The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of IndiaUniversity of Chicago Press, 2002 - 360 pages British colonists in 1830s India lived in terror of the Thugs. Reputed to be brutal criminals, the Thugs supposedly strangled, beheaded, and robbed thousands of travelers in the goddess Kali's name. The British responded with equally brutal repression of the Thugs and developed a compulsive fascination with tales of their monstrous deeds. Did the Thugs really exist, or did the British invent them as an excuse to seize tighter control of India? Drawing on historical and anthropological accounts, Indian tales and sacred texts, and detailed analyses of the secret Thug language, Martine van Woerkens reveals for the first time the real story of the Thugs. Many different groups of Thugs actually did exist over the centuries, but the monsters the British made of them had much more to do with colonial imaginings of India than with the real Thugs. Tracing these imaginings down to the present, van Woerkens reveals the ongoing roles of the Thugs in fiction and film from Frankenstein to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. |
Contents
THE THUGS BETWEEN MYTH AND REALITY | 11 |
The AntiThug Campaign | 43 |
Who Were the Thugs? | 109 |
THE COLONIZERS BETWEEN | 186 |
CONCLUSION | 287 |
NOTES | 317 |
331 | |
345 | |
Other editions - View all
The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India Martine van Wœrkens Limited preview - 2002 |
The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India Martine van Woerkens No preview available - 2002 |
The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India Martine van Wœrkens No preview available - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
accused Ameer Ali Ameer Ali's anti-Thug appear arrested ascetics assassins Awadh Banjaras Bengal Bhowanee blood bodies Brahman British called caste chief claimed clans cloth colonizers Confessions course crime criminal Curven Smith dacoits death Deccan Delhi dena depositions divine evil expedition father Feringheea fiction Francis Tuker gang give Goddess Gunga Gunga Din Hindu human identity India Indiana Jones informers Jabalpur jana jemadar Kali karna katna Khan killed land language leader linked loot Maratha means Moghul murder Muslim narrative native nineteenth century omens origin Paton Patun peasants person Pindaris Pont-Jest practices priests prison profession rajah Rajasthan Ramasee Ramaseeana religion religious rites ritual robbers roomal rules rupees sacrifice Sagar Sanskrit Saugor secret sect Shiva Singh social society strangled strangler Taylor temple territories Thuggee Thuggism Thugs tion trade travelers trial tribes verb victims village violence W. H. Sleeman William Sleeman word