The Thuggee
[Content Warning: The following text may include historical views, language and attitudes that are outdated, offensive and upsetting. ANGUSalive does not condone these views but hopes that by examining and challenging these narratives we can promote diversity and inclusion in our museum spaces and collections work.]
Representing India
This painted clay model is one of many in our World Cultures Collection representing the people, traditional crafts and cultural practices of India. In the nineteenth century these models became popular additions to museum collections throughout Britain. In some instances they also became a means by which to influence attitudes to a country which was under British colonial rule. Our records indicate that the figure pictured here was possibly used to represent a member of the Thuggee tribe or cult.
Who were the Thuggee?
The tribe, which may have been in existence from the 14th Century, was active in India at the time of British colonial rule in the 1800s. Members of the tribe, known as Thugs, travelled widely in India ruthlessly robbing and murdering their victims in honour of Kali, a Hindu tantric goddess. Their modus operandi would often involve spending time with their victims to gain trust, and waiting for the most opportune moment to attack, usually by strangling victims. They were said to have answered their calling through the interpretation of complex omens, and believed that each murder prevented Kali’s return for another millenia. It is thought there was also a hereditary element to membership of the cult with many members of the same family adopting this way of life.
Suppression
The Thuggee cult was eventually suppressed by British rulers in India in the 1830s, due largely to the efforts of Major General William H. Sleeman, who started an extensive campaign involving profiling, intelligence and executions. His campaign relied heavily on informants from within the group. By 1870 the Thuggee tribe was eradicated. The defeat of the Thuggee was thought to have played a key part in securing loyalty to the British Raj in India.
Colonial Imaginings?
Later scholars have revisited historical evidence associated with the Thuggee tribe in the context of British colonial rule of the country. How much of the historical evidence for the existence of the murderous tribe comes from colonial rulers of the time? We know that Sleeman garnered much of his information about the Thugee from informant tribe members, but how did he choose to represent what he learnt? We know he wrote an article in October of 1830 in the Calcutta Literary Gazette framing the tribe in the context of religious criminality and predatory violence. His account likely set the tone for how the tribe would be perceived both within India and beyond, and his motivation driven by the colonial will to rule and assert control.
Why do models such as this one exist? They were, by all accounts, made to order to feed the gruesome fascination with a culture perceived as ‘other’, and, along with the narrative surrounding the Thuggee, also perpetuated the belief that the native culture was to be feared and brought to order. When the British Museum displayed a model which showed Thugs attacking travellers the Chaplain of Newgate Prison made a complaint about them in The Times. He felt they were corrupting British audiences and inspiring young men to commit crimes around London: ‘I have often thought, and still think, that the origin of garotte robberies took place from the exhibition of the way the Thugs in India strangle and plunder passengers, as exhibited in the British Museum’.
It is likely social banditry did exist, as it did in many cultures, perhaps even intensified as a result of colonial taxation policies at the time. However, it seems unlikely that the Thuggee accounted for all such activity, and, as we’ve seen, accounts from a colonial perspective are to be heavily scrutinised.
Legacy
The British were aggressive and undiscerning in their campaign to eradicate the Thuggee, leading to the destruction of countless villages and the suffering of many innocent people.
The Thugs have been depicted in modern contemporary culture with one notable example that of the Indiana Jones film ‘Temple of Doom’ which depicts the hero fighting against a resurgence of the cult. The film was banned in India for a time for its allegedly racist depiction of Indian people. The origin of the commonly used word ‘thug’ comes from the Indian word ‘thag’ meaning thief. It passed into the English language during Britain’s imperial rule in India due to its association with the Thuggee tribe or cult.
The combined narrative of criminality, religious cult-like behaviours and the perceived hereditary aspect of the tribe led to The Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 which criminalised people for the circumstances of their birth, or their association with particular tribes. The Habitual Offenders Act of 1952, still in force today, bears a striking resemblance to it. Members of tribes falling under the auspices of these acts remain marginalised despite efforts to address this. The campaign to repeal the Habitual Offenders Act continues to this day.