It’s believed that for centuries, gangs of thieves and assassins called thugs operated throughout India. In thrall to Kali, the goddess of destruction, they were said to commit “thuggee” — setting up and often strangling victims.

In the 1800s, the British, who were beginning to spread across the country, decided to put a stop to them.

Under the leadership of Lord William Bentinck, thousands of people identified as thugs were captured, convicted and sentenced. In the 1830s, thugs were declared “destroyed.”

Some now question whether thugs were as destructive as reported in colonial representations.

Lent starts today, and, in the spirit of repentance, we’d like to thank readers who pointed out a couple of oversights in yesterday’s Back Story, about Mardi Gras king cakes. The photograph we used was not of what’s traditionally thought of as a king cake, but of a king cake-themed doberge cake from a bakery in New Orleans. And we failed to mention that, while Mardi Gras is widely associated with New Orleans, the celebration got its start in the U.S. in Mobile, Ala. That’s it for this briefing. See you next time. — Chris and Inyoung

Thank you

To Eleanor Stanford, James K. Williamson and Mark Josephson for the break from the news. Alisha Haridasani Gupta, on the Briefings team, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.

• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Today’s episode is about tech companies’ pursuit of military contracts.

• Here’s today’s mini crossword puzzle, and a clue: Small lakes (5 letters). You can find all our puzzles here.

• One of the earliest appearances of the word “thug” in The Times was on Aug. 24, 1852, in an article headlined “The Thugs of New York.”