![]() Group of Thugs around 1894 | |
Founded | unknown, possibly early 1300s[1] |
---|---|
Named after | Sanskrit word for concealment |
Founding location | Central India and Bengal |
Years active | c. 14th century – late 19th century |
Territory | Indian subcontinent |
Membership | Unknown |
Activities | Murder, robbery |
Rivals | British Raj, merchants |
Thuggee (UK: /θʌˈɡiː/, US: /ˈθʌɡi/) were historical organised gangs of professional robbers and murderers in India. They were said to have travelled in groups across the Indian subcontinent.[2]
They usually murdered their victims by strangling using a handkerchief as a tool.[3] The Thuggee were believed to practice their killings as a form of worship toward the goddess Kali.[4] For centuries the authorities of Indian subcontinent such as the Khalji dynasty,[5] the Mughal Empire,[1] and the British Raj attempted to curtail the criminal activities of the Thuggee during their rules.[6]
Contemporary scholarship is increasingly sceptical of the thuggee concept, and has questioned the existence of such a phenomenon,[7][8] which has led many historians to describe thuggee as the invention of the British colonial regime.[9]
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