Thugs

a secret, semi-religious fraternity of robbers and assassins. They formerly infested the central and northern provinces of India. They traveled about the country in small bands, disguised as merchants or peddlers or as holy pilgrims. They ingratiated themselves with travelers and murdered them in lonely spots. Even the laborer by the roadside was not safe. Although they stripped their victims they appear to have been moved by a secret fanatical motive, rather than from lust of gain. One-third of their plunder they gave to their goddess. The bodies of their victims they buried, first digging a hole with a consecrated mattock, and performing certain religious rites. Each band had its leader, its teacher, its trappers, its stranglers, and its grave diggers. They were extremely deft in their operations. They strangled their victims with a scarf, turban, or slip noose, without shedding of blood. They were a terror to the natives who dared not, if they could, give information. They were as difficult to suppress as bandits. Between 1826 and 1835, 1,562 thugs were executed. The order was exterminated finally.