[Footnote 48: Nevertheless the Brahmanic, and even the Hinduistic, law-codes condemn all intoxicating liquors except in religious service. To offer such drink to a man of the lower castes, even to a Ç[=u]dra, is punishable with a fine; but to offer intoxicating liquor to a priest is punishable with death (Vishnu, V. 100).]
[Footnote 49: Formerly performed by the Kar[=a]ris. "The
Ç[=a]ktas hold the killing of a man to be permitted,"
Dabist[=a]n, II. 7. "Among them it is a meritorious act to
sacrifice a man," ib.]
[Footnote 50: Hence the name of K[=a][=n]culiyas
[ka[=n]culi, a woman's garment).]
[Footnote 51: This has no parallel in Vishnuism except among some of the R[=a]dh[=a] devotees. Among the R[=a]dh[=a] Vallabh[=i]s the vulgarities of the Çivaites are quite equalled; and the assumption of women's attire by the Sakh[=i] Bh[=a]vas of Benares and Bengal ushers in rites as coarse if less bloody than those of the Çivaites.]
[Footnote 52: Of course each god of the male trinity has his Çakti, female principle. Thus Brahm[=a]'s Çakt[=i] is S[=a]vitr[=i] (in the epic), or Sarasvat[=i], or V[=a]c; that of Vishnu is Çr[=i], or Lakshm[=i], or R[=a]dh[=a]; that of Çiva is Um[=a], Durg[=a], K[=a]l[=i], etc. Together they make a female trinity (Barth, p. 199); So even the Vedic gods had their (later) wives, who, as in the case of S[=u]ry[=a], were probably only the female side of a god conceived of as androgynous, like Praj[=a]pat[=i] in the Brahmanic period.]
[Footnote 53: Historically, Thags, like Panj[=a]b, Santh[=a]ls, etc, is the more correct form, but phonetically the forms Thugs, Punj[=a]b, Sunth[=a]ls or Sonth[=a]ls, are correct, and [=a], the indeterminate vowel (like o in London), is generally transcribed by u or o (in Punj[=a]b, Nep[=a]l, the [=a] is pronounced very like au, and is sometimes written so, Punjaub, etc).]
[Footnote 54: The Jemidar, captain, gives the order to the Buttoat, strangler, who takes the rumal (yard of cotton) with a knot tied in the left end, and, holding his right hand a few inches further up, passes it from behind over the victim's head. As the latter falls the strangler's hands are crossed, and if done properly the Thugs say that "the eyes stand out of the head and life becomes extinct, before the body falls to the ground" (Notes on the 'Thags, Thugs, or Thegs,' by Lieutenant Reynolds; of whom Lieutenant-Colonel Smythe says that he knew more than any other European about the Thugs, 1836). The Buttoat received eight annas extra for his share. Each actor in the scene had a title; the victim was called Rosy. For their argot see the R[=a]maseeana.]
[Footnote 55: Thugs (defined as 'knaves' by Sherwood, more probably 'throttlers') must be distinguished from Decoits. The latter (Elphinstone, i. 384) are irreligious gangs, secretly bound together to sack villages. Peaceable citizens by day, the Decoits rise at night, attack a village, slay, torture, rob, and disappear before morning, 'melting into the population' and resuming honest toil. When the police are weak enough they may remain banded together; otherwise they are ephemerally honest and nocturnally assassins. The Thugs or Ph[=a]ns[=i]gars (ph[=a]ns[=i], noose) killed no women, invoked K[=a]li (as Jay[=i]), and attacked individuals only, whom the decoys, called Tillais, lured very cleverly to destruction. They never robbed without strangling first, and always buried the victim. They used to send a good deal of what they got to K[=a]li's temple, in a village near Mirz[=a]pur, where the establishment of priests was entirely supported by them. K[=a]li (or Bhav[=a]n[=i]) herself directed that victims should be strangled, not bled (so the Thug legend). Their symbol was a pick, emblem of the goddess, unto whom a religious ceremony was performed before and after the murder was committed. Local small bankers often acted as fence for them.]
[Footnote 56: This is called either
P[=u]rva-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a] (Karma-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a]) or simply
M[=i]m[=a]ms[=a].]
[Footnote 57: Or Ç[=a]r[=i]raka-m[=i]m[=a]msa, or
Brahma-m[=i]m[=a]ms[=a] (m[=i]m[=a][=m.]sa, reflexion,
philosophy).]