Illustrations of the History and Practices of the Thugs -1837

GOVERNMENT OF Th'DIA ARCHA:OLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA

CENTRAL ARCHJEOLOGICAL LIBRARY ACCESSION NO. CALL D.C.A. 79•

•

13880

No._36.:f.3350954--/_ M_T_

t

,

•

..

e.'S"' ~

-@'

~v

J.,

'

,,,

1

.$'\.~

ILLUS TRATIO~S

I •

~

2f,-'i1ersons who fall \ictims to these !Jmless associatious, it is oiJ\'ious that no estimate can be proved, descning of the slightest coo1ld.:ncc. The nnmber has, without doubt, varied greatly at different periods. There is reason to bclic,·e, that from the time of the conquest of Mysore in 1199, to 1807 and 1801:!, the prnctice, in l11at pnrl of btdia, reached its height, and that hunclredR of persons were rumun.lly destroyed. In one of his reports, the ~ln:,>islrate of Chittoor

18

JLLUSTRATIOSS OP TilE niSTORl

observes : '' I believe that some of the Phrmsigars have been concerned in above two hundn.:d murders: nor will this estimate appear xtravagant, if it be remombered, that murder was their profession, l'requently their only means of gaining a subsistence : every man of fifty years of age has probably been actively engaged duriDg twenty-five years of his life in murder ; and, on the most moderate computation, it may be reckoned that bo has made one excursion a year, and met each time with ten BCtims." Francis Bartolomeo says: " DuriDg a residence of thirteen or fourteen years in lndin, I ne\'er heard of any traveller being robbed or murdered on the high,oray ; •- but other travellers, whose experi~mce was less agreeable, attest that the practice of Thuggee is not of recent introduction. Thevcnot. in the following pas.'l3ge, eridcntly alludes to it : " Though the road I haTe been speaking of, from Delhi to Agra, be tolerable, yet hath it many inconveniences. One may meet witl1 tigers, }lllllthers, and lions upon it; and one had best, also, have a care of robbers, and, above all things, nol to suffer any body to come near one upon the road. The cunningcst robben; in the world are in that country. They use a certain slip with a running noo:.e, which they can cast with so much sleight about a man's neck, when they ure within reach of him, that they never fail, so that they strangle him in a trice. They have another cunning trick, also, to catch lra\·ellers

1\ND Pll \CTICE$ OF TnE TIIIIGS.

I9

tra'•ellers with. They send out a handsome woman upon the road, who, with her hair di~hcvelled, seems to be all in tears, ~ighing and complaining of some misfortunes which she pretends has befallen her. Now, us she takes the same way that the traveller goos, be easily r.. ns into conversation with her, and, finding her beautiful, offers her his assistance, which &he acco::pts: but he hath no sooner tnken her up behind him on horseback, I.JUt she thro"'-s the ~nare about his neck and strangles him; or o.t least stuns him, until the robbers, who lie hid, come running • to her assistance, and complete what she hath bc,aun. But, besides that, there arc men in those CJuaitel's so skilful in casting the snare, that they succeed as weD at a distance as near at band ; and if an ox, or any other beast belonging to a caravan, run away, as sometimes it happens, they fail not to catch it by the neck. • The modem Thugs have recourse to 11umcrous artifices to entrap their victims; but there is reason to think that the nllnrements of female fascination are now not often resorted to. Their custoiUS with regard to their women, however, vary nmch. The Thugs, who reside in fixed habitations, rarely allow their women to accompany them. The wandering bands, who seem to retain more of the usages of their ancestors, nre attended and aided by their females. To a European reader it must appear cxtrac2 ordinary.

20

fi,LIJSTilATIOXS Ot Tu:& DISTOllT

ordinary, that the constant disappearance of such numbers of natives should ha1'e excited :;o little intcre~t and inquiry, as not to have led to a general knowledge of these combinations of criminals. Such ignorance, perhaps, could not have prevailed in England, where it might be supposed that the absence, if unaccounted for, of even a single person, must produce suspicion, with consequent investigation and discovery. But even in England it has recently been mll!le O'o-ident, that numbers of persons · may disappear from the scene of their ordinary avocations without producing much surprise or any alarm. In India, the probability of such disappearance is far greater ; and such an event, unlabilities, suspicion should fall upon the actual perpetrators, where could they be found ? Thus with respect to Sepoys, who, having obtained leave of absence, never rejoiue~ their corps, the conclusion generally formed has been, that they bad deserted ; when, m various instances, they had fu.llen sacrifices to the wiles of the Thugs. The

22

lt.LU~"TIU710~8 OF TB1l BISTOa)·

The same observation is particularly applicable tl) golah peons, charged with the conveyance of money and valunbles; many of whom having disappeared, no doubt was entertained that they had absconded, and appropriated the property to their OWll use. Even the apprehension which an indistinct idea of danger tends to create in the minds of these and other travellers would render them ouly more liable to fall into the snare: less persuasion would be requisite to induce them to join a party of Thugs, prompted by the belief that they were thus providing, in the most effectual manner, for their own safety. The profession of a Thug, like almost every thing in India, is bereditnry-the fraternity, however, receiving occasional reinforcements from strangers : but these are admitted with great caution, and seldom after they lutve attained mature age. Rank is acquired by methods not dissimilar to those which procure the same advantage elsewhere. On Captain Sleeman's inquiring, of an approver, what guNe a man the rank of Jemadar, the latter answered, that a man who has always at command the means of advancing a month or two's subsist.ence to a gang, will be called so ;-a strong and resolute mnn, whose ance~ors have been for many generations 'l'lmgs, will soon get the title ;-or a very wise man, whose advice in difficult eases has weight with the gang;- or one who has influence over loeal nuLhoritie.s,

AND PRACTICES OP TBII TBUGS.

23

ties, or the native officers of courts of justice ;-or a man ofhandsome appearance and high bearing, who can feign the man of rank welL By such means a man is enabled to get around him a few who will consent to give him the fees and title of .Jemadar; but it requires very high nnd numerous qualifications to gain a man the title of Subahdar. Wealth, influence, talents, and high descent, it thus appears, have the same power among Thugs which they have elsewhere ; and, m the absence of all these, impudent pretension will answer the purpose of the adventurer who has confidence enough to assume it. In this respect, at least, the polity of the Thugs presents but a counterpart of what is passing elsewhere. ln contemplating the organization of these hordes of murderers, it is difficult to conceive bow they continue to subsist. It might be hoped, that when the nllains who have grown grey in the practice of assassination descend with their weight of crime to the grave, some difficulty would be found in perpetuating the succession-that the profession would decay, from the reluctance of the young and uncontaminated to enter it. The initiation, however, is progressive ; nnd tl1e force of habit gradually overcomes lhe natural repu,auance which, in every human breast, would at first withdraw the band from the destruction of human life. The children of ThUf,'S, during their more tender years, are, it

appeafl',

21

li.LIISTILATIONS OF TUB ffiSTOILY

appears, k~pt in ignorance of the occupation of their fathers. After n time, they are permitted to accompany them ; but a veil is lbrown over the darker scenes of the drama. To the novice, indeed, the e:\:pedition presents nothing but an aspect of pleasure. He is mounted on a pony ; and being, by the laws of the Tlmgs, entitled to his share of the booty, be receives a portion of it, in presents suitefl to his 7ears- tbe delight attending the acquisition being uwilloycd by any consciousness of the means by which it bas been obtained. The truth reveals itself by degrees. In a short time, the tyro becomes aware that his presents are tbe fruits of robbery. After a while, be has reason to suspect that robbery is aggravated by a fouler crime : at length, suspicion passes into certainty: and finally, lhe pupil is pconitted to witness the exercise of the frightful handicraft which be is destined to Jlw-sue. The moral contamination is now complete; but it is long before the disciple is entrusted with the performance of the last atrocity. H e passes throu,«h a long course of preparatory study ; being first employed as a scout, next as a sexton, then as a holder of the limbs, befQre be is in any case thought worthy of being ele,,ated to the dignity of a stranglw·. A too precipitate disclosure of the frightful truth has sometimes produced fatal consequences. The foUowiog a-ffecting story, related by a Thug who bad becomll approver ~~aaainst his comrades, will illustr.Ltc

ASD PLICTICES

..

or 1'1!1!

TIIUGS.

25

illustrate this; and there is reason to belie,·e that the case is not altogether witl1out parallel. It is admitted, indeed, that others ha¥e occurred m· sembling it in kind, though falling sl1ort of it in degree:- " About twel¥e years ago," said thenarr ator, "my cousin, Aman Subahdar, took out "';th ru; my cousin Kurhora, brother of Om row approvcr, a lad of fourteen, for the first time. He wns mounted upon a pretty pony; and IIursooka, nn adopted son of Aman's, wns appointed to tllke charge of the boy. We fell in with fi,·e Sie\u;: and when we set out hcfore daylight in the morning, Ilorsooka, who bad been alrl'ndy on three e:\.-peditions, wns ordered to take the bridle, and keep the boy in the rear, out of sight and bearing. The boy hecame alarmed and impatient, got away from I lursooka, and galloped up at the instant the ' I ltiruee,' or signal for murder, wnsgivon. lie heard tho screams of the men, and sa'v them all strangled. He wns seized with a trembling, and fell from hill pony: he became immediately delirious, was dreadfully alarmed at the turbans of the murdered men, nnd, when any one touched or spoke to him, talked wildly about lbe murders, screamed ns if in sleep, and trembled riolcntly. We could not get him forward; and, nftcr burying tho bodies, Aman, myScorum, is permitted to carry it." But though the pickaxe is the great symbol of their profession, and the devout object of their care. the respect in which it is held ili but one of the dl-grading nnd frightful SUpcr>ititions by which the,;c murderers srecl lheir hearts to encoWJter the horron. of theil" 1vretchcd profession.

I

\'\;(1 PIUtTICLS 01' 1111, 1HUGS.

55

CHAP. 1\.

'fuF. authority for the mode of murder practised by the Thugs is traced, like all their other usages, to the tremendous goddess whom they serve. It SCtl with fearful rapidity. The never-ending labour of cutting do\\'ll demons, whose number was only increased by this operntiou ofpnuting,at length fali!,'Ud ami disheartened the goddess; she found it in dis-

II.Lt..$TRATIOX~ Ill' TilE ITI"TOJlY

•''

indispensnbly necessary to make a change in h~r tactics ;-nnd bert> tht> talc, which is thn~ fur Ulli\t'l'!;a]}y received, becomes subject to ''uriationll. It is ad111itted by all Ilindoos, thnt the. demons multiplied in the mnnner described, until tbt> goddeSs found some means of putting n stop to this " surplus population": but there is n diff1·n regularly introduced to lhtir occupation. The clumsy intruder, 11 ho has not participated in the advantages derived from a regular apprenticeship to the art, leaves the end of the roomal exposed: lht> more accumplishcd practitioner manifests his ~cience and elegance by concealing the end within the knot. This is the mark of his re,au.lar induction, and the ribbon of the order to which be ha.s tlu: honour to belong. The knot being duly tied by the gooroo, the roonml is delivered to the inc.ipicnl strangler, who r.:coives it with all the reverence due to so precious a gift, bl!stowed by such nmcrated hands. T he intt-rt-..,t of the scene now inCJ'CliSeli. The e.xt·cutiont'r, attended by a gkumgua, or holder of hands, ~tantb before his Yictim, whose tranquil stall! i~ but an embleru of that deeper sleep which is nhout to seal his eyes for ever. His last earthly ~lumber is gradually intcnuptt:d -the victim iH ruuscd for slaughter-the fatal noose is cast over

his

'

\SD PRACTICF.S 01' TilE THUDS.

{j I

his neck by the hand of the youthful assassin, and. \\ith the aid of the attendant ruffian, the work is soon completed. One humun being bas passed into eternity ; -another h.as taken the last stt•p in guilt and infamy! T he horrible work is over; an~. so far from being actuated by any sensations of pity or remorse, the wretl:h, who has attelited the ~trength of his nerws and the weakness of his moral perception~. knows no feeling but that of delight flowing from gr Fatima who invented the use of the roomnl, to strangle the great demon Rukut-beejdana : which led to a discussion between bhn and some of my l\lussulman native officers, "ho did not like to lind the aminule F atima made a goddess of Thuggee-an " I phigenin in Tamis." The T hug wao. a sturdy wrangler; nnd, in the estimation ofbis associatc Thugs, had, I 1hink. the best of the argument.

Q. " Then has Bhownnee any thing to do with your Pnradi~e ?" &zhib. " 'Xothing. • Q. "She has no influence upon your future ~Ulte ?" Sahtf>. " None." Q. "Doe~ ~la!Jommed, your prophet, anywhere sanction crimes like yours ;-the murder in cold blood of your fellow-creatures, for the sake of their mont•y ?a Sahib. " No." Q. " Doe~ be not say that such crimes ";u be punished by Uod in the n~>xt world ? • !:iaJ.ib. " Yes." Q. " Then do you never feel nny dread of puni,hment hereaftPr." Sahib.

I

•

&SO PR.\CTICE> OF TilE Tllt:GS.

73

" ~ever: we ntver murder unless the omen~ are fa1·ou:rable : and we consider favourable omen• ns the mandates of the deity." Q. " What deity 1• Sahib. '' Bbowanee." Q. " Dnt Bhowanec. you say, has no influence upon the welJllre, or othenvisc, of your soul hereafter!" S zl.ib. " Sone. we belie1·e; but she influence.. our fates in this world ; and what she orders in this world, we believe that God will not punish in the next/'

S zhib.

The conjoint adoration of the deities of different and di~cordant creeds is neither new nor uncommon in the East. In the Old Testament, various instance:; nrc rt.'Corded. in 11 bicb nations, as 1vell as indiliduals, paid a divided homage to the True God and to a multiplicity of idols : and in various parts of India, the Mahometans. from having long been surrounded by a Hindoo population, ba"e been led to adopt mauy of their opinions and practices. The principle, indeed, upon which this approximation is fomwd, is not peculiar to the East. E1·erywhere, time not only abates the fen·our both of religious and :.cctarian zeal, bot causes many of the distinctive marks of ori,ainal difference to disappear, and tinges the entire mass with the colour of the party which, either from numbers or activity, acquires an ascendant. The natural tendency of man to superstition

7-!<

lLLUSTRATIO~'S OF TilE lJlSTORY

stition gives to that gloomy power, in any form, an c;\:traordinary f.-1.cility of access to bis heart. The weak and the wicked alike llee to it for a refuge: the former, from a morbid apprehension of undefined evil; the latter, from the upbraidings of conscious guilt. To the one class, superstition presents the alluring prospect of perfect assura'"Uce, in place of the bumble faith and hope which are the chru-acteristics of genuine piety : to the other, she balds out the oifur of peace of mind upon easier terms than true Religion proposes. It is not a subject for SUTIJrise, then, that, at all periods, the votaries of Superstition, in its multiform ramifications, should have far outnumbered the faithful adherents of Religious Truth : the errors of the understanding, and the depravity of the will, are continually fumisbing their recruits to swell the myriad ranks o:f the anny of Superstition. The principle which assi,r>nS the distnoution of good and evil, in this world, to an inferior divinity is not >ery dissimilar from one which, in Christian countries, has been maintained by grave writers ; which excludes the Superior Being from lbe ordinary course of human affairs, leaving them to chance and accident, and human passion ; and confines His providence to an occasional interference in what nre considered great emergencies in this life, and to the final retribution of good and evil in the life to come.

-iSD PJL\CTICES OP THE THUG~.

75

CHAP. V.

THE movements of the followers of Thuggee are invariably governed by omens, with which they believe their goddess favours them, for the guidance of their course. Nothing is undertaken without a careful consultation of these som-ces of k-nowledge; and the occurrence of an accideniai and unlockedfor sign is, in some cases, sufficient to derange thE' most fi:~:ed plans, and even to lend to the abandonment of the richest booty, though almost in possession. Th~e omens arc numerou, ; and the learning of the Thugs consists in an acquaintance with them. The manifestation of the auspice or omen on the right band is called Th1baoo; on the left, Pilhulwo. If the Pilbaoo promises good, according to their n1lcs of au.,nury, it is always the better from being followed by the Thibaoo soon after. If it threatens e,;J, tbat eril is mitigated by the Thibaoo. Different casts and clans of Tho,"ll have, in some few in•tances, difl~rent rules for interpreting these sounds and appearances; and wbat is considered to threaten l'\·il b) o;ome, is thought to promise good

j 6

U.Ll:SfB...\TIOSS OF

nu; IIJSTOR\"

gcmd by others. If members of sects, holding conllicting opinions, act in concert, they follow the rules of the leader who opens the e.'l:pedition, or \\ho leads the greatest number of the Thugs engaged. The Pilhaoo, or omen on the l.eft, must lle observed first, on opening nn Upeilition ; nnd it must be followed by the Thibaoo immediately after, or the expedition cannot b~ entered upon. The Pilhnoo perceived on lcn\ing any stage during the el.-pedition. or on prepnring to leave it, promises good. The Thibaoo tlLreatens e\il, and the gang halts. On rencping the end of any stage, the Pilhnoo threatens evil, and the party must move on without rc~ting. The Thibaoo promises good, and thov - rest stocurelv. There are some few exceptions to the genernl rule, that, Cor the Pilhaoo, the omen must lle on the left. Some animals must be heard or seen on the right to con,titute the Pilhaoo, and ric< r~rsd; but these arc very few. These arc a few of the general rules of augury. Wben preparing for an expedition, the auspices are solemnly taken. The moot learned Pundit that can be procured is seated on a blanket with the leader, and four of the Thugs the mo~t resp.:ctnble in their vocation from birth and character : the rest of the gang ~it around, outside. They then place b(:forc the Pundit, as nn oiTering, a brass plate (lhalu), 1\itb some rice, wheat, and two copper coins upon it. The leader asks the Pundit, respect-

.

A~O PR.:\C"TtC'£S OF TIT£ THCGS.

i1

respectfully, what day will be proper to open the expedition; nod he, after due search and ceremony, pronounces the day, the hour, and the direction. Thus far the preliminaries. On the day appointed, they fill a brass jug with wat~r; which the leader holds in his right hand, suspended by the mouth, at his side. ln a clean white handkerchief they tio up live knots of turmeric, two copper coin~, one silver coin, and the indi~pensable pickaxe. This pickaxe the leader holds upon his breast, with his left hand. He now turns in the direction indicated by the priest, and moves on slowly, followed by his gang, to a field or garden outside the viUage. On reaching the spot thought best adnpted for the purpose, he stands 1\ith his face still in the direction indicated, his left hand on his breast, l1is right, with the jug, by his side ; and. with his eyes lifted towards beavon, he says, " Great goddess! universal mother! if this our meditated e1-pcdition be fitting it> thy sight, vouchsafe us help, and the «igns of thy approbation ! ·• All the Thugs pre..c:ent repeat this prnyer after the leader. and join in the praise'! and worship of the ~dcss. If within holf an hour they hear or see the Pilhaoo (or auspice on the left), it signifies that the deity ba~ taken them by the !cit hancrsations, and the same impressions avowed by the Thug approvers. They appear, howe,•er, to have regarded themsel\"es as exempl from the penalties which ordinarily followed any act of hostility to the Thugs. Indeed, from the low state of morn! feeling, and the imperfect dcvelopement of rhe reasoning powers in the East, much consistency could hardly be expected.

Q. " If Davy's displeasure 'isits aD who punish Thugs, bow is it that you all escape so well!" llioradln!. " Davy's anger visited us, when we were seized. That was the effect of her resentment: she cast us off then, and takes no notice of us now.• Q. "And if you were to return to Thuggee, she would still guide and protect you?" Moradun. "Yes; but what gang would now re-ceive us 7" Q. " And you are not afraid to assist in suppressing Thuggeer .\Toradun. "~o; we see God is assisting you, and that Davy has withdrawn her protection on account of our transgressions. We have sadly nettleeted her worship. God knows in what it wtll end ! " Q. "True !

.\:-0 l'llACTKES OF THE TIIIIGS.

109

Q. " T rue l God only knows ; but we hope it will end in the entire suppression of this wicked and foolish system ; and in tbe com'iction, on your part, that Davy hns really had nothing to do with il• Na1ir. " That Davy instituted Thuggee, and support~ it, ns long ns we attended to her omens, and observed the rules framed by the wisdom or oor ancestors, nothing in the world can e1•er make us doubt."

;I'he com·iction of the divine origin of Thuggee is strt>ngthencd in the minds or its followers by the belief that its mysteries are exhibited in the Caves of Ellora. These gigantic witnesses to human infatuation and folly are coufldently appealed to, as affording proof, not only of the antiquity of the practice, but of the divine sanction and operation. Q. "You told .Mr. Johnstone the traYeller, while be was at Saugor, tbnt the operations of your trade were to be seen in the Caves of .Ellora? u Feri11gua. " Alii Every one of the operations is to be seen there. Tn one place, you sec men strangling : in another, burying the bodies: in another, carrying them off to the graves. There is not an operation in Thuggee that is not exhibited in tho Ca>es of Ellora." Dorgha. " In those caves are to be seen the operations of every trade in the world. •

Chotu.

II 0

lLLII•TIIATIOS'

o•· Till> IIISTOilY

Clwta. " Whenever we passed near, we used to go and see these caves. Every man will there find his trade described, however secret he may think it; and they ''ere all made in one night." Q. "Does any person beside yourselves consider that any of these figures represent Thugs 1~ Fer. Fh'e rupees, a latah, a sword, and a pair of pyjnmahs, wru:e taken. Mobur Singh took the three bullocks. We trnvelled afterwards to Sydporc, Kytee, and Rajghdl, putting up at the Luck.ah Serai. The next day we went towards Sheopurc; and stopping nt Shunkur Talao, we drank some toddy. We saw two Sepoys and a Bearer sitting there; whom :\Iohur Singh asked where they were going, and whence they caruc. Their reply was, from Clutack, and their destination Lucknow. 'Ve all went on to Sheopore; and from that place to Hurooah, where we rested at a Buneah's shop. I n the latter part of the night we continued our march; and after walking a mile on the Punch Cossy road, Becka, Bhecgoo, :md Moradbun, threw the travellers down, when Imam Bu...:, Mohur Singh, and Goury, strnngled them. The others remained on the watciL Twenty-fh·e mpces, n gold mohur, fifteen pieces of cloths, and twenty urJ.S.~ pots, were gained. Six men and a

Jumndar

A"O PIL\CTIC&S OF Tll1l TIJUGS.

123

Jemadar threw the bodies into a well. In the diTision of the plunder, a lotah, n merzai, and a rupee, were my sharc.'-Thc witness mentioned, that all the prisoners were '!'hugs, and concerned in the three expeditions thnt took plnce in the Benares division, with the exception of Asmut. "The prisoner, Shumsberah, is an inhabitant of Pnrncab, Pergunnah ){oneah, Zillah Patna, twentyfive years of nge, of the weaver caste. Morad hun ~"Dpportt.-d and protected him whib-t a child: and whenever he went on a Thuggee excursion, the prisoner accompanied him. " The deposition before the lllll,t>istrate is as follows:-' In the month of Aghun, 12~0 Fuslee, i\Ioradhun, Kader Khan, Buk"US, Oozerah, ~'feher Ali, J\smut, Tmnm Bux, and mysel4 proceeded on n Thuggcll expedition. We strangled several persons in Outle, remaining there until the month of Maug: and then went to Allahabad, from whence we travelled, in an eastern direction, until we came to Bnrount. We found Goplah and Becka there: and further on the road, l'tlohur Singh, with four other Thugs. We mel a traveller as we proceeded. Mohur Sing, and his party, went on with him. We rested in the evening at Ilunoman Chokey. When the night was nearly spent, we went on, and lluna strangled the traYellcr. Seventeen rupees, some cloths, nod bra..o;s pots, were found on him, and the body was thrown into a welL J being the adopted pupil

l~~

JLLliSTIU TICINS

or

TU£ IIISTUR \

pupil of ) [oradhun, be tOOk my share. He 1,'S~:s into the n\·er. We then went to Sydpore. A Burkundaz, Snlaroo, rccognLnce, gt>.\"e him four rnpel-s; and l\loro~dbw1 sent the three bullocks, by Bukus, to his house. If" allernartls retumed to the nllage of Bcttree; and, going by Chundwuk, anivcd at Rajghill. Remaining there ull night, \\e marched Yl!l')" early tbe next

·ISLI PI\\C'TICES OF Tllll 1"11UGS.

125

next morning, in a western direction. Mtcr leaving the city, we met two Scpoys and n Benrcr. Beeka innocent. H e once found himself "ith ;\loradbun, &c., in Onde;

but

126

ILLUSlll.UIOSS 01' TilL 111~08\

but ran away the moment he could, when he discovered his companions were Thugs. '' ) leher Ali served 1\Ioradhun, as a grass-cultcr, for five or six months. He acknowledged, before the magistrate at Patna, to having been his sen·ant for the nbove number of years, and to baring accompanied him in his T huggee expeditions. "Aslnut was formerly called Dubery, alias Neeamut Ali, nt present Asmut. H e ntlributc:-s his name being mentioned to a family di~pute he had '' ith the two brothers, Kadir Khan and .Morndhun, with whom he is connected by marriage; and, of course, asserts his innocence. The depositions of Xnnuk, Rnmphul, Rujoo Singh, Balukgur, P urshad, .Jnggemat, Thakoorce, Kudoo, Is~erL'Iiyeal, Uchnlall, and .Yatndyel, point out the halting-places of the Thugs in these expeditions ; nnd the wells, &c. where the bone" and othrr remain~ of the murdered persons were discovered. The Court of ll:izamut Adawlut sentenced four of the persons eugaged in this transaction to lie trnnsportt:d fur life.

" 0 PR.\CT[CF.S OF THE THIIG~.

127

CHAP. VIT.

WuAT is called the" Bunvba Ghat alTair," is remarkable, in many points of view. It became the subject of elaborate investigation ; and it cannot be unacceptnble to present a portion of the evidence. JSarooha Kumusdar, ofthepurgunah ofBunvaha, taken on the 5th of November 1831, before Captain Sandys, As..o:istant to the Resident at Indore, and in charge of tbe N unaT district, deposed thus : " ln the year Swubut 188 l (on the 29th January, A.D. 1829,) three camels loaded with treasure, belonging to Dhunraj Seth of Omrowtee, came to the town of Bum-aha, rested the 30th and 31st, paid the duties dcmancloblc nt the Custom-house, and marcbeda,aain, on the 31st January, towarcls Indore, by the village of Naen, which wns then unoccupied and waste. On the bank of the nullah near that village, the men escorting the treasure were all killed, and the treasure taken off by robbers ; and on the 3d of February 1829, Khosala. Balar, of the village of Omureen, came to the guard in the evening, and reported it. It was then late, and the horsemen of the guard had gone to escort treasure to

};lH

l(,l.ll>..rllATJONS 01' TfiE III~TORY

to ~tundlesur; and I deferred going ont till the next morning, when I, with I\una Ragonauth Singh. Zemiudar of the purgunah, and Chultcr Duff'adar, nnd three foot soldiers of the guard, went toward:. 'iaen, the place where the murders had been committed. On the road, we met Golbeea, n J'ardhee of the village of Nadeea, wlto told us lhnt the three camels were left in the jungle; one with hi' ICI!S lied, nnd the other two free. On coming to the nnl11th, at about a bundre first three bodies1 and, searching further, found two more, about ten or twelve paces from them, covered with sarut leaves, and stones, and lying one oYer the other : we took them np, and found their throats cut in the same manner as those of the others. There was no other wound discoverable on any one of the seven bodies. We now went in search of the camels ; and about a quarter of a cose from the bodies, to the east, we fotmd one clllllel down, with his legs tied. W c took him up, and 8llrne on to the village of Nadeca, where we found the two other eamel~ browsing in a field; and sent all three, without ropes or saddles, to B urwaha.: and T collected the Baloe~ from Nadae Rampoora, and Agurwara, and Omurreea, to bury the bodies; and returneel to Bunvaba: and, at the Custom-bouse cl10kee, ascertained, from the books of Gunpnt Raw, the agent on the part of the Farmer of the Customs, that, on the 30th of January 1829, D buuraj Seth's three camels bad paid duty; and that on the same day, a Bhowanee Persaud, and others his COlllJ>anions, hearing arms, and residents of Bundelcund, thirty persons, with six ponies, bad been entered as paying Rabarlaree duties ; and, on the same day, Meer TulL•tlt Alee. the merchant, had passed on his way to lndore. After learning these pmticulars, Tsent off in pnrsuil of the robbers." Davey Singh, peeada of the gtmi·d, deposed, on " the

130

ll.LUSTilATION~ OF TIIR ll lSTOR Y

the Rame dny, to the SalJlll elfect; as also did Gobind Apa, peeada of the same guard; and Chntter, dufadar of tl1e same guard ; and Rana Rugonaih Sing, zemindar of the pnrgnnah of Burwaba. The men employed for this purpose deposed to their having buried the seven bodies, by order of the Kumasdar. Bijan Naek Nahil, of Omurcea in Burwaha, said:-" In the year Smnbut 1884, three camels laden wiili treasure, from Dbmuaj Seth, were robbed at the nullab of the village of N aean, and seven men, who escorted it, murdered. Naraba, kmnastlar of ilie purguuah, called me, and ordered me to search for tho murderers. I took iliree other nahils from Omureea, and two danuks from Nadcea, and Bheela Raw, a pceada of the guard of Burwaha, witlt me, to pllrsne the track (1111111!/) at the place where the bodies lay. We could lind uo trace ; but, after a good deal of search, we found the mnny on the road to Key, about a cose from the village of N aean east, near the deserted nlla,ortula, in the purgunah of 1:\eemunpore, 1\Iukoar, in the territories of BuJJJJear; which bowlee is situated about two hundred paces from the VIllage: from that bow lee no trace cou ltl be foJJJJd. We told the putcl of that village, Dew Cbu11d Kolee, and two other people, to carry on the trace ; and if they could not, they mu.~ answer to their Government for tlte murders; and having told them this, we returned. On our way, we saw the people of Kutkote cutting wood, and asked about the people who had passed of late. They said they l1ad seen, on the Nuddee, liDder Kutkote, twenty-five or thirty men from Bundelcond Awud, with five or seven ponies, and asked them whence they can1e : they said they were from Malwa, and were going to Pootula, but had lost their road. We returned, ancl reported all to the klllllasdar of Burwaha.• Another witnelill, nnmed Tejula Bular, of the village of N adeca, purgonnh of Burwaha, testified to this effect:-" I n the Sumbut 1884, on a nullaJt in the village of Naean, in the purgunah of Burhawa, three camels laden 1\~th treasure, belonging to D honraj Seth, were Tobbed, and the men who escorted them murdered. I bnd been taken as a bega:r with a kafila of Gol'ernmeut servants, who were gcing with a palkee, and other things, from Borhanpore, as tar as the village of Omureea; K 2 and

132

• ILLUSTRATIOSS Of' TJH: ll181'01lY

and was on my return, and watming myself at a fire left burning on the ground, which a partr of Brinjaras hncljust quitted, near the village ofNaean, when T saw a number of carrion-birds, such as vultures and others, descend from the sky, and collect on the bank of the nullalt : on seeing this, I went to the village of Rampora in the nbove purgunah, and told Omrow Bhugwan, and other Daloes, that some animals must be lying dead in the nullah of Nacan, as carrion-birds were there collected. They all accompanied me to the nullah, to see; and we found two human bodies lying in the nullah, close to the edge of the water. On seeing thelll, my companions returned to Uampora, anu I came home. On my way, I met lleera Rajpoot, of the village of Agurwara, feeding his cattle in the grounds of Naean; and I told him that T had ,seen the bodies of two murdered travellers in the bed of the nullah; and, at his request, I went again, and pointed them out from a distance.· The deposition of the person thus referred to was as follows:-" I was grazing my cattle on the boundaries of Naean, when Tejula Bnlar, of Nadeea, came towards me from the nullah, and said some people had murdered two travellers, and thrown their bodies into the nullah; and, at my request, he went and pointed them out to me. At that time, Naua Putwaree, of Naddcm, was on his way from Burwaha to Omureea; and meeting ltim, J men-

I

A..'\11 I'M one rupee four nnnas, and went on. During this inter\'al, lbe treasure-bearers had, we found, crossed the !\ urbndda at

Rurwa.hn-

A)."D PB..~CTIC£5 OP TJJll THUGS.

113

Burwnhaghilt, nndgone on to the baznarof Burwnhn, a 1·illage the other side of the rher, nnd put up in a shop. Vi'e followed, nnd cros.ed the ~urbudda at the same gh:U, and encamped outside of the 5Ullle village, under a Bur-trL'C, near the small resN·,·oir. The ne'(t morning, the Darogah of the Cnstomchokee detained the treasure-bearers, to settle duties on their trL'aSUre ; and we were detained also by the 5Ullle authority: but wo did not intend to pay them tiU the treasure-bearers had settled, with the view of following them. The trensure-benrers had great altercations with the people of the chokec, who demanded a high rate of duty from them; when Mnhar:\i Pntuck went to the Daro~ab, ·and admonished him, and asked why he did not let the treasure-bearer.< go ; as, in the e>ent of any accident happening to their trca.~urc, if they moved at a lnte hour, he would be responsible for it : on this, the Darogah became alnrmcd, and took from tht>m whatei'Cr they had intended to pay. It was now late, and the tre4Stlre-bearers would not move that night. We advanced to a garden about two cose on tbe side of tbe road ; where we cookt'Cl nnd ate our dinner, and passed the ni~bt. The next morning, '' hile we were preparing to move, we saw the camels and the trcn:;ure-benrers coming on ; and we immediately set out, and went on to n nullub in on oxi.ensh•!l uamboo jw1gle, \1 here there was an uninhabit~'Cl nll:tge. Here we

all

1 I 1.

II ~tr~TR \ TIOS' OF T1TR 1115TCIR\

all sat down, after cutting some large b:unhoo sticks, thinking this a suitable place for murder. "'hil11 we were smoking, n. man on horseback, who had been the companion of the Rol..-uree.L:l C\ er since the preceding night, came up, and •;~t clown with us to smoke. Soon after the Rokurecns nrri,ed, and sat down to Tt·st. We surrounded them from e\·ery side ; and ~it.ed and strangled the six matchlock-men; then the horseman; nnd, lnstly, we pulled down the surwaus from the camels, with the bamboo sticks we had cut there, and "trnnc;led them. W e buried the bodies of the whole in the nullah; anrl instantly made Ghurccha mount on the sowar's ho~c. and took the trcnsure-ding to Cawnpore. " T he circum3tance of the robbery became known to D nsrut ~aig. in coll3cqucnce of one of the Bccmawallns having proceeded in advance of his companions as far ns Gudurgluit, nboul four cosc from Dholt:cbaree; where be waited for hb companions during that day nnd night; and nftcrwards, finding he was not followed by them, returned to Dhol~11barec.

·• On

156

ILLUSTIU'l'IO:O:S OP TUB HISTOil I'

"On b.is way to Dho!eeba:ree, thi:; person was infonnffi, by a traveller whom he met on the road, that l1e had seen the body of a murdered man in a nullah near the road ; and proceeding himstllf to the spot where it was reported to have been seen, he recognised it to be thu body of one of his companions. From that spot he proceeded to Dholeebaree; and obtaining some of Dusrut !'iaig's people to accompany him, he returned to the nullah, where the bodies of his other live companions were also found : on one of them, concealed in his clothes, a. bag of pearls was found ; and on another, a rupeo and a half. "Dusrut Naig iliortly al'terwards joined his followers at the nullab 1' here the bodies had been found ; nnd traced the footsteps of men and horses as far as a deserted nllage on the way to a de:;erted part of country, between two ranges of the Sathpoorn Hills, called the Pall Tuppa. From thence, he states, some footsteps were traced in the direction of a 1;11age called Chinahpanee, in the Am~ward purgunah ; but the footsteps of the horses, and the greater part of ll1e gang, were traced to a village named Dhegaum, in the Yawull purgunah. It being, by tb.is time, late in the evening, no furth('r traces could be discovered; ll1l.d. the Naig came to me at Yawull. " The follo1Ting morning, every Sowar, whose scnice~ were amilable for the purpoS(', and several of

\'\0 I'R\ITJl'E:> Ol TilE TBCGS.

) ,ji

of the )(amlutdar's hurcarnhs, mounted on tattoos, were ~;cnt out in quest of intelligence of the robbers. " Three Sowars, and one of the hnrcarahs, having obtained intelligence, on the road, that some persons, answering to the descriptiou of the robber• given by Dusrut Naig, had been seen at a VJ11age called z.;ahnee, in the Yawull pcrgunnh, proceeded to that village ; and one of the horserni:Jl, being in advance of the others, entered the village by himself, Rlld, standing near a Bunecah's shop, met a man, who, on inquiry, described himself to be a Sepoy of the •Jth regiment. U pou being asked if be had any companions with him, be said he bad hro, who were preparing their food at a well ncar the village. Al\erwards, the person addre,;~cd accompanied him to the gate of the l'illage, ncar wh.ich be pointed out two persons, whom he stated to be his companions. These two persons, on being called to, stopped, in the 1irst instance; but, after accompanying the horsemen a little distance, ran off. Tho horsemen gave the man whom he had first accosted in charge to a Sebundy, and went in pursuit of the others; who, he says, ran towards a place called Martunachee Warm; and he ohsen·cd they were preceded by five other persons, all of whom were running away. The Sowar came up with five of the party, who stood on their defence agniust him, one of them drawing u sword for the purpose : and, in the end, by the assistance of othcr

ILLt'~TR nm~li

or TD£

Ill>TOllY

other pm ; hut there is not yet sufficient evidence that the two persons who were apprehended there arc the same he bad seen at Nahnee. " The prisoners, six iu number, who were taken at this place (Xahnee), all describe themseh·cs to he persons without employment or connexions in the country; and most of them state, that thcy have recently come from Tlindostan. Tlll'y nil ugrcc that they came to N ahnee together ; but t.tive different accorutts of tho time and plnce of their first meeting each other; some of them sa)ing it uas Dholia, others at _:\{aligaw:n, and others between these two places; and, notwithstanding they nchowledge they hnd been tnrrelling together for some days past, they generally professed an ignorance of each other's names. " A short time nfter they were apprehended, a Chowdry of the ''illage of ~nhnce observed a MI'Orll nnd somu other thin~, 1\ithont any person ne:1r them, in the place called .'tlartunchnwarra. lit• communicated the circum.tance to another Chowdry llf the vt11age; who, taking a dirk with him, brought the thin,s found there to a Sbeikhdur who wn.~ in the village; llllll, upon exiiillining ouc of the things found, it waa disco1·crcd to contain ~ o sealed bags, which proved to he two of the bag• of

J

•

.~ND

I'IUC"rtcf:S OF TUE TIJUGS.

159

of pearls of which the murdered Beemawnllus were robbed. " I cannot obtain any clear and certain evidence that the persons apprehended bad been seen in the place where the stolen properly wus found; but all the circumstances onder which they were apprehended, point them .out as the persons in whose possession it had been : and their guilt is further established by the important circumstance of two of them beiog recognised by one of the followers of Dnsrut Naig, as two of the party that passed Dbooleebaree immediately after the Beemawnllas ; by 1\'hich party, there can be no doubt, lhe murder and robbery were committed. " The party of Sowars, whose operations have been described, proceeded from Yawull; and w10ther party of five proceeded from Russoolpoor iu the Rewair purgonnh, and went to Borhaupore in quest of the robbers. They there learnt, that some strangers, \\ith tattoos, had just arrived, and alighted in a garden near the city. They proceeded to the spot, and found three mllll together; two of whom were in the act of unloll(ling their tattoos, and the third was standing ncar them with a sword under his ann. Other two were observed at some liUlc distance from them; who, when they found the Sowars questionins the three men, ran off. and made their escape. The three men were secured by the Sowars. The sword of the man

lllO

lLLUSTH.tTIQ:-iS OF TfH: B ISTOl\ Y

man desGribed to have been standing unemployed, was, on examination, found to be stained with Llood, from the point to the hilt Suspended to the neck of the same man was a tobacco-pouch, containing some rupees, gold mobors, and Y enetians ;-the latter, the exact number that had been in charge of the Beemawallas. On examining the baggage that had been taken from the tattoos, four of the bags of pearls that had been plundered were discovered. " The evidence against these three persons appears to be quite conclusin. They themselves, however, deny their guilt; assert that all the Sowars have sworn to is talse, and that they l..'llow nothU:lg about things pretended to hnve been found with them. There is not the slightest reason to doub.t the truth of the Sowars' statements, which are perfectly clear and consistent; and, in confirmation of them, one of the three persons is recognised to have been with the party of twenty-two persons who followed the Beemawallas at Dholeebaree. " On the same day, and about the same time that the three persons were apprehended as abo>e me11tioned, other four were stopped by some persons employed in the CoUection of the Znkal nea.r Borhanporo, and detained until some of -the party that had been in quest of the robbers arm·cd. The four persous are stated to have been going towards the garden where the other three were

..

<

•

I til

were apprehended. They bad \\ith £hem two swords, and two tattoos. Both the swords were stained with blood, nod one of them considerably so. The load!i on the tattoos were not examined on the spot; hut taken to a place where the SoiVlln! were, and there examined. Kothiug of \·aloe was found with the ~aoa.,ae of these persons : but two brass \'cssels were found with it, which are recognised, by tho Beemawalla that escaped, to have belonged to one of his murdered companions. or the two tattoos taken with these prisoners, one of them was seen at 01Jo!ccbaree, by a follower of Dusrut N .tig, in po•session of the party of two and twenty men that follow ..'WO, executed afterwards, at Dholia in Kandeish ; Bhujjoo, executed at Saugor in 1832; and Perrand l\Iussulvu, executed at Indore in 182!1---w hen the seven treasure-beaters came up, on their way from Bombay to Indore. 'Ve followed them, with a select party from :ill the gangs, on to Dhoree; and thence through the Dboleebarcc Pass, where they spoke with Du.srut Naig, tho officer of the police-ganrd btationcd at that pass. While they rested here, one of the senm, without our scout:; perceiving it, went on in advance towards Godurghdt, which is about four cose distant. When they had left the guard, we continued to follow; nnd, on pa.ssing the guard, wu were questioned by Dusrul Naig; and we told him that we were y 2 Govern-

164

ll.LUSTJUTIONS OP THE RISTORY

.

Government senants, on our way home, on furlough. About half way between this pass and Godnrghilt, we came up \\ith the treasure-bearers, and strang1ed them ; but, to our surprise, we found only ai.'l:, instead of seven. Heern and three othets were instantly sent on after the other ; but they could not lind him ; and we hastily threw the bodies into a nullah, and made off with the booty. "The man who had gone on in advance, finding that his companions did not come up so soon as he expected, returned to look after them ; and met a trnveller, who told him that be bad seen some dead bodies in a nullah by the side of the road. Going to the place described, he found that they were the bOdies of his companions ; and reported the circumstance to Dusrut Naig, who sent information to Captain Hodges, the acting magistrate in Kandeish, and set out with all his men in pursuit of us. Captain Hodges, with his mounted police, succeeded in seizing thirteen or fourteen of our party, who bJul separated and lost their road in the jungles. They bad with them the greater part of the booty, which we in consequence lost. Of these men, four contrived to get released ; and the rest were either bung at Dholia, or sent to the black water. Only three of the bags of pearls were brought off: one by Purumma, who honestly shared it, on his return, with the rest of the gang who escaped ; and two by Bhujjoo, alias Sooper Singh

.i.~D PliACTJCES OF T1UI THUGS.

1(i,5

Singh and Rae Singh, who were lately hWlg at Saugor, and who could never be prevailed upon to givo up any share." Thus it appears that "honour" is sometimes wanting, even "amongst thieves."

I (i(j

JLiliiSTRA TIO!'!S OF TIIll IDSTURY

CHAP. X.

IN 1816, an act of Thuggee, upon rather a large scnle, was perpetrated at Shikarpore. It is thus related, in the records of the N a.,"Pore Residency:-

" This day, Bukshee Chitara, the vnkeel of the Pm1ah Rajah, came and presented an Urzee, stating that twenty-five peraons had been murdered on their way from Jubulpore, by fifty robbers, near the Pass of Sbikarpore, in the Punab Rajah's territory; and that six or seven of them had been wounded, and four taken by the people of Row Burjore Singh, a relation of the Rajah's. The vakeel stated, that Omrow Zenlindar of .Bumhoree was present, and would be able to give further information; and his deposition has accordingly been taken ;-and, as it may lead to the discovery of their associates, the four robbers arrested arc to be demanded from the Rajah, who will also be desired to take care of the property for the heirs of the murdered people. The Rajah is at the same time to be thanked for his exertions on this occasion : and as these robbers may pallS through these territories, the following Chiefs arc to be written to, antl conjoin to aid in

•

A.'ID PIUCTJct::.~ OF TilE TBUGR.

167

in their arrest :-Gwalior, Rijawur, Tehrce, Jbansec, Outtcca, Kour, Sonee Sa, and K411Ir Purtab Singh."

The followin::: is the Urzee of Buhhee Chitara referred to:-'· Row Btnjore Singh, a Jemadar of my master, in tl10 purgunah of Powae, writes to me, that near Shikarpore, about five cose south of Powac, ncar the pass, in the middle of Pha,"Wl, twenty-five tra1·cllers, on their way from Jubulpore, a district of the Nagpore Government, were murdered by fifty robbers, and their property taken oO: That, after the murder, the robbers came to Powae, and purchased food at the Buneeas' shops; but, without :sitting down, went on. The Buneeas asked llho they were, from whence and whither going; and they said they were from the Deccan, on their way to Banda: saying this, they went on. That, contrllr} to their professed design, they took the road to the west, and rested at the village of Chowmooka, in my master's territory ; and left the place again at midnight, for 'l'ighurra, in the Jytpore territory. As soon as Row Bmjore Singh heard these circum~tances, he sent on twenty-five of his soldiel'!l after them: and they came up with them within tho bonndnr)' of Tighurra; and, unable to pre1·ail upon them to surrenckr, they wounded six or seven of them, and took four out of the number into custody. They secured seven ponies ; and brought them, with other things, to Btnjore Singh. Unable to stand

against

Jfi8

LLI.VSTilATJONb OF TII6 UISl'OR\'

a,.."s at diffen•nt places along the road, without appt!aring to I.-non- any thing of each other ; and pretended to be, like others, glrul of the occasion to tru1•cl securely. ·when the Ucsident reacbt.'CI. Belehree, some of our parties stated, that, as the Resident was going the western road by Rewah, they bad better go the northern by Powae, as there wns no longer any danger from Pindaries ; and, by separating from so lnrge an cbCort, they should get pro1'isions much cheaper ;-that water was now becoming scarce on the western road, and was always made dirt.y by the elephants and camels. Other parties preten stages; and, in n jw1gle between Chorcc and Sutrunju, we killed them all, unrl buried their bodies under stones in the hed of the river: ouc was a suhah!lar, u Bralm~ belonging to the rt>giment of Sulabut Kluw and Beblal Klum, 1'\c\\ub>: one was a Bmhmin Te11aree, with hi o daughters ; he was going home, to get marri~cl : they were munlercd ";lh their mother and father. There 1\"88 another Tcwarcc Brahmin, with an old woman, his wife, and a y01mg duughtur. The old woman was killed; lmt the daughter was prcsen·cd, und

\ XD PlllCTICI:S Of' TOE TIII:G>.

( jt)

and m:mied to lluoce Rao. ncplle\\ of Kn"'ll, ~ubabdar of Thugs; she lmd two or three children hy bim, but they are dead : all thrt•e were residents of the Purdc,;ee ~Ial1ulla, in EDichpore ; and they were going to the provinces on the Ganges." The female referred to, depo~, at the same period, to the follOI\'ing effect. The colouring of pa..'y their sides lor the purpose, and strangled. Their boilies were buried in the t;nnd in the bed of tb.e nullah ; ll!ld we got from them l!I,UUO Tlll>ees in money, and 7000 or

ANll J'IL\C1'1CES Of' 1'111: 'fiiUOS.

187

or sooo. rupecs' worth of other property, which 110 took on to Chitterkote. From thence we sent back men to bury the bodies deeper ; and they found one body expost.od, which they buried ; but the rest bad been all washed do" n by the Oood arising from some heavy min that fell: ularmcd at tltis, we all dispersed, and returned to our homes. '' The boy was preserved by :\Iuugul and I..aljoo, brothers and Brahmins of Sindouse. He was a Br.ilimin, and transported in 1834 for murder. " We passed through Rewah, and Simereea aud Chandeeah also; and another town, a few cosc from

Bundoognr.e This substantially agrees with the subjoint.' Ill' TIH. TU U(>b.

I !11

CHAP. Xlll

"Tm: Dhosa nffuir," as it is called, lives in the confessions of two of the murderer.;, Kaem 1\ hnu, and Rustum Khan. That of the Conner rnns thus:" ' '' e were on our way from 1\lndhoorajpore to Gwalior-a gang of about forty T hugs- in the month of March, ten years ago; when we fell iu with Btmstoclal, the son of Bhujunbl, the Cot\val of Sopnr. He was a lad of about se1·enteen years of nge; and .had with him two Brahmins, one Rajpoot sepahee,aud a scn•ant of the Jat cast; and \IllS going to Rewan.oe, to fetch his bride. One &f the Brahmins had come from Rewarce, to accompany him. T hey came and took up th~ir quartcl'b in the same Semi with us, and we pretended to he going tho !>llllle road. T hu next morning we went on with t hem to Lolsont; where we again lodged together, in the Scrai of Kosul Bhuteeara. The following liL\'LJO:->S OJ' 'Cll£

lll~1'0RY

Pundit, who was lhen Aumil of the village, told me thnt twenty horse-merchants had been lately proceeding from Nagpore towards Hindostan; that they had heen inveigled into junction with a body of se\'enty-five Thugs; and that, by these rillaius, of the twenty travellers nineteen had been murdered. near a Bur-tree between the villages of Dhooma and Selnee ;-the twentieth escaping by the following circumstances. He had quitted his party, when he heard an outcry, as of human voices, and, in terror, climbed a tree to discover its caUSe. Here he beheld the Thu,d in the murder of a Subahdar, his servant, nnd two Rnjpoots, nt n bon·lee near Chaudac. The bodies were tied up in blankets, and thro\\1\ into the bowlee. Going on towards Jhnlua, we fell in with a Mnrwaree, taking tnrbans for sale to .Jhnlnn, and near Pbalcegow we strangled h irn : hut getting only n rupee each, we agreed to go on, and wait in the Jhalna cantonments till 1\c could find a Bunij more worth taking. We had, ho'l\c\'t:r, no sooner come to this resolution, after discussing over our plan~ em the bank of the river, thnu we heard the dire Cbimmama on our right. We a11 started up; nod, 11ith my gang, I instantly retreated. Jumul Khan, however, ventured to take

_\SI.I l'11Ac-nr£S

takt> his gang

o.-

THE 1"111°ClS.

2 1!)

ton·ards Jhalna. in spite of this wnmio~. We rnme on to Omro11t~-e, where we imilarity of one article mth another, fow1d, as already stated, on differonl people, that they nro J"lal't:S of a whole, which must have been dividL>d and given from a gt>ncral stock : and this opinion is made very strong by the concurrent testimony of the individuals, Sied Ally, Hossein Mahommed, and Bundegee, who assert, in the most solemn manner, that they were present, and assisted in the destruction of the persons from whon) the articles were taken. " Captain Shc:rrilf, Sub-assistant Commissary General,

2au

ILLLSTR\TIO"~ Of' TIT£ lllSTOllY

Gcnerul, has represented to the Court, that he is greatly indebted to the infonnation furnished by the pri!'Oners Sicd Ally and Hossein l\lahommcd; which cnublerl him to get hotel of Seo Deco, au old and active Phnnsigar, who htls, from his being a Hindoo, been peculiarly successful in the art of deception, and has led many llindoos, l\tarwaries, and Brahmins to their destruction. The ltbo,·e-mentioned individuals have also dh'Ulged the practices of three indh iduals, Abboo l'!Iahommed, his son J ulloo, and son-in-law Esoof, who have had a hut for the lust ten months in rear of the General Bazaar in this camp. Julloo· has been present for a long period with the gang, and occasionally comes in here with plunder that cannot be disposed of at other places. Abboo :'tlnllommt-d, by the evidence of Sicd Ally and Hosscin :\Jnbommcd, sen·cd ,,;tJ• the !,tang when he resided in the neighbourhood of ~ andair; and lJis son-in-law served with them, until be was obliged to quit, from rheumatism in the knees. These men had in theiT bouse a large portion of articles which appenr to the Court to be exactly similar to the things found upon Jumal Khan and other ackno" !edged Pbansi,."'llTS. The Phan~igar Seo Deen, after deceiving the police, and the officer commanding, before whom he uns taken, on the 27th ultimo,to relate his story regarding the miraculous escape fl'e had pretended to lmvo made by the arrha) of the hurcaras al Jalfcr-

:Wad,

.\.'iD PRACTICES OF Tllll

muas.

237

abad, WM found at the house of Abboo :\fahommcd: and as Sco Deen does not now pretend to deny having accompanied the P hnnsigars into Berar and Kandeish on several occasions, and as he dcsc:ribes the murders that were perpetrated there, the Court are of opinion that Abboo Mahommecl, his son Julloo (who has effected bis esc:ape from J afferabad, in company with some other individuals of the gang), and his sou-in-law Esoof, mu~t be principals, or at least nccomplices in Uwse nefarious practices. " T hough the Court are fully aware that Sied Ally and llundegee are polluted "ith innumerable murders and robberies which they have freely acknowledged and confessed, and that their acknowled,"lllents and confessions may have been in the hope of saving themselves, nevertheless, in consequence of the good which they ha,·e already done in detecting so many of the gang, some of whom are nearly related to them-added to their promises of pointing out all the people in their own coWJtry who are concerned in these fatal practices of secret murder and robbery-the Court consider it to be their duty to bring fonvard the services of these men, and to recommend them to the favourable eo11~iderdtion of their superiors. " The horrid murders of the four Rajpoots, and two Causce Cowree Brahmins, perpetrated so close to J halna, and the murders of the Brahmin lads, are

23S

ILLGSTIU TIOSS OP TRf. llll'TOR\.

arc crimes of so black and destructive a nature, as to require no comment from this Court. " 1'he following arc the individuals of the gang who have been apprehended : - Jumal Klum, leader of this gang, and brother to Nunny, a leader of the gang taken at Akoolah in 1821, and now a prisoner at Aurongnbad-Abbas Ally, brotherio-ltLw to JUirull Khan-Sied Ally-Hosscin ~la­ hommed-Abboo~[ahomulcd-Esoof-Seo DeenFakccr Mahommcd-Bundegee-Kurreem KhanPnyma Boodha, joined from the Hindostanee gang -Ajoorah, joined from the llindostanco gangHyder, a boy. " Li>.is of all the other individuals of these gangs have been sent by Captain Sherriff to Majon; Parker and Seyer.: and it is expected, that, with the assistance of Sied Ally and Hossein ~Iabommcd, they will all be secured in the course of one or two months. " From all that hu.s appeared before them, thc.' Court have no doubt in their minds of the guilt of the indi1iduals enumerated above: and it woultl appear that these Pharu.iganl mo;ed round Au· rungabad and Jhalna as two centres, and murdered travellers on all the principal roads leading from and to those places ; extending their excursions from these centres ns convenience or a chance of plunder suited, and always returning to lliem. • As

-\~"1> PRACTICES

o•· TUB Tflt:GS.

239

As the Court were about to conclude their proceedings, Rukhur Singh, tho brother of one of the Rajpoots thrown into the well near this place, made his nppeamnce ; and was directed by the Court to stole whttt he knows of his brother's death. R ukb11r Singh acccordingly deposed as follows:-" ~1y brother Arjoon Singh, a D ufadar, scned 1~ith Captain Tucker, at Aurungabad. lle left at Aunmgabad a Byragee who usually lived with him there, and proceeded towards Ellichpore. This Byrngee started some time after my brother, and came to Ellicbpore; where he iufonned me, that one month and five days had elapsed since my brother left Aurungabad, and he was surprised that he had not reached Ellichpore. I got leave from llajor Seyer to come down this road, to look for my brother. I aniyed at Chickly, and found some of the individuals of the gang there. I also met them at Jaft'erabad and Dubbaree. The old mnn, F nkeer 1\'Iahommed, asked me where I was going. I said that the Sahib log had sent me to perfonn a dllty, which I wa~ en.,"'lged in. I kept mo1ing about, and returned to Jafferabad. I found the horremen conveying the Phansigar taken at Chickly by the Jbalna hurcnras to Dioraee, to apprehend the Phansigars that lived there. T hey gave me a full account of my brother's murder, and his servant Khoobas' murder; and pointed out tlte well into which they had tltrown their bodies. I went

•

2-1-0

ILJ.USTRATIONS OF TilE lliSTOilY

went there, and found five sculls close to the well, and eight sculls in the bottoq~ of the well; into which I dh•ed repeatedly, and took up all the bones I could find. As it was impossible to distinguish my brother's scull and bones, I collected all the bones, and placed them, with the thirteen sculld by some men. We killed the men ; and carried on the tattoos and their loads, which consisted of a great variety of articles ; such as, pearls, bends, combs, looking-glasses, &c. " • At Jhnlna we put up in the tope between a2 .Jalferabad

21l

IU.I.iSTR \riO"' OF Tilt; IIISTOIU

Jnfl'erabad and Chickly, nnd killed eight men, who had eight tattoos, and 200 rupees in money. Wc moved to Akoalah by Balapore. After leaving Akoalah, we went to Boregaum, and exposed for SRic the articles taken between Aurungahad and J balna. It so occurred, thnt a robbery had •hortly before onr arrival taken place at Boregamn; and, as we offered the articles at a very low price, the Puteel looked upon us ru; the thieves that had plundered his bazaar: mld, as he had no force at hand to apprehend so l:,1.rge n gang, he accompunicd us to Ellichpore, where he informed Salabut Khan that we were robbers. Futty .I ung Khan sent '1ungul Kltan, with 300 men, to apprehend our gnng: 250 were secured, and the remaining fifty escaped. " ' Futty Jung Khan put us in confinement; and haYing taken an our plunder and ca~h, which amounted to a large sum. let us depart for our 0\1 n country, after being one month in prison: nt this period, Captain Singh 81\hib was at Ellicbpore. T he gang returned to llindostan, and I remainrd at Oomrowtee.· • Thus ends the confession of Sco Deen. Sherriff proceeds : -

Captain

" J shall now proposo the plan of operations, wh.ich has been partly snggested by the captive P hansignrs, for the discovery and apprehension nil these villains; who will soon be in motion, for and

or

•

,,1 AND I'IL~CTIC&ll OF '1'116 TUUm..

I

24.)

and within his Highness the Nizam's territories. The Phansigars, like the Pindnries of old, sally forth immediately after the Des.;urah. " lL is proposed to station one of those Phansigar prisoners at each of the under-mentioned places, through which those plunderers mu~t pass. A small guard of ten hon;ewen, added to the local a;;sistnnce to be had at the several pL1.ees cnUDterawd, will be quite sufficient to secure the prisoners that may be made. " As the prisoners have pledged their lives to disco,·er and detect all the Thug.~ and Phansi,aars that they may pass along these roads, the arrangement and preparation required to ensure success may be left to their own adoption wul approval. A pair of loose trowsers, to conceal a light form of chains on their feet, is all that they requiro, with a decent-looking jacket and turban. " They intend taking post at some of the chowkies were Customs are collected ; and they can be attended by two or three hon;cmen on foot, who will allow the Phansigars, who may be pointed out in the first instance, to pass the t.:bowkies, and afterwards apprehend them.• More than one person named Sahib Khan being spoken of, some confusion is likely to nrise from this circumstance. The following extract is from the deposition of one of the parties bearing that appellation,

21-6

ILLOSTIUTIONS OF T1T1! ffiSTORY

appellation, before Lieut. Elwall, at Sholapore, in September 1835. The deponent is the person described in the narrath·e of the first Sahib Khan, as Sahib Khan of Kabrin. " About eight or nine months after this time, deponent and Mnkhdoom Sahib, Sahib Khan Ilubmutwallall, and M:ooheeodeen Jemadar, with forty followers, set out on a Thuggee expedition towards tl1e Caroatic, and halted for the night at the village of Gomullie. On the same day, Sheikh Ahmed Arcoltce Jemadar, with Guffoor Khan his brother, and Osman Khan Jemadar, with their followers, arrived at the village of Gobnrargee, about two cose from Gornullie : llolld both parties, starting in the morning, met on the road to the Carnatic, arul went on together ; and after four days arrived at Jubulpore in the Company's territories, where we passed the night; and, having consulted together, agreed to divide into two bodies ; and it was settled, that, from my followers,l\:lukhdoom Sahib Jemadar, Sahib Khan Ruhmntwallah, and Moobeeodeen Jemadar, and sixteen sepoys, should accompany the Arcottees; and Sheikh Ahmed J emadar, and sixteen Arcottee followers, accompanied me towards Poonah ; while the other party went towards the Carnatic. After three days, depon_entarrived at Eroor, on the Krishna river, when there was a fuir. Deponent staid there ; and Sheikh Ahmed went on towards Jokul, and about two cose from Eroor

fell

MID PR.\CTICES 0} Till> IUCG~.

t17

fell in '' ith two Hindoo jeweller.; "ho were seated on the bank of a stream, drinking water. Having found out what the travellers had with them, they strangled thorn, and buried the bodies carelessly. Deponent arrived while they were lmrying them. We got from the mtrrdered travellers a dabba of pearls ancl other jewels, which were of large Y:llue ; and sent them home, in charge of four of our men. We arrived ourselves in three days ot San,aolce, on the l'undcrpore road, at the same time with fonr Ilincloo traders with a pony load of cloth, who were going from Jbalna to Kolaporc ; and Sheikh Ahmed, lu1.ving insinuated himself into their acqunin!Jlnce, went on mth thwo to Walmnrra, where they halted, near a Hindoo Dewul. Deponent also came there, and joined Sheikh Ahmed in the evening ; nod we staid the night there. In the morning, Sheikh Ahmed and the others went on with the Boipnrics; and about a mile from the (llue, in a dry nullah, strangled the travellers, and buried their bodies. I came up alter the murder. We got Crom the travellers the following property :-thirteen embroidered doputtas; nine silk scarfs, embroidered; forty-five rupees' weight of gold thread; and lSG turbans; which we sent home with six men, and went on to Miricb Taj Gaon, when the fair of Kl•oja Shumna .l\Icerun Sahib was being held. We saw the fair; and then went towards l•omc, nnd anived at a village on the Kcish~ river, "'here

2-l-8

IW.USTRATIONS Of' TITE HISTORY

where four Hindoo traders, in the service of some Saokar, with three bullocks laden with silk, bad put up. We staid there ; and the next morning the Jemadar Sheikh Ahmed went on with the Beiparies; and about 11 cose from thence, in a dry nullah, murdered and buried them ; and, taking the property, went towards home. Sheikh Ahmed Jemadar took l1alf the silks borne with him to Chilmullah, in the Nizam's country ; and the rest I took with me. " The other party, which separated from us at Juulpar, and went towards the Carnatic, having reached Ancgra in the Dharwar district, halted there. At this time, in. the cantonment of Hooblee, a Decoitte had taken place ; and the police, seeing the Thugs there, suspected them, and they were immediately seized and taken to Dhan,•ar. The Aumil then inquired concerning the Thugs;. and one of the Arcottee followers, named ~Iahommed Khan, confessed, and told that Sheikh Ahmed Jemadar lived at Cltilmullah, and Sahib Khan Jemadar (deponent) at Kakurmullah; and that the persons t;eized were the followers of the two J emadars. I, hearing that search was making for me and Sheikh Ahmed, left my home, and went and staid at the village of Neem Nullie. In the mean time, the Sircar's people, by order of Mr. J. Munro, cante to my house, and ordered my brother 1\Ieean Khan to tell where l was : he said that I bad lett the village . •

219

A!'ib I'JlACT1C£S OF Till TUI:GS.

They, thinking he was speaking falsely, begnn to kick and beat him, till he said he would teU where his brother was; nnd taking the police people with him outside tho village, into a garden where there was a baolee, he watched his opportunity, threw himself in, and was drowned. My other followers, being frightened, fled the village, and came to me nt Xeem ;\ullie; and about fifteen days afterwards, the police, having got information of our being there, came and seized us, and took us before Mr. John 1\Iunro at l\1 ungolee. The undermentioned property was seized in my house, and sent in by Gobind Sobhajee Pundit, and Dewan Ramchand Rao, )1oonsifdar,of Koolkunundghce : l·illage.

SUk .. .... .......... buudko Gold thmul. or Kulblmtton • • •• • cliuD • • Outtt~ weigbt. !Jvd1llootoae. • • • . . . •• Oabba with pearls .. , .. .. .. • .. .. ..

s 4 1 I 3

Horae•.. .. . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . Oaul..... .. .. . . . ... . . .... . . .. . 5 SworU. or tuhnn, &e.. .. .. . , . . .. . . .. . . 14 1\lu ..quela . . . . . • •• • . • . . . . • . . • . 2 O.,puuab • • • • .. • • .. .. .. 13 Silk aeu&, or So .. ta .. . .. • .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 9 Turbans

• .. • .. .. .. • • ..

156

The t.hree hor$e5 were sold, and the price was giVen to my father and family ; and afterwards Nursing Ba Resaldar was ordered by the Gcullemnn to give them their omuments and brass vessclll, &c., as also a quantity of grain of different sorts,

250

I LJ,\18TILUJO~S 01' Tlffi IIISTStcd Thu~ in the Zillah of Dhanrnr, but have occn:;ionally hearu of him. "Chabrenh Emaum Jcmudar, and his brother lloonoorgnh, had formerly a -gimg of thirty Thugs. lltnve not seen them since the time of Mr. :\lJJJtro's arrests;

AND PIUCTIOES OF TilE TDUCS.

257

arrests; but within the last two years I have heard that they were residing in the jurisdietion of some Rajah, ncar Bczwarah, on the road from Hyd1·abad to Masulipatam. " Tippoo, the brother of Sheikh Ahmed, in whose company he is. I have not seen him since the time above mentioned. "In former times, all these .Temadars, "~th many hundreds of Thugs, resided in the Arcot and other adjacent zillahs; but about twenty or twenty-two years ago, Sheikh Ahmed Jeruadar, with a party of sill."teen Thugs and four women, came to the Ooms of Peer Dustgeer, which takes place at the village of Neeloor, in the Pergunah· of Goolbur&eir bodies: they sometimes take wit}! them some of their children (boys under tweh·e years of age), the less to attrnct notice and suspicion : the head man of the gang sometimes rides ou a horse; and they have genera]]y ,filh them some bullocks, or tattoo ponies, to carry T the

~71

ILLUSTIUTIO" 01 I liE IDSTORY

the plundered property ; and by these mean~ they more readily pass for merchants, the character they frequently assume. A gang is always sufficiently numerous to allow of several persons belonging to it being stationed nt o short clistnnce from the places where their victims ore put to death, to ghc ulnrm iu case of the approach of danger. They never commit a robbery unaccompanied with murder : they first strangle their ,·iclims, and then plunder them.• In 1812, the Magistrate of Chittoor thus ndclressed the Secretary to Government iu the Judicial Department:" With respect to the crime of murder by Phausignrs, it is not possible for any magistrate to say how much it prevails iu hili zillah, in consequence of the precautions taken by these people of burying the bodies of the murdered. Soon after my appointment, a large gong of Pbansignrs (mnny of whom lived in this zillah) were discovered ; and npprcbcnded on their return to their homes from a journey they had made to the Travancorc country, where they bad committed numerous murders, and brought home a rich booty, iu money, and goods of all sorts. S'mce that period, particular endcavoUI'll have been made to discover any Phansigars residing iu this zillah : a fe1v hove been apprehended, some convicted, and others have leA: the zillah. Many of

\\D PIUCTICES odakaners, IJoppcnc, and Gollnputty, in the district of Combom. " Besides those Phansigars who arc now before the Court, I can seize many others; and produce them in the Court, with proofs. " The wife of Fakeer :\labommcd of '1'1 crrobayeloo, who is not present, told me, that her husband, and some others of lhat villnt in the Bundur road, as above mentioned, and thvhe who were concerned with these gangs, arc li\·ing in four \illages called Padnla, Patacanoor, Hebclly, and Gollaputty, in the Talook of Cambom, attached to the zillnlt of Cuddapah. They now and then used to join the said 1\lnhommed Khan, his son Hos~in Khan, and others, who are now before the Court, in their ~trnngling expeditions ; and divided the property thus procured. Their names are, Cauda\·ala Ho sein Sahib, Ooncgagaudoo, his younger brother Emaum Sahib, Aub Khan, and about twenty persons whose names nrc unkno·wn to me. I am ready to point out all those persons. " When ~ome of the people of the Cambom gang joined us as aforesaid, I beard Oonegngaucloo tell l\fahommed Khan and others, that ' they had killed one Subahdar, one Jemadar, and one Ha\'ilclar, nnd a dog which was with them, within one clay'~; march of Ellore> and took the bullock, cloths, and some ready cash found upon them; and that ue.wa; of these murders ba\ing spread, a search bas been instituted for the murderers.' They therefore advised us not to visit that part of the country." The same 11itness subsequently made a second Declaration, to the folio" ing effect : .. Four persons were passing near Paretaul iu the t

M•ll I'I!.At'TICES OF TO& 1'11UGS.

2~).)

the roud to Ebrampc:tten, on their way from Rajnmundry to Golocondah, ~~hen the Phansi.,"8t'S strangled, and buried them in a. dry water-course which was near ; and took some doodies, and dooganies, and cloths, found upon the bodies. " Two Committies ancl one Moorman were passing a 1-illage called Na,"llracnl, on their way from Madnls to llydrabad; when the Phnnsi.,"llrs followed them a little distance, to a dry water-course situated between Nngaracul and o village call;.-d Jl uttnralogam ; there killed them by Phansee, and buried them in the water-course. A blac:-k-ancl1\'hite-coloured jamnkanah, a silk paundam (a purse to keep betel-nuts in), two rupees in ready cash, two patunchoo (or silk-bordered) cloths worn by them, and one white curnbly, some tapalies, and cbemboos (or pots), were found upon the bodies. Of those things, the black-and-white-coloured ja-

makanab is present in the Court. " A person was passing along the road about one mile on this side of 'Na,"llraeul, coming to Hydrabad : the Phansigars killed him ; and took. one Guogusagarum dhotie (a sort of cloth), one pistol, twenty rupees in ready cash, and two black cnmblies, found upon him ; and buried the body in a dry water-coun;e which was ncar. Of those articles, one fine black cumbly is present in the Court: the pi~tol is at Nerrabayeloo, in the l•ouse of Yacoob, who is now present. " J J'omot .,

.

206

U.l.tlSTJti\TIO:-IS 01' HIG HI&TOI\Y

" I forgot to mention these circUIDIOtanCes in my first Drclaration. " The white bullock which was found with 11 :Moomllm who was killed ncar Toutcputree is now at 2\!'rrabayeloo, in the bouse of }Iahommed Khan, who is now before the Court. " It is custom.nry for the Phansign.rs to pretend friend~hip for tmvellers, and, going with them a short distance, to strangle them with their dhoties. When the cloth is thrown round the neck, the trovcUcrs are seized by their legs. Their dcD PllACTICES 01' Tilt T!ll'GS.

301

was thrown into tho river Ganges. After the murder, lhe Thugs went to the go-dawn or grog-shop, uud there got drunk ; when a di~pute arose ;-upon 11 hich, GhasL>e Khan Jemadar, Dookcea, ~Ian knan, and Joteca (Ute lulter is Chuprassec with Mr. Pringle al preSt:nt), gave information of the murder; and those concerned were arrested, nud taken before the Conrt at Chupnrab. After the depositions had been taken, the case was made over to Mr. Elliot, the Commissjoncr. The property of the murderelaring tbem to be men of good chamcter, and highly respectable ; and I believe every man in the clistrict would have snid the same thing, for no man's life w:IS safe a moment wl1o dared to inform S,"llinst them : but, independent of what is contained in the present inquiry, the bad character of many, that were then apprehended, has been ~ubsequently proYed. One of them, named Syfoo Khan, was a Goinda many years nfterwarcls ; having first, in conjunction with some others of the gang, murdered the aboYe Khodabu."< ll.hnn, the informer. In consequence of information gi1•en by Syfoo, the x2 murder

•

305

ILLCSTILHIOSS I)P' TltE UISTORY

murder which took place last year in Tirboot was discovered, and he ilied short!y afterwards. I need not, in this place, state any more, to shew that the tcJTor in which the gang wns held by people of all clnsses, prevented information being given against them ; increased, no doubt, by the above sixteen persons bcing all released. " In 1814, fifteen of the gang were taken in the Behar district, in CODSI.'queuce of a murder which was committed at Pandaruck uear Bar; but in consequence of want of proof against them, they wore all put on security for good behn.viour. Eleven gave security; and were aftenvards released by the Commissioner, under lhe provisions of Reg. 8, of 1818. An account of this murder will be fow1d in your office. " In the end of 1814, fh·o of the gang were apprehended, in consequence of information, gi,·en on oath by the above informer Khodabux Khan, Ullum Noorbauf, aud llitclm Pasban; but were released in consequence of some of the gang coming forward, and gi~ing them good characters : and Khodnbw: Khan was imprisoned three monthb ; and a :llochulka of st. rupees 100 was taken from Khodabux, and a l\locbulka" of st. rupees 50 from each of the others, binding them to give no such infonnation (apparently false) in fllturc. " It would have been well for K.hodabiLx if he hnd confom1ed to this, and rl:linquisl1ed his hopeless trade

•

ASD l'IL\CTICES OP THE TUI!GS.

30!)

trade of infonning ~nainst them ; but a few yean aftcnvards, l1e a,aain volunteered his services in Zillah Gorruckpore, to hunt some or them down, and was murdered by them. The murder was proved a,nainst the gang; and some of them, I believe, nrein jnil for it now. Ullum Noorbaufwisely quitted the country shortly after undergoing his p1mishment, as related in the foregoing paragraph : and has not been heard of since. " In 1821, one of the gang, named Muddaree, was taken up, and tried for throwing a noose over a man's bead ; which stuck on his nose, and cut it. He was committed ; and the case was referred, by the Court of Circuit, to the Sudder Xizamut Adnwlut; but he was ncctuitted, in consequence of a slight discrepancy in the evidence. " I u 1824, Bocktawar Khan, one of the gang, who was formerly taken and released in 1810, was a,oain apprehended, in consequence of information given by a person named U]oodhca Roy : but the ~·istratc, considering them both equally bad, ordered both to find security for six months, in the amount of 100 rupees. A great deal of su.'ipicious property, which was found on Bucktnwar, was confiscated; hut he was able to give security, and was released: while the unfortunate informer was imprisoned six months, not being able to find

security. " In the end of 1826, one of the gang, named Shumshnir

3J 0

ILLUS'l:RATIO);S 01' THE JIISTO!ll'

Shumsbair Khan, was apprehended for being with nearly fifty followers on the bank of the river Dewa. at Manjhee for some days, and being suspected by the Darognh of having come there for nothing but plunder. The followers immediately dispersed. Nothing could be proved against Shnmshair; and in 1826 he was released, by order of the Circuit Judge. " Thus it appears, that, in two instances, the informers were punished, and the accused got off; and one infom1er met his death by pe~sting in acting against the gang. It is not therefore to be wondered at that no other person has since dared to come forward against them, until now. On any of the above occa.sioDS of part of the gang being taken, the wbo1e might have been brought to light, as it is now, if the investigation had gone further, and confidence had been ginn to people to come. forward, and if there bad been auy idea of the existence of the gang : but 1 hope the tinle is now over when no one dared to oppose or give infonnatiou a,"llinst them. "After an attentive perusal of the trinls above alluded to, and obtaining a good deal more information respecting the ]Jaunts and proceedings of the gang, I sent the Darogah of Chuparab, with a party, and an order to Baboo Chutterdharce o£ Sauhys, on whose estate most of the gang resided, to give every assistance tlJc Darogah might require. 1 gave

A~'l) Pll.A.CTJCES OF Till> TIIUGS.

Ill 1

I gave the Darogah a list of persons to be apprehended 81ld searched, tllld power to &J>prehcnd and search others who might be strongly suspected of belonging to the gang. " The measure has been very successful, as the annexed list of persons apprehended mll sl1ew: and althou!(h it will probably be difficult to prove any thing further than notorious bad character against most of them, still the gang will not soon recover from the blow they hnve now received: and I hope to prove enough, to shew that \'ery few that hnve been taken, can, mtb safety to the community, be released. " To return to lhc case of highway robbery:1 conunitted the six who were first taken, and five others a,"llinst whom three persons aftenvnrils depolled I fear I was a little too hasty in admitting those three persons as \vitnes.~es. That they were themselves a }larl of the gang, I had no doubt ; but still, from the e~idence they gave before me, and in the \\'alit of all proof of their being concerned, I took their evidence on oath, and committed the c,ase for trial. " It ha.~ been postponed to the next &.'SSions ; and I hope before that time to be able to get n1ore e\·idence a,aainst tl1e prisoners. Most of the gang, I bclie\·e, that wen; at their homes when the Darogah of ('buparah was sent against them, have been tuk.en. A number of them who \\ere out on predatory

•

312

ILLCSTRAl'IONS OF THil BlSTOJlY

predatory excursions will return when the rains set in; and many of those who fled on the approach of the Darogah will probably return also at tlmt time. I therefore remain quiet till then, when I hope to make another successful attack on them : and. in the mean time, l am not without hope of apprehending Amee and Shitaub Kban, before mentioned in this Report." A list follows of twenty persons apprehended, and variously dealt with according to law. It is succeeded by another, containing the names and descriptions of forty-two Thugs infesting the Sarun and Gorrucl-pore districts .

•

.~SD PIUCTIO&S Ot' Till! TIIUGS.

313

CH.\P. XX.

A CORllESPOlH>ENCB which took place between some European officials in the year 1814 will illustrate the state of society and morals then prevailing in the Western Pro\inccs. "TO J. W.WCJTOPE1 ESQ.

" .1\ty Dear Sir,

•

" You will, I doubt not, be much surprised nl being troubled by a person who had only the ple~ sure of being acquainted with you for a few days, at Allahabad. I trust, however, to your goodness for nn excuse, and will at once proceed to the object of my writing. " It is now almost a month since 1 was informed, that, a fortnight before, some Thugs murdered four persons in a nullah between Banda and Kaeta ; nnd were apprehended, to the number of abcut twenty-five or thirty, almost on the instant of their accomplishing the murder, and sent in to you. Amongst those apprehenli.ed, are said to be Sumadhan Brahmin, Oodeeba, and Khooman Lodehs, and Nunda Bukal, all of great notoriety. ''From

3) •l

ll.LUSTRA!J'IONS 01' 'l'llil lllSTOJl.Y

" From the circnmstnnccs under which tlwy were apprehended, I thinl.: it likely many may have confessed, not only the present charge, but former crimes. ln this case, lheir confessions must lhrow l,YTeat light on the !lystem of Thuggee, and, as they are, many of them, originally inhabitants of this neighbourhood, perhaps implicate many persons whose names were hitherto unknown : as weU as corroborate accusations made a.,aainst some who have been seized, and olheiS who have escaped. "As 1 have several men now under investigation, charged with this crime, and with being accomplices of some of those you have in confinement, I hope it will not be thought an improper interference to request you will oblige me with copies of such confessions 115 may have been mad-e before ymL It of no nsc to the case I have under trial, they will be so as private memoranda. 1 should also feel much obliged by your favouring me with a list of the persons apprehended, including their caste and place of residence. " lt·[y reasons for this second request are, lst. That a number of Thugs were apprehended by Ml·. Wright, and confessed before him; and their confessions implicate the men l above mentioned as so notorious. Were copies of those confessions inserted in lhe case in your Court, they would, perhaps, tend to corroborate any confussion made before you ; and \\ ould certainly shew that they have

,.

ASI> PR~C71C£'> OF TU£ THt:G>.

3J.J

dtA\"e long since followed the trade of murder. As I have notes of tbc:;c confeasions uy me, after being fa,·oured mth the names of those you ha\"e caught, 1 could mention the names of those by whom they were fonnerly implicated. If you were inclined to call for copies of those confessions from Camtpore, Ly enabling you at once to mention those you wi.•h to haYe, much trouble would be saved. 2dly, Amonf!l't those now in confinement with you, are, perhaps, some for whom l have been, and am still SIJI.ATIO!\S

or TH•;

lllhJUKl'

commonly the: seecL. of a plant culled Duttom; which they contrive to administer in tobacco, pawu, the hookah, food or drink of the traveller. As soon as the poison begins to take effect, by inducing a stupor or laDo"'UOr, they stmnglc him, to prevent his crying out ; when, after stripping and plundering him, the deed is coutpleted by a stab in the belly, on the brink of a wcll; into which they plunge the body so inst:mtaneously, that no blood can stain the gronutl or clothes of the as..-assiu. " As the Company's Sepoy~ who proct.-ed on leave of absence generally carry about them the sa\ings from their pay in specie, a'!d lr.tvel unarmed, they arc eagerly ~;ought out by these robbers, as the particular objects of their depredation. With a view, therefore, to guard agninst ~uch atrocious deeds, the Commanding Officers of native corps will caution their men, whL'Il proceeding on leave of absence" 1. To be strictly on their guard against all persons (particularly tho1;0 unarmed) whom they f.'lll in with on the road, who evince a solicitude to keep them company on pretence that they are going the • wme way, and arc inquisitive nbout their affairs. " 2. Not to quit the serais at a very early bour in the momiog, before the rest of the travellers. " 3. Not to receive pawn, tobacco, sweetmeat, &c. &c. &om such persons, or smoke their hookahs, t>articularly if offered to them in solitary spots on the <

,..,.n ••• ,.\l"•u.:u or l'lliJ tnrs.

aa 1

the road; and, I11Stly, to avail themt;el'l"es of the protection of sowars (horsemen), l'l"hc:n opportunity olfel"', or lr-.1vel as IIlliCh as possible with large bodies of people. T his last object might be attained, in a great degree, if the men were persuaded, on occasions of periodical leave of absence, to keep togeth•·r on the road , as long as the several destinations of such Nativl! Commissioned or Non-ComnU,.,ioned Officer.;, as may be proceeding the snmc way, will admit. " I t hru; also been intimated to the ~Injor­ General commanding the forces, that the Residents at Delhi and Lucknow, and tho Collectors of Ren•nne, will be authorized, on the application of Commanding Olllcers of Paymasters, to grnnt bills, payable at sight and at tho usual exchange, on any other treasury, for sums which may be paid into their own trensu1·ics on account of Sepoys wi~hing to remit

money from one part of tho ccmntry to another;a mode which, in confonnity to the views of Government, i,; particularly to be cncolll'll,aed and attended to by Officers commanding corps and detachments.v At a L"ttt!l' period, these ruffians attracted the notice of the Mltrquis of Hustin{;l!; but only, lib it appear.;, incidentally. Scindin bad stipulated to provide a contingent, to aid in the suppression of the P indatios; but having no great affection to the work, he bad e\·ndcd the perfunnancc.

" To

!J;J2

ILLUSTIL\ I'IO:S~ iduals, was scattcn' for a long period to come. 'l'he punishment, however, of these murderers, to be cffecti\·e in this l'C!OpCCt, ought, I eonceh·e, to be inflictt>d at the different places from whence they come: and I cannot help trusting that Go,·ernment 'nll also adopt some measures, both in our own territory and in the dominions of our nllies, to bring to condign punishment the village-olflcers, and other authorities orthc country, who connive at rhe proceedings of these murderers, and partidpatl' ill their plunder. These con hardly be considert'd as less guilty than the murderers themsel \'CS. " I beg leave. therefore, to suggest, that lbe leaders, ond all of the party whose employment in the gang has been that of stranglers, should suffer capital punishment, each at the village to which be blongs. Where the murderers come from places not 'ntltin our jurisdiction, 1 can hardly anticipate any difficulty in obtaining_ the assent of our allies to make an uample so requisite for the future safety of innocent travl'llers throughout Central I ndia. 'l'Le rest of the gllng, with the exception of those to ''hom p.'lrdon has been promised, o~bt, 1 conceive, either to tie banished from l lindostan, or C011fincd for lift'.· 1. Amanoolnh,

;};Jb

ILLI!,.IK\TIOl'> Ot'

mr

lllsrmn

Amnnoolah, tlu> earli,•st of tho approvcrs, was a 1\[ussuhunn, aged about fifty years. H is deposition follows:" I run one of the gangs of Phansigars now in confinement, and, with my nssociat.es, was .rtop~l, in the mont h of Bysak lust. at the rnlllgc Dekoln, about seven or eight col;~! northward of Bhcelwamh, as we \\ere returning to our homes in Hindostan. At this place, a party of eight or teu horsenwn crune upon ns, and said, t hat Captain Borth" ick haring heard that we •\·ero: carrying opium out uf Malwa, had sent them to stop us. On l)earing this, our minds were relic•·ed from suspicton or fear that the object of the horsemen was any other than what it professed to be, or had. any reterencc to o\Lr habits and pursuits. W c readily consented, th~re-­ fore, to return lo Bhcclwarah with the horsemen, who, we thought, would of course allo\\ ns to depart, after searching us and finding we had no opium. After our arrh•al there, we learnt the true cause of our being arrested; not, howe•er, before the authoritie.. and inhabitants of the town hnd joined in aid of the horsemen, to secure us, und pre\"cnt our ~tpe. We, of course, loudly prolt:sted our innocence, aflimling our readinuss to be taken before Captain Borth\\;ck, wht!l'u we should' cle-.rr our..t!lves, to that gentlt>man's satisfaction, of t ht accusation~ which the horsemen cast upon u~ of Ldng Thngs .mtl Phansigars ; nl the '1\lru! time,

•

.\~11

rn u nc:Fs

ol' 11!1.

nn·c;•.

339

•trsin:t tht the things seizetl upon us: other lhint,tti of trifling value, belonging to tlris Mus· sulman, fell into our hands. "This was the first act we commitlt'tl : after which, we pursued our conrse, and, without falling in with any thing further, urrivcd nt Oogdn. From Oogein we proceeded to Barodu, by the usual stag~'S, "ithout committing uny murder or robb~ry no the way; \\itl1 ouly one exception, ahout fin•

~ '< ll PUCTICIOS 01 TB£ Trn;os.

3 II

fi,·c cose from the latter town. This was upon the per;ons of n barber and a byragee, who fell into our hands at the stage before we reaahed Baroda, and ll re murdered n short time afler nighl set in. A red woollen cloth jacket, now among Lhe things taken upon us, and a tattoo, also present, fell into onr hands. (The other witnesses do not confirm this, as to the tattoo belonging to the barber.] Wl1nt was found upon the bymgee, I do not now remember. " The neA't day we arrived at Baroda ; and there found a band of our brethren, consisting of tweutyfhe men, under their leader, a Brahmin, and an inhabitant of Etawah. This Brahmin and Mandun (prisoner' our J emadar, consulting together, a,"Te('(j that the two bands should unite, and act conjointly. We accordingly left Raroda together: und after traversing different parts of Gozerat, returned to Baroda, empty-handed. A day or so afier our return to Barocla, Oomrao Singh Jcmadar ( prisoner), l\fakhuu Jemudar (prisoner), and Ruttymm Jemndar, with their bands, arrived : and the day after that, the Brahmin, with his band, set out on his return to Hindostan. We, having hitherto been UllMlccessful, determined to remain some time longer, and try our fortune in conjunction ,~·ith the parties just nrri,·ed: and ac-cordingly joined them. Our united hands, aner this, left Baroda ; and hanng obtained intelligence, from our scouts, of four travellers v.;th property, we went in pursuit

Clf

:J ~2

ILLUHRAT!O~S 01' THk: III•TOI\\

of them ; aud eoming up tu them near an Englbh cantonment, murdered them ; hut were much clio;tppoinl(.'d to find that they were only poor stout· cutters, without n rupee upon them ; our scouts having heen deceived by the bwtdles of tools which they carried. After this we retnmed to Baroda ; where, niter halting a day or two, it was dctermlnc(l that "e should return to our homes. Wc acconlingly left Baroda, and made a stage of about thn'e ur four cose, 11 here a Hadjec (pilgrim) met wiUt hiJ! lirte at our hands. Our ne.,t act wn. the murder of two Besatties. AJ\:er them, two men, 11 hom r beard were Rutbans, and at a stage or two from tbnt where the Rutbaus met their fate, we fell in with one or two pnlanquin-bcarers, with two women and a child, all of whom we murdered in the jungle, and took their property. After this, four l\lussulmans, with l\lynas, fell into our bands, and were mnrden.-d. It was, I think, ut this stage where we halted a day, 1111d settled a divisiou of property : aller 11hich we resumlod our ruute ~ and near to ltutlnm effected our designs upon lire merchant•. 11 lm had become the object of them from the Just stage or so.

"\Vc passed Rutlam, few or none ol 1L~ entering the to11 n ; and btopped ncar a \ illagc to the nides thOtiC above mentioned. I ha1·e unreservedly diSClosed all of \1 hich f have any k.Jiu\Vledge, and according 10 the recollection 1 have of them. T hu present is the second expedition that has been made by the Phansigan., and in which I have been, since I jointod tlu;m. The first took place immediately after the mins preceding the la..t (alter the mins of 1826), und proceeded to the Deccan. W u pa:.sed through Kand,·ihb ; 1-isitL-d Au:rtUll,'llbad, Poonnh, and H ydmbad; and, tuter trnl"ersing tho~o qWlrtcrs, returned with considerable plunder, aoquirl'd by the ~rpetralion of nets similar to thusu committetl on thu preseul expedition. I c:an point onl

•

A' ll rn .\CTIC'"S OP TJIE l'UCvS.

3 I,J

out thl• spots where mo~1. of the above-mentioned murdcl'!> ''ere comtnittcd. particularly thost: more recently perpetrated, as being more fresh in my rt·collection. ~I y connection with the Phansi,nar.s arose from the marriage of my two daughters wilh llhuggy und N uggoo, two of the gang, and brothers of Heira, alias Ruttyrillll, one of the J emadars. J3huggy was one of tltosc who was detached with Ruttyrnm. ~uggoo did not accompany ItS; but remained at home, to attend to tlte cultivation of some land. I cnn identify the persons of the whole of the prisoners, nod speak to the offices which many of them mually perform in the gang ; also the names by which many of them nrc known: but, as it is frequently the ease that one person uses different names, indi\iduals may be known to me by one nnme of Siugy Rlunpoora. l\Iundesore is the name of the large town we passed ; and, without stopping, proceeded four or five cosc f11r· Lher, to a largo bir-tree and well, where a trareller fell into our hands and was murdered. J did not, at the time, know the nome of the town, having ne1 cr before been in this quarter ; but have since learnt it. This murder was tile first, as far as I am aware, tbat ''as committed after that of the merchant and his attendants, to the southward of Rutl:un. .\s on the present, I belonged on the limncr excursion to Oomrao's gang, which then len Bundelcand a few days before .:\lakhun set out n;th hls. Our course, on that occasiou, Wll!i directed to the o~can ; and we arril•ed in that qlliUi:er lx·fore any thing considemblc (ell into our hands. On the way, several acts were perpetrated, as '' ··ll on the pl.'rsons or single tra1 "llers as sruull p;u-lie~ of t11o or thrl'c, J>ul all yielding trilling

admutagc:

advantage : but in tho Deccan, information was brought, by our spies, of treasure passing through the cow1try, on An,ariahs; which induced Oomrao to take a select band of about thirty men, and go after it ; directing the remainder of hi:1 gang to remain in t11e ncighbourhood of U.C plaee where we then were, until he rejoined Wl. 1 was not with Oomrao on tltis occasion ; but heard from the (>arty, when he rejoined us, that they l1ad made a long and expeditious march of about eighteen cose, before they came up with the Angriahs; that, after they met them, they soon succeeded in murdering them, and possessing themselves of the treasure conccalt>d on their per$011~, which turned out to be a ,·cry large sum. It consi:.-tl-d of gold in bar$, poollies, and molltll'S ; and amoantcd, as well as l remember, to about 20,000 rupees . . Makhun J~ maolnr WI!$ in the same quarter at that timt>, and some of his men were present with Oomrao ut the ~eizing of the treasure; but I remember there was ~onto qn:1rrclling about the dhision of it, from Makhun and ltis men not !Jeing allowed to share:: in Cftual proportion 11ith Oomrno and l1is. I cannot t>ay that Makhun him~elf was present. Yandtm Jemadar is only the le.tder of the gang I belong to, in conjunction with lleirn Jemadnr, who is, pruperly speaking, the principal. Beim escaped ut the time we "ere apprehended at Dckhola."

.,

•

Kbaimr;~j,

:3JH

ll.l.l'&TitATJO:-IS CIP TilE IIISTtlllY

Khaimraj, another accomplice admitted to gh·e evidl·nce, was a llindoo of Lobar ca~e. and his ago about fifty years. lie said :-" 1 was seized in the month of Bysack last, by a party of horscm!'n, at the 'illage of Deklmla in !\lemll', along with my companions, who form the gang of Phansigal'll and Thugs now in confinement, of "hich gang I am one. The horsemen, 11 hen they came to tlS, said they were ~ent with orders to ~top us, on information that we had opium ; and thAt we must therefore return with them to Bheell.-arah, to be searched. Decei\·cd by this subterfuge (a~ we soon found it to be), we rf'adil y accompanied them to that town, '' ithout fear or apprehension of any mischance befalling us. In this, however, we were soon undeceived; for, shortly after our arrival at Bbeelwarah, the horsemen openly accused us of being Phallhlgars; saying, that Captain Borthwick had received po~tive information to that efl'cct, nnd they luul, in consequence, been sent by that gentl~man to take us into custody. The people of the place had prc\-ionsly joined in aid of the horsemen, to prevent our escape; and we had nothing for it, but to submit to our fate. Some indhiduals of the gang. taking alann on the first appeanmce of the horsemen, ran off, and escaped; but with the exception of them, und a party of twenty-five or thirty, who \\t:re some tin1e bcrore sent, with the plunder we had tl1cn acquired, to find their way

~!W PR ~CTIC'I:S 01' l'IIF TUUGS.

3 HJ

way home by a more direct route than the main body intended to take, the whole of the individuals who for the last few months have formed this gang are now here in confinement. From l3heelwarah we were brought to Jowmh; the people of the town and rillneaes on the way joining the horst:men, as they had done at that place; by which means we have been brou.,aht here in safe custody. " Jt is not usual witl1 persons of our character, when apprehended, to make disclosures from intimidation or the application of scveritie~ ; and 1 ~hould n1n·er ha1·e made confession had such a course been r~rted to 1vith me: indeed, I 1vas flrmly resolved to keep silent; but finding that two or three of my companions hnd already told all, and had pointed out the spots and bodies ol' the different individuals whom we had murdered during the last few days previous to our being seized, 1 considered it would be very foolish in we to abide by such a resolution, particularly when I found J nlight probably save my life by a full and true confession, while remaining silent would not avail me, or any of my companions, any thing. I therefore now come fonvard to disclose fully and truly all that l know regarding the Phansigars and Thugs, and what bas been done by them since the time that I have belonged to them, as fur as my lmowk-d,ae and recollection or deeds and incidents will serve me. "The

3.J0 ILLl'd bis party, all l\lUSI)nllllilns, come from th11 nllage Mote and thereahouts, in the Jhan't year that r actually joinL'Ii tlwm, ru1d accompanied them on the pl·,·,rnt excursion. Previous to setting out upon it, 1\fakhun J erua~ of their property : this occupied some time, and was not effected without difficulty. \"l1eu the Sepoys ~mw us, they seemed to hal'e entertained buspiciou of us ; for having, in a hurried manner, got through their meal, they quickly conUDeuced theu· joumey, und stopped at a \illage a short distance from the river, where our spies followed them, IIDd saw them fairly lodged. W e halted at another village, ot a short distance from tbc one they weru at ; and at ltight sent a select party to cffeet our object. The Sepoys commenced their journey the next morning, followed by our party, who, watching their· opportunity, when at a distance from any \'illage, feU upon them, and murdered them as they were going along the ron cnme amongst us, and carried off' clothes and other thin,rrs from 1\fakhuo Jema.dar (prisoner). From this we proceeded to Baroda; and, nfl:cr remaining there n day or two, set out on our return to ·HindoslWL At the distance of about three cose from Baroda, three travellers fell into our hrmds and were murdered : 1 do not remember what property was found upon them. Our next stage wns to within a bbort distance of the tolfll ofDubhoy, where four men, Bes.'\1\ties (pc\lakhun·:;, or what was the final result of the bu.,inc". Besides Lain Barbtr, who manages matters in his favour through his acquaintances at the Courts and Cotchcrries at Cawnpore, Eta\\1111, llumcotpoor, Auria, and Mynpoor, Makhun has a great friend and supporter in the Jhansee Vnkecl who resides at Hummcepoorah, named Guncsh J.nll. Oomrao may ha\·e other patrons besides his rdatioo ~otee, "Ito \\1ltche~ over his interests prinl·ipally at Jubulpore. Makay Sahib, at Kytah, b ll f:,'l'Cat fri~:nd of Motec·~; and it was from him that lu.• obtainetl the English pass which Oommo shewed to the horsemen, when we were apprehended 11t Uekhola. In passing through a country, so great a number of men together, as our gangs somctimCti pr~o~sent, is certainly calculated to excite suspicion ; but w ben this happens to be the case, we are always pn·pan:d with some «tory or explanation, to ward it off. Few of us carry anru.: perhaps, among lifleen or twenty persons, two or three swords mny be• found, but not more. " "'hen Thugs meet, though strangers, there j, .,nmething in llwir manner that soou tliscOI't'l'l>

il!.clf

AND PII.ACTIC£5 OF 'I'UE THUGS.

377

itself to each other: and to assure the surmise thus excited, one exclaims, 'Ally Khan'; which, ou being repeated by tbe other party, a recognition of each other's habits takes place, but this is never followed by a disclosure of past acts. We do use certain tenns to distinguish particular circumstances and events connected with our proceedings, which are known to ourselves alone. These terms are known to an persons of similar habits to ourselves, as well to the Thugs of the D eccan, of the Nagpore country, of .Malwa, of Kaunthul and Bagor, &c., as to those of Buudelctmd and Gwalior. The nurbbers apply exclusively to travellers, and are useajto communicate the number that fall into the h1~ of detached parties in pursuit of them . T believ there are few countries that do not produce Thugs those I have just pill'ticularized did, I know, contt them ; and do so, 1 believe, at the present mom nt. In the Oomrautee quarter there is a gang lied Nasir Khan's Karoo or gang, a well-known T g leader ; but whetl1er he is still the leader of it 1 cannot exactly say. In Kauntbul and Bagor, Makeema aud D ulla were formerly the Thug leaders ; but who these are :tt present 1 do not know. T he names of the leaders of the )falwa Thugs, or of those of the Nagpore country, I am ignorant of. " In the division of plunder, the J emadars, or principal leaders, receive seven aud a half per cent, besides slurring ettually with the rc$l of the gang;

bul

318

ILLI;,.TilATIOSS Ol TJU: llbTOBl

but befoa·e any division whatever is mndc to the leaders or their men, one of the principal of the former alienates a certain part, greater or smaller in proportion to the amount acquired, which is devoted to Bhowo.ny, our tutelar deity. This, hO\\ever, docs not generally apply to clothes, or plunder of that d~ription; indeed, it almost entirely refers to money in gold or sih·er : for when it contiists of diamonds or pearls, the leader draws blood from his hands; and ha,ing sprinkled a little of it over them, the sanction of the deity to a. dirision is thereby considered to be obtained, without any other alienation. But the omission of this ceremony, or neglecting, when success att058 they \vcre murJered.. • Suroop Mistree mrule the folio\\ ing confession : " I luwc killed no peNOn. I went on no boat: cannot say why Soohul nnd Gunga ~listree take my name. In June, Gunga lllistree came to mr hoUse, nod said, ' "' c ha\ e brought some tobacco and hemp: do you take it to :\lanickgnngc and :.ell, and I will pay yoiL' I rome to the ghaut, and saw these articles in o puhHir, on which were Soobuldam, Rholn Chung, Kishcmnohun, Bitjmobun, ami Hungsce Chung. They said, • We cannot oUl'llCIH'S ,cJJ it; do you come and !II: II our things fur u.'.' So 1 went on board that bont : Gungarnrn and BiljmuhUll went on shore. \\"e took the boat to )lanickgunjc, and sold the article:. to Jugnath SaiL I forgd the amount; but Juj,'tDohon Bi...was took the "hole, and gaTe one-and-a-quarter rupee. They would have gi\·en me a rt:d chntta; but I would not I'ICccpt it; so Gungnrnm took it. Thal chntta wns

uoovc

A~P PRACTIC£5 OP TltY. TJIUGS.

\ l'lliCTII'I:S OP Till:

·rut GS.

~) !l

rupee~.

I n·nminl:d at home, they at Manickgunjt!. About the tmd of .Jcth, Radhnuath, l\lirtunjot', Kadanath, and Chedam, hired my boat, and went to trade, I do not know where. I do not know whom else they took. Wben we were going to the north, our boat put up at the plain of Balahat Babna, at about one-nn_d-a-half pas distance, Qn the rigllt bank o£ J umona ri'l-er: there, at about fourteen ghuries day, came two J ulahas (weavers), Y.itb several pairs of new cloths: !bey were travefling, by land, towards the south. On this, Suroop ~lis­ tree and Radhunath Sircar, on pretext of wishing to buy cloths, called them to the boat. und sent me ashore to buy vegetables: in two ghuries, when I returned with the vegetablc,S, I did not see the boat, uut in a moment after I saw it being towed up the stream : they told me, in reply to my inquiry, that the boat had slid away, and they were bringing it up. I got on the boat, and saw a bundle of ue'v cloths. I n reply to my question, they told me they had bought these clotl1s from the two wea\·ers, who had taken the rupees and gone. T here were srven pairs of plnin dhotees, one Zenana saree with a red border, all tied in a settrinjee: also there was a blanket.. In the tobacco-boat there were one )fanj~e, and four boatmen.. I cannot say what b.:camc of them, whether they were beaten, or killed, or thrown o1•eruoard. Nor do I S\lppose the cloths were purchased, or that the weavers met t:E

2

with

420

ILLIISTRATIO:SS OP TilE UJSTOJI\-

with any other rote. I got a dhotee. which has been brought into Court. The boat seized in Manickgunje, by the police, is mine : I let it to Radhanath. When, leaving two boats behind, our pulwar followed the tobacco-boat, there were on the pulwar, I, Radhanath, Bholanath Chung, Mirtunjoe Chung, Nubeendeo, Suroop Mistree, Gungaram Mistree, )firthoo Chung, Bun,asee ~undec, and Kisbenmobun Chung. This prisoner, Suroo11 lllistree, gave me the dhotcc. •

_\~0 PIUCTICt;S OF 'flit: TDUG~.

42 1

C H AP. XXIV.

T m· following narrative will illnstrate the practices of the Thugs. as to sacrifices, as well as other customs. lt is the m .\Iasnlipatllm to llydrnbad. The Jomndar, with fourteen followers, was residing at Tooreeapallem, a hamlt•t of .\Iooneegnlla; fh·e others at .Ki«tnapooram, a hntnlcl of Aul·:paumoolah in that neighbourhood : nnd four others, including tlw two sons of Sheikl1 '\limed J emadnr, 11ere living in the to1•u of EllorOnding with the :>th April183u. lt is subjoined:Q. " What do you know regarding the :Moormen

seized und brought by Sheikh Baday, the Cutwal of Guntoor, from the \ill~noes of MoongnJ, &c., appertaining to tbe zillah Masulipatam ; 1md whnl are you giYen to understand concerning their circumstances ? A. " About eight years ago, the Moormen named Pedda Emmnn Sahib, Pcdda Falceer Sahib, Sheikh Mabommed, Chinna Fakcetah, Chinna Emaum Sahib, Mooshkeel. Madam Sahib, his three sons, named Goolam Sahib. Khausim and Emaum, and another Madaur Sahib, and Mohadeen Sahib, together with their familiell, came to reside in tho \illage of Chetta Aunavarum. from Guddamadoogoo, appertaining to the purgunah of .Maylaveram, in the zemindary of Soornrumywar. I cannot positively tell whence they first came to Guddnmadoogoo ; but there is a report that they belonged to tht'

or

~SO I'IL\(.'TICES OP TilE THIJOS.

43!J

t.he -tern country, and that they had com~ from thence, that is from Cuddapub, &c. I am the Merassee Curnum of Chelta Aonavarum, 11 here they had come to reside, and Alloor. For about eight or ten years past, I hal"e been carrying on the duties of Cun1um of those two villages. After they can~e to Cbetta AWJavarunl, they used to keep one or two ploughs each, and cultiTate the Jeroycty lands. They ba\·e never tilled themselves, but have been accustomed to carry on the cultivation through the meaus of coolies and sen·auts of their caste: the names of Pedda Emaum Sahib, Fnkeer Sahib, and Sheikh .M ahommcd, have bccu entered in the Sircar's accounts. Ever since they arrived at my village, the men used to say that they bad caused cloths to be woven at l\Iun.,aalagburry, Cbecmla, Parala, and other places; and just before tl1c commencement of hot weather, after the monsoon, that is, from the months of :\[aukhnm and Phaulgoonnm, tl!ey used to prepare themselves for a journey ; saying', that they would e.1:port and sell the cloths in other countries, viz. Chittoor, and other southern districts, as well as in tl!ose of Rajamundry, &c. : and set out with one or two horses and bullocks. One or two of the men used to take tl!eir females with them. Alterwards, by report, it was understood tl!at they had not gone for trade. I t was also reported, tl!at while they would pretend to go to one country, they ~ould go to another; that

4--j,Q

IJ.L(;STJUTJO~S OF 1'1Ul HISToiiY

lhat is, when they said t.hat they would go to the southern country, they l'"ent northward; and when they said they would go to a northern country, they probably went westward. These people used to retnrn after four, three, or sbc months, and arrive in the vlllage at some hour or other of the night. On their return, they were usually accompanied by more horses and bullocks, with loads, than at their departure ; containing tuppalas, chimboos or brass vessels, arms, gold thread, cloths, &c. ; which being generally in use among them, were seen by me. The cloths appeared to have come from distant cotmtries, and were most valuable. When asked whence they brought them, they would mention the names of foreign cities, nnd say that they had purchased them there. I was ghen to understand tbat all the articles brought by them were divided between tbemselres, after they bad returned. Whenever quarrels arose between them, in dividing the property, the pel'SOns of the neighbouring villages used to hear and inform me of it Every day they used to spend lbrcc or four nrpees. and drink much toddy and liquor. They eat tiesh every day: they are also much addicted to chewing betel and betel-uuts. They hnd every kind of dress peculiar to different co\mtries. Seeing their eA]>enditure, I thought that lhey must have brought a good deal of money. Fmm the nbove circumstances, it woultl not appear that

\"D I'IL\C'IJCF.S OP Til£ IUl!GS.

I 11

that they bad acquired their wealt.h either by traflic or any other legal means "batever. It is reported that these people are Phnnsigars, and that, under pre!('nce of going to dilft>renl countries for the purpose of carrying on trade, they used to go and kill the travellers on the roads, nud seize the property which was found "ith them. Their people have never connected themse1ves with the ~loor­ men who ha1·e inhabited thi~ country for a long time: they marry among themselves. lt was U."lllli for five. or ten persons to come n~ once to their honses from the wo:~tern districts, and to return n,"3i:n after hnvinq remained there five or ten days. Their arrh.U was concealed. and it was not known whence they camll. When they were asked who th1..,;e people were, they USI'd to say they are our rrlations :-'Om: is my elder ~ister's son. One is my younger sister's son, &c. They have come from Chittoor and thereabouts. Our ancestors used to resitlc at Chittoor nnd thereabouts.' They usually o;poke in ~(oor language. They ean all genemlly com crse in Tamul and Cnnnrese. They can speak lx:ttcr Tamul than 1'eloogoo. '' They li1·ed in Chetta Aunamrum, which is my J\leras..'S to two Banians, namtod Somalt Vcnkatasem, nnd Pamedemurry Juggiab, inhabitants of .loodjoor, as he bad no ready money to pay, iu liq uillation of the GOO .rupees bo had borrowl!d from them,

J

ILLt'STIL\'110'> 01' TIIB BISTOR\

them, and took back his bonds. AB the proct'Cding of giving the rings to the said Banians, and reeeiving the bonds from them, passed in my presence, I am aware of it. I saw those rings : even now I can identify them. Those rings are now in the house of Somab Venkatasem ;- four or five pairs of benaurs ktmdwas, or upper cloths of red colour, valued at rupees 100 or 150, ba'ing been found with these merchants who Wlll'e killed. Venkatrama Gopaula Jngunnadharow, zemindar of Calavakolloo, on that district, was infonned of it; and, knowing that these people iu my village were Phansigars, sent, on his bcbalf, one l\lauderau.:te Lutchemenuroo, inhabitant of Joodjoor; who came, and, ba,-ing threatened them, caused the said benaurs kundwas to be conveyed away. I did not distinctly see the kundwas, but saw the bundle being taken away. " About one year alter the case of the Banians bad taken place, that is, five yeans ago, a merchant came with horses to sell ; and after selling some, I unden.tand. that one horse having remained with him WlSOld, he bad supposed that the Zemiudar, the said \ ' enkatrama Gopaula Jagnnnadbarow, at Joodjoor, would perhaps buy the horse, as it was the time of celebrating hill marriage ; and that as the merchant was going from 1\fylanerum, on his way to Joodjoor, through the pass called Canaya Gundy, be met the Phansigars, named 1\fadaur Sahib

or

A.'~ ;hus : " I was about four ycnrs old at the time of my futher's death. When! was six year>. old, my mother died; I do not know my mother's name. As long liS my father was alive, I resided in a hut in the Khausymeyah bazaar ut HydralJad: after my lat.hcr's death, I remained there about ei;dtt clays: wlwn I left the house, -10d earned my livelihood by lh.'wng. 1 ha\"e neither maternal nor paternal relations. Till I ~as about ten years old I earned my livelihood by begging ulms at H)drnbad, whcnL-e I set

I ""l out n ith a ,;e" to lh·e in the elL,tem country. Whl·n leaving llydrubad, I met with three Soodra pt:ople "itb a r~malc child, com·eying 'bra.,, toutballs, pTORY

reside -his lather':; name is ~ladaor Sahib, no"· present, but he did not come on Lhis expt.odition), his younger brother, Emaum Sahib ( prcs(:Jlt), fakeer Sahib (present), Sied Ha.iScin, alias Pedda Fakeer Sahib (prt.>..ent), his son, Sied 1\.hasim, alias Siedam (present), 1\ladaur Sahib (present), Hossein Sahib (present), his younger brother, Goodee Sahib (pre:.cnt), Bosscin :Mecyah, alias Khadar Hosscin (pre.ent), and my&elf, went, thirteen men in number, including Jcm;ldar, to northern country. i\fohadeen Sahib Jemadar said that we mu.t go to Cbicacole and purchase cloth, n~ collected all the men, and carried me too : SC\'en of us. including Jemndar and myself, went in admnce: the remaining six men came after, at a cay's journey apart. :\lohadeen S01hib Jemadar rode a horse: so we went on, some in mh·ance and some behind, h) way of Ellore and Sanevaurnpetta, to a coontah or ~mall tank sitnatoo on the other side or north of Ellore, wherll lhere ore n number of date-trees : there was water in it. Two Moormen came and joinl'd us, when we were eating our dinner. They were asked from whence they were coming: they answered, that they were coming from H ydrahad, and were going to Chicacole. They asked us \1 hence we came : we answered, thut we wert! coming from Condopolly, and were going to purcbast• cloths. Our secoud party remained behind ; and Wl', together "ith lhen, an old man, had already

160

I LI.USTRATIOSS OP TilE IIISTOUY

already come. Their relations were all living at Toordbgootlem, a distance of three and half cose from it. When they were asked in "hat country they formerly lived, they said in the Cudilapah and Ka.rnaul districts. It is said that 1\lohadeen Sahib, alias Emaum Sahib, is Jemadar t~ those at Kistnnpooram and Toorakagoodem. The Phnnsigars at Toornka.,uoodem used to come daily to Kistnapooram ; and those in the latter went to the follller place ; consequently I have seen the Phnnsiga.rs at Toorakagoodem, and know them : if I see them, I will recognise them all-These men, after the expiration of the moonsoon, prepare for a journey, and go to procure money, and return not for two and three months. Previous to setting out, the whole body, those at Kistnapoomm, Ellare, and Toareapallem, about twenty, would come to the house of .M:ohadeen Sahib Jcmadar, where they would remain live or six days, and perform certain ceremonies to their gods, who are ca.lled "Narsimloo Ammagaroo," as also •• J\1isnmmab • tVhen they are performing the ceremony, they pot coomcoomah or red stuJf, and sandal, on the wall ; keeping three bottles of arrack, colicry cltippaloo or cocoanuts and dates, and at the same time bringing gau.raloo and booraloo, or cakes dressed : when worshipping betbre the wall. betel-leaves would be affi.x(.-d. They kill a number of sheep, and thus perform

,\\0 I'R IM'ICF-~ OF TilE 1'BtG5.

IG 1

perf•1nn the ceremony : and they will go away at night. They neTer carry their yo111lg women along with them; but one or two old women, who are accustomed to go with them. ""'hen they start, if they meet with bad omens, such ac; the breaking or a pot, the sight of a cat, or if they hear the mewing of a cat or the cry of the owl, they never go Uli.lt road, but rclurn home for five or six dnys : afterwanL., looking out for good omens, they start. They seldom kill women: they principally bring men's jewels, such as ginlles and rings, which will be used by them : chiefly bring ready money, and not so much property : they also bring good and fine cloths of distnnt coiiDtrics, which will be used by men and women : they wear cloth like Utose of Sepoys. Their men and women speak Malabar and Can:uu well: they always converse in Hindustance themselves ; but whenever they want to speak secrets among themselves, they use the Canara or 1\Ialab!Lr languages. They u.~ed to say that their relations were living in the southward, at a distance of two months' journey, and that they had not met since these last ten yean~ : they never permit the 1\Iussulmen of this country, or any one, to have access to their hoiL.d by the Guntoor Cntwu.J, bas been used by Hossein Khan since be retumed from the last expedition, about the time of the i\lohurrum feast last year: thb sword was not in bis possession before thRt time; be brought it with him at that time. The dagger and shield, which were now found with Hossein Khan, were also brought at that time : be also brought another dagger, but I do not l.."ttow where it is. " 'l'he basu.ry, or nose-ornament, now produced before you, 1vas worn by Sojab, the wife ol' Hossein K han. " T be silk-woman's cloth wus brought by Mohadeen Sahib J emadnr when be went to Hydrabad or thereabouts, and was given to hi;; young daughter: she is married to Sydah. I have seen her wear it. " One of these P hansigars, numed old :.\I obudeen Sahib, went away three month~ before; saying, that his ~on is at ~unduln, to the south11 ard, and that be would go to see him. " Mobadecn Sahib J emndar's elder brother, II B

called

-l-66

ILI.tiSTRXII0!\5 01' T11.E HT~'TOII\

called lloouoor Sabib, is in the soutlrern country, at a distance of two months' journt>y, aq I heard from them." T his 1vitness identified the whole of the party.

• " 0 PIL\CTICD. Of Til& 'llllGS.

167

•

CHAP. X.XH .

•\s the greater part of the dctaib that have been sullmittcd, consists of depositions taken before yarious tribunals, it wilJ be apparent, that for several year; the Ruling Powers have not bcl!ll indifferent to the suppression of tho ntrocious practices of the Thugs. Their procecdinl,'S, combined with the abolition of Suttees by the Gm·ernment of I,ord William Bentinck, and both following the extirpation of the Pindarit-,; by the :\larquis of Hu~tin~, may be received IL' indicating an admncing rel,'O.rd to the principles ol' public morillity in the Go1•crmnent, which, it is to bi.! hoped, will gradually extend to the governed. According to a statcnu:nt made br Captain Slt•cwtm, the result of their proco.;cdings i~ as follow:; : - Between the p•arn I S26 and 1835 (both inclusil e,, 1562 prisoner.; were committed by 'l'llrions Magistrates. Of these, 32R were punished by death, 999 by transportation, 77 by imprisonment lor life; from 21, security wo.s required ; 71 wct·e sentenced to limitt.>d periotls of imprisonment ;-making a total of It It 2

• 1Ufl

n.1.~~11unoss nt' 1 UL III>'TOR\

of t.~;,o convicted. or the remainder, 21 were acquitted: 11 contrin~d to escape: 31 dit-d hefarc sentence : and 10 were admitted endencc for the prosecutions. But, though the practice of Thuggee hns thus recch·ed a serious check. it must not he supposed that the whole of its followers have been apprehended, or any portion approaching to the whole. l t is carried on with so much caution-and, if the e:tpression may IJe allowed on such an occasion, with so much tl~wtcy-it~ ramifications are so widcly-e.\iended, nud reach so far into the very heart of Indian societv, that the difficulties of dealing with it are almo,t inconceimble. Men who,.e dccontm, regular habits, and lilir character place them nbo,•e suspicion, are connected with Thugs, and frequently acti,·c memb•·rs of the fraternity. I t would here strike us as extraordinary, if tradesmen in Cheapside or Bond Street united 11 ith their respective occupations that of murder: yd this state of things exists in India. In carrying into effect, in the Deccan, the means resorted to by the British Government for suppressing Thu!*cc, the Officer employed to superintend them was surprised to recognise a noted Thug in the person of one of the mo,t respectable linen-drapcrs of the Cantonments of Hingolee. This pcr~on was so cotTect in his dealings, and so amiable in his dcpurtment, that he had won the esteem of al1 the Gentlemf'n at the

1'd to ~o out occaRionally on Thuggee after r settlecl at Hingolee ; and when the gangs of Thugs encamped on the tank or lodged in the Dhurumsalah, 1 U