Poisoning in India / by Sir J. Fayrer.

  • Fayrer, Sir Joseph, 1824-1907.
Date:
[1885?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Poisoning in India / by Sir J. Fayrer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    One of the most memorable acts of Lord William Bentinck's administration in India was the abolition of Thuggee. In carrying out the suppression of this remark- able organisation of fanatical and hereditary assassins, he was mainly assisted by the late Sir William—then Captain —Sleeman, who, by his extraordinary energy and intelli- gence, constructed and maintained a department which succeeded in ultimately tracing out and hunting down the gangs of murderers so completely, that the practice of Thuggee is now virtually extinct, the last conviction for this crime in the North-West Provinces having taken place about the year 1852. This remarkable brotherhood of murderers and robbers is reported to have sprung into existence under the first Mahomedan dynasties, and has prevailed throughout India ever since, up to about i860. In Akbar's reign as many as five hundred were caught and executed ; but it is said to have been really of much more ancient origin, and that the evil doings of Thugs are represented in the bas-reliefs of the Temples of Ellora. It seems to have become prominently known to the British, after the fall of Seringapatam in 1799, and until hunted down and extirminated by Sir W. Sleeman and the able officers who assisted and succeeded him, it was practised throughout India. By about the year i860 it had become practically exterminated. The Thugs had been tracked, caught, convicted, and hanged or imprisoned. Some were kept as approvers, their lives being spared on condition of their giving information which enabled the authorities to detect and convict others. They were kept in confinement in depots (Goinda-Khanas) in Jubbulpore,