Thugs
Human
sacrifice
Kali
Assassinations
" Kali, or Bhowany, for she is equally well known by both
names, was, according to the Indian legend, born of the burning eye which Shiva
has on his forehead, whence she issued, like the Greek Minerva, out of the skull
of Jupiter, a perfect and full-grown being. She represents the Evil Spirit,
delights in human blood, presides over plague and pestilence, and directs the
storm and hurricane, and ever aims at destruction. She is represented under the
most frightful effigy the Indian mind could conceive ; her face is azure,
streaked with yellow ; her glance is ferocious ; she wears her dishevelled and
bristly hair displayed like the peacock's tail and braided with green serpents.
Her purple lips seem streaming with blood ; her tusk-like teeth descend over her
lower lip ; she has eight or ten arms, each hand holding some murderous weapon,
and sometimes a human head dripping with gore. With one foot she stands on a
human corpse. She has her temples, in which the people
sacrifice cocks and bullocks to her, but her priests are the Thugs, the ' Sons
of Death ', who quench the never-ending thirst of this divine vampyre. "
As regards the sect of Kali's worshippers, Heckethorn gives
the following details : " A newly admitted member takes the appellation of
Sahib-Zada. He commences his infamous career as lughah, or gravedigger, or as
belhal, or explorer of the spots most convenient for executing a projected
assassination, or bhil. In this condition he remains for several years, until he
has given abundant proof of his ability and good will. He is then raised to the
degree of Bhuttotah, or strangler, which advancement, however, is preceded by
new formalities and ceremonies. On the day appointed for the ceremony, the
candidate is conducted by his guru into a circle, formed in the sands and
surrounded by mysterious hieroglyphics, where prayers are offered up to their
deity. The ceremony lasts four days, during which the candidate is allowed no
other food but milk. He occupies himself in practising the immolation of victims
fastened to a cross erected in the ground. On the fifth day the priest gives him
the fatal noose, washed in holy water and anointed with oil, and after more
religious ceremonies, he is pronounced a perfect bhuttotah. He binds himself by
fearful oaths to maintain the most perfect silence on all that concerns the
society, and to labour without ceasing towards the destruction of the human
race. He is the rex sacrificulus, and the person he encounters, and Bhowany
places in his way, the victim. Certain persons, however, are excepted from the
attacks of the Thugs. " 26 The political significance of such a sect in any
Theocrasy can be easily understood when one realizes what it means to the rulers
of a land to have at their disposal a staff of fanatics trained to kill anyone
on the order of a priest! The utility of such organizations is obvious in a
hierarchy where the rulers are also priests reigning by "Divine Right".
Occult Theocracy by Lady Queenborough
(aka Edith Starr Miller.)
In the early 19th century they were credited with 40,000 deaths annually, stretching back as far as anyone cared to count. Some estimates put the overall death toll as high as 2,000,000, but with the cult potentially operating for more than 500 years before formal records were kept, the true number is impossible to determine. http://www.damninteresting.com/the-thugs-of-india/