Illustrations of the History and Practices of the Thugs: And Notices of Some of the Proceedings of the Government of India, for the Suppression of the Crime of Thuggee |
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Common terms and phrases
afterwards appears apprehended approver arrested arrived asked attended belonging boat bodies booty Brahmin brother brought buried called Captain carried circumstances cloths committed cose Court direction distance district divided effect Emaum escape evidence expedition families father fell five four gang gave give given Government halted hands heard horse Hossein Hydrabad Jemadar joined Jubulpore Khan killed leader leaving living Mahommed means months morning murder Mussulman named never night omen party passed persons Phansigars plunder present prisoners proceeded reached received relations remained resided rest returned river road rupees Sahib Sahib Khan Saugor seen seized sent seven share Sheikh side Singh soon stage strangled taken thence things Thuggee Thugs told took travellers twenty victims village
Popular passages
Page 18 - ... to come near one upon the road. The cunningest robbers in the world are in that country. They use a certain slip with a running noose, which they can cast with so much sleight about a man's neck, when they are within reach of him, that they never fail, so that they strangle him in a trice.
Page 26 - We could not get him on, and after burying the bodies, Aman and I, and a few others, sat by him while the gang went on : we were very fond of him, and tried all we could to tranquillize him, but he never recovered his senses, and before evening he died. I have seen many instances of feelings greatly shocked at the sight of the first murder, but never one so strong as this. Kurhora was a very fine boy, and Hursooka took his death much to heart, and turned Byragee ; he is now at some temple on the...
Page 16 - Drawing the back of the hand along the chin from the throat outwards, implies that caution is requisite, that some stranger is approaching. Putting the open hand over the mouth and drawing it gently down, implies that there is no longer cause for alarm.
Page 265 - Noor Khan and his son Sadee Khan and a few others, went as soon as it became dark to the Moonshee's tent, and began to sing and play upon a Sitar, as they had been accustomed to do. During this time some of them took np the Moonshee's sword on pretence of wishing to look at it.
Page 19 - They send out a handsome woman upon the road who, with her hair dishevelled, seems to be all in tears, sighing and complaining of some misfortune which she pretends has befallen her. Now, as she takes the same way...
Page 265 - Moonshee saw his danger, called out murder, and attempted to rush through, but was seized and strangled. His wife hearing him, ran out with the infant in her arms, but was seized by Ghubboo Khan, who strangled her and took the infant. The other daughter was strangled in the tent. The saeses (grooms) were at the time cleaning their horses, and one of them seeing his danger, ran under the belly of his horse, and called out murder ; but he was soon seized and strangled as well as all the rest.
Page 110 - ... there. In one place, you see men strangling : in another, burying the bodies : in another, carrying them off to the graves. There is not an operation in Thuggee that is not exhibited in the Caves of Ellora.
Page 3 - They did not engage general attention ; nor would it appear that they were suspected to belong to a distinct class of hereditary murderers and plunderers, settled in various parts of India, and alike remarkable for the singularity of their practice and the extent of their depredations.
Page 111 - Have you seen no others ? Feringeea. — I have seen these two, and also the Lughas carrying away the bodies to the grave, in this manner, and the sextons digging the grave with the sacred pickaxe: all is done just as if we had ourselves done it; nothing could be more exact.
Page 53 - If any man swears to a falsehood upon a pick-axe properly consecrated, we will consent to be hung if he survives the time appointed/ Appoint one, two or three days when he swears, and we pledge ourselves that he does not live a moment beyond the time. He will die a horrid death ; his head will turn round, his face towards the back, and he will writhe in tortures till he dies.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Illustrations of the History and Practices of the Thugs: And Notices of Some of the Proceedings of the Government of India, for the Suppression of the Crime of Thuggee |
| Author | Edward Thornton |
| Publisher | W. H. Allen and Company, 1837 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | Nov 15, 2006 |
| Length | 475 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |