘… heard to break wind …’ Sleeman, Ramaseeana I, 68.

  … blown from the mouths of cannon Michael Edwardes, The Sahibs and the Lotus pp. 152–3.

  Thugs more scrupulous in captivity Cited by George Bruce, The Stranglers, p. 67.

  Feringeea’s men are seized Deposition of Feringeea, BC F/4/1404 (55517) fo. 395; Sleeman to Smith, 13 May 1830, BC F/4/1251 (50480/2) fos. 422–8; deposition of Hureea, 21 July 1830, ibid. fos. 443–9; Sleeman, Ramaseeana I, 233–4.

  Members of Feringeea’s gang A list of the whole gang appears in Ramaseeana II, 226–7.

  Sleeman becomes aware of Feringeea Sleeman to Nicholson, letter no. 133, n.d. (1830), Sleeman correspondence, SB.

  13 ‘A Double Weight of Irons’

  Capture of members of Feringeea’s family Smith to Swinton, BC F/4/1404 (55517) fos. 392–3; ‘Trial of Sheikh Madaree and 25 other Thugs, charged with murder at different places’, BC F/4/1251 (50480/2) fos. 503–79; Sleeman, Depredations p. 67.

  Main informer Sleeman to Smith, 13 May 1830, BC F/4/1251 (50480/2) fo. 429.

  Villages of Jhansee Smith to Prinsep, 8 Dec. 1830, BC F/4/2151 (50480/1) fos. 43–8.

  ‘by only a few seconds’ Sleeman to Smith, 7 Jan. 1831, in Consultation No. 11, 18 Mar. 1831, BPC P/126/27.

  The cause Sleeman to Benson, 22 Nov. 1832, in CH Philips (ed.), The Correspondence of Lord William Cavendish Bentinck, Governor-General of India 1828–1835 II, 947.

  Developing campaign against the Thugs Radhika Singha, A Despotism of Law pp. 186–90, 203–12; Sleeman circular 31 Aug. 1838, T&D G/8, NAI.

  Sleeman commended Swinton to Smith, 3 Dec. 1830, Sel.Rec. 4–5.

  ‘The extirpation of this tribe’ Swinton note, dated 4 Oct. 1830 in BC F/4/1251 (50480/2) fo. 669.

  ‘His Lordship relies …’ Swinton to Smith, 8 Oct. 1830, Sel.Rec. p. 10.

  Thugs, Residents and general warrants Smith to Swinton, 26 May 1832, Sel.Rec. 79; Macnaghton (Secretary to Governor General) to Cavendish, 25 May and 24 June 1832, ibid. pp. 87–90; Lushington (Resident, Bhurtpore) to Lockett (Agent, Ajmere), 16 July 1832, ibid. pp. 102–3; ‘Report on the Sessions of 1831–32’, ibid. p. 117; Singha, op. cit. pp. 204–5; ‘Extract Political Letter from Fort William’, 15 Dec. 1835, BC F/4/1403 (55514) fo. 16; Sleeman to Cavendish 11 June 1832, T&D G/1, NAI; Sleeman memorandum, 22 Nov. 1832, in Philips, op. cit. II, 947; Martine van Woerkens, The Strangled Traveller pp. 56–7; Bruce, The Stranglers pp. 143–4.

  ‘To check the dreadful evil …’ Quoted by Bruce, op. cit. pp. 145–6.

  Feringeea’s wife ignorant of his way of life ‘Neither she nor her family knew it till you seized her and she had been brought to Jubbulpore,’ the strangler insisted. Ramaseeana I, 237.

  ‘I knew that Feringeea …’ Sleeman to Smith, 7 Jan. 1831, in Consultation No. 11, 18 Mar. 1831, BPC P/126/27.

  Expedition during the monsoon season of 1830 Deposition of Feringeea, ‘24th or Busaynee Second Trial’, BC F/4/1406 (55520) fos. 544–7; Smith to Swinton 10 June 1832, ibid. fos. 541–2; Depredations p. 66 mentions the same case without making clear the lateness of the season.

  Never twice in the same bed Sleeman to Smith, 7 Jan. 1831, in Consultation No. 11, 18 Mar. 1831, BPC P/126/27.

  Pursuit and final capture Ibid.; Depredations pp. 67–8.

  In double irons Smith to Ainsley (Agent, Banda), 15 Nov. 1830, BC F/4/1251 (50480/1) fo. 34.

  ‘Great Thugg leader’ Sleeman to Smith, 7 Jan. 1831, Consultation No. 11, 18 Mar. 1831, BPC P/126/27.

  ‘… though so young a man …’ Smith to Sleeman, 20 Jan. 1831, ibid.

  ‘… upon a deliberate calculation …’ This was the opinion of the Governor General, Bentinck, himself. The fact that the matter was referred to him is another indication of the importance attached to Feringeea in the Company’s eyes. BC F/4/1251 (50480/1) fos. 9–10.

  ‘…given me abundant proof …’ Sleeman to Smith, 7 Jan. 1831, Consultation No. 11, 18 Mar. 1831, BPC P/126/27.

  Betrayal of Candeish gangs Sleeman, Ramaseeana I, 30.

  Exhumation of victims’ graves Ibid. I, 30–2; Sleeman to Smith, 7 Jan. 1831, Consultation No. 11, 18 Mar. 1831, BPC P/126/27.

  Number of approvers James Hutton, A Popular Account of the Thugs and Dacoits pp. 90–2.

  ‘I know Badaloo’ Evidence of Feringeea, BC F/4/1403 (55514) fo. 91.

  Golab Thug Ibid. fo. 247.

  ‘Identified and named’ Ibid. fos. 67–127.

  Trial No. 6 of 1832 BC F/4/1490 (58671), fos. 22, 28.

  Trial No. 7 of 1832 Ibid. fos. 95–6.

  Solicited intelligence from friends and family Sleeman to Smith, 7 Jan. 1831, Consultation No. 11 of 18 Mar. 1831, BPC P/126/27.

  Numbers of arrests Sleeman, Ramaseeana I, 38–9; Depredations pp. 184–5.

  Feringeea’s evidence questioned Sleeman to Home (Magistrate, Belsh), 31 May 1832, T&D G/1, NAI.

  14 Sleeman’s Machine

  Anecdote of Sleeman’s machine ‘Dialogues with Thugs’, Paton papers, Add.Mss. 41300 fo. 18v, BL.

  Indian archives For Bentinck’s complaint, see CH Philips (ed.), The Correspondence of Lord William Bentinck I, xxxviii, xlvii–xlviii.

  ‘With regard to the mode of collecting …’ Sleeman to Reynolds, 25 July 1832, Sleeman correspondence, T&D G/1 fo. 82, NAI.

  Sleeman’s register Sleeman was not the first officer to attempt to compile a register of Thugs. In the early 1820s, Lieutenant Thomas Moodie, one of the officers working with Charles Molony at Jubbulpore, had the same idea and began work on a register of his own. His work does not seem to have been taken up and continued by his fellow officers and it is impossible to say whether or not Sleeman himself was aware of it, although his position in charge of the adjoining district of Nursingpore suggests that he may well have been. He never, in any case, referred to Moodie’s register, or credited it as an inspiration for his own work, in any letter or report that I have come across. See Moodie to Swinton, 3 Feb. 1824, BC F/4/984 (27697) fo. 29, OIOC, and ibid. fo. 81r.

  Aliases Sleeman to Smith, 13 May 1830, Sleeman correspondence, SB; Sleeman to Smith, 10 July 1832, T&D G/1 fo. 65; Reynolds, ‘Notes on the T’hags’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 4 (1837) p. 203.

  Identifying marks Sleeman to Taylor (Magistrate, Cawnpore), 16 Sept. 1832, Sleeman correspondence, T&D G/1.

  ‘… as soon as an accused …’ Ishwar Sahai, ‘The crime of Thagi and its suppression under Lord WC Bentinck’, part 2, Indian Culture 3 (1936) p. 459.

  Officers of the Thuggy Department Sahai, op. cit. pp. 460–61; Ramaseeana I, 58–9.

  ‘exercising, as heretofore …’ Asiatic Journal NS6 (1835) pp. 128–9.

  Sleeman’s map RH Phillimore, Historical Records of the Survey of India, 1815–30 p. 499; George Bruce, The Stranglers pp. 86–7.

  Paton’s map BC F/4/1898 (67999) fo. 305; ‘Observations upon the operations of gangs of Thug murderers in the Kingdom of Oude’, 1836, Paton papers fo. 171.

  Thug genealogies Sleeman, Ramaseeana I, after p. 270; van Woerkens, The Strangled Traveller pp. 140–42; Bruce, op. cit. p. 157. The information contained within the genealogies was, says Bruce, checked against the available revenue lists, which in the years before the introduction of a census provided the most reliable registry of the Company’s subjects – another intensely laborious task.

  Omitted mention For example, Feringeea’s family tree omits mention of the jemadar’s adopted sons, one of whom we know became a pickpocket rather than a Thug. Sleeman correspondence, T&D G/1 fo. 5, 169.

  ‘they show the connection …’ Cited by Bruce, op. cit. p. 161.

  ‘Makun, who was hung at Indore …’ Sleeman, Ramaseeana II, 128.

  ‘There is one truth …’ Sleeman to Taylor, 28 June 1832, T&D G/1 fos. 40–1.

  Approvers grouped Sleeman t
o Smith, BC F/4/1404 (55517) fos. 253–5; Bruce, op. cit. p. 114. There were in any case a further 30 approvers of no fixed affiliation who could be turned to in any case where there was doubt. See also Sleeman to Wilson, 24 Dec. 1832, Sleeman correspondence T&D G/1 fos. 184–5.

  Rada Kishun and Jurha Deposition of Sheikh Madaree, 22 Feb. 1830, BC F/4/1404 (55517) fos. 468, 485, 487; ‘Trial of Sheikh Madaree and 25 other Thugs charged with murder at different places’, ibid. fos. 513, 579; Sleeman to Smith, 7 Jan. 1831, BPC P/126/27.

  Popular service, rewards ‘Specific reward,’ ordered Francis Curwen Smith in November 1830, ‘to be offered with the sanction of the Agent to the Governor General not exceeding Rs.1,000 for each leader of Thugs proved to be of that description by trial already concluded.’ Van Woerkens, op. cit. pp. 51–2. For the reward offered for Heera, alias Huree Singh, see Sleeman to Smith, 13 June 1832, T&D G/1 fo. 17. In the latter case, six sepahees and a naik (non-commissioned officer) from the 76th Regiment Native Infantry received 40 rupees each – several times their monthly wage – and a pair of Jubbulpore nujeebs and two approvers received the same amount, the balance of the reward being distributed to the remainder of the soldiers and militiamen involved in the arrest.

  Lists of Thugs One early list of wanted Thugs, written out by FC Smith in December 1830, provided the nujeebs with details of no fewer than 98 Bundelcund men, living in 13 villages scattered throughout Jhansee. Smith to Prinsep, 8 Dec. 1830, BC F/4/1251 (50480/1) fos. 43–8; Sleeman to Smith, 12 Dec. 1830, ibid. fo. 54.

  Nujeebs exceeding orders Sleeman to Smith, 20 July and 5 September 1832, T&D G/1 fos. 74–8, 113.

  Lushington’s complaint Lushington to Smith, 13 June 1832, and to Lockett (Agent to the Governor General, Ajmere), June 1832, Sel.Rec. 94–8.