Thuggee and social banditry reconsidered

Historical Journal

Volumn 50, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 353-376

  Wagner, Kim A ^a  

^a KING'S COLLEGE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CRIME; NINETEENTH CENTURY; SOCIAL PROBLEM;

ASIA; EURASIA; INDIA; SOUTH ASIA;

EID: 34548647228     PISSN: 0018246X     EISSN: 14695103     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X07006103     Document Type: Article

References (113)

1. Enclosed in Perry to Dowdeswell, 15 Jan. 1813, Bengal Criminal and Judicial Proceedings (BCJP), P/131/12, 30 Jan. 1813 (no. 62), Oriental and India Office Collections (OIOC), British Library (BL).
2. See Eric Hobsbawm, Primitive rebels (Manchester, 1959),
3. and Bandits (London, 1969).
4. Anton Blok, 'The peasant and the brigand: Social banditry reconsidered', Comparative Studies in Society and History, 14 (1972), pp. 494-503,
5. with Hobsbawm's rejoinder pp. 503-5.
6. To name but a few: Richard W. STatta, ed., Bandidos: the varieties of Latin American banditry (New York, 1987);
7. John S. Koliopolis, Brigands with a cause: Brigandage and irredentism in modern Greece, 1821-1912 (Oxford, 1987);
8. and Stephen Wilson, Feuding, conflict and banditry in nineteenth-century Corsica (Cambridge, 1988).
9. One work in particular that I would like to draw attention to is Florike Egmond's brilliant Underworlds: Organized crime in the Netherlands, 1650-1800 (Cambridge, 1993).
10. In the following I am referring to the latest edition of Bandits (London, 2000) and the review article in Anton Blok Honour and violence (Cambridge, 2001), pp. 14-28.
11. I would like to acknowledge the help of Prof. C. A. Bayly, Ben Hopkins, and especially Ricardo Roque, who have all made valuable comments on this article.
12. The relationship between the terms 'thug' and 'thuggee' is like that of 'bandit' and 'banditry'.
13. The reader is never in doubt as to where Hobsbawm's sympathies are located, see Hobsbawm, Bandits, pp. 123-38.
14. See ibid., pp. 144-5.
15. I realize that Hobsbawm might consider social banditry as a social reality, but I am applying the term to signify the events of the past - what Hobsbawm calls 'real behaviour'.
16. Hobsbawm's rejoinder to Blok's review article, 'The peasant and the brigand', p. 505.
17. Information is never impartial and a distorted report of banditry may lead people to interpret it as being the act of a 'good' or 'bad' bandit respectively, without it being in any way reflective of the actual nature of the specific event.
18. As the work of, for instance, Peter Burke has demonstrated, folklore can be used to great effect to examine the way that people perceived their world and not, as Hobsbawm implicitly argues, how that world 'really' was.
19. Hobsbawm, Bandits, p. xi.
20. Ibid., p. 10.
21. Ibid., p. 42.
22. Ibid., p. 49. At one point Hobsbawm identifies economic reasons as the main motive for becoming a haiduk (Bulgarian bandit) with the qualification: 'if we are to believe the innumerable haiduk songs and ballads'. Yet two pages down he states: 'As we have seen, their motives for going into the mountains were mainly economic.'
23. Ibid., pp. 79 and 81.
24. Ibid., pp. 10-11.
25. Ibid., p. 18.
26. Ibid., pp. 19-20.
27. Ibid., p. 20.
28. Ibid., p. 21.
29. See also p. 45.
30. Ibid., p. 44.
31. Ibid., pp. 168-9.
32. Blok, Honour and violence, p. 21.
33. Graham Seal, The outlaw legend - a cultural tradition in Britain, America and Australia (Cambridge, 1996), p. 7.
34. Ibid., p. 8.
35. Apparently Hobsbawm would not consider Dick Turpin as a social bandit, see Hobsbawm, Bandits, p. 22.
36. This part of the article focuses on thuggee as a type of banditry and does not make any assumptions of presenting a comprehensive historical account of either thuggee or the British operations against the thugs.
37. See for instance Stewart Gordon, 'Scarf and sword: Thugs, marauders, and state-formation in eighteenth century Malwa', Indian Economic and Social History Review, 4 (1969), pp. 403-29;
38. and Radhika Singha, A despotism of law: Crime & justice in early colonial India (Delhi, 1998).
39. Some scholars, following the argument of Edward Said's Orientalism basically dismiss the historicity of thuggee, see for instance Amal Chatterjee, Representations of India, 1740-1840: The creation of India in the colonial imagination (Basingstoke, 1998);
40. and Parama Roy, 'Discovering India, imagining thuggee', Yale Journal of Criticism, 9 (1996), pp. 121-45.
41. For a more detailed discussion of the historiography of thuggee, see my article 'The deconstructed stranglers - a reassessment of thuggee', Modern Asian Studies, 38 (2004), pp. 931-63.
42. It is sometimes asserted that the British coined the term 'thug', which in Hindi means a 'cheat', but several pre-colonial indigenous sources testify to the usage of the word as meaning highway robbers and to the existence of what was called thuggee as a criminal practice in the seventeenth century if not earlier. One Mughal news-writer in the late sixteenth century, for instance, referred to 'highway robbers known in Hindi as thags', see I. Habib, The agrarian system of Mughal India, 1556-1707 (Oxford, 1963, 1999 edn), p. 75 n. 40.
43. It is part of the colonial myth that the threat posed by thuggee was only taken serious by the British in 1830, but this is incorrect, see Wagner, 'The deconstructed stranglers'.
44. It is not possible to cite all primary references for this article, but the following account is based on material from the Board's Collections (1809-39), and BCJP (1809-27), OIOC;
45. the T. Perry papers, Add. MSS 5375-80, Cambridge University Library (CUL);
46. and the papers of the Thagi and Dacoity Department (T&D), 1829-39, National Archives of India (NAI).
47. Hobsbawm, Bandits, pp. 24-5 and 104,
48. and Blok 'Bandits and boundaries: Robber bands and secret societies on the Dutch frontier (1730-78)', in Blok, Honour and violence, pp. 31-2. The proximity of major trade routes and markets at Etawah and Agra had no impact on the situation in Sindouse, which was isolated by the topography and geographically came within the Chambal Valley region.
49. Watkins to Perry, 26 June 1812, in Perry to Guthrie, 29 June 1812, BCJP, P/130/55, 18 July 1812 (no. 37), OIOC.
50. See also Hobsbawm, Bandits, p. 35.
51. Deposition of Oomrao, para 54, 4 Jan. 1813, T. Perry papers, Add. MSS 5376, CUL.
52. See for instance examination of Ruheem Khan, 30 Dec. 1810, Appendix B, in Shakespeare to Bayley, 30 Apr. 1816, BCJP, P/132/44-45, 30 Aug. 1816 (no. 7), OIOC, BL;
53. and deposition of Laljee, para 21, 11 Dec. 1812, T. Perry papers, Add. MSS 5376, CUL.
54. Ibid.
55. The nature of the jajmani system has been widely debated among historians, see for instance Peter Mayer, 'Inventing tradition: The late nineteenth-century origins of the north Indian "jajmani system"', Modern Asian Studies, 27 (1993), pp. 357-95.
56. Many of the thugs had, at one time or another, been enlisted in an army or attached to some kind of military establishment; see for instance deposition of Bukhut Lodha, para 42, 31 Dec. 1812, T. Perry papers, Add. MSS 5376, CUL.
57. The thugs were often referred to as Mewatis, a common name for marauders in the region, see Shail Mayaram, Against history, against state - counterperspectives from the margins (Delhi, 2004).
58. See Dirk H. A. Kolff, Naukar, Rajput and Sepoy: The ethnohistory of the military labour market in Hindustan, 1450-1850 (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 6-7.
59. See testimony of Ghulam Hussain, 11 Nov. 1810, enclosed in BCJP, P/130/ 27, 18 Jan. 1811 (no. 46), OIOC, BL.
60. See for example John Malcolm, The political history of India from 1784 to 1823 (London, 1826).
61. Law to Court of Circuit, 25 Nov. 1809, BCJP, P/130/12, 16 Feb. 1810 (no. 52), OIOC.
62. We know this because a copy of a tax-list from 1797 has survived, giving the name and caste of the head of family of 318 households, the tax being collected by one of the zamindars in exactly the same manner as ordinary revenue would have been. See W. H. Sleeman, Ramaseeana (Calcutta, 1836), 11, pp. 155-224.
63. The very existence of the tax-list reflects the level of control exercised by the indigenous authorities, see Norbert Peabody, 'Cents, sense, census: Human inventories in late precolonial and early colonial India', Comparative Studies in Society and History, 43 (2001), pp. 819-50.
64. Hobsbawm, Bandits, pp. 12, 14, and 16.
65. Gordon, 'Scarf and sword', p. 427.
66. See material enclosed in Perry to Shakespeare, 24 Dec. 1818, BCJC, P/134/ 6, 19 Mar. 1819 (no. 10), OIOC.
67. See for instance testimony of Ghulam Hussain, 9-17 Nov. 1810, enclosed in BCJP, P/130/27, 18 Jan. 1811 (no. 46), OIOC.
68. See Sleeman to Macnaghten, 10 Aug. 1833, T&D, D.1-(2), NAI.
69. At the same time we do find individuals involved in thuggee on a much more peripheral level and with little or no choice themselves. Servants and slaves were at times commandeered by their masters to join in thug expeditions, usually carrying out menial chores on the way and not necessarily knowing the full extent of the murders that occurred. See deposition of Gopy and Budloo, 14 July 1812, in Perry to Dowdeswell, 10 Oct. 1812, T. Perry papers, Add. MSS 5376, CUL.
70. See W. H. Sleeman, Rambles and recollections (London, 1893; repr. New Delhi, 1995), 1, p. 359.
71. See for instance Uwe Danker, 'Bandits and the state: Robbers and the authorities in the Holy Roman Empire in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries', in Richard J. Evans, ed., The German underworld (London, 1988), pp. 75-107.
72. The thugs thus profited from the war-economy, and at the same time the turmoil enabled them to carry out their murders with less circumspection.
73. See examination of Ruheem Khan, 30 Dec. 1810, Appendix B, in Shakespeare to Bayley, 30 Apr. 1816, BCJP, P/132/44-5, 30 Aug. 1816 (no. 7), OIOC, BL.
74. See Sleeman, Ramaseeana, 1, pp. 67-270. Another equally important collection of interviews is to be found in the 'Collections on Thuggee and Dacoitee, by Capt. James Paton', Add. MSS 41300, BL ('Paton Collections').
75. Although the importance of 'social inheritance' is still widely debated in connection with criminality it is well documented historically; see for instance Koliopoulos, Brigands with a cause, p. 239.
76. As Blok has rightly pointed out the success of bandits was directly related to the level of protection granted them by the elite, Blok, Honour and violence, p. 18.
77. Obviously the division of thugs into two groups is a simplified model, yet I find them to be useful in explaining the discrepancies in the material on thuggee.
78. Nasir in Sleeman, Ramaseeana, 1, pp. 141-2. See also pp. 157 and 221.
79. Futteh Khan, 10 Oct. 1836, in 'Paton Collections', p. 59.
80. See also Sleeman, Ramaseeana, 1, p. 147.
81. See Sleeman, Ramaseeana, 1, pp. 175-6.
82. Testimony of Ghulam Hussain, 11 Nov. 1810, enclosed in BCJP, P/130/27, 18 Jan. 1811 (no. 46), OIOC.
83. Deposition of Giddah Bhaynath, 27 Oct. 1837, T&D, D.2-(3), NAI.
84. Kolff, Naukar, Rajput and Sepoy, pp. 181-2.
85. However, it is not at all clear whether the British were aware of the role they played in refashioning the identity of the approvers.
86. Deposition of Buhram in 'Paton Collections', p. 24.
87. Besides the Rajputs, there were also other models of the martial ethos, such as the figure of the Muslim gentleman trooper, see Seema Alavi, The Sepoys and the Company: Tradition and transition in northern India, 1770-1830 (Delhi, 1995).
88. See Susan Bayly Caste, society and politics in India from the eighteenth century to the modern age (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 8-9; and Kolff.
89. Sleeman, Rambles, 11, pp. 30-1.
90. See also David Shulman, 'On south Indian bandits and kings', Indian Economic and Social History Review, 17 (1980), pp. 283-306.
91. See Paul Winther, 'Chambel river dacoity: A study of banditry in north central India' (Ph.D. thesis, Cornell, 1972), especially p. 24.
92. See Malavika Kasturi, Embattled identities: Rajput lineages and the colonial state in nineteenth-century north India (Oxford, 2002), pp. 200-28.
93. It has been implied by some authors that thuggee might have constituted an anti-colonial practice, but this is simply not corroborated by the material; see for instance Felix Padel, The sacrifice of human being, British rule and the Konds of Orissa (Delhi, 1995), p. 138.
94. See Inayat in Sleeman, Ramaseeana, 1, p. 229.
95. See J. W. Kaye, The administration of the East India Company: A history of the Indian progress (London, 1853), footnote p. 361.
96. One approver described nine travellers whom the thugs had perceived as (literally) 'fair game' because of favourable omens, see deposition of Doorgha, 26 May 1833, T&D, D.2-(1), NAI.
97. See also 'Paton Collections', pp. 64/79-80.
98. Blok, Honour and violence, p. 21.
99. Deposition of Birj Lal, Procs FA Etawah, 28 Feb. 1813, Appendix A, in J. Shakespeare, SPWP, to W. B. Bayley, Secy Govt, 30 Apr. 1816, BCJP, P/132/ 44-5, 30 Aug. 1816 (no. 7), OIOC, BL.
100. Deposition of Rambux, Sept. 1836, in 'Paton Collections', p. 19.
101. See also ibid., p. 66.
102. See also Gordon, 'Scarf and sword', pp. 408-9.
103. The secrecy that was such an integral aspect of thuggee was only necessary where authorities were strong.
104. Obviously the thugs were persecuted by the local rulers in the territories where they carried out their murders, but connections, corruption and the ad hoc nature of indigenous legal practices ensured that they could often continue operating undisturbed. In India highway robbery was punished harder when it included murder but since the meting out of punishment was left to the discretion of the individual authorities, the thugs were never punished in any consistent manner.
105. See also Kolff, Naukar, Rajput and Sepoy, p. 172.
106. Deposition of Kalee Khan, 24 Apr., in Perry to Dowdeswell, 24 Apr. 1810, T. Perry papers, Add. MSS 5375, CUL.
107. Blok, Honour and violence, p. 22.
108. The focus on revenge as a crucial factor in becoming a bandit also ignores the very likely advancement from petty crime to banditry without any external causes being necessary.
109. Ibid., p. 18.
110. See for instance David Arnold, 'Dacoity and rural crime in Madras, 1860-1940', Journal of Peasant Studies, 6 (1979), pp. 140-67;
111. and Ranajit Guha, Elementary aspects of peasant insurgency in colonial India (Delhi, 1983).
112. See also Paul Winther's excellent analysis of twentieth-century banditry in the area.
113. It should be noted that the limited extent of my stay in Sindouse (in 2001 and 2004), and my reliance on a local interpreter, means that this part of my fieldwork hardly qualifies as anthropological fieldwork proper and is in no way comparable to, say, that of Blok's in Sicily.