Who were the thuggees ?

The word thug or thuggee come from the Hindi word "Thag" or "Thagee" in English dictionary. It means robber or bandits. India was terrorized by these thuggees for more than five centuries. They looted and killed nearly two million people in their reign. By the consistent effort of the British government of India finally put an end to their reign of terror. Their criminal organisation collapsed in the middle of Nineteenth century. 

Strangling tactics of thuggees

Origin : We first came to know about thuggees from Ziyauddin Barani's "Tarikh i Firuz Shahi" (History of Firuz Shah) in Fourteenth century. He mentioned of an incident where nearly one thousand thuggees were arrested. The Sultan of Delhi Sultanate Jalaluddin Khilji sent them to Lakhnauti or Gaur (Capital of Bengal) and freed them so they could continue their killing and looting there. Lakhnauti was under the rule of Sen Dynasty at that time and were sworn enemy of the Delhi Sultanate. We also found records which mentioned about thuggees during Mughal era. 

Strategy : Thuggees didn't work alone. They worked in a group. They were not special in appearance. They all looked like common people. Their target was the common travelers or merchants. That time merchants or travelers traveled by foot or with horse or oxen carts for transportation. These thuggees (Usually one or two) disguised themselves as common traveler who was also travelling in the same direction and joined the group. On the way few more joined using similar tactics. Now when the group became large they waited for the right moment. Usually it was during night when others asleep they started killing one by one silently. They used noose to strangle the victim. After killing everyone they buried the bodies. Sometimes they spared the children and adopted them in the group to groom them as next generation of thuggees. Many times local people shared the information to thuggees about the travelers or merchant group for share of the loot. 

The Organisation : Thuggees were not common highway bandits. They were a criminal organisation. The leaders were respected to other criminal gangs for their inglorious feats. Many common criminals were eager to join them for prestige and loot. This profession was carried out from father to son and we found many of them in this business for generations. They were social and secular in structure. It didn't matter whether the member was Hindu or Muslim. If he was capable he got the respect of other members. 

Downfall : During the British era these bandits got what they deserved for centuries. Before the British the native rulers knew about thuggees but usually tolerated them for bribe or for a pact about not killing permanent residents. But during the early period of nineteenth century British Government started taking steps against them. The man specially got the credit for breaking the backbone of thuggee organisations was William Henry Sleeman (1788-1856), a civil servant of East India Company. Because of his constant and large effort the thuggee cult finally collapsed and later extinct from India.  

William Henry Sleeman

The Controversy : Many historians argued that the thuggees were not common bandits. They were the people who built up a resistance against the British Government and because of that British Government framed them as bandits, murderers. They were fighting for their land and independence against the British. 

Well I personally think they were bandits and murderers. British didn't created them. They were existed in India and doing their crimes long before British came to India. They never attacked any British forts or fought against any British garrison or troops. Their target were the common Indian people and they killed and looted the Indians in millions. British Government did us a favor by ending their terror. Once again it is my personal opinion. You can share your opinion in comment section.