The burnt-offerings were repeated on all holy days, and after any unusual interval between murders. After being used, it was washed with solemn rites. There was no more binding oath than to swear by the kussee. If the axe itself were not procurable, it sufficed to make an effigy of it in cloth or clay. The person attested, held it in his hand as he swore, and then drank the water in which it had been previously bathed. A perjurer died an awful death within six days after his guilt, his head gradually turning round till his face stood over his back. After all, this is not more strange than the old Hebrew trial of jealousy, as described in the fifth chapter of the Book of Numbers; nor more ridiculous than any ordeal in which supernatural effects were expected from simple and natural causes. If the kussee fell from the hand of its bearer, his death was certain to ensue within twelve months, or else some dire calamity befel the gang. The immediate results of the untoward accident were his deposition from his high office, a change of route, and a fresh consecration of the axe. It has been before remarked, that no one but a Thug could hear the sound of the kussee, when used in digging graves. It had likewise another virtue, in common with the roomal. "Are you never afraid," asked Captain Sleeman, one day, of some of the approvers, "of the spirits of the persons you murder?"
"Never," they replied, "they cannot trouble us."
"Why? Do they not trouble other men when they commit murder?"
"Of course they do. The man who commits a murder is always haunted by spirits. He has sometimes fifty at a time upon him, and they drive him mad."
"And how do they not trouble you?"
"Are not the people we kill, killed by the orders of Davey? Do not all whom we kill, go to Paradise, and why should their spirits stay to trouble us?... A good deal of our security from spirits is to be attributed to the roomal, with which we strangle."
"I did not know that there was any virtue in the roomal."
"Is it not our sikka (ensign), as the pick-axe is our nishan (standard)?... More is attributable to the pick-axe. Do we not worship it every seventh day? Is it not our standard? Is its sound ever heard when digging the grave of any but a Thug? And can any man ever swear to a falsehood upon it?"
Next to the leader of the gang, the most important personages were the stranglers. Before a Thug could hope to attain this honourable distinction, he must have served on several expeditions, and given proof of courage and impassibility. The usual gradations were, employment as a scout, then as a grave-digger, afterwards as a holder of hands, and finally he might become a strangler. So soon as his mind was inflamed with this ambition, he had recourse to one of the oldest and most famous of the brotherhood, and besought him to act as gooroo, or spiritual preceptor, and to accept him as his cheyla, or disciple. If his request were granted, the gooroo led him into a field, with three or four experienced Thugs, and all placed themselves facing the direction in which the gang was about to move. Then the gooroo lifted up his voice, and prayed aloud:—"O Kalee, Kunkalee, Bhudkalee! O Kalee, Mahakalee, Calcutta Walee! if it seemeth to thee fit that the traveller now at our lodging should die by the hands of this thy slave, vouchsafe us the Thibaoo." Should the auspicious omen be refused, the candidate must wait until another opportunity. But if the goddess smiled upon his vows, the party returned to their quarters, and the gooroo, taking a handkerchief, and looking towards the west, tied a knot in one end of it, inserting therein a rupee or other silver coin. This knot was called goor ghaut, or the classic knot, and was a very artistic performance, the end of the roomal being skilfully folded inwards. The disciple thereupon respectfully took the handkerchief in his right hand, and went and stood over his sleeping victim—for a feeble person, and one asleep, was generally chosen for the maiden trial of skill. When all was ready, the Shumsheea, or hand-holder, suddenly awakened the sleeper with the cry that a snake or a scorpion was under or beside him. As he started up, bewildered with sleep and terror, the roomal was slipped over his neck, and in a few seconds he had ceased to fear either reptiles or baser men. The deed being satisfactorily accomplished, the cheyla bowed lowly before his preceptor, and touched his feet with both hands, a compliment he also paid to all the gooroo's relatives and friends there present. After the Thibaoo had again been heard, he untied the knot, and presented the coin, with whatever silver he possessed, to his teacher, who added to it whatever money he happened to have upon his own person. Of this amount half a crown was expended in the purchase of goor, or coarse sugar, and the rest in sweetmeats. The Tapoonee feast was then held under a neem, mango, or byr-tree, the cheyla sitting with the Bhurtotes, or stranglers, and receiving a like share of the consecrated goor. At the conclusion of the expedition, the tyro entertained his preceptor's family, and gave to him and his wife a present of new clothes. The entertainment was returned by the gooroo, between whom and his pupil an indissoluble connection existed ever afterwards unto death.
The Tapoonee, to which allusion has just been made, was a sacrifice offered to Bhowanee after every murder. A half-crown's worth of coarse sugar having been procured through the instrumentality of one of their most plausible members—for the purchase of so large a quantity at a time might have excited strange surmises—it was placed on a blanket, or sheet, spread upon a clear spot of ground. The kussee, or sacred pickaxe, and a silver coin—by way of roop dursun, or silver offering—were also laid upon the sheet, beside the pile of sugar. The most experienced of the leaders there present then seated himself on the edge of the sheet, facing to the west, and on either side of him were ranged as many Bhurtotes as could be accommodated on the carpet, but taking care that they should make an even number. The others sat behind these. The leader next made a hole in the ground, and dropping into it a pinch of the goor, raised his eyes to the sky, and, with clasped hands, devoutly prayed aloud:—"Great goddess! as thou didst vouchsafe one lakh and 62,000 rupees (£16,200) to Jora Naick and Koduk Bunwaree in their need, so, we pray thee, fulfil our desires!" These words were repeated by the entire assembly; after which the leader sprinkled a little water over the pit and the kussee, and placed some goor on the hand of every Thug seated on the blanket. Some one then uttered the jhirnee, or signal for strangulation, and the goor was eaten in solemn silence. Not a word was spoken until the whole of the consecrated pile had disappeared, and been washed down with a draught of pure water. If any crumbs fell on the ground they were carefully picked up and thrown into the hole; for should any beast of the field, or bird of the air, partake of the holy offering, the wrath of the goddess would burn for years. The silver coin being restored to its owner, the unconsumed sugar was distributed among the lower and junior grades of the association. But if any one of the uninitiated, by chance or design, tasted of that to which the stranglers only were entitled, he was straightway irresistibly impelled to Thuggee, and never could the charm that bound him be broken or counteracted.