Between the 18th and 19th centuries, a large gang of stranglers operated on the highways. Amongst them was the most prolific serial killer in history: Thug Buhram Jemadar ‘The King of the Thugs’. With a mere handkerchief (called Rumāl), Buhram is estimated to have killed 931 people in his 40 years of operation. While Buhram would have been an exemplary case study in the motives of a serial killer, his personality is not known. His capture was part of a larger British crackdown on the Thugs.
The ‘Thug‘ community are mentioned in Indian lore as far back as the 14th century and have many names depending on which part of the country you are in. In the North, they were the Thugs whose way of life was called ‘Thuggee’; in the South, they were Phansigars (Stranglers), in Tamil lands, Ari Tulucar (Ari meaning to cut and Tulucar, originating from Turkey, meaning Muslim), in Canarese “Tanti Calleru” (thieves who use a wire or a cat-gut noose”, in Telugu Warlu Wahndlu (people who use the noose).
That their modus operandi was common across India suggests a phenomenon larger than just a temporary gang of murderers. And their death count is unfathomable today. Between 1740 and 1840, they are estimated to have killed at least 40,000 people a year. With over five centuries of operation, they are held responsible for anywhere between one million and three million murders. The historian Mike Dash estimates it to be around 50,000 in total, in his book, “Thug: The True Story Of India’s Murderous Cult.”
What made the Thugs different was their ethos. They operated by befriending travelers (alone or in groups), often traveling with them for hundreds of miles. When the victim is asleep or vulnerable, they move in from behind and strangulate them using a handkerchief called Ruhmal. The body would have a ritual performed over it (or not) and then buried out of sight.
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