The central Indian provinces where Sleeman was based had a long history of banditry, made worse after decades of war and anarchy. Some historians have speculated that the Thugs were really gangs of former soldiers, uprooted tribal groups, and peasants driven off the land or blighted by poor harvests. Sleeman’s papers show that rather than having been Thugs for generations, many took to the road for a season or two out of desperation. As the Thugee campaign was extended across India it swept up many small-time criminals, bandits and nomadic groups troublesome to the British, all of whom were branded as Thugs. Bandits who didn’t use a rumal, or bury their victims, or worship Kali might quite speciously be called Thugs. There were other contradictions in Sleeman’s writings: it seems likely that, without realising it, he was setting down for the first time a range of the traditions, superstitions and thieves’ slang of a much wider nomadic and criminal culture in India than just one group. It’s also worth remembering that his sources were informers who saved their necks by telling him what he wanted to hear.