THUG (Hind. !hag, cheat, from Skt. sthaga, rascal). The name in Northern India of a re ligious fraternity which committed murders in honor of Kali, (q.v.), the wife of Siva, and lived chiefly upon the plunder obtained from its vic tims. in the south of India they used to live under the protection of the native chieftains in consideration of a settled contribution, and prob ably also of a share in their booty. The Thugs were first generally known about 1800, although they existed as early as 1290. Although at the beginning of the nineteenth century they had become little more than murderers, the original religious character of their deeds survived in ninny ways, particularly in the bloodless char acter of their assassination, which points back to an unbloody sacrifice in honor of the female as pect of the destructive power of nature. They really framed a caste, as the profession was in the main hereditary, and the young Thugs were trained most carefully, although a few recruits were admitted from without, and a considerable number of Mohammedans joined the order. When they learned through some of their gang that per sons of property were about to undertake a journey, they usually proposed to them, under the plea of safety, or for the sake of society, to travel in their company; or else they followed them. Usually they threw around the neck of the victim a cloth called the roma], or handkerchief, with a knot in the left end, which one of the gang held at one end, while the other was seized by an accomplice. While the two Thugs drew the noose tight and pressed the head of their victim forward, a third seized him by the leg and thus threw him to the ground. If properly strangled, the sacrifice was dead before he touched the ground. The utmost care was taken to commit the murder in an unfrequented spot, and the body was buried at a spot where it was not like ly to be found.
Another class of Thugs murdered those in charge of children, whom the assassins then sold into slavery. Castes or classes exempt from the Thugs were washermen, sweepers, musicians, poets, blacksmiths, carpenters. oil-venders. crip
ples, lepers, bearers of the holy Ganges water, and those who had with them a cow. Neither would a true Thug kill a woman. A portion of the plunder was usually devoted to the ex penses of religious ceremonies, and a part was often allotted for the widows and families of deceased Thugs.
Kali was believed to have formerly coOperated with the Thugs, and to have assisted them in the disposing of the bodies of their victims by de vouring them. But through an indiscretion of one of the fraternity, who looked back, she be came displeased, and condemned them to bury their victims. But though she refused her assistance, she presented her worshipers with one of her teeth for a pickaxe, a rib for a knife, and the hem of her lower garment for a noose. On the faith of this legend the pickaxe was the in strument which was held in the highest estima tion by all the Thugs. Its fabrication was super intended with the greatest care, and it was the subject of other ceremonials. After every mur der the Thugs performed a special solemnity called Went, which was celebrated in honor of Kali. Another feast observed by the Thugs throughout India was called Kurhae Karim or Rote, likewise in honor of Kali. The supersti tions of the Thugs were of Hindu origin: hut they were adopted also by Mohammedan Thugs, who sometimes identified Kali and Fatima.
At various periods steps were taken by the native and English governments to suppress the Thugs, but it was only after 1S31 that energetic measures against them were adopted by the British authorities. By 1S40 they were prac tically suppressed.
Consult: Sleeman, Ramaseeane (Calcutta, 1836) ; Thornton, Illustrations of the History and Practices of the Thugs (London, 1837) ; Meadows-Taylor, Confessions of a Thug (ib., 1839; new ed. ib., 1879) ; Wright, India and Its Inhabitants (Cincinnati, 1855) : Hutton, Popu lar Account of the Thugs and Dacoits (London, 1857).