William said, ‘God
is
love,’ and went to Mary and the baby.
In a story of this sort the reader has a right to know how much was fact, how much fiction. My purpose in this book, as in
Nightrunners of Bengal
, was to re-create the ‘feel’ of a historical episode rather than write a minutely accurate report. To do this I had to use the novelist’s freedom to imagine people and create places for them to live in; but the times and circumstances of those people are fixed by history, and I believe this book gives a true picture of them.
In general, therefore, the facts about the Deceivers (the
Thugs
) and all the details of their cult and their operations (called collectively
Thuggee
) are accurate. They did flourish for many centuries, they did believe in their religious call, they did live by the omens and ceremonies described, they did kill travellers in the manner and the numbers suggested. It is thought that, first and last,
Thuggee
must have murdered well over a million people. Ironically enough, after existing hundreds of years, it was uncovered and uprooted shortly before the coming of railroads and telegraphs to India would in any case have destroyed it. Nonetheless, William Savage’s remark that it constituted the greatest criminal conspiracy of history was justified at the time he made it.
The setting of the story in time is correct within a year or two. The physical shape of the land we have travelled in (the area bounded by a line Jubbulpore-Nagpur-Jhansi- Allahabad-Jubbulpore) is correct, and it was in this area that
Thuggee
was first comprehensively discovered and attacked. Incidentally, the bees there are numerous and dangerous. Many a bather, hunter, and traveller has met the death which my Deceivers met.
All the incidents are imagined. All the characters are imagined, except a few bystanders. Please note particularly that if any one man can be credited with the real-life destruction of
Thuggee
, that man was William Henry Sleeman of the Indian Political Service, later Major-General Sir William Sleeman, K.C.B. Sleeman did not use the methods I have ascribed to William Savage; in fact, William Savage is in no sense a portrait of William Sleeman.
All places should be treated as imaginary, though in fact most of the rivers and hills and a few small villages are real. My reason for this is that it is not now feasible for me to find out what, say, Damoh looked like in 1825, and I do not think it is proper to invent ‘facts’ about real places; I must invent the whole town -- and call it Madhya.
The glossary contains notes on the few real people mentioned in the story and translations of Indian words to amplify the meanings that I have always tried to make clear in the context.
There are not many source books about
Thuggee
. One of them is a novel, first published in 1839, by an officer who had taken part in operations against
Thugs: Confessions of a Thug
by Meadows Taylor. If my story of this terrible byway of man’s religious faith has interested you, you will find more details in three books by Sleeman himself:
Ramaseeana, or a Vocabulary of the peculiar language used by Thugs; Report on the depredations committed by the Thug gangs of upper and central India; The Thugs or Phansigars of India
and in one by Sleeman’s grandson, Colonel James L. Sleeman --
Thug, or A Million Murders
.
This glossary contains notes only on Hindustani words and on people who really lived. The meanings given for Hindustani words apply only to this story; other meanings and shades of meaning are not given. Pronunciations are given in parentheses.
achchi bat
(utchy bat), very good!
a-jao, jaldi
(ah-jow, juldy), come quickly!
Amherst
, William Pitt Amherst, Earl Amherst of Arakan, 1773-1857; a nephew of Lord Jeffrey Amherst; Governor-General of India, 1823-1928.
ane wala hun
(ahny wolla hoo), coming! (literally, ‘I am the coming one’).
arrack
(urrack), palm toddy, or, among poorer people, spirit made from flowers of mahua tree.
bahut
(bote), very much.
bajri
(budjri), pearl millet (annisetum glaucum).
baksheesh
(bucksheesh), tip, gratuity.
bannia
(bun-ya), merchant.
bara-sahib
(burra-sahb), the chief, the boss.
bettoo
(bettoo), anyone not a Thug (Thug argot).
bhil
(bheel), place selected for killing (Thug argot).
Bhonsla (Bhonsla), family name of Mahratta rulers of Nagpur.
bijasal
(beeja-sahl), kino tree (pterocarpus marsupium).
bulbul
(bull-bull), a bird, a species of nightingale (daulias philomela africana).
chaudhri
(chowdry), agent, contractor; also, a caste title confined to several upper castes.
chhota hazri
(choe-ta hahzry), early morning meal (literally, ‘little breakfast’) .
chupatti
(ch’patty), flat disc of unleavened wheat bread.
chuprassi
(ch’prassy), doorkeeper, messenger.
dacoit
(d’koyt), armed bandit.
daffadar
(duffa-dah), sergeant of horse.
dal
(dahl), a thick lentil stew.
Dewali
(D’wahly), festival of light marking the beginning of the year for traders and businessmen in India; always falls twenty lunar days after Dussehra, q.v.
Dussehra
(D’sarah), ten-day festival at close of rainy season, in September or October, hence at opening of season for war and travel.
Elphinstone
, Mountstuart Elphinstone, 1779-1859; served in Bengal and (later) Bombay Civil Service; Resident at Court of Mahratta Peshwa, 1810-1819.
flame-of-the-forest
, moderate-sized deciduous tree (butea frondosa).
ghi
(ghee), clarified butter.
haj
(hay), is.
haji
(hudgey), title of respect applied to Mohammedans who have made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
halal
(h’lahl), method of killing an animal by letting it bleed to death, required by Mohammedan religious law -- comparable to the kosher method.
Hastings
, Francis Rawdon, 1st Marquess of Hastings and 2nd Earl of Moira, 1754--1826; Governor- General and Commander-in-chief in India, 1812-1823.
huzoor
(h’zoor), honorific term of address (literally, ‘presence’).
jagirdar
(juggeerdahr), man holding land in a type of feudal tenure.
jemadar
(jemma-dah), junior officer.
Jenkins
, Sir Richard Jenkins, 1785-- 1853; served in Bombay Civil Service; Resident at Court of Bhonslas, Nagpur, 1810-1827.
Jhora Naik
(Jhora Nike), a leader of Multan Thugs. He and his servant Koduk Bunwari are supposed to have killed a man who had 162,000 rupees on a mule. As Jhora Naik made an equitable distribution of this enormous spoil, even among members of his band who were not with him at the time, the Thugs canonized him, his servant, and his wife (Thug legend).
kala admi
(kahli ahdmy), black man.
Kali
(Kahlee), ‘Dark Mother’; cult tide of Durga, wife of Shiva. In true Hinduism Kali represents the active aspect of Reality, and her image is a symbol of Reality’s creative and destructive principles. The Thugs prostituted the destructive aspect -- which is in nature -- to their own evil purpose.
Kali-Pyara
(Kahlee-Peeyalira), the beloved of Kali.
kirpan
(kirrpahn), short dagger carried for religious reasons by Sikhs.
Koduk Bunwari
(Koe-d’k Boon-wahry), see Jhora Naik, above.
koi hai
(kwa hi), a call for service (literally, ‘is anyone there?’); used instead of ’Boy!’ etc.
Krishna
, regarded by Hindus as an incarnation of God -- specifically, of Vishnu. Krishna is a very important character in the Mahabharata, q.v.
kulla
(koolla), pointed or domed brimless hat worn under the turban by Mohammedans.
Lat Sahib
(Laht Sahb), the Governor-General of India (Indian corruption of the Lord Sahib; because the Governor-General was often the only peer in Indian service).
lotah
(loe-ta), metal pot used for carrying water.
Mahabharata
(Ma-ha-bherta), one of the two epic poems of ancient India (the other is the Ramay- ana).
maharaj
(ma-h’rahj), lord, master (honorific sense).
mahngga
(mennga), expensive.
mahua
(ma-hwa), large deciduous tree (bassia latifolia).
maul
(mowl), creeper (bauminia vahlii).
maulvi
(mowlvy), Mohammedan scholar or teacher, often of religion.
mohur
(mohoor), gold coin of Moguls.
mynah
(mine-ah), bird of starling family (acridotheres tristis).
neem
, fairly large evergreen tree (azadi- rachta indicus), considered sacred by Thugs.
Nizam-ud-din
(Nizzahm-oodeen) 1236-1325; considered a saint by Sunni sect of Mohammedans; also rumoured to have been a Thug.
patel
(p’tail), chief official of village in certain parts of India.
Pindaris
(Pindahrys), bands of marauding plunderers; originally only the members of a tribe who lived in Central India along the Nerbudda River.
ram ram
(rahm rahm), a form of greeting.
rumal
(roomahl), handkerchief, cloth.
saj
(sahj), large deciduous tree, with long clear bole (terminalia tomentosa).
Saugor Pandits
(Sawga Pundits), rulers of the Saugor area under the Mahratta power.
shikar
(sh’kahr), hunting, game.
shikari
(sh’kahry), professional hunter, hence sportsman.
sirdar
(sir-dahr), tide of honour, used of and to all Sikhs.
suttee
(suttee), a woman who immolates herself on her husband’s funeral pyre, or the custom of so doing.
thakur
(tah-koor), in Rajputana, or of Rajputs, a landholder or minor nobleman; in other parts of India, a sort of caste title.
Thug
, member of a religious association devoted to highway murder and robbery;
Thuggee
, the association and its acts. (The Thugs are the Deceivers of this book; the words should properly be pronounced ‘Toog’, ‘Tooggee’, and were so pronounced before they became popular in their present English sense of ’gangster’.)
wok
(wvoh), it, that.
Zemindar
(z’meendah), landowner.