They always go in companies, a complete band often consisting of several hundred persons of all ages and both sexes. As the very essence of the sacrifice is secrecy, they assume all kinds of disguises, the usual being that of travelling merchants. In this capacity they act their part to perfection, and endeavor to entice travellers into their clutches.
For this purpose they have a regular organization. At their head they have a chief, or Sirdar, who directs the operations of the band. Then an old experienced Thug acts as instructor, and teaches the younger men how to use the sacred noose by which the victims are strangled. This is not a cord with a running knot, but a sort of handkerchief, which is flung round the neck of the unsuspecting man, and suddenly drawn tight. This noose, or handkerchief, is called the “roomal.” Then come the men who are entrusted with the noose. These are called Bhuttotes, or stranglers, and are generally men possessing both strength and activity. Next are the entrappers, or Sothas, namely, those whose business it is to entrap the victim into a convenient spot for his assassination, and to engage his attention while preparations are being made for his death. Lastly come the Lughaees, or grave-diggers, who prepare the grave for the reception of the body.
The method in which the Thugs perform their sacrifices is almost exactly like that which is employed by the modern garroters, except that a noose is used instead of the arm, and that the victim is always killed, instead of being only made insensible for a time.
Having pitched upon a person whom they think will be a fit offering for Kali, the Sothas manage to induce him to come to the fatal spot. Several days are often spent in this endeavor; for, unless there is every probability that the murder will not be executed before any except members of their own society, the Thugs will not attempt the traveller’s life. The women and children attached to the band are usually employed as Sothas, inasmuch as they would excite less suspicion than if they were men. If the women be young and handsome, they are the more valuable as decoys; and, horrible to say, even young girls take the greatest interest in decoying travellers within the fatal noose.
When the party have arrived at the appointed spot, the attention of the traveller is adroitly directed to some object in front of him, while the Bhuttote who acts the part of executioner steals quietly behind him. Suddenly the noose is flung round the victim’s neck, the knee of the murderer is pressed into his back, and in a short time he ceases to live. Generally the executioner is so adroit at his dread office that the murdered man makes no resistance, but dies almost without a struggle, the first pressure of the noose causing insensibility.
The body of the murdered man is then stripped, and his property falls to the band. Sometimes a whole party of travellers is entrapped by a band of Thugs, and all are simultaneously murdered. This is generally the case when several wealthy men travel together, in which case they and their servants are all murdered in honor of Kali; who, on her part, yields to her servants the goods of the murdered men, by way of recompense for their piety.
The sacrifice over, the body is pierced in several places to prevent it from swelling, and is then laid in the grave. The soil is carefully filled in, and levelled with such ingenious care that scarcely any except those who dug the grave can discover it after the burial. In one case, when an English force was in chase after a band of Thugs, they passed over ground which was full of bodies, and never suspected it until one of the Thug prisoners exultingly pointed out grave after grave as proofs of their success.
After the body is buried, and all signs of the murder removed, the Thugs go through a sort of religious ceremony, sitting round a white cloth, on which are laid the sacred pickaxes with which the graves are dug, a piece of silver, and some sugar. The Sirdar then sits on the sheet, facing westward, with the most accomplished stranglers on either side of him, and distributes the sugar to all present, who eat it in solemn silence. The sheet is then put away, and to all appearance the Thugs are nothing more than a party of harmless travellers.
So secretly is the whole business conducted, that the system has only been discovered within late years. Numbers of persons had mysteriously disappeared; but in India the natives are singularly apathetic, and it is always easy to account for the disappearance of a traveller by saying that he has been carried off by a tiger. The Thugs take the greatest pride in their profession, and, when captured, do not attempt to disguise it, but openly boast of the number of victims whom they have slain, and describe with glee the method in which they destroyed them; and, when themselves led to the gallows, they treat the whole business with calm contempt, having no more care for their own lives than for those of their victims.
We now come to another ceremony, in which human life is sacrificed, though as an adjunct, and not as its essential feature. This is the celebrated procession of Juggernaut, or Jaganatha. The ceremonies connected with this idol, and indeed the invention of the idol itself, seem to be of comparatively modern date, and, except for the great annual procession of the car, are of little interest.