The Itinerant Underworld

One of the characteristics of the colonial representation of thuggee of the 1830s is the endlessly diversified ramifications of thuggee, recorded as extensive lists of thug subgroupings thought to be operating in unison all over India. In 1838 Sleeman wrote that: 'We have always had reason to believe that a great part of the Byragis, Gosaens and other religious mendicants that infest all parts of India were assassins by profession ...'2 Such claims were part of a strategy intended to bring non-sedentary communities under the control of the Company administration by extending the application of the legislation introduced in connection with thuggee. The British regarded with deep suspicion the parts of the indigenous population with no fixed abode or an obvious or legitimate source of income — as they did back in Britain in regard to vagrants and the 'idle classes'.3 Interspersed in the vast material on thuggee there are allusions to more than 40 different 'classes' of thugs, and according to Sleeman, the thugs believed that there were seven Muslim clans from whom they all originated: Bhys, Bursote, Kachunee, Huttar, Ganoo, Tundel, Bahleem and sometimes including Kathur or Ghugaros.4 The meaning and significance of these clans and their names has never been properly established but does deserve close attention.5 KeywordsSecondary MeaningLegitimate SourceCompany AdministrationItinerant GroupNomadic LifestyleThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves

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