Between the cities of Allahabad and Benaras where the Vindhya mountain range touches the southern banks of the holy Ganges, in a town known as Vindhyachal stands the temple complex devoted to goddess Vindyavasini, a form of Durga.
Between the cities of Allahabad and Benaras where the Vindhya mountain range touches the southern banks of the holy Ganges, in a town known as Vindhyachal stands the temple complex devoted to goddess Vindyavasini, a form of Durga. Not far from this shrine is the temple of Kalikhoh (literally 'cave of Kali') , believed to be the central shrine of the thugs who became infamous thanks to the writings of many officers of the British East India Company.
Illustration/ Devdutt pattanaik
The officers wrote that the thugs lived outwardly respectable lives, usually as craftsmen. But for a few weeks each year, they dedicated themselves to the slaughter that was their act of worship. Operating far from home to avoid being recognised, gangs of 10-50 thugs lured victims to their death through deception.
They joined parties of traders and pilgrims and accompanied them until a chance for murder arose. When the time was right, the assassins approached victims from behind, passed kerchiefs or rumaals around their necks, and jerked tight until they suffocated, all the while whispering to Kali to watch.
In 1826, Colonel William Sleeman, the civil administrator of the Jubbulpore (Jabalpur) district in Central India set about suppressing the thugs. He turned to captured the thugs to augment his information about the secret brotherhood, breaking their code of silence with offers of clemency. Entire gangs were rounded up and subjected to swift harsh punishment.
By 1840, over 3500 thugs were tried and 500 were hanged. By 1858, except for isolated outbreaks, the reign of thug terror came to an end. But their lore became part of Raj legend.
Although the tale of this bizarre cult of thieves has since captured the imagination of the people across the world, inspiring many novels and films, recent research by scholars such as Stewart N Gordon has convincingly shown that the "Thugs" were neither a religious order nor any kind of organised, homogenous group.
Those labelled as "Thugs" were in fact teams of marauding soldiers -- both Hindu and Muslim -- from various regions who stole and killed not out of religious compulsion but from economic and political motives. They were ordered by their leaders to extort cash needed for purchasing weapons and paying mercenaries who would do battle with the British.
Many of these soldiers worshipped Kali, not because she was 'gave power to those who quenched her thirst for blood' but merely because she was the traditional patron of martial orders in the region. Since their activities hurt the economic and political ambitions of the British East India Company, they were strategically, systematically, and successfully stigmatised through propaganda writings that took advantage of the ambivalent feelings of the masses towards Kali.
The British then proceeded to wipe out these bands of thieves in the 1830s. During this period anyone associated with the Vindhyachal temples, especially Kalikhoh, became suspect, particularly if they belonged to warrior castes. As a result the temple of Kali deteriorated into a tumbledown condition.
Even today, locals take great pains to dissociate the shrine from thugs and their 'bizarre' rites. So much so that people deny the Tantrik roots of both Kali and Vindhyavasini, and prefer to view her as a milder mainstream Vedic vegetarian goddess.
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The author is Chief Belief Officer of the Future Group The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper.
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