Thuggee

Thuggee (UK: /θʌˈɡiː/ thuh-GHEE, US: /ˈθʌɡi/ THUH-ghee; Hindustani: ठगी or ٿهگی, pronounced [ʈʰə.ɡiː]) was a phenomenon of highway robbery in the Indian subcontinent that saw gangs of thugs (sometimes spelled thags) traverse the region murdering and robbing travellers, often by strangling. However, there is a general consensus among historians against the cultic portrayal held by the British colonial authorities and popularised in the 19th century.

The thuggee phenomenon came to prominence in the early 19th century, in the course of which the British colonial authorities came to propagate a view of thuggee as a secret pan-Indian fraternity of ritual stranglers driven by fanaticism and bloodlust, with ancient origins. Colonial administrator William Henry Sleeman led a policing campaign against thuggee in the 1830s that saw the Thuggee Department formally established in 1835 and legal developments that facilitated convictions. Sleeman and his colleagues authored works on thuggee and recorded interviews with approvers, which remain the only sources on the phenomenon. Thuggee was portrayed as 'hereditary criminality' and the campaign served as a precedent for the 1871 Criminal Tribes Act.

Contemporary historians generally view the colonial-era portrayal of thuggee, at least to some extent, as a colonial construct, though they offer varying hypotheses as to the actual nature of the phenomenon. Historians' reinterpretations generally contest the significance of religion to thuggee and view the thugs as more or less ordinary criminals, or a species of robber. Historians have also emphasised the variety of individuals arrested over the course of the campaign and generally place the thugs in the context of chaos and disruption amidst the decline of the Mughal Empire that was exacerbated by the expansion of British rule.

A theory that has gained traction among historians views the phenomenon as arising out of itinerant mercenary bands following a contraction in the military labour market caused by the British conquest and the disbandment of native armies. Scholars have described the 19th century representation as an invention by the East India Company regime that legitimised colonial rule and saw the Company extend its control over its Indian subjects.

Following the publication of the 1839 novel Confessions of a Thug, thuggee became a Victorian sensation. Notable depictions in modern popular fiction include the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.