PRESENTATION: Thuggee

Thuggees were a group of people actively involved in the robbery and murder of travelers in India. Their presence has been recorded in the Indian sub-continent as early as the 13th century and lasting all the way through the 19thth century. The modern use of the word "thug" is derived directly from this Sanskrit original sthaga (meaning scoundrel).

Particular groups of thuggees developed methods of crime that helped them evolve from simple fraternity like organizations in the beginning to large crime families, preserving their secrets and initiating new members as apprentices. Their organization borrows from piracy, the mafia as well as religious cults. Certain large scale thuggee exploits have also been likened to paramilitary operations. Some literature even describes them as a military caste of Hindu society.

They flourished during the period when caravans were the main mode of transportation. Often, members joined the caravan to be attacked as bonafide travelers and spent a lot of time gaining the trust of their fellow travelers. They would also keep in touch with their members and communicate information about the movement of the caravan. Attacks were carried out as primarily ambushes across particularly rough terrains, desert land or when escape was cut off by rivers. Prefered methods of killing were strangulation but sometimes there were massacres that helped perpetrate the aura of ruthlessness and elite force of the Thuggees.

Thuggees have frequently played a part in folkore and were known for their ability to evade capture and plan strategies that lasted over journeys of hundreds of miles and changing terrain.

(A group of thuggess circa 1863, source: http://www.harappa.com/photo2/lufr.html)