Thug

In the colonialist mythology describing
the savagery of the East and the demonic
qualities of Hinduism, one of the most
compelling stories is that of the Thugs, a
group of robbers who were devotees
(bhakta) of the goddess Kali. According
to popular belief, the Thugs were widespread throughout India and frequented
the highways, seeking travelers as their
prey. They would travel with their victims, sometimes for days on end, and
then kill them—sometimes after giving
them sweets laced with drugs, and
sometimes simply by taking them by
surprise. The victims would be strangled
with a silken scarf, and whenever possible, no blood would be shed, for the victims’ blood was considered an offering
to the goddess Kali and thus should not
be spilled and wasted. The victims’
worldly possessions were claimed by the
Thugs themselves, in a division of the
spoils between deity and devotee. This
demonic practice persisted until the
1830s, when it was finally uprooted and
destroyed by the British.
Although the tale of the Thugs makes
a gripping story, much of it has been dispelled by more careful recent scholarship. One of the major factors in the rise
of the Thugs was the radical economic
dislocation caused by the arrival of the
British themselves. Many of the people
marginalized by these forces took to
wandering and, in their desperation,
resorted to banditry. These small-scale
and essentially local depredations were
transformed into a widespread religious
conspiracy. The myth of the Thugs certainly showed concern about the prevailing law-and-order situation in
central India, but it may also have
reflected British colonial fears about
their ability to control their territory.
Even though there are references to the
Thugs in texts predating British contact,
on the whole, this was one of the more
enduring colonial stereotypes. For further information see C. A. Bayly, Indian
Society and the Making of the British
Empire, 1988; and The Raj, 1990.