Reviled as devilish stranglers, the Thugs were in truth brigands suppressed by the British Empire.
A previous article discussed the myth of the Thuggee, that strange and exotic cult of the Goddess Kali which inspired so many Indian men to strangle hundreds, thousands and perhaps even millions of victims. Yet much of the supposed knowledge of the Thugs comes from a handful of accounts written by British representatives of the Empire in India during the Victorian era. So lurid and exciting were at least some of these reports that it is recorded the Queen Victoria, the Empress of India of course, demanded that proofs were forwarded to her so she could read the latest prior to publication.
The reality seems to be a little different. The word ‘Thug’ itself means a ‘deceiver’ rather than a murderer or a hoodlum or any of the other connotations which the word has taken on over the years. Typical Thug behaviour would be for the man to inveigle his way into the good books of a traveling group or individual and, from a position of trust, later to commit an act of robbery or fraud. Murder was not unheard of but was far from inevitable. The idea that an Indian man could commit these kinds of acts on innocent, well-meaning white women obviously played directly to the notion of the exotic, highly-sensual yet wholly untrustworthy orient that became such a prominent part of opinion in the west. Elegant, dandified tempters seemed like the very devil himself. The reality, necessarily, was rather less romantic, as real life generally is.
Travel in India in the nineteenth century was certainly a dangerous proposition. India contains so many different castes, so many different sub-groups in society and so many people suffering from poverty and deprivation that it is hardly surprising that people could always be found to prey on the unwary. This was considered of minor interest to the British Empire until it started to interfere with trade. The British Empire was always a commercial undertaking; very few British people cared a whit about trying to save souls of foreigners – let them worship what gods they like as long as they pay their taxes. And making the vast territorial holdings in India a paying proposition was the major concern. The example of China presented itself, when another vast country full of people indifferent to the wonderful fruits of British industry was persuaded otherwise by becoming addicted to opium. Consequently, officers began to organise shipments of opium around the country to make sufficient return on investment. As a result, anyone who threatened this valuable trade must be considered a serious threat to the national interest and it was for this reason that brigands and highwaymen became demonized as diabolic Thugs.
