How the British broke the Thugs of India and how to apply those methods against terrorists

bvml.org ^ | bvml.org

[xm177e2]

Dennis, "they" were not Muslims, a small number of them were.

[Travis McGee]

Great article! So the key is holding your nose and granting leniency to senior terrorists, in order to have them finger as many as possible of their underlings.

That may have some success, but I think we will need to wipe out radical mullahs who preach death to infidels. They are the engine of terror, they need to be eliminated.

[Sparta]

The Thugs of India and the lessons that could be applied to the War on Terror.

If you want on or off the Western Civilzation Military History ping list, let me know.

[Avoiding_Sulla]

Thanks for the ping.

[dennisw]

Dennis, "they" were not Muslims, a small number of them were.........

This is how it appears

[dennisw]

You're welcome!

[sheik yerbouty]

It all falls into place. A cult of death.

[The Pheonix]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...In-te-res-ting....

It' worth a study, at the very least,

[BOBTHENAILER]

That may have some success, but I think we will need to wipe out radical mullahs who preach death to infidels. They are the engine of terror, they need to be eliminated.

Agreed. News just out that 14 arrests make near Tikrit. 9-10 have been identified as Saddam's personal security guards. Also arrested elsewhere was the ruling Baathist, thought to be directing many attacks against our troops. Top nuclear scientist arrested near Baghdad.

One General was quoted as saying the noose is tightening on Saddam.

Somewhat along the lines of this article, I think a combination of documents captured and interrogation of Fedayeen, Baathists, Mukhabarat, etc., has been paying dividends. Numerous arms also taken including Roland surface to air missiles (French).

[Publius6961]

Wow.
Fantastic post.
Thank you

[Publius6961]

Errrr.

Would it be a terrible inconvenience for you to mention the name of the book?

[Dajjal]

ping

[TC Rider]

Gunga Din bump for a later read.

[wardaddy]

Eliminated sounds great.

[gridlock]

All I knew about Thuggie was what was in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, a far from authoritative account.

This is a facinating story. It would make a fabulous movie, maybe teaming up Mel Gibson and Sophie Marceau again. Except that nobody would believe it when you told them it was a true story.

[VOA]

bump

[Destro]

While Christianity did away with the baser elements of European barbarian pagan society it seems Islam does not have this ability. Since all things including acts of evil are the will of Allah and the will of Allah is always good then you can allow yourself anything if it succeeds since it has to be Allah's will.

[robowombat]

For those interested in learning more Sleeman's memoires were republished by 'Oxford-in-India' Press about 20 years ago. Copies should not be hard to find through inter library loan or from web based used book sellers such as Ex Libris. Also there are two good fictional accounts of Thuggee and its suppression in English. John Masters wrote one of Anglo-Indian cycle of novels about this episode. Titled 'The Deceivers' it was published in the mid-50s. However Ballentine brought out a pocket book edition in the 60's and these pop up in thrift stores and at used book dealers all the time. I bought one in very good condition from a thrift store for$.25 about two weeks ago. In this book Masters has an English officer pass himself off as a native (pretty hard I admit) and infiltrate the Thugs assuming a Thugs identity. The officer becomes involved with these criminals and suffers a near schizoid episode as a result of his double life. I suspect Masters heard gossip of this sort of thing as he was a career Indian Army officer in a Ghurka regiment. Due to the huge size of India and the multitude of different ethnic groups it seems that for a while in the 19th century clever and determined junior officers did engage in these sorts of deep cover ops.

The other fictional treatment was written by an officer in the British Indian Army in the 19th century named Ralph Meadows-Taylor. Meadows-Taylor was of the generation following Sleeman and fought in the Indian Mutiny (and surprisingly didn't write about that chapter in Indian history). In the 1870's he wrote 'Memoires of a Thug' which are the fictionalized reminiscences of a Thug who becomes government informant. Meadows-Taylor used Sleeman's memoires and his official reports as the basis for the work and fleshed out his narrative with information he garnered from conversations with aging Thugs who served as trustee prisoners when he was assigned to the Andaman Island prison colony. The result is a fascinating attempt to actually get into the skin of an Indian and a Thug by a Victorian soldier sahib. Not completely sucessful but a pretty remarkable product. In the 1960's 'Memoires of a Thug' were republished in England and copies should be obtainable through the used book dealers network at a reasonable price.

[Libertina]

Once a group of Thugs had insinuated itself into a company of merchants, religious pilgrims, or even police officials, they would often travel with them for days, earning trust and friendship. Should their intended victims become suspicious of their intentions, and refuse to travel with them, the Thugs often had backup groups who would conveniently meet the company of travelers further on. One way or the other, once an individual had been marked for murder, seldom did he escape the murderous hands of the Thugs.
Pre 9-11 sleepers... Pronounced Toogs in India, the word entered our vocbulary as Thugs. A bit more ruthless than the "boisterous boys" depicted as now in the US.

[Aquinasfan]

Fascinating.

Under Bentinck, proselytizing by Christian missionaries in India, long opposed by a colonial regime studiously committed to non-interference in cultural matters, was legalized.

There's a lesson here about "celebrating diversity" which is not difficult to grasp. Small wonder that this story is never told.

I know a well-educated woman in her mid-20s who was unaware of the horrific practices of Mayan religion. However, she is well aware of the atrocities of the Spanish explorers...