THUGS, a well-organized confederacy of professional assas sins, who travelled in gangs through India, wormed themselves into the confidence of wayfarers and, when a favourable oppor tunity occurred, strangled them by throwing a handkerchief or noose round their necks, and then plundered and buried them (Sanskrit sthag, to conceal, hence sthaga, a cheat, in modern vernaculars thag). All this was done according to certain ancient and rigidly prescribed forms and after the performance of special religious rites, in which the consecration of the pickaxe and the sacrifice of sugar formed a prominent part. From their using the noose they were also frequently called Phansigars, or "noose operators." Though they themselves traced their origin to seven Mohammedan tribes, Hindus appear to have been associated with them at an early period ; at any rate, their religious creed and practices as staunch worshippers of Kali (Devi, Durga), theHindu goddess of destruction, had certainly no flavour of Islam. The fraternity possessed also a jargon of their own (Ramasi), as well as certain signs by which its members recognized each other.
Though sporadic efforts were made towards the extinction of the gangs, it was not till Lord W. Bentinck (1828-35) took
vigorous steps that the system was seriously attacked. His chief agent, Captain (afterwards, Sir William) Sleeman, with the co operation of a number of native states, succeeded so well in grappling with the evil that, up to Oct. 1835, no fewer than 1,562 Thugs had been committed, of whom 382 were hanged and 986 transported or imprisoned for life. According to the Thuggee and Dacoity Report for 1879, the number of registered Punjabi and Hindustani Thugs then still amounted to 344; but all of these had already been registered as such before 1852, and the whole fra ternity may now be considered as extinct.
Full particulars concerning the system of Thagi are given by Dr. Sherwood, On the Murderers called Phansigars, and J. Shakespear, Observations regarding Bradheks and Thegs (both treatises in vol. (182o), of the Asiatic Researches) ; W. N. Sleeman, Ramaseeana, or a Vocabulary of the Language used by the Thugs, with an Introduction and Appendix (Calcutta, 1836) ; Meadows Taylor, Confessions of a Thug (1839; new ed. 1879).