26 
[No. 1 ? 
C. Mitra — Indian Bobber Folk-Lore. 
subject, and gain peeps into the inner mysteries of a Thag’s daily 
life in a work of fiction entitled “ The Confessions of a Thug,” by that 
well-known Anglo-Indian novelist, Colonel Meadows Taylor. 
In Bengal, thieves and robbers are believed to enjoy the special pro¬ 
tection of the goddess Kali. Up to the time that the British rule was 
established on a firm footing in Bengal, dakaiti and robbery were rife 
in that part of the country. Before the dakaits started on their expedi¬ 
tions they used to offer up pujd to the goddess to ensure their success, 
and, after returning from a foray, used to make her an offering of part 
of the booty by way of thanksgiving. It is said that, in those days, the 
temple of the goddess Kali at Kallghat, south of Calcutta, and the tem¬ 
ple 1 of the goddess Citrecvari—a form of Kali—at Chitpore in the 
Northern Suburbs of Calcutta, were much resorted to by dakaits and 
robbers who used to worship their patron-deity there. 
The shrine of the deity Taraknath—an incarnation of £hva—at 
Tarakegvar (Tarkessur) in the Hugli District, has from time immemorial 
been regarded as a very important place of pilgrimage by the Hindus of 
Bengal. At the present time, a branch line of the East Indian Railway 
has been opened from the Sheoraphuli station of that railway to 
Tarake 9 var, which conveys the pilgrims safely to that shrine. But, 
in the pre-railway days, when the Pax Britannica had not been firmly 
established, almost all the pilgrims had to travel thither on foot 
or by bullock-carts. These pilgrims, in many cases, used to take 
with them rich and costly articles for offerings to the lord Taraknath. 
These excited the cupidity of the marauding fraternity; and a colony 
of dakaits had accordingly established itself near a village named Singur 
—now a station on the Tarake 9 var Branch Railway—which was 
situated close to the highway which led to the shrine of Tarake 9 var. 
These freebooters ostensibly led the lives of peaceful agriculturists 
by day time, but during the night, they uould sally forth from 
their homes, armed with lathis, and prowling about the highway, 
would rob belated travellers of their belongings, and often murder them 
in order to get at their valuables. A place named Kaikaldr mat (the 
maidan of Kaikala—a village in that neighbourhood) was the scene of 
many of these atrocities; and, in those days, the very mention of the 
name of that place was enough to send a thrill of horror through the 
hearts of the pilgrims and wayfarers. These dakaits are said to have 
enjoyed the protection of a goddess Kali whose temple is situated in the 
aforesaid village of Singur, and exists there to this day. They 
used to worship here before starting on their plundering expeditions 
1 In this shrine, human sacrifices, it is said, used to be offered to this goddess 
in days gone by. 
