Re: REQUEST: The Hindu cult of Thuggee?

Thugi tradition lived and thrived in the Central West part

of the India (which is still called Vidarbha). The two main

cities of vidarbha and where Thugs operated are Jabalpur and

Nagpur. Nagpur used be capital of whole central-west India

(ie during British Raj) and then it was incorporated into

Maharastra of which Bombay is capital.



So, Thugs were called Pindari. They were worshipers of Kali. They

operated in groups. The most common method to loot and kill

people was to find a rich group of people going for marriges,

pilgrimage, or other religious and social occation. Thugs were

also skilled in the art of cooking and music. They would

get mixed with the group of people who they wanted to loot and

kill. They would entertain the people with by or cook

food for them. As the Pindaris noticed that their victims

had been enjoying the music or dance, one of the member

of Pindari would get up and say to other - "Bring the Tobaco".



Yes, "Bring the Tobaco" was the codeword for Pindaris. The

codeword meant "It's time to kill". Then all of the Pindaris

would move behind (or get closer) to the strong male members

of their victim. Then would be passed another codeword, I

don't remember from the stories I have read.

As soon as the second codeword had been passed, Pindaris

would take out their "arms" and within few seconds all

the male and strong victims are dead. Females, aged, and childern,

would be tied down to trees but would be left unharmed.

All valuables of victims (gold, jewlaries, cash, cloths, etc.)

would be collected.

Yes, there would be some Pindaris who had already taken

the responsibility to dig a large grave and bury the deads.



You might have been thinking "what the hell was that "arm" that

killed a person in few minutes. The "arm" was the most fascinating part

of the Thugi stories that have been aroung for generations.

The arm Pindari used was a meter long very strong silk scarf. There

would be a large copper coin tied in the middle of the scarf. The

Pindari would take out the scarf and wrap it around the neck of

the victim in such a way that the copper coin would just on the top

of neck-bone. After wrapping the scarf (within seconds), the

Pindari would try to tie it up with a very strong force and give

it a big "pull". The smooth silk scarf would block the front

part of the neck so the victim could not breath and copper coin would

break (because of pull) the neck-bone. And the victim in dead within few

minutes. The arm was very neat and clean.



Then came forward some local Indian social reformers and British

police. They decided to wipe out all Pindaris.

Pindaris had an image of Cult leaders (and sort of Robinhood)

and had big infuence on the people living in the areas where

they operated.

But ruthlessnes of British police and in-depth analysis

of Indian social reformers won the battle. All Pindari groups

were busted out. All the Pindaris were either got killed or

jailed. Those who escaped might have started doing petty crimes

but never formed a group.



When the operation to wipe out Pindaris started, the British police

decided to show how horrific the end of Pindaris would be.

To show this, they killed Pindaris in a very ruthlessnes ways.

To kill a Pindari a trained elephant was used. The head of Pindari

would be put on a piece of stone (very similar to French Gilotine)

and elephant would be instructed to step on the head of the Pindari.

First few groups of Pindaris those were caught in encounter were

excecuted in this horrific way. This did make an impact on the

moral Pindaris. Either the resistance in encounters became

milder or they surrendered without any resistance.



People of Jabalpur still remeber the name of a British

police officer - William Sleeman. There is a

village near-by Jabalpur. The name of village in Sleemanabad,

which has been named after William Sleeman.



I hope this information would be helpful.



Best wishes,



- Bharat



------------------------------

Bharat Bhushan



GMD-FOKUS (MINOS Group)

Hardenbergplatz 2, D-10623, Berlin, Germany

Email: bhushan@fokus.gmd.de

Phone: 00-49-30-25499358 (work), FAX: 00-49-30-25499202

