The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume IV of IV

R >> R.V. Russell >> The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume IV of IV

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16. The sacred _gur_ (sugar)

After each murder they had a sacrificial feast of _gur_ or unrefined
sugar. This was purchased to the value of Rs. 1-4, and the leader of
the gang and the other Bhurtotes (stranglers) sat on a blanket with
the rest of the gang round them. A little sugar was dropped into a
hole and the leader prayed to Devi to send them some rich victims. The
remainder of the sugar was divided among all present. One of them gave
the _jhirni_ or signal for strangling and they consumed the sugar in
solemn silence, no fragment of it being lost They believed that it was
this consecrated _gur_ which gave the desire for the trade of a Thug
and made them callous to the sufferings of their victims, and they
thought that if any outsider tasted it he would at once become a Thug
and continue so all his life. When Colonel Sleeman asked [702] a young
man who had strangled a beautiful young woman in opposition to their
rules, whether he felt no pity for her, the leader Feringia exclaimed:
"We all feel pity sometimes, but the _gur_ of the Tuponi (sacrifice)
changes our nature. It would change the nature of a horse. Let any man
once taste of that _gur_ and he will be a Thug, though he knows all the
trades and have all the wealth in the world. I never wanted food; my
mother's family was opulent, her relations high in office. I have been
high in office myself, and became so great a favourite wherever I went
that I was sure of promotion; yet I was always miserable while absent
from my gang and obliged to return to Thuggee. My father made me taste
of that fatal _gur_ when I was yet a mere boy; and if I were to live
a thousand years I should never be able to follow any other trade."

The eating of this _gur_ was clearly the sacrificial meal of the
Thugs. On the analogy of other races they should have partaken of the
body of an animal god at their sacrificial meal, and if the goddess
Kali is the deified tiger, they should have eaten tiger's flesh. This
custom, if it ever existed, had been abandoned, and the _gur_ would
in that case be a substitute; and as has been seen the eating of the
_gur_ was held to confer on them the same cruelty, callousness and
desire to kill which might be expected to follow from eating tiger's
flesh and thus assimilating the qualities of the animal. Since they
went unarmed as a rule, in order to avoid exciting the suspicions
of their victims, it would be quite impossible for them to obtain
tiger's flesh, except by the rarest accident; and the _gur_ might be
considered a suitable substitute, since its yellow colour would be
held to make it resemble the tiger.

17. Worship of ancestors

The Thugs also worshipped the spirits of their ancestors. One
of these was Dadu Dhira, an ancient Thug of the Barsote class,
who was invoked at certain religious ceremonies, when liquor was
drunk. Vows were made to offer libations of ardent spirits to him,
and if the prayer was answered the worshipper drank the liquor, or if
his caste precluded him from doing this, threw it on the ground with
an expression of thanks. Another deity was the spirit of Jhora Naik,
who was a Muhammadan. He and his servant killed a man who had jewels
and other articles laden on a mule to the value of more than a lakh
and a half. They brought home the booty, assembled all the members
of their fraternity within reach, and honestly divided the whole as
if all had been present The Thugs also said that Nizam-ud-din Aulia,
a well-known Muhammadan saint, famed for his generosity, whose shrine
is near Delhi, had been a Thug, at any rate in his younger days. He
distributed so much money in charity that he was supposed to be endowed
with a Dustul Ghib or supernatural purse; and they supposed that he
obtained it by the practice of Thuggee. Orthodox Muhammadans would,
however, no doubt indignantly repudiate this.

18. Fasting

Whenever they set out on a fresh expedition the first week was known
as Satha (seven). During this period the families of those who were
engaged in it would admit no visitors from the relatives of other
Thugs, lest the travellers destined for their own gang should go
over to these others; neither could they eat any food belonging
to the families of other Thugs. During the Satha period the Thugs
engaged in the expedition ate no animal food except fish and nothing
cooked with _ghi_ (melted butter). They did not shave or bathe or
have their clothes washed or indulge in sexual intercourse, or give
away anything in charity or throw any part of their food to dogs or
jackals. At one time they ate no salt or turmeric, but this rule was
afterwards abandoned. But if the Sourka or first murder took place
within the seven days they considered themselves relieved by it from
all these restraints.

19. Initiation of a novice

A Thug seldom attained to the office of Bhurtote or strangler
until he had been on several expeditions and acquired the requisite
courage or insensibility by slow degrees. At first they were almost
always shocked or frightened; but after a time they said they lost
all sympathy with the victims. They were first employed as scouts,
then as buriers of the dead, next as Shamsias or holders of hands,
and finally as stranglers. When a man felt that he had sufficient
courage and insensibility he begged the oldest and most renowned Thug
of the gang to make him his _chela_ or disciple. If his proposal was
accepted he awaited the arrival of a suitable victim of not too great
bodily strength. While the traveller was asleep with the gang at their
quarters the _guru_ or preceptor took his disciple into a neighbouring
field, followed by three or four old members of the gang. Here they
all faced in the direction in which the gang intended to move, and the
_guru_ said, "_Oh Kali, Kunkali, Bhudkali, [703] Oh Kali, Maha Kali,
Kalkatawali!_ If it seemeth to thee fit that the traveller now at
our lodging should die by the hands of this thy slave, vouchsafe, we
pray thee, the omen on the right." If they got this within a certain
interval the candidate was considered to be accepted, and if not some
other Thug put the traveller to death and he had to wait for another
chance. In the former case they returned to their quarters and the
_guru_ took a handkerchief and tied the slip-knot in one end of it
with a rupee inside it. The disciple received it respectfully in his
right hand and stood over the victim with the Shamsia or holder by
his side. The traveller was roused on some pretence or other and the
disciple passed the handkerchief over his neck and strangled him. He
then bowed down to his _guru_ and all his relations and friends in
gratitude for the honour he had obtained. He gave the rupee from the
knot with other money, if he had it, to the _guru_, and with this sugar
or sweetmeats were bought and the _gur_ sacrifice was celebrated,
the new strangler taking one of the seats of honour on the blanket
for the first time. The relation between a strangler and his _guru_
was considered most sacred, and a Thug would often rather betray
his father than the preceptor by whom he had been initiated. There
were certain classes of persons whom they were forbidden to kill,
and they considered that the rapid success of the English officers
in finally breaking up the gangs was to be attributed to the divine
wrath at breaches of these rules. The original rule [704] was that
the Sourka or first victim must not be a Brahman, nor a Saiyad,
nor any very poor man, nor any man with gold on his person, nor any
man who had a quadruped with him, nor a washerwoman, nor a sweeper,
nor a Teli (oilman), nor a Bhat (bard), nor a Kayasth (writer),
nor a leper, dancing-woman, pilgrim or devotee. The reason for
some of these exemptions is obvious: Brahmans, Muhammadan Saiyads,
bards, religious mendicants and devotees were excluded owing to their
sanctity; and sweepers, washermen and lepers owing to their impurity,
which would have the same evil and unlucky effect on their murderers
as the holiness of the first classes. A man wearing gold ornaments
would be protected by the sacred character of the metal; and the
killing of a poor man as the first victim would naturally presage a
lack of valuable booty during the remainder of the expedition. Telis
and Kayasths are often considered as unlucky castes, and even in
the capacity of victims might be held to bring an evil fortune on
their murderers.

20. Prohibition of murder of women

Another list is given of persons whom it was forbidden to kill at any
time, and of these the principal category was women. It was a rule
of all Thugs that women should not be murdered, but one which they
constantly broke, for few large parties consisted solely of men, and
to allow victims to escape from a party would have been a suicidal
policy. In all the important exploits related to Colonel Sleeman
the women who accompanied victims were regularly strangled, with the
occasional exception of young girls who might be saved and married to
the sons of Thug leaders. The breach of the rule as to the murder of
women was, however, that which they believed to be specially offensive
to their patroness Bhawani; and no Thug, Colonel Sleeman states,
was ever known to offer insult either in act or speech to the women
whom they were about to murder. No gang would ever dare to murder a
woman with whom one of its members should be suspected of having had
criminal intercourse. The murder of women was especially reprobated
by Hindus, and the Muhammadan Thugs were apparently responsible for
the disregard of this rule which ultimately became prevalent, as shown
by the dispute over the killing of a wealthy old lady, [705] narrated
by one of the Thugs as follows: "I remember the murder of Kali Bibi
well; I was at the time on an expedition to Baroda and not present,
but Punua must have been there. A dispute arose between the Musalmans
and Hindus before and after the murder. The Musalmans insisted upon
killing her as she had Rs. 4000 of property with her, but the Hindus
would not agree. She was killed, and the Hindus refused to take any
part of the booty; they came to blows, but at last the Hindus gave
in and consented to share in all but the clothes and ornaments which
the woman wore. Feringia's father, Parasram Brahman, was there, and
when they came home Parasram's brother, Rai Singh, refused to eat,
drink or smoke with his brother till he had purged himself from this
great sin; and he, with two other Thugs, a Rajput and a Brahman,
gave a feast which cost them a thousand rupees each. Four or five
thousand Brahmans were assembled at that feast. Had it rested here
we should have thrived; but in the affair of the sixty victims women
were again murdered; in the affair of the forty several women were
murdered; and from that time we may trace our decline."

21. Other classes of persons not killed

Another rule was that a man having a cow with him should not be
murdered, no doubt on account of the sanctity attaching to the
animal. But in one case of a murder of fourteen persons including
women and a man with a cow at Kotri in the Damoh District, the Thugs,
having made acquaintance with the party, pretended that they had
made a vow to offer a cow at a temple in Shahpur lying on their road
and persuaded the cow's owner to sell her to them for this sacred
purpose, and having duly made the offering and deprived him of the
protection afforded by the cow, they had no compunction in strangling
him with all the travellers. Travellers who had lost a limb were also
exempted from death, but this rule too was broken, as in the case of
the native officer with his two daughters who was murdered by the
Thugs he had befriended; for it is recorded that this man had lost
a leg. Pilgrims carrying Ganges water could not be killed if they
actually had the Ganges water with them; and others who should not be
murdered were washermen, sweepers, oil-vendors, dancers and musicians,
carpenters and blacksmiths, if found travelling together, and religious
mendicants. The reason for the exemption of carpenters and blacksmiths
only when travelling together may probably have been that the sacred
pickaxe was their joint handiwork, having a wooden handle and an iron
head; and this seems a more likely explanation than any other in view
of the deep veneration shown for the pickaxe. Maimed persons would
probably not be acceptable victims to the goddess, according to the
rule that the sacrifice must be without spot or blemish. The other
classes have already been discussed under the exemption of first
victims. Among the Deccan Thugs if a man strangled any victim of a
class whom it was forbidden to kill, he was expelled from the community
and never readmitted to it. This was considered a most dreadful crime.

22. Belief in omens

The Thugs believed that the wishes of the deity were constantly
indicated to them by the appearance or cries of a large number of wild
animals and birds from which they drew their omens; and indeed the
number of these was so extensive that they could never be at a loss
for an indication of the divine will, and difficulties could only
arise when the omens were conflicting. As a general rule the omen
varied according as it was heard on the left hand, known as Pilhao,
or the right, known as Thibao. On first opening an expedition an omen
must be heard on the left and be followed by one on the right, or no
start was made; it signified that the deity took them first by the left
hand and then by the right to lead them on. When they were preparing to
march or starting on a road, an omen heard on the left encouraged them
to go on, but if it came from the right they halted. When arriving
at their camping-place on the other hand the omen on the right was
auspicious and they stayed, but if it came from the left the projected
site was abandoned and the march continued. In the case of the calls
of a very few animals these rules were reversed, left and right being
transposed in each instance. The howl of the jackal was always bad if
heard during the day, and the gang immediately quitted the locality,
leaving untouched any victims whom they might have inveigled, however
wealthy. The jackal's cry at night followed the rule of right and
left. The jackal was probably revered by the Thugs as the devourer
of corpses. The sound made by the lizard was at all times and places
a very good omen; but if a lizard fell upon a Thug it was bad, and
any garment touched by it must be given away in charity. The call of
the _saras_ crane was a very important omen, and when heard first on
the left and then on the right or vice versa according to the rules
given above, they expected a great booty in jewels or money. The
call of the partridge followed the same rules but was not of so much
importance. That of the large crow was favourable if the bird was
sitting on a tree, especially when a tank or river could be seen;
but if the crow was perched on the back of a buffalo or pig or on
the skeleton of any animal, it was a bad omen. Tanks or rivers were
likely places for booty in the shape of resting travellers, whose
death the appearance of the crow might portend; whereas in the other
positions it might prognosticate a Thug's own death. The chirping of
the small owlet was considered to be a bad omen, whether made while
the bird was sitting or flying; It was known as _chiraiya_ and is a
low and melancholy sound seldom repeated. They considered it a very
bad omen to hear the hare squeaking; this, unless it was averted
by sacrifices, signified, they said, that they would perish in the
jungles, and the hare or some other animal of the forest would drink
water from their skulls. "We know that the hare was used in Brittany
as an animal of augury for foretelling the future; and all animals of
augury were once venerated." [706] The hare has still some remnant of
sanctity among the Hindus. Women will not eat its flesh, and men eat
the flesh of wild hares only, not of tame ones. It seems likely that
the hare may have been considered capable of foretelling the future
on account of its long ears. The omen of the donkey was considered
the most important of all, whether it threatened evil or promised
good. It was a maxim of augury that the ass was equal to a hundred
birds, and it was also more important than all other quadrupeds. If
they heard its bray on the left on the opening of an expedition and
it was soon after repeated on the right, they believed that nothing
on earth could prevent their success during that expedition though
it should last for years. The ass is the sacred animal of Sitala,
the goddess of smallpox, who is a form of Kali. The ears and also
the bray of the ass would give it importance.

The noise of two cats heard fighting was propitious only during the
first watch of the night; if heard later in the night it was known
as '_Kali ki mauj_' or 'Kali's temper,' and threatened evil, and if
during the daytime as '_Dhamoni [707] ki mauj_,' and was a prelude
of great misfortune; while if the cats fell from a height while
fighting it was worst of all. The above shows that the cat was also
the animal of Kali and is a point in favour of her derivation from
the tiger; and on this hypothesis the importance of the omen of the
cat is explained. If they obtained a good omen when in company with
travellers they believed that it was a direct order from heaven to
kill them, and that if they disobeyed the sign and let the travellers
go they would never obtain any more victims. [708]

23. Omens and taboos

If a mare dropped a foal in their camp while they were travelling,
they were all contaminated or came under the Itak; and the only remedy
for this was to return home and start the journey afresh. Various other
events [709] also produced the Itak, especially among the Deccan Thugs;
these were the birth of a child in a Thug family; the first courses
of a Thug's daughter; a marriage in a Thug's family; a death of any
member of his family except an infant at the breast; circumcision of
a boy; a buffalo or cow giving calf or dying; and a cat or dog giving
a litter or dying. If a party fell under the Itak or contamination
at a time when it was extremely inconvenient or impossible to return
home, they sometimes marched back for a few miles and slept the night,
making a fresh start in the morning, and this was considered equivalent
to beginning a new journey after getting rid of the contamination. If
any member of the party sneezed on setting out on an expedition or on
the day's march, it was a bad omen and required expiatory sacrifices;
and if they had travellers with them when this omen occurred, these
must be allowed to escape and could not be put to death. Omens were
also taken from the turban, without which no Thug, except perhaps in
Bengal, would travel. [710] If a turban caught fire a great evil was
portended, and the gang must, if near home, return and wait for seven
days. But if they had travelled for some distance an offering of _gur_
(sugar) was made, and the owner of the turban alone returned home. If a
man's turban fell off it was also considered a very bad omen, requiring
expiatory sacrifices. The turban is important as being the covering
of the head, which many primitive people consider to contain the life
or soul (_Golden Bough_). A shower of rain falling at any time except
during the monsoon period from June to September was also a bad omen
which must be averted by sacrifices. Prior to the commencement [711]
of an expedition a Brahman was employed to select a propitious day
and hour for the start and for the direction in which the gang should
proceed. After this the auspices were taken with great solemnity and,
if favourable omens were obtained, the party set out and made a few
steps in the direction indicated; after this they might turn to the
right or left as impediments or incentives presented themselves. If
they heard any one weeping for a death as they left the village,
it threatened great evil; and so, too, if they met the corpse of any
one belonging to their own village, but not that of a stranger. And
it was also a bad omen to meet an oil-vendor, a carpenter, a potter,
a dancing-master, a blind or lame man, a Fakir (beggar) with a brown
waistband or a Jogi (mendicant) with long matted hair. Most of these
were included in the class of persons who might not be killed.

24. Nature of the belief in omens

The custom of the Thugs, and in a less degree of ignorant and primitive
races generally, of being guided in their every action by the chance
indications afforded from the voices and movements of birds and animals
appears to the civilised mind extremely foolish. But its explanation
is not difficult when the character of early religious beliefs is
realised. It was held by savages generally that animals, birds and all
other living things, as well as trees and other inanimate objects,
had souls and exercised conscious volition like themselves. And
those animals, such as the tiger and cow, and other objects, such
as the sun and moon and high mountains or trees, which appeared most
imposing and terrible, or exercised the most influence on their lives,
were their principal deities, the spirits of which at a later period
developed into anthropomorphic gods. Even the lesser animals and
birds were revered and considered to be capable of affecting the
lives of men. Hence their appearance, their flight and their cries
were naturally taken to be direct indications afforded by the god to
his worshippers; and it was in the interpretation of these, the signs
given by the divine beings by whom man was surrounded, and whom at one
time he considered superior to himself, that the science of augury
consisted. "The priestesses of the oracle of Zeus at Dodona called
themselves doves, as those of Diana at Ephesus called themselves bees;
this proves that the oracles of the temples were formerly founded on
observations of the flight of doves and bees, and no doubt also that
the original cult consisted in the worship of these animals." [712]
Thus, as is seen here, when the deity was no longer an animal but had
developed into a god in human shape, the animal remained associated
with him and partook of his sanctity; and what could be more natural
than that he should convey the indications of his will through the
appearance, movements and cries of the sacred animal to his human
_proteges_. The pseudo-science of omens is thus seen to be a natural
corollary of the veneration of animals and inanimate objects.

25. Suppression of Thuggee

When the suppression of the Thugs was seriously taken in hand by the
Thuggee and Dacoity Department under the direction of Sir William
Sleeman, this abominable confraternity, which had for centuries
infested the main roads of India and made away with tens of thousands
of helpless travellers, never to be heard of again by their families
and friends, was destroyed with comparatively little difficulty. The
Thugs when arrested readily furnished the fullest information of
their murders and the names of their confederates in return for
the promise of their lives, and Colonel Sleeman started a separate
file or _dossier_ for every Thug whose name became known to him, in
which all information obtained about him from different informers
was collected. In this manner, as soon as a man was arrested and
identified, a mass of evidence was usually at once forthcoming to
secure his conviction. Between 1826 and 1835 about 2000 Thugs were
arrested and hanged, transported or kept under restraint; subsequently
to this a larger number of British officers were deputed to the work
of hunting down the Thugs, and by 1848 it was considered that this
form of crime had been practically stamped out. For the support of the
approver Thugs and the families of these and others a labour colony
was instituted at Jubbulpore, which subsequently developed into the
school of industry and was the parent of the existing Reformatory
School. Here these criminals were taught tent and carpet-making and
other trades, and in time grew to be ashamed of the murderous calling
in which they had once taken a pride.

Turi

List of Paragraphs

1. _Origin of the caste_.
2. _Subdivisions_.
3. _Marriage_.
4. _Funeral rites_.
5. _Occupation_.
6. _Social status_.

1. Origin of the caste

_Turi._--A non-Aryan caste of cultivators, workers in bamboo, and
basket-makers, belonging to the Chota Nagpur plateau. They number about
4000 persons in Raigarh, Sarangarh and the States recently transferred
from Bengal. The physical type of the Turis, Sir H. Risley states,
their language, and their religion place it beyond doubt that they are
a Hinduised offshoot of the Munda tribe. They still speak a dialect
derived from Mundari, and their principal deity is Singbonga or the
sun, the great god of the Mundas: "In Lohardaga, where the caste is
most numerous, it is divided into four subcastes--Turi or Kisan-Turi,
Or, Dom, and Domra--distinguished by the particular modes of basket
and bamboo-work which they practise. Thus the Turi or Kisan-Turi,
who are also cultivators and hold _bhuinhari_ land, make the _sup_,
a winnowing sieve made of _sirki_, the upper joint of _Saccharum
procerum_; the _tokri_ or _tokiya_, a large open basket of split
bamboo twigs woven up with the fibre of the leaves of the _tal_
palm; the _sair_ and _nadua_, used for catching fish. The Ors are
said to take their name from the _oriya_ basket used by the sower,
and made of split bamboo, sometimes helped out with _tal_ fibre. They
also make umbrellas, and the _chhota dali_ or _dala_, a flat basket
with vertical sides used for handling grain in small quantities. Doms
make the _harka_ and scale-pans (_taraju_). Domras make the _peti_
and fans. Turis frequently reckon in as a fifth subcaste the Birhors,
who cut bamboos and make the _sikas_ used for carrying loads slung on
a shoulder-yoke (_bhangi_), and a kind of basket called _phanda_. Doms
and Domras speak Hindi; Turis, Ors and Birhors use among themselves
a dialect of Mundari." [713]