1836.] 



Customs and practices of the Thugs. 



85 



VII. — Art account of the Customs and Practices of the murderers 

 called Thugs. — By Lieut. P. A. Reynolds, of the 38th Regiment 

 Madras N. I* 



The Thugs form a numerous class of persons, who subsist, al- 

 most entirely, upon the plunder procured from the murders they are 

 in the habit of committing. They appear to have derived their deno- 

 mination from their practice of decoying the persons they fix upon to 

 destroy, to join their company ; and then, taking advantage of the 

 confidence they endeavour to inspire, strangling their unsuspecting 

 victims. They are also known by the name of Phansigars ; and, in 

 the north eastern part of the Nizam's dominions, are usually called 

 Kurkbunds.^ 



There are several peculiarities in the habits of the Thugs, in their 

 mode of causing death ; and in the precautions they adopt for the pre- 

 vention of discovery, which distinguish them from every other class of 

 delinquents ; and it may be considered a characteristic of them, that 

 they affect to disdain the practice of petty theft, house-breaking, and, 



* Although accounts have heen before the public (one in the eighth number of this jour- 

 nal) concerning those anomalies of the human race who are the subject of this paper, yet 

 the Editor is aware of none so copious in their nature, and, at the same time, so authen- 

 tic in their source, as that now published. To a great number of the readers of this 

 journal the subject will be altogether new, it is presumed ; for we live in our English 

 homes, and, even in India, have the refinements of European civilization about us, and 

 little dream such deeds are committed so near our doors. And, though we have all 

 heard how desperately wicked the human heart can be, yet it is likely that even ima- 

 gination, in its wildest mood, never pictured to itself any thing half so dreadful as the 

 tale of horrors here unfolded, in the description of the ordinary habits and practices of a 

 I widely spread class of mankind. Another value which Lieutenant Reynolds' account 

 possesses, is, that it carries down the history of these atrocious villains to the present 

 time, and affords society the consolatory assurance, that outraged justice has not been 

 without its victims, but that retribution has fallen on the heads of many of these unpa- 

 ralleled offenders against the laws of God and man ; and, further, that, owing to the 

 energetic measures of government, this criminal association is likely soon to be ex- 

 terminated.— Editok. 



+ The Phansigars, or stranglers, are thus designated from the Hindoostani word PJiansi 

 a noose. In the more northern parts of India, these murderers are called 

 Thegs, signifying deceivers : in the Tamul language, they are called Art 



Tuluear &-jB&<0^ && [r or mussulman noosers : in Canarese, Tanti Calleru, 

 eTo^ ' r & y &'T ! )3~Z> ""Ptyfoff thieves who use a wire or catgut noose : and in Telugu, 

 Warlu Wahndlu or Warlu Vaysh ay Walindloo ■gr'o^O & sw£-"3 1} c3"°0 ^0 



meaning people who use the noose. 



Dr. Sherwood's account of the Phansigars. 



Asiatic Researches, vol. 13, p. 351. 



