Confessions of a Thug

by Meadows Taylor

He made no answer, but urged his horse and cut at me with his sword. Fool! he did not think that a Thug could fight, and still less that he had engaged one whom no one had ever yet defeated. I caught the blow on my shield, and returned it on his head as he passed me; the fellow fell front his horse a dead man.

My own men set up a shout, and discharged their matchlocks—one horseman and a horse fell wounded, and struggled in the dust. Had only my own good companions in the Pindharee affairs been with me, I would have charged them, and put them to flight; but I could do nothing alone. We had checked them, however, and retired slowly, followed by the troop, who kept out of shot, but evidently waiting for a piece of level and fair ground to charge us. In this way we retreated till the welcome walls of the village, whither I had directed the main body, appeared to our view. We redoubled our efforts to gain the shelter they would afford us, and the men were in some disorder as we passed over a level plain in front of the village; they were even beginning to run, but I checked them. "For the love of Alla!" cried I, "for your own sakes keep together, and have brave hearts; so long as we are firm they will not dare to come near us; but if once we separate, we are lost. See, even now they are preparing to charge, as a hawk stoops on his quarry."

And down they came, thundering along, brandishing their spears, and reviling us. Some of my men fled at their utmost speed to the gate, but most of them stood. Again I dashed at one of our enemies, and wounded him; but the odds were against us; one of my own men fell, pierced through the breast to the backbone by a spear; another was wounded; but they could not take further advantage of us. Those who had fled, joined by others of my men and some villagers, headed by my brave old father, issued from the gate, which the horsemen seeing, they drew off, and we got within the village in safety. They kept hovering about till mid-day, but out of the reach of our shot; and soon after noon, they all departed, and we saw no more of them. We had to pay for our shelter handsomely, however, for the Potail shut the gates of his village, and declared we should not pass out without having paid him a thousand rupees. I was for attacking him, plundering his village, and burning it after the Pindharee fashion; and we could have done it easily. But my father would not hear of it. "The country would rise on us," he said; "and besides, it would ill requite the Potail's hospitality and protection, even though we had to pay for it." So he paid the money; and, after a thousand protestations of mutual goodwill, we left the village in the evening, intending to push on as far as we could, to be beyond the reach of pursuit.

Nor were we followed; though this exploit made a noise in the country, and was known far and wide, we were not molested. We heard afterwards that the Thakoor flew into a furious passion when he heard of his men's defeat, and dismissed them from his service as a parcel of cowards, as indeed they were. Moreover, he swore he would be revenged upon every Thug he might ever catch afterwards; and I believe he kept his word, and put some to death. But we laughed at his beard; and many a merry jest had we over the adventure afterwards.

It seems, the day after, some herdsmen were passing the spot where the travellers had been killed and they saw the body of the lad lying in the road: all the remains were discovered, and information was given to the ruler of the village and tract of country in which the deed had been done. We pursued our route. Ganesha, too, had been fortunate; he had decoyed a large body of travellers, consisting of a Jemadar who had lost an arm, and his family, with some others, along the by-paths in another direction, and he had killed them all.

You know, Sahib, that it is forbidden to us to kill persons who may in any way be deformed. I was amused afterwards to hear the accounts which were given of the deliberations made upon the Jemadar's fate by Ganesha and his gang: he told them to me himself when we met.

"Some, indeed most of the men," said he, "hesitated as to whether he should be strangled or not. There was no means of separating him from the party, and they said the whole ought to be abandoned on his account, as he had lost an arm, and therefore was not a fit sacrifice to Bhowanee. I replied that he was not deformed, that if he had lost an arm, he had had one once, and the losing of it was not the work of Alla but of man, and that when he died he would appear in the form in which he had been created; therefore he was not forbidden, but was true bunij; and I asked them how they would show their faces to you and to their brethren at the rendezvous with no deed to boast of, and, more than all, no plunder. I prevailed; the whole were strangled; the Jemadar by my own hand, for no one else would touch him, despite of all I said to convince them there was no harm in it. The worst of all was, however, that there were two young girls of a marriageable age, the daughters of the Jemadar. Two of my men took a fancy to them, and would fain have carried them off to be their wives, but they would not consent, and they were strangled with the rest."

We were now somewhat at a loss for a route, or whither to go. The omens were consulted at Saugor, which was our place of rendezvous; and as they pointed to the northward, we struck off the high-road to the north at Saugor, and took that to Seronje. But my father returned to Jhalone. We divided into two bodies, each a day's march from the other, for we were fearful of being suspected if we travelled in large numbers; and since the Europeans had got a footing in the country, we found that we were asked more questions at the different posts and guards than we had used to be. Besides, large bodies of travellers had disappeared in various directions by the hands of other bands of Thugs, and the authorities were suspicious and inquisitive to a degree. However, now with bullying, now with bribes, we contrived to pass on, leaving our fruit as we went in many a sly place, which the Choukedars never suspected; and although we got no large booty, yet scarcely a day passed but one, two, or more travellers met their death at our hands. It was at the village of Ekléra, in Holkar's dominions (alas! I shall never forget it), that our Sothas brought us word they had secured a small party of travellers, who they had heard were about to proceed to a village a few coss distant.

Of course our men told them of the danger of travelling alone, of the alarms there were of Thugs, and begged of them to accompany our large party for safety, which had collected for the same purpose, and they consented. The Sothas offered to introduce them to me as the leader of the Kafila; and accordingly, at sunset, one of them returned to the bazar, and brought two of the men to me. I received them cordially, repeated the same stories as my men had done, and frightened them quite sufficiently for my purpose.

"Listen," said one; "though I have never seen a Thug, nor know of any existing in this part, yet that they have been here there is no doubt. My wife's father was killed by them."