Over the past three years I have heard the term “Thugs” used countless times in American politics, especially by our leaders:
Like Bush here:
The world changed on a terrible September morning. And since that day we have changed the world. Before September the 11th, Afghanistan served as the home base of al-Qaida, which trained and deployed thousands of killers to set up terror cells around the world, including our country. Today, Afghanistan is a rising democracy. (Applause.) Afghanistan is an ally in the war against these thugs. (Applause.) Many young girls now go to school in Afghanistan for the first time. (Applause.) Afghanistan is becoming free, and America and the world are safer for it. (Applause.)
or here:
At every stage of this process, before and after the transition to Iraqi sovereignty, the enemy is likely to be active and brutal. They know the stakes as well as we do. But our coalition is prepared, our will is strong, and neither Iraq’s new leadership nor the United States will be intimidated by thugs and assassins.
Or like Vice President Cheney here:
“As our opponents see it, the problem isn’t the thugs and murderers that we face, but our attitude,” he said. “Well, the American people know better… . Those who threaten us and kill innocents around the world do not need to be treated more sensitively. They need to be destroyed.”
The term “Thug” is a very common term now used to describe our enemies. The previous post by Vinod in fact uses it. However, the word “Thug” is just a word. It means nothing to me unless I understand it, just like the words “good” and “evil” have no meaning to me until I understand the proper context in which they are used. For those of you suffering the same lack of understanding as me, I thought I would take the time to investigate Thugs in the Dictionary. The word “Thug,” is derived from the Cult of Thugee:
The Thugee cult was devoted to Kali, the goddess of death and destruction. For hundreds of years the Thugee cult practiced an organized campaign of assassinations. Strangulation was the preferred method of choice. Thugees claimed tens of thousands of victims over a 300 year span. They would worm themselves into the confidence of wayfarers and when a favourable opportunity occurred, strangle them by throwing a handkerchief or noose around their necks. They then plundered and buried them, All this was done according to a certain ancient and rigidly prescribed forms and after the performance of special religious rites, in which the consecration to the pickax and the sacrifice of sugar formed a prominent part. Though sporadic attempts were made to the extinction of the gangs it was not till Lord Bentinck (governor general of India 1833-35) took vigorous steps that the system was seriously attacked. Between 1831-37 the British hanged nearly 4000 Thugees and the cult was presumed eradicated
If I listen to the news literally however, it seems the cult was not eradicated, but continue with their trade all around the world to this day.
The actual story of the Thugs is quite fascinating:
In 1816, an article appeared in the Madras Literary Gazette, authored by Dr. Robert C. Sherwood. Sherwood, like Sleeman, was well-versed in Hinduism, and had gotten wind of a mysterious society of assassins from a gang of suspects who had been arrested and then released by an unbelieving judge in Madras in 1815. Sherwoods article was the first major testimony confirming the existence of a cult which committed murder in the name of Kali, and it attracted Sleemans immediate attention. Among other things, Sherwood wrote:
While Europeans have journeyed through the extensive territories subject to the Government of Fort St. George, with a degree of security nowhere surpassed, the path of the native traveller has been beset with perils little known or suspected, into which numbers annually falling, have mysteriously disappeared, the victims of villains as subtle, rapacious and cruel as any who are to be met with in the records of human depravity. The Phansigars, or stranglers, are thus designated from the Hindustani word Phansi a noose. In the more northern parts of India, these murderers are called Thugs, signifying deceivers: in the Tamul language, they are called Ari Tulucar, or Mussulman noosers: in Canarese, Tanti Calleru, implying thieves, who use a wire or cat-gut noose…. Skilled in the arts of deception, Phansigars enter into conversation and insinuate themselves, by obsequious attentions, into the confidence of travellers of all descriptions…. When the Phansigars determine to attack a traveller, they usually propose to him, under the specious plea of mutual safety or for the sake of society, to travel together and on arriving at a convenient place and a fit opportunity presenting one of the gang puts a rope or sash round the neck of the unfortunate persons, while others assist in depriving him of his life.
Thus an account of the Thugs, as they came to be known, and Thugee, their body of secret beliefs and practices, was first made available to outsiders. Perhaps not surprisingly, the account was all but ignored by British officialdom. Who could give credence to such extravagant rumors? And even if there was an element of truth to them, surely this was a matter for the Indians to resolve among themselves.
So the next time you hear the word “Thug,” think of your brown heritage.
