Thug Behram
Encyclopedia
Thug Behram of the Thuggee
Thuggee
Thuggee is the term for a particular kind of murder and robbery of travellers in South Asia and particularly in India.They are sometimes called Phansigar i.e...

 cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...

 in India, was one of the world's most prolific killers. He may have murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

ed up to 931 victims by strangulation
Strangling
Strangling is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain. Fatal strangling typically occurs in cases of violence, accidents, and as the auxiliary lethal mechanism in hangings in the event the neck does not break...

  between 1790–1840 with the ceremonial cloth (or rumal
Rumal
A Rumāl is a piece of clothing similar to a handkerchief or bandana. It is worn by Sikh men who cut their hair and other male guests when they are in a Gurdwara...

, which in Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

 means handkerchief
Handkerchief
A handkerchief , also called a handkercher or hanky, is a form of a kerchief, typically a hemmed square of thin fabric that can be carried in the pocket or purse, and which is intended for personal hygiene purposes such as wiping one's hands or face, or blowing one's nose...

), used by his cult. Behram was executed
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

 in 1840 by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...

.

Biography

While Behram is sometimes credited with 931 murders, James Paton, an East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

officer working for the Thuggee and Dacoity Office in the 1830s who wrote a manuscript on Thuggee, quotes Behram as saying he had "been present" at 931 cases of murder, and "I may have strangled with my own hands about 125 men, and I may have seen strangled 150 more."

The English word 'Thug' is in fact borrowed from the word 'Thuggee', although the use of the word today differs from the true reality of the 'Thuggee'. The 'Thuggee' were covert and operated as a member of a group, and the term typically referred to the killing of a large number of people in a single operation. This distinguished the term from simple armed robbery as they would target groups of travellers and kill them in one go, before taking their possessions.

Behram used his cummerbund as a ruhmal to execute his killings, with a large medallion sewn into it. With practiced skill he could cast the ruhmal so as to cause the medallion to land at the adam's-apple of his victims, adding pressure to the throat when he strangled them. Today the sinister Canova medallion, reputed to have been used in at least 65 murders, along with an aged hand-written document of 1831 supporting Behram's son Ali's continuance at an Indigo factory (Correspondence from the Quarter Master General’s office regarding the Indigo Factory in the Sepoy Lines at Vellore) are preserved in a private museum.
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