Introduction

Thuggee was a very popular word used in criminal world. It was actually a network of people called Thugs with criminal mindset, joined hands for vested interest. Here thugs are the members of notorious criminal gangs and their criminal acts were termed as Thuggee. This system was primarily more prevalent during18th and 19th century. Here these criminal gangs or bandits have a proper season for thie criminal operationa with some social rules and regulations. They operates for few months and later return back to their normal life. Due to this dual life, they are often considered as a secret society of India.

Origin of Thug Word

The word Thug has its origin Sanskrit language of India in which a word called Sthag was used which refers to conceal or to deceive or to cheat somebody. Its pronounciation is almost similar to Thug and meaning also matches to the profession of these notorious criminals thus Thug word was taken from this language. Now Thuggee word is simply represents the acts done by Thugs. When such criminal acts notifies some pattern or common features in collection of actions then it becomes a system thus suct criminal activities were recorded on records as Thuggee system.

Thuggee as Ritual

With the development of Thuggee system in Indian society, a set of rules and rituals were added per various groups as per their believes and experiences. These rules and regualtions were named as rituals so that every criminal will try to accept it and follow it strictly. Following such rituals no only ensures the safety  of a individual thug but also ensures safety of whole gang and their family members. These rituals were used as a tool to justify their acts and get religious approval in their society. Some of such rituals are like:

• Kali Puja: Thugs are from both the popular religion of ancient India i.e. Hindus and Muslims. Usually Muslim religion followers don't do statue worship but when Thuggee itself treated as a religion, criminals from both the society followed the ritual to worship godess Kali, before begining their expeditions.
• Vow of Silence: Before proceeding on Thuggee expeditions, these thugs stops talking from their local society, before 7 days. By not maintaining dialogue from outer world they keep their mission information secret. They called it "Maun Vrat".
• Worshipping Pickaxe: It is a popular tool in rural and urban India. It is very useful in digging pits and graves and present in almost all the village houses. This tool proves very useful for thugs in digging of mass graves. Thus they give due respect to this toll and worship it before beginning any expedition. They locally called it Kusssi or Kudalee.
• Sparing Women and Children: Thugs were operating in the form of many gangs, active in their areas. Almost all of the gang members try to refrain from killing women and child. They try to avoid it untill it is possible to avoid. If they find them threat then they may kill them also. After killing of parents, if children were left, they adopt them and later introduce them into their gangs.
• Jamadar Title: Every gang have its own gang-leader. Role of every gang member is very well defined and they need to practice on their role to get proficiency like few members will dig graves in advance, some members duty is to hold hand and legs of prey, strangulation is mostly done by gang leaders and senior members. Here gang leader was given title as "Jamadar". Thus gang runs on very professional way.

Popular Thugs of Central India

When we do a search on biggest serial killers, having name in Guinness book of world records we will find some names in which name of Thug Behram will be prominently mentioned. Similarly many gangs were operations during 18th and 19th century period and were operational in vast region of India. As per variations of areas, their modus of operandi also gets changed. Here we have prepared a list of popular thugs of ancient India, who were operational in Central India region.

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