CHAPTER 77. Invalid Establishment.

Invalid Establishment.

I have said nothing in the foregoing chapter of the invalid establishment, which is probably the greatest of all bonds between the Government and its native army, and consequently the greatest element in the 'spirit of discipline'. Bonaparte, who was, perhaps, with all his faults, 'the greatest man that ever floated on the tide of time', said at Elba, 'There is not even a village that has not brought forth a general, a colonel, a captain, or a prefect, who has raised himself by his especial merit, and illustrated at once his family and his country.' Now we know that the families and the village communities in which our invalid pensioners reside never read newspapers, and feel but little interest in the victories in which these pensioners may have shared. They feel that they have no share in the éclat or glory which attend them; but they everywhere admire and respect the government which cherishes its faithful old servants, and enables them to spend the 'winter of their days' in the bosoms of their families; and they spurn the man who has failed in his duty towards that government in the hour of need.

No sepoy taken from the Râjpût communities of Oudh or any other part of the country can hope to conceal from his family circle or village community any act of cowardice, or anything else which is considered disgraceful to a soldier, or to escape the odium which it merits in that circle and community.

In the year 1819 I was encamped near a village in marching through Oudh, when the landlord, a very cheerful old man, came up to me with his youngest son, a lad of eighteen years of age, and requested me to allow him (the son) to show me the best shooting grounds in the neighbourhood. I took my 'Joe Manton' and went out. The youth showed me some very good ground, and I found him an agreeable companion, and an excellent shot with his matchlock. On our return we found the old man waiting for us. He told me that he had four sons, all by God's blessing tall enough for the Company's service, in which one had attained the rank of 'havîldâr' (sergeant), and two were still sepoys. Their wives and children lived with him; and they sent home every month two-thirds of their pay, which enabled him to pay all the rent of the estate and appropriate the whole of the annual returns to the subsistence and comfort of the numerous family. He was, he said, now growing old, and wished his eldest son, the sergeant, to resign the service and come home to take upon him the management of the estate; that as soon as he could be prevailed upon to do so, his old wife would permit my sporting companion, her youngest son, to enlist, but not before.

I was on my way to visit Fyzabad, the old metropolis of Oudh, and on returning a month afterwards in the latter end of January, I found that the wheat, which was all then in ear, had been destroyed by a severe frost. The old man wept bitterly, and he and his old wife yielded to the wishes of their youngest son to accompany me and enlist in my regiment, which was then stationed at Partâbgarh.

We set out, but were overtaken at the third stage by the poor old man, who told me that his wife had not eaten or slept since the boy left her, and that he must go back and wait for the return of his eldest brother, or she certainly would not live. The lad obeyed the call of his parents, and I never saw or heard of the family again.

There is hardly a village in the kingdom of Oudh without families like this depending upon the good conduct and liberal pay of sepoys in our infantry regiments, and revering the name of the government they serve, or have served. Similar villages are to be found scattered over the provinces of Bihâr and Benares, the districts between the Ganges and Jumna, and other parts where Râjpûts and the other classes from which we draw our recruits have been long established as proprietors and cultivators of the soil.

These are the feelings on which the spirit of discipline in our native army chiefly depends, and which we shall, I hope, continue to cultivate, as we have always hitherto done, with care; and a commander must take a great deal of pains to make his men miserable, before he can render them, like the soldiers of Frederick, 'the irreconcilable enemies of their officers and their government'.

In the year 1817 I was encamped in a grove on the right bank of the Ganges below Monghyr, when the Marquis of Hastings was proceeding up the river in his fleet, to put himself at the head of the grand division of the army then about to take the field against the Pindhârîs and their patrons, the Marâthâ, chiefs. Here I found an old native pensioner, above a hundred years of age. He had fought under Lord Clive at the battle of Plassey, A.D. 1757, and was still a very cheerful, talkative old gentleman, though he had long lost the use of his eyes. One of his sons, a grey-headed old man, and a Sûbadâr (captain) in a regiment of native infantry, had been at the taking of Java, and was now come home on leave to visit his father. Other sons had risen to the rank of commissioned officers, and their families formed the aristocracy of the neighbourhood. In the evening, as the fleet approached, the old gentleman, dressed in his full uniform of former days as a commissioned officer, had himself taken out close to the bank of the river, that he might be once more during his life within sight of a British Commander-in-Chief, though he could no longer see one. There the old patriarch sat listening with intense delight to the remarks of the host of his descendants around him, as the Governor-General's magnificent fleet passed along, every one fancying that he had caught a glimpse of the great man, and trying to describe him to the old gentleman, who in return told them (no doubt for the thousandth time) what sort of a person the great Lord Clive was. His son, the old Sûbadâr, now and then, with modest deference, venturing to imagine a resemblance between one or the other, and his beau idéal of a great man, Lord Lake. Few things in India have interested me more than scenes like these.

I have no means of ascertaining the number of military pensioners in England or in any other European nation, and cannot, therefore, state the proportion which they bear to the actual number of forces kept up. The military pensioners in our Bengal establishment on the 1st of May, 1841, were 22,381; and the family pensioners, or heirs of soldiers killed in action, 1,730; total 24,111, out of an army of 82,027 men. I question whether the number of retired soldiers maintained at the expense of government bears so large a proportion to the number actually serving in any other nation on earth. Not one of the twenty-four thousand has been brought on, or retained upon, the list from political interest or court favour; every one receives his pension for long and faithful services, after he has been pronounced by a board of European surgeons as no longer fit for the active duties of his profession; or gets it for the death of a father, husband, or son, who has been killed in the service of government.

All are allowed to live with their families, and European officers are stationed at central points in the different parts of the country where they are most numerous to pay them their stipends every six months. These officers are at-- 1st, Barrackpore; 2nd, Dinapore; 3rd, Allahabad; 4th, Lucknow; 5th, Meerut. From these central points they move twice a year to the several other points within their respective circles of payment where the pensioners can most conveniently attend to receive their money on certain days, so that none of them have to go far, or to employ any expensive means to get it--it is, in fact, brought home as near as possible to their doors by a considerate and liberal government.

Every soldier is entitled to a pension when pronounced by a board of surgeons as no longer fit for the active duties of his profession, after fifteen years' active service; but to be entitled to the pension of his rank in the army, he must have served in such rank for three years. Till he has done so he is entitled only to the pension of that immediately below it. A sepoy gets four rupees a month, that is, about one-fourth more than the ordinary wages of common uninstructed labour throughout the country. But it will be better to give the rate of pay of the native officers and men of our native infantry and that of their retired pensions in one table.

TABLE OF THE RATE OF PAY AND RETIRED PENSIONS OF THE NATIVE OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS OF OUR NATIVE INFANTRY.

Rank Rate of Pay Rate of per Pension per Mensem. Mensem.

Rupees. Rupees.

A Sepoy, or private soldier. (Note.-- After sixteen years' service eight rupees a month, after twenty years he gets nine rupees a month) . . 7.0 4.0 A Nâik, or corporal . . . . 12.0 7.0 A Havîldâr, or sergeant . . . . 14.0 7.0 A Jemadâr, subaltern commissioned officer 24.8 13.0 Sûbadâr, or Captain . . . . 67.0 25.0 Sûbadâr Major . . . . . 92.0 0.0 A Sûbadâr, after forty years service . 0.0 50.0 A Sûbadâr Bahâdur of the Order of British India, First Class, two rupees a day extra; Second Class, one Rupee a day extra. This extra allowance they enjoy after they retire from the service during life.

a. I presume this means that no special rate of pension was fixed for the rank of Sûbadâr Major.

b. The monthly rates of pay and pension now in force for native officers and men of the Bengal army are as follows:

Rank Pay. Pension.

Ordinary. Superior. Ordinary. Superior. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs.

Sûbadâr 80 100 30 50 Jemadâr 40 50 15 25 Havîldâr 14 -- 7 12 Naick (nâik) 12 -- 7 12 Drummer or Bugler 7 -- 4 7 Sepoy 7 -- 4 7

c. Half of this rank in each regiment receive the higher rate of pay.

The circumstances which, in the estimation of the people, distinguish the British from all other rulers in India, and make it grow more and more upon their affections, are these: The security which public servants enjoy in the tenure of their office; the prospect they have of advancement by the gradation of rank; the regularity and liberal scale of their pay; and the provision for old age, when they have discharged the duties entrusted to them ably and faithfully. In a native state almost every public officer knows that he has no chance of retaining his office beyond the reign of the present minister or favourite; and that no present minister or favourite can calculate upon retaining his ascendancy over the mind of his chief for more than a few months or years. Under us they see secretaries to government, members of council, and Governors-General themselves going out and coming into office without causing any change in the position of their subordinates, or even the apprehension of any change, as long as they discharge their duties ably and faithfully.

In a native state the new minister or favourite brings with him a whole host of expectants who must be provided for as soon as he takes the helm; and if all the favourites of his predecessor do not voluntarily vacate their offices for them, he either turns them out without ceremony, or his favourites very soon concoct charges against them, which causes them to be tumed out in due form, and perhaps put into jail till they have 'paid the uttermost farthing'. Under us the Governors-General, members of council, the secretaries of state, the members of the judicial and revenue boards, all come into office and take their seats unattended by a single expectant. No native officer of the revenue or judicial department, who is conscious of having done his duty ably and honestly, feels the slightest uneasiness at the change. The consequence is a degree of integrity in public officers never before known in India, and rarely to be found in any other country. In the province where I now write, which consists of six districts, there are twenty-two native judicial officers, Munsifs, Sadr Amîns, and Principal Sadr Amîns; and in the whole province I have never heard a suspicion breathed against one of them; nor do I believe that the integrity of one of them is at this time suspected. The only one suspected within the two and a half years that I have been in the province was, I grieve to say, a Christian; and he has been removed from office, to the great satisfaction of the people, and is never to be employed again. The only department in which our native public servants do not enjoy the same advantages of security in the tenure of their office, prospect of rise in the gradation of rank, liberal scale of pay, and provision for old age, is the police; and it is admitted on all hands that there they are everywhere exceedingly corrupt. Not one of them, indeed, ever thinks it possible that he can be supposed honest; and those who really are so are looked upon as a kind of martyrs or penitents, who are determined by long suffering to atone for past crimes; and who, if they could not get into the police, would probably go long pilgrimages on all fours, or with unboiled peas in their shoes.

He who can suppose that men so inadequately paid, who have no promotion to look forward to, and feel no security in their tenure of office, and consequently no hope of a provision for old age, will be zealous and honest in the discharge of their duties, must be very imperfectly acquainted with human nature--with the motives by which men are influenced all over the world. Indeed, no man does in reality suppose so; on the contrary, every man knows that the same motives actuate public servants in India as elsewhere. We have acted successfully upon this knowledge in all other branches of the public service, and shall, I trust, at no distant period act upon the same in that of the police; and then, and not till then, can it prove to the people what we must all wish it to be, a blessing.

The European magistrate of a district has, perhaps, a million of people to look after. The native officers next under him are the Thânadârs of the different subdivisions of the district, containing each many towns and villages, with a population of perhaps one hundred thousand people. These officers have no grade to look forward to, and get a salary of twenty-five rupees a month each.

They cannot possibly do their duties unless they keep each a couple of horses or ponies, with servants to attend to them; indeed, they are told so by every magistrate who cares about the peace of his district. The people, seeing how much we expect from the Thânadâr, and how little we give him, submit to his demands for contribution without a murmur, and consider almost any demand venial from a man so employed and paid. They are confounded at our inconsistency, and say, where they dare to speak their minds, 'We see you giving high salaries and high prospects of advancement to men who have nothing on earth to do but to collect your revenues and to decide our disputes about pounds, shillings, and pence, which we used to decide much better among ourselves when we had no other court but that of our elders to appeal to; while those who are to protect life and property, to keep peace over the land, and enable the industrious to work in security, maintain their families and pay the government revenue, are left without any prospect of rising, and almost without any pay at all.'

There is really nothing in our rule in India which strikes the people so much as this glaring inconsistency, the evil effects of which are so great and so manifest. The only way to remedy the evil is to give the police what the other branches of the public service already enjoy--a feeling of security in the tenure of office, a higher rate of salary, and, above all, a gradation of rank which shall afford a prospect of rising to those who discharge their duties ably and honestly. For this purpose all that is required is the interposition of an officer between the Thânadâr and the magistrate, in the same way as the Sadr Amîn is now interposed between the Munsif and the Judge. On an average there are, perhaps, twelve Thânas, or police subdivisions, in each district, and one such officer to every four Thânas would be sufficient for all purposes. The Governor-General who shall confer this boon on the people of India will assuredly be hailed as one of their greatest benefactors. I should, I believe, speak within bounds when I say that the Thânadârs throughout the country give at present more than all the money which they receive in avowed salaries from government as a share of indirect perquisites to the native officers of the magistrate's court, who have to send their reports to them, and communicate their orders, and prepare the cases of the prisoners they may send in for commitment to the Sessions courts. The intermediate officers here proposed would obviate all this; they would be to the magistrate at once the tapis of Prince Husain and the telescope of Prince Ali--media that would enable them to be everywhere and see everything.

I may here seem to be 'travelling beyond the record', but it is not so. In treating on the spirit of military discipline in our native army I advocate, as much as in me lies, the great general principle upon which rests, I think, not only our power in India, but what is more, the justification of that power. It is our wish, as it is our interest, to give to the Hindoos and Muhammadans a liberal share in all the duties of administration, in all offices, civil and military, and to show the people in general the incalculable advantages of a strong and settled government, which can secure life, property, and character, and the free enjoyment of all their blessings throughout the land; and give to those who perform duties as public servants ably and honestly a sure prospect of rising by gradation, a feeling of security in their tenure of office, a liberal salary while they serve, and a respectable provision for old age.

It is by a steady adherence to these principles that the Indian Civil Service has been raised to its present high character for integrity and ability; and the native army made what it really is, faithful and devoted to its rulers, and ready to serve them in any quarter of the world. I deprecate any innovation upon these principles in the branches of the public service to which they have already been applied with such eminent success; and I advocate their extension to all other branches as the surest means of making them what they ought and what we must all most fervently wish them to be.

The native officers of our judicial and revenue establishments, or of our native army, are everywhere a bond of union between the governing and the governed. Discharging everywhere honestly and ably their duties to their employers, they tend everywhere to secure to them the respect and affection of the people. His Highness Muhammad S'aîd Khân, the reigning Nawâb of Râmpur, still talks with pride of the days when he was one of our Deputy Collectors in the adjoining district of Badâon, and of the useful knowledge he acquired in that office. He has still one brother a Sadr Amîn in the district of Mainpurî, and another a Deputy Collector in the Hamîrpur District; and neither would resign his situation under the Honourable Company to take office in Râmpur at three times the rate of salary, when invited to do so on the accession of the eldest brother to the 'masnad'. What they now enjoy they owe to their own industry and integrity; and they are proud to serve a government which supplies them with so many motives for honest exertion, and leaves them nothing to fear, as long as they exert themselves honestly. To be in a situation which it is generally understood that none but honest and able men can fill is of itself a source of pride, and the sons of native princes and men of rank, both Hindoo and Muhammadan, everywhere prefer taking office in our judicial and revenue establishments to serving under native rulers, where everything depends entirely upon the favour or frown of men in power, and ability, industry, and integrity can secure nothing.

Notes:

1. This can no longer be safely assumed as true. Newspapers now penetrate to almost every village.

2. Fyzâbâd (Faizâbâd) was the capital for a short time of the Nawâb Wazîrs of Oudh. In 1775 Âsaf-ud-daula moved his court to Lucknow. The city of Ajodhya adjoining Fyzâbâd is of immense antiquity.

3. In. the south of Oudh. It is not now a military station.

4. Monghyr (Mungêr) is the chief town of the district of the same name, which lies to the east of Patna.

5. August, 1811.

6. Such a spectacle is no longer to be seen in India. Four or five inconspicuous railway carriages or motor-cars now take the place of the 'magnificent fleet'.

7. The percentage is 29 1/2.

8. All these arrangements have been changed. Military pensioners are now paid through the civil authorities of each district.

9. Wages are now generally higher.

10. This sentence might misled readers unacquainted with the details of Indian administration. Every official who satisfies the formal rules of the Accounts department gets his pension, as a matter of course, in accordance with those rules, whether his service has been able and faithful or not. The pension list is often the last refuge of incompetent and dishonest officials, to which they are gladly consigned by code-bound superiors, who cannot otherwise get rid of them. Nor am I certain that British rule 'grows more and more upon the affections' of those subject to it.

11. The author means secretaries to the Government of India or provincial governments.

12. The Sâgar and Nerbudda (Narbadâ) Territories, now included in the Central Provinces.

13. The designations Sadr Amîn and Principal Sadr Amîn have been superseded by the title of Subordinate Judge. The officers referred to have only civil jurisdiction, which does not include revenue and rent causes in the United Provinces.

14. Most experienced officers will, I think, agree with me that the author was exceptionally fortunate in his experience. So far as I can make out, the standard of integrity among the higher Indian officials has risen considerably during the last century, but is still a long way from the perfection indicated by the author's remarks.

15. These observations on the police are merely a repetition of the remarks in Chapter 69, which have been discussed in the notes to that chapter.

16. The districts in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh are usually much smaller than those in Bengal or Madras, but even in Northern India a district with only a million of inhabitants is considered to be rather a small one. Some districts have a population of more than three millions each.

17. All has been changed. Many comparatively well paid officials of Indian birth now intervene between the District Magistrate and the small people on twenty-five rupees a month. Sometimes the District Magistrate himself is an Indian.

18. The anthor's note to this passage repeats the quotation from Hobbes's Leviathan, Part II, sect. 30, which has been already cited in the text, chapter 69, following , and need not be repeated here. The note continues: 'Almost every Thânadâr in our dominions is a little Tarquin in his way, exciting the indignation of the people against his master. When we give him the proper incentives to good, we shall be able with better conscience to punish him severely for bad conduct. The interposition of the officers I propose between him and the magistrate will give him the required incentive to good conduct, at the same time that it will deprive him of all hope of concealing his "evil ways", should he continue in them.' [W. H. S.] He still manages to continue in his evil ways, and generally to conceal them.

19. This statement seems almost like sarcasm to a reader who knows what manner of men well-paid Inspectors of Police commonly are, and how they are regarded by the non-official population. They are not usually reverenced as 'protectors of the poor'.

20. The reader who is not practically acquainted with the work of administration in India will probably think that the magistrate who allows such intrigues to go on must be very careless and inefficient. But that thought, though very natural, would be unjust. The author was one of the best possible district magistrates, and yet was unable to suppress the evils which he describes, nor have the remedies which he advocated, and which have been adopted, proved effectual. The Thânadâr now has generally to pay the Inspector and the people in the District Superintendent's office, in addition to 'the native officers of the magistrate's court'.

21. We have already seen how mistaken the author was concerning the army.

22. This statement requires to be guarded by many qualifications. The author's following remarks only illustrate the well-known fact that in India official rank is ardently desired by the classes eligible for it, and carries with it great social advantages.

23. Râmpur is the small Rohilla state within the borders of the Bareilly District, United Provinces.

24. This description of the class of officials alluded to is somewhat idealized, though it applies to a considerable proportion of the class.

25. These propositions were, doubtless, literally correct in the author's time, but they are not at all fully applicable to the existing state of affairs.

APPENDIX

THUGGEE, AND THE PART TAKEN IN ITS SUPPRESSION BY GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B.

NOTE BY CAPTAIN J. L. SLEEMAN, ROYAL SUSSEX REGIMENT

The religion of murder known as 'Thuggee' was established in India some centuries before the British Government first became aware of its existence, It is remarkable that, after an intercourse with India of nearly two centuries, and the exercise of sovereignty over a large part of the country for no inconsiderable period, the English should have been so ignorant of the existence and habits of a body so dangerous to the public peace. The name 'Thug' signifies a 'Deceiver', and it will be generally admitted that this term was well earned. There is reason to believe that between 1799 and 1808 the practice of 'Thuggee' (Thagî) reached its height and that thousands of persons were annually destroyed by its disciples. It is interesting to note the legendary origin of this strange and horrible religion: In remote ages a demon infested the earth and devoured mankind as soon as created. The world was thus left unpeopled, until the goddess of the Thugs (Dêvî or Kâlî) came to the rescue. She attacked the demon, and cut him down; but from every drop of his blood another demon arose; and though the goddess continued to cut down these rising demons, fresh broods of demons sprang from their blood, as from that of their progenitors; and the diabolical race consequently multiplied with fearful rapidity. At length, fatigued and disheartened, the goddess found it necessary to change her tactics. Accordingly, relinquishing all personal efforts for their suppression, she formed two men from perspiration brushed from her arms. To each of these men she gave a handkerchief, and with these the two assistants of the goddess were commanded to put all the demons to death without shedding a drop of blood. Her commands were immediately obeyed; and the demons were all strangled. Having strangled all the demons, the two men offered to return the handkerchiefs; but the goddess desired that they should retain them, not merely as memorials of their heroism, but as the implements of a lucrative trade in which their descendants were to labour and thrive. They were in fact commanded to strangle men as they had strangled demons.

Several generations passed before Thuggee became practised as a profession--probably for the same reason that a sportsman allows game to accumulate--but in due time it was abundantly exercised. Thus, according to the creed of the Thug, did their order arise, and thus originated their mode of operation.

The profession of a Thug, like almost everything in India, became hereditary, the fraternity, however, receiving occasional reinforcements from strangers, but these were admitted with great caution, and seldom after they had attained mature age. The Thugs were usually men seemingly occupied in most respectable and often in most responsible positions. Annually these outwardly respectable citizens and tradesmen would take the road, and sacrifice a multitude of victims for the sake of their religion and pecuniary gain. The Thug bands would assemble at fixed places of rendezvous, and before commencing their expeditions much strange ceremony had to be gone through. A sacred pickaxe was the emblem of their faith: its fashioning was wrought with quaint rites and its custody was a matter of great moment. Its point was supposed to indicate the line of route propitious to the disciples of the goddess, and it was credited with other powers equally marvellous. The brute creation afforded a vast fund of instruction upon every proceeding. The ass, jackal, wolf, deer, hare, dog, cat, owl, kite, crow, partridge, jay, and lizard, all served to furnish good or bad omens to a Thug on the war-path. For the first week of the expedition fasting and general discomfort were insisted on, unless the first murder took place within that period. Women were never murdered unless their slaughter was unavoidable (i.e. when they were thought to suspect the cause of the disappearance of their men-folk). Children of the murdered were often adopted by the Thugs, and the boys were initiated in due course in the horrid rites of Thuggee. Men skilled in the practice of digging and concealing graves were always attached to each Thug gang. These were able to prepare graves in anticipation of a murder, and to effectually conceal all trace of the crime after they were occupied. To assist the grave-diggers in this duty all roads used by Thugs had selected places upon them at which murders were always carried out if possible. The Thugs would speak of such places with the same affection and enthusiasm as other men would of the most delightful scenes of their early life. It was these people, versed in deceit and surrounded by a thousand obstacles to conviction, that General Sir W. H. Sleeman so nobly set out to exterminate. Within seven years of his first commencing the suppression of Thuggee it had practically ceased to exist as a religion; and he had the privilege of seeing it entirely suppressed as such before giving up this work for the Residentship at Lucknow.

He was described when taking over the latter appointment as follows: 'He had served in India nearly forty years. His work had been of the best. He had done more than any one to suppress 'Thuggee' finally, and had a knowledge of the Indian character and language possessed by very few. He was personally popular with all classes of Indians, and respected, feared, and trusted by all.'

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES BY THE EDITOR

Captain J. L. Sleeman, who had intended to contribute an account in some detail of his grandfather's operations for the suppression of Thuggee, has been ordered on active service, and consequently has been unable to write more than the short note printed above.

The editor thinks it desirable to supplement Captain Sleeman's observations by certain additional remarks.

The earliest historical notice of Thuggee appears to be the statement in the History of Fîrôz Shâh Tughlak (1351-88) by a contemporary author that at some time or other in the reign of that sovereign about one thousand Thugs were arrested in Delhi, on the denunciation of an informer. The Sultan, with misplaced clemency, refused to sanction the execution of any of the prisoners, whom he shipped off to Lakhnauti or Gaur in Bengal, where they were let loose. (Elliot and Dowson, Hist. of India, iii. 141.) That absurd proceeding may well have been the origin of the system of river Thuggee in Bengal, which possibly may be still practised.

The next mention of Thugs refers to the reign of Akbar (1556-1605). Both Meadows Taylor and Balfour affirm that many Thugs were then executed, and according to Balfour, they numbered five hundred and belonged to the Etawah District, I have not succeeded in finding any mention of the fact in the histories of Akbar--the memory of the event may be preserved only by oral tradition. Etawah, between the Ganges and Jumna, in the province of Agra, has always been notorious for Thuggee and cognate crime.

In the year 1666, towards the close of Shahjahân's reign, the traveller de Thevenot noted that the road between Delhi and Agra was infested by Thugs. His words are:

'The cunningest Robbers in the World are in that Countrey. They use a certain slip with a running-noose, which they can cast with so much slight about a Man's Neck, when they are within reach of him, that they never fail; so that they strangle him in a trice.' (English transl., 1686, Part III, p. 41.)

After the capture of Seringapatam in 1799 the attention of the Company's government was drawn to the prevalence of Thuggee. In 1810 the bodies of thirty victims were found in wells between the Ganges and Jumna, and in 1816 Dr. Sherwood published a paper entitled 'On the Murderers called Phânsigars', sc. 'stranglers', in the Madras Journal of Literature and Science, which was reprinted in Asiatic Researches, vol. xiii (1820). Various officers then made unsystematic efforts to suppress the stranglers, but effectual operations were deferred until 1829. During the years 1881 and 1832 the existence of the Thug organization became generally known, and intense excitement was aroused throughout India. The Konkan, or narrow strip of lowlands between the Western Ghâts and the sea, was the only region in the empire not infested by the Thugs. (See H. H. Wilson in supplement to Mill, Hist. of British India, ed. 1858, vol. ix, p. 213; Balfour, Cyclopaedia of India, 3rd ed., 1885, s.v. Thug; and Crooke, Things Indian, Murray, 1906, s.v. Thuggee.)

The records summarized above prove that the Thug organization existed continuously on a large scale from the early part of the fourteenth century until Sir William Sleeman's time, that is to say, for more than five centuries. In all probability its origin was much more ancient, but records are lacking. It is said that a sculpture representing a Thug strangulation exists among the sculptures at Ellora executed in the eighth century. No such sculpture, however, is mentioned in the detailed account of the Ellora caves by Dr. Burgess.

The magnitude of the organization with which Sleeman grappled is indicated by the following figures.

During the years 1831-7 3,266 Thugs were disposed of one way or another, of whom 412 were hanged, and 483 were admitted as approvers. Amîr Alî, whose confessions are recorded in Meadows Taylor's fascinating book, The Confessions of a Thug, written in 1837 and first published in 1839, proudly admitted having taken part in the murders of 719 persons, and regretted that an interruption of his career by twelve years' imprisonment in Oudh had prevented him from completing a full thousand of victims. He regarded his profession as affording sport of the most exciting kind possible. V. A. S.

Notes:

1. Pronounced 'T'ug', a hard cerebral t, with some aspiration.

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS

When the printing of the book was almost completed, the following additions and corrections were kindly communicated by Mr. J. S. Cotton, editor of I. G., 1907, 1908.

Page 14, text, line 13. For 'leader', read 'barber'. Page 57, note 4, line 2. After 'Baitûl', insert 'Mandlâ'. Page 115, text, line 27. 'G----' appears to have been Robert Gregory, C.B. Page 115, note 2. Add, 'In 1911, Michael Filose of Gwâlior was appointed K.C.I.E.' Page 124, note 3. After '1860', insert 'and constitutes the District called Pânch Mâhals in the Northern Division of the Bombay Presidency. The vernacular word pânch, like the Persian panj, means 'five'.

Page 124, note 3. Add at end, 'and is still used by Marâthâ nobles.' Page 146, note 3. For 'may be' read 'is'. Dele. 'The name is common.' Page 241, note 1, line 2. Dele 'in the Nizam's territories '. Page 262, note 2. The author may possibly have referred to Agra and Gwâlior, rather than to Lucknow and Udaipur. Page 338, note 2. For the clause 'From 1765 . . . English', substitute, 'From 1765 to 1771 he was the dependant of the English at Allahabad. From 1771 to 1803 he was usually under the control of Marâthâ chiefs, and from the time of Lord Lake's entry into Delhi, in 1803, he became simply a pensioner of the British Government. His successors occupied the same position.' Page 452, line 17. 'Southern' is in original edition, but 'Western' would be more accurate. Page 453, line 18. For 'its' read 'his own'. Page 459. 'The story of the murder of Fraser is told very differently in Bosworth-Smith's Life of Lord Lawrence, where all the detective credit is given to Lord L., apparently on his own authority. See also an article in the Quarterly Review for April 1883, by Sir H. Yule, and another in Blackwoods Magazine for January 1878.' Page 555, note, line 1. For 'Supreme' read Superior'. Page 581, note, line 18. For 'James Watts', read 'William Watts'. Page 584, note 2. For 'vexare' read 'vexari'. Page 595, note 2. 'The best account of Begum Sumroo is to be found in A Tour through the Upper Provinces of Hindustan, 1804-14, by A. D. = Ann Deane (1823). Walter Scott introduces more than one of the stories about the Begum into The Surgeon's Daughter (1827), e.g.: "But not to be interred alive under your seat, like the Circassian of whom you were jealous," said Middlemas, shuddering' (vol. 48, Black's ed. of the novels, p. 382). Page 596, note 4. Probably 'Gorgîn' is a corruption of 'Gregory'. Page 615, note l. Perhaps the author was mistaken, and the letter was sent by Lady Bentinck, whose name was Mary.

INDEX

Abû-Alîsena, or Avicenna, 339, 524. Abû Bakr, Khalîf, 199. Abûl Fazl, 111 n., 355 n.; on music, 562 n. Abûl Hasan = Amîr Khusrû, poet, 508 n. Acacia suma, worshipped, 174 n. Adam's Bridge, 692 n. Adham Khân, tomb of, 503 n. Âdi Granth, Sikh scripture, 477 n. Adilâbâd, in Old Delhi, 487 n. Adoption, 211 n. Adultery, 198-201. Afghan War, first, 291 n., 417; history, 288-91. Ages, Hindu, 522 n. Agra, Christians at. II, 335; buildings at, 312-24; date of fort at, 357 n.; books about, 358 n. Ahmadnagar, kingdom, 458 n. Ahmad Shâh, Durrânî, 289. Ajmêr, 350. Ajodhya, kingdom, 374; city, 457 n., 641. Akbar (I), the Great, taxed marriages, 40 n.; had Abûl Fazl as minister, 111 n.; officials of, 283 n.; tomb and bones of, 323, 325, 354 n.; character of, 356 n.; Maryam-uz-Zamânî, queen of, 348 n.; sons of, 350; conquests of, 458; punished Thugs, 652. (II), titular emperor, 309 n., 337, 501 n., 509 n., 525 n. Âl dye, 228 n. Alâ-ud-dîn Muhammad Shâh, 489, 490 n., 497 n., 503. Alîgarh District, 435 n., 441 n.; battle of, 566 n. Altamsh, see Îltutmish. Sultan. Amânat Khân, calligraphist, 316 n., 516. Amarkantak, 14. America, war with, 628. Amîr Alî, Thug, 653. Amîr Jumla, 513 n., 360 n. Amîr Khân, Nawâb, 66 n., 130. Ammonites, 121. Angels, Muhammadan beliefs about, 40. Angora, battle of, 531 n. Anûpshahr, 605. Anurshîrvân (Naushîrvân), 135 n. Apis dorsata, bee, 4 n. Arboriculture, 451 n. Archaeological Survey, 520 n. Architecture in India, 456. Aristotle, 341,524. Arjumand Bânô Bêgam, 315 n., 325. Armenian tombs, 335 n. Arms, license to carry, 246 n. Army, value of native Indian, 632. Arrian quoted, 285. Arsenic, poisoning by, 86 n. Art in India, 379. Âsaf Khân (1), Akbar's general, 191 n.; (2) brother of Nûr Jahân, 328, 329, 332, 334. Âsaf-ud-daula, of Oudh, 641. Ascetics, 592 n. Asîrgarh, 163 n. Asoka, monolith pillars of, 493 n. Assaye, battle of, 600. Assassins, sect of, 491 n. Attar of roses, 216. Auchmuty, Sir Samuel, 619 n. Auckland, Lord, 291 n., 347 n., 563 n., 571. Aurangzêb, emperor, 273-6, 314, 335, 513. Austin de Bordeaux, 319, 516. Avatâr, 10, 45. Avicenna, 339, 524. Ayesha, story of, 198. Azam, Prince, 274 n. Azîm-ash-Shân, Prince, 275 n. Azîz Koka, 504 n.

Bâbur, 527. Babylon, history of, 452. Badarpur, in Old Delhi, 486 n., 487 n. Bagree dacoits, xxxiii. Bahâdur Shâh (I), 275 n.; (II), 309 n., 501 n. Bâhmani dynasty, 458 n. Baid, defined, 107 n. Baijnâth shrine, 590. Bairâgîs, 300, 370, 591, 592 n. Baird, Sir David, 634, 640 n. Baitantî river, 209. Baiza Bâî, 303,466. Bajazet (Bâyazîd), Greek emperor, 531. Bâjî Râo, I and II, Peshwâs, 381 n. Bâjpai family, xxxii. Bajranggarh, Râjâ of, 293. Bakshî, or paymaster, 211. Bâlâ Bâi, 563. Balban, Sultan, 420 n., 488 n., 502. Baldêo (Bâladeva), (1) brother of Krishna, 379; (2) Singh, defender of Bharatpur, 360. Bali Râjâ, a demon, 2, 33. Ballabhgarh, 475. Ballot Act, 399 n. Bamboos, 311. Bamhauri, in Orchhâ State, 124, 172. Bâna-linga, 122 n., 141 n. Bânda, town, 78. Baniyâ, defined, 295 n. Banjâra tribe, 100. Bankers, Indian private, 409 n. Banks, Presidency, 424 n. Banyan tree, 385, 566 n. Bâolî, defined, 442, 446. Barber, as match-maker, 16. Barlow, Sir George, 271 n. Barnes, Sir B., C.-in-C-., 618 n., 619 n. Baroda, Gaikwâr of, 286. Barrackpore, mutiny at, 2. Barwâ Sâgar, 207. Basalt, 96-8, 113, 261, 268. Basant festival, 501. Basrah (Bussorah), 199. Batavia, capture of, 691 n. Bathing, religions merit of, l. Bâwarias of Muzaffarnagar, 235 n. Beef, eating of, 194, 203. Bees, at Marble Rocks, 4. Bêgam Sarâi at Delhi, 510 n. Belemnites, fossil, 121. Benares, city, 25, 103 n.; province, 434 n. Bengal, permanent settlement of, 64 n.; Islam in, 424 n.; territories, defined, 553 n.; river thuggee in, 652. Bentinck, Lord William, 109, 321 n., 341 n., 445, 547, 548, 571, 614, 618, 619 n., 632 n. Berâr, kingdom, 156 n., 458 n. Bernier, (1) François, on suttee, 26 n., 47 n.; historical work of, 273 n.; (2) Major, 606. Betel leaf, 216 n. Betiyâ (Bettia), Christian colony at. 11, 13 n. Bhâgavata Purâna, 10 n. Bhagvân = Vishnu = God, 2. Bharat, brother of Râma, 374, 382. Bharatpur (Bhurtpore), sieges of, 116, 355, 359-62, 377, 562 n. Bherâghât (-garh), 1, 6, 18, 54. Bhîl tribes, 295. Bhîlsâ, town, 264. Bhôjpur, 146. Bhonslâs of Nâgpur, 103 n., 286, 292, 381. Bhopâl, 238. Bhrigu-pâtâ sacrifice, 103 n. Bhûmiâwat, 245-52. Bhûmkâ, 60 n. Bhurtpore, see Bharatpur. Biâs river, (1) = Hyphasis, in Panjâb, 3 n., 165 n.; (2) in Central Provinces, 204, 290. Bîdar kingdom, 458 n. Bîghâ, defined, 453 n. Bihârî Mall, Râjâ, 348 n. Bîjâpur, great gun at, 241 n.; fall of, 286 n.; kingdom, 458 n. Bindâchal, 590. Bindrâban (Brindâban), 120. Bird, Robert Merttins, 575 n. Birjû Bâulâ, singer, 562. Bîrsingh Dêo, Râjâ, 134, 164 n., 232, 237. Black buck, 236 n.; Hole, 582. Blake, Mr., murder of, 503, 504 n. Blights, 193-8. Boigne, General de, 271. Bombay land System, 576. Borak, Muhammad's donkey, 541. Bow, use of, 80. Brahmâ, god, 7, 9, 45 n., 376 n., 594. Brahmans forbid marriage of widows, 26; sacrificed, 46. Bruce, Captain, (1) brother of (2), 270; (2) James, traveller, 270 n. Budha Gupta, king, 55 n. Budhuk dacoits, xxxv. Buffaloes, sacrificed, 46 n. Bulâkî, Prince, 334. Buland Darwâza, 352 n. Bullocks, price of, 437. Bundêla Râjpûts, 144 n., 185. Bundêlkhand, 94 n., 111, 112, 149, 185, 207, 209 n., 227. Bundêlkhandî dialects, 188 n. Burial, alive, 570; customs, 218 n. Burn, Lieut.-Col., 421 n. Bussorah, see Basrah. Buxar, battle of, 338 n.

Cairo, mosques at, 494 n. Calcutta, commercial crisis of 1883 at, 422. Canals, 158 n. Cannibalism, 152. Capital, foreign, 422. Carpets made at Jhânsî, 217, 241. Caste, 45-51. Cattle-poisoning, 86 n. Cawnpore, rise of, 445 n. Ceded provinces, 434 n. Census, 194 n. Central India, 178. Central Provinces, 57 n., 94 n. Chambal river, 301, 303. Chambêlî, or jasmine, 33. Champat Râî, Bundêla, 190 n. Chandamirt (chandan mirt), 141, 588, 593. Chand Bardâi, poet, 190 n. Chandêl Râjpûts, 144 n., 178 n., 185, 189. Chandêrî State, 193, 251, 293. Chândnî Chauk, Delhi, 604 n. Chandra, Râjâ, 498 n. Chaprâsî, or orderly, 74 n. Cheonkal (chhonkar) tree, 174. Cherry, Mr., murder of, 473. Chhatarpur State, 192. Chhatarsâl, Râjâ, 94, 193. Chick-pea, or gram, 414 n. Chiefs' colleges, 256 n. China, land tenure in, 423; Tîmûr's designs on, 533. Chingîz Khan, 535. Chîtal, spotted deer, 244 n. Chitôr, towers at, 493 n. Chitragupta, secretary to Yamarâja, 9. Chitrakôt, 95. Cholera, beliefs about, 163, 232. Christians, 11-13, 335, 424. Chuhârî, Christian colony at, 13 n. Cicer arietinum, gram, 150 n. Cis-Sutlaj States, 476 n. Cities, growth of, 455. Civil Service of India, 426 n., 649. Clerk, Sir George, 90 n. Coal, 230, 231 n. Codes, 65 n., 66 n. Coins, of Nûrjahân, 333 n.; of Sikhs, 477 n.; largesse, 479 n. Colebrooke, Sir B., 461. Combermere, Lord, 355 n., 359, 618. Concan, see Konkan. Conquered Provinces, 434 n. Corn laws, 574. Cornwallis, Lord, second administration of, 460 n. Corporal punishment, see Flogging. Corruption, official, 403. Cotton, soil, black, 94 n., 149 n., 258 n.; -tree, 385. 'Covenanted' service, 426 n. Cow, veneration of, 163, 202. Criminal tribes, 234 n., 557 n.; law, 305 n. Crooke, Mr. William, xix; on veneration of the cow, 163 n. Cubbon, Sir Mark, 90 n. Customs, inland, 347 n.; hedge, 426 n.

Dacoits, Sleeman's books on, xxxiii, xxxv, 89. Daityas, bad spirits, 10. Dalhousie, Lord, xxv; annexation policy of, 187 n. Damoh, town, 76. Dâniyâl, Prince, 334. Dârâ Shikoh, Prince, 272-4, 511-13 n. Darbhanga, 51. Dargâh, defined, 568 n. Dasahara ceremonies, 175 n., 241 n., 293, 296. Dasân river, 108. Dasaratha, Râjâ, 382. Datiyâ, Râjâ of, 193, 221, 226. Datûra, poisoning, 82-6. Daulatâbâd, 490. Daulat Râo Sindhia, 563. Davis, Mr., gallant defence by, 474 n. Dâwar Baksh, Prince, 334. De Boigne, see Boigne, General de. Deccan, geology of, 97 n., 114 n,; kingdoms of, 285; early history of, 457. Deeg, see Dîg. Delhi, territories, 420 n., 448, 459 n.; province, 459 n.; defended by Burn, 421; old city of, 486-503; Sultans of, 488 n.; new city of, 504-30; Jâmi Masjid at, 514; Motî Masjid at, 514 n.; palace at, 515- 19; peacock throne at, 517; books about, 519 n.; taken by Tîmûr, 529. Denudation, sub-aerial, 138 n. Deorî, town, 124, 129. De Thevenot, see Thevenot, de. Devas, good spirits, 10. Devî, goddess, 7, 593. Devil, Muhammadan myth of, 537. Devils, 223 n. Dhamonî, 110. Dhandêla Râjpûts, 187. Dhanuk jag festival, 173. Dharmsâlâ, defined, 568 n. Dhaû (Lythrum fructuosum) tree, 237. Dhîmar caste, 76. Dhôlpur State, 272, 302-10. Diamonds, great, 290. Dîg (Deeg), garden at, 364; battle at, 421, 566 n. Dînâî, slow poison, 142. Dinapore, 341. Discipline, military, xxxiii, 615-40. Diseases, Hindoo notions about, 168. Districts, civil, size of, 646 n. Dîwân-i-Âmm, at Delhi, 515. Dîwân-i-Khâs, at Delhi, 517. Dîwanî, grant of, 500. Doâb defined, 233 n. Dost Muhammad, 291. Drowning, suicide by, 219. Dubois, Hindu Manners, xix. Dudrenec, Monsieur, 603. Durgâvatî, queen, 190. Dutch factory at Agra, 335. Dyce, Colonel, 611. Dyce-Sombre, Mr., 595, 610.

Education, of young nobles, 256 n.; Muhammadan and English, 523, 524 n. Egypt, expedition to, 634, 640 n. Electricity, 311. Elephant-drivers, 50. Elichpur (Îlichpur), 156. Ellis, Mr., at Patna, 597. Ellora, 8 n.; 653. Epidemics, 161-72. Epilepsy, 221. Eran, pillar at, 55. Erythrina arborescens, or coral-tree, 74 n. Etâwah, Thuggee in, 652. Evil eye, 168. Exogamy, 144 n. Exorcisers, 168.

Fairs, 1. Fakîrs, 370, 591, 592 n. Famine, of 1833, 148; policy, 150; in Mâlwâ, 441 n. Fanshawe, H. C., on Delhi, 520 n. Farhad, poet, 136. Farîdâbâd (Farîdpur), 479, 480 n. Farîd-ud-dîn Ganj Shakar, saint, 507 n. Faringia (Feringheea), Thug, 78. Farrukhsîyar, emperor, 275 n. Fathpur-Sîkrî, 351-8. Fatwa, defined, 200 n., 536. Fergusson, on Indian architecture, 359 n. Fertility, diminution of, 413 n.,415. Feudal System, 145, 578 n. Ficus religiosa, pîpal tree, 205 n. Filose, Jean Baptiste, 115 n., 293, 296. Finch, traveller, quoted, 324 n. Fîrôzâbâd at Delhi, 497 n. Fîrôzpur, 420, 459. Fîrôz Shâh Tughlak, deported Thugs, 652. Fish, Persian order of, 135, 137; eating, 307. Flattery, 243. Flax plant, 195. Flogging in army, 616-22, 637. Fontenne, de, maiden name of Lady Sleeman, xxiii. Forest department, 451 n. Forester, Lady, 612 n. Fortresses, insalubrity of, 111. Fossils, 98, 121. Francolinus vulgaris, black partridge, 44 n. Fraser, Mr. C., xxiii, 89 n.; Mr. Hugh, xxiv; Major-General, 89 n.; Mr. W., murder of, 420, 458-75. Frederick the Great, 625, 629. Fullerton, Dr., 597. Funeral obsequies, 620 n. Furse, Mrs., sister of author, xxv n., xxx. Futtehpore Seekree, see Fathpur-Sîkrî. Fyzâbâd, 457 n., 641.

Gabriel, angel, 37. Gaîkwâr of Baroda, 286. Galen, 339, 524. Gandak river, 121 n. Ganges river, 6, 17; water, 141 n., 588, 594. Gardiner (Gardner), Colonel, 346. Garhâ, Rânî of, 56, 73. Garhâ Kota, 293. Garhâ Mandla, xxxii, 190. Gârpagrî, hail-charmer, 60 n,. Gaur, 330 n. Gaurî Sankar, 6, 54. Geronimo Veroneo, 320 n. Ghaznî, 454 n. Ghiyâs-ud-dîn, Khwâja, 328. Ghorapachhâr rivers, 298. Ghosts, 221-6. Ghulâm Kâdir, 338 n. Gipsies, 535, 557 n. God, ninety-nine names of, 323 n. Gohad, Rânâ of, 270-2, 302. Golconda, fall of, 286 n.; kingdom of, 458 n. Gonds, xxxii, 68, 102, 128, 221, 384. Gondwâna rocks, 231 n. Gosâîns, 218, 370, 591, 592 n. Govardhan, 337,371-83. Gram, 197, 198 n., 227, 414 n. Grasses, 124. Groves, 260, 433-41, 444, 565. Guinea-worm, 77. Gûjar caste, 192, 469 n. Gujarât, 149, 441. Gulistan, quoted, 401. Guns made in India, 241. Gûrkhas (Gôrkhâs), 350, 625 n. Guru Govind, 477 n. Gwâlior State, 258-70, 292, 294, 299; city, 262; fortress, 266-71.

Hâfiz Rahmat Khân, 599. Hâjî Bêgam, 511 n. Hakîm defined, 107 n. Hamîda Bâno Bêgam, 511 n. Hânsî, 604 n., 605 n. Hanumân, monkey-god, 27, 300, 371, 374. Hardaul, Lâlâ, legend of, 162-5, 232. Hardinge, Lord (Viscount), letter to, xxix n. Hasan, 483 n. Hastings, Lord (Marquis of), 229, 292, 321, 381 n. Haunted villages, 221-6. Hawking, 237. Hay in Bundêlkhand, 124. Herbert, Sir Thomas, quoted, 332 n. Hervey, Some Records of Crime, xxvi. High Courts, 555 n. Hiliyâ (Haliyâ) Pass, 444 n. Himâlaya, v, xxiv. Hinduism, 176. Hippocrates, 339, 524. Hirtius, nom de plume of author, xxxi. Holî, festival, 204, 483 n. Holkar dynasty, 286, 381. Horal (Hodal), town, 426. Hornets, 56. Human sacrifice, 46 n., 101. Humâyûn, emperor, tomb of, 511. Husain. 483 n. Hyderâbâd Contingent, 156 n. Hyphasis (Biâs) river, 3, 165.

Iblîs, the devil, 538. Ibn Batuta, traveller, 488 n. Ibrâhîm Lodi, Sultan, 269. Id-ul-Bakr festival, 163 n. Îltutmish, Sultan, 269; buildings of, 492, 494 n., 495 n., 497, 500; tomb of, 501. Imam Mashhadî, tomb of, 503. Imâm-ud-dîn Ghazzâlî, 341 n., 524. Imperial Service Troops, 280 n. Impressment, 184, 628. India, people of, vi; population of, 38 n. Indore State, 286, 292. Indra, god, 2, 10, 33. Industries, 159 n. Infanticide, 28. Inheritance, law of, 578. Invalid establishment, 640. Iron mines, 93, 230; pillar of Delhi, 498. Islam in Lower Bengal, 424 n. Isle of France (Mauritius), 311, 620 n., 622. Itimâd-ud-daula, 326-9.

Jabalpur, see Jubbulpore. Jack-tree, 225. Jagannâth, shrine of, 589. Jâgîrdârs, 181. Jahânârâ Bêgam, tomb of, 510. Jahângîr, (1) emperor, 111 n., 333, 452, 568 n., mother of, 348 n.; birth of, 351, 355; (2) Mirzâ, tomb of, 509. Jain statues at Gwâlior, 267 n. Jaipur State, xxxii, 503. Jaitpur, Râj of, 193 n. Jalâl-ud-dîn, Fîrôz Shâh Khiljî, 489. Jâlaun State, 185, 193. Jamâldehî Thugs, 82. Jang Bahâdur, Sir, 598 n. Jasmine, 33. Jâts (Jats), 307, 380 n.; outrages of, 354 n.; and Râjpûts, 476 n. Java, conquest of, 619, 640 n. Jaxartes, river, 532. Jesuit missionaries, 337 n. Jesus, inscription quoting, 354, 504. Jeswant Râo Holkar, 165, 421, 474 n. Jhajjar, Nawâb of, 474. Jhânsî State, 185, 193 n., 209-19. Jhirni, Thug signal, 81. Jodh Bâî, tomb of, 348. Johilâ river, 14, 16. Johnson (Johnstone), Bêgam, 580. Jubbulpore (Jabalpur), xxiii, 1, 29, 58, 71. Julius Caesar, Bishop, 594.

Kâbul, mission of Burnes to, 417 n. Kailâs temple, 8 n. Kalas custom, 179. Kali age, 522 n. Kâlî, goddess, 141 n. Kalpa Briksha tree, 74. Kâm Baksh, Prince, 274 n. Kanauj, ancient city, 454. Kandêlî, Thug village, xxii. Karaulî State, 293. Karbalâ, battle of, 483 n. Kârtikeya, god, 259 n. Kâsim, Mîr (Kâsim Alî Khân), 596-9. Katrâ Pass, 127, 445 n. Kaukabas, 136. Kedârnâth temple, 592 n. Kerahi (Kerâi) Pass, 445 n. Khajurâho, temples at, 193 n. Khalîfate, the, 483 n. Khân Azam, 333. Kharîtâ defined, 134 n. Kharwâ cloth, 228 n. Khusrû, (1) Parvîz, King of Persia, 135; (2) Prince, son of Jahângîr, 333; (3) poet, tomb of, 507. Khwâja Ghiâs-ud-dîn, 326. Kohinûr diamond, 288-91, 513 n. Kôil, battle of, 566 n. Konkan (Concan), 225. Korân, origin of, 481. Kosî, 424. Kotwâl defined, 154 n. Krishna, legends of. 11, 371-5. Kumâra, god, 259 n. Kunbî caste, 381 n. Kurmî caste, 130. Kutb Mînâr, 492-7, 504; mosque, 497. Kutb-ud-dîn, (1) Khan, 330; (2) Sultan, 494n.; (3) Khwâja, saint of Ûsh, 494 n., 500 n.

Lachhman, brother of Râma, 382. Lachhmî Bâî, Rânî of Jhansî, 193 n., 220 n. Lahar fort, 270 n. Lake, Lord, 359, 377, 380, 421, 561, 643. Lakes, artificial, 63, 178. Land-revenue, 61 n., 63 n., 68 n. Laswârî, battle of, 116, 566 n. Laterite, 92. Lathyrus, poisonous species of, 104. Leprosy, 215 n. Le Vaisseau, Monsieur, 603-10. Linseed, 195. Liverpool, Earl of, 580. Lodhî caste, 130 n. Looting shops, custom of, 294. Lotus, 109 n. Lowis, Captain, xxxiii. Lucknow, author Resident at, xxv; an ancient city, 457 n. Lûdiâna, 3, 290.

Macaulay, 341 n., 547 n. Madras system of land settlement, 576. Mahâbhârata, 5, 10, 103 n., 522. Mâhâdajî (Mâdhojî) Sindhia, 271, 563. Mahâdêo (Siva), god, 7, 8, 9, 45 n., 103 n., 141 n.; oracle of, 484; sandstones, 102. Mahî Marâtib, 135, 137 n. Mahârâjpur, battle of, xxv, 271 n. Mahmûd of Ghaznî, 454. Mahoba, town, 189, 193 n. Maihar, Râjâ of, 127, 593. Maille, Claudius, 560. Makwânpur, fort, 598. Malcolm, Sir John, 229. Mâlguzârî tenure, 144. Mâlwâ, province, 149, 238, 239 n., 451. Mandêsar, Thug burying-place, xxii. Mansabdârs, 283 n. Mân Singh, (1) Râjâ of Gwâlior, 276 n.; (2) Râjâ of Jaipur (Ambêr), 333. Mansûr Alî Khân, tomb of, 506, 544 n. Manucci, on Akbar, 325 n., 354 n. Manuscript works of author, xxxvii. Marâthâs, 294; defeated, 421 n., 566 n. Marble Rocks, 1; quarries, 318. Marriage, of trees, 32, 122, 143; of Hindoos, 37-40. Maryam-uz-Zamânî, queen of Akbar, 348 n. Mashhad (Meshed), 288. Material progress of India. 414 n. Mathurâ (Muttra), 383. Mau (Mhow), town, 247. Mauritius, 311 n., 620 n. Mauza defined, 60 n. Medicine, systems of, 107, 571. Meerut, military and civil station, xxiv, 80, 544 n., 567-70, 579; sacked by Tîmûr, 529. Megpunnaism (Megpunnia Thugs), xxxii, 91, 593 n. Metcalfe, Sir Charles, 347, 461, 563 n. Meteors, 34-7. Mewâtîs, 420. Mihrauli, tombs at, 500 n. Mihr-un-nisâ, 328 n.; see Nûr Jahân. Military discipline, xxxiii, 615-40. Mînârs, 492 n. Mîr Jumla, see Amîr Jumla. Miracles, 337. Mirzâpur, 250, 445. Mishkât-ul-Masâbih, 35. Missionaries, Jesuit, 337 n. Mogul (Moghal, Mughal), defined, 80 n.; raids, 490. Molony, Report on Narsinghpur, xxxvii. Monastic orders, 592. Monghyr (Mungêr), 642. Monkeys, 383. Monson's retreat, 474, 566 n. Months, Hindoo, l. Motî Masjid (mosque), 322. Muazzam, Prince, 274 n. Muhammad, Ghorî, Sultan, 269 n.; Shâh, 291 n., 518; tomb of, 510; son of Îsâ, architect, 319 n.; bin Tughlak, Sultan, 457 n., 487 n. Muhammadabad, in old Delhi, 487. Muhammadan schools, 480; year, 482; prayers, 489. Muharram celebrations, 482. Mumtâz-i-Mahall, 315, 325. Music of Hindostan, by Strangways, 561 n.

Nâbhâ, chief of, 476. Nâdir, Shâh, 288, 510, 516. Nâgaudh (Nâgod), 33 n. Nâgpur (Nagpore), Bhonslâs of, 286, 292. Nâhan, Râjâ of, 209 n. Najaf Khân, 599. Nânâ Sâhib, 381 n. Narsinghpur, xxii, xxxvii, 167. Nasîr-ud-din of Tûs, 341, 524. Nepâl, war with, xxi, 122, 598, 636. Nerbudda (Narbadâ) river, 2, 5, 14, 17, 18, 203. Newspapers, 640. News-writers, 249 n., 388 n. Nîlgâi, a kind of antelope, 244. Nineveh, history of, 452. nisâr coins, 479 n. Nizâmuddîn Auliyâ, saint, 490-2, 507. Noer, Count von, on Akbar, 324 n. Norman-French formula, 475. North-Western Provinces, 434 n. Nûr Jahân, 325 n., 329, 332, 568 n. Nûr Mahall, 325 n., 329, 332.

Oaths, 391. Obsequies, funeral, 620 n. Ochterlony, Sir David, 598 n., 635. Ocymum sanctum, basil or tulasî plant, 121 n. Og (Ûj), King, legend of, 374. O'Halloran, Major-General Sir Joseph, 344 n. Omar ('Umar), Khalif, 199 n. Omens, taken by Thugs and robbers, 297, 651. Opium department, 324 n. Oracle of Mahâdêo, 484. Orchhâ, State and Râjâ of, 132, 139, 193 n., 251 n. Orpheus, mosaic of, 516. O'Shaughnessy, Dr. W. B., scientific publications of, 571 n. Osman (Othman), Khalîf, a Sunnî, 48 n., 483 n. Otaheite sugar-cane, 208. Oudh (Oude), Sleeman's work in, xxiv-xxvii; A Journey through, xxxvi; MS. history of reigning family of, xxxvii; infanticide in, 28 n.; Jamâldehî Thugs in, 82; recruits from, 146, 624; annexation of, 187 n.; disorder in, 248,252; Chief Commissioner of, 347 n.; Nawâb Wazîrs of, 473 n.; magisterial powers in, 552 n.; capitals of, 641; Thuggee in, 653.

Paintings, Indian, 379. Pakkâ defined, 435 n. Palace at Delhi, 515. Palwal, town, 452. Pân, 216, 454. Pândavas, 5. Pânîpat, third battle of, 298 n. Panjâb (Punjab), annexation of, 478 n., 625 n. Panj (Pânch) Mahâl tract, 124 n. Panna State and Râjâ, 95 n., 250 n. Panther, 115. Paoli, Mr., 600. Paralysis, caused by eating Lathyrus sativus, 104. Parents, murder of indigent, xxxii; reverence for, 254. Pariahs, 120. Parihâr, Râjpûts, 143. Parmâl, Chandêl Râjâ, 189 n. Partâbgarh in Oudh, xxii, 248. Partition, 278 n. Partridge, black, 44, 118. Pârvatî, goddess, 9, 141 n. Patêl defined, 221. 'Pathân', as a misnomer, 488 n. Patharia, town, 91. Patiâlâ, chief of, 476. Patna, massacre of, 597. Pawâr Râjpûts, 187, 189. Pay of Indian army, 617, 622, 640. Peacock throne, 517. Peacocks, 259, 411. Pensions of Indian army, 632, 640-4. Perjury, 407, 412. Permanent settlement, 64 n., 577 n. Persian, order of the Fish, 135; wheel, 147. Peshwâs, the, 192, 236, 381 n. Phânsîgars = Tugs, xxxi. Phoceus baya, weaver bird, 117 n. Pilgrims, 588-94. Pillars, monolithic, 493. Pindhârîs, 130 n., 292-4, 297. Pîpal tree, 205, 385, 442, 447, 566 n. Piper betel, 216 n. Pîr Muhammad, heir of Tîmûr, 534. Plassey, battle of, 338 n. Plato, 341, 524. Poisoners, 82-6. Police, Indian, 544-61, 647. Political economy, 157, 160. Popham, Major, 270. Population of India, 38 n. Portax pictus, nîlgâi antelope, 244 n. Portuguese at Agra, 336 n. Prâyaschit defined, 215. Predestination, 511. Press-gang, 184 n. Primogeniture, 180, 277, 578. Prinsep, James, discoveries of, 493. Prithî Râj, 498-500. Processions, 168. Property in land, 449 n. Proprietors of land, 576. Public spirit of Hindoos, xxxiii, 442-51. Purânas, the, 10, 338 n. Puri town, 589 n. Purôhit defined, 140 n. Purveyance system, 41-4.

Queen, river Nerbudda as a, 14. Quinine, 107 n.

Raghugarh, Râjâ of, 293. Rainbow myth, 35. Râipur town, 72. Râjpûts, 144. Râma and Sîtâ, 10, 74, 174, 371, 376. Ramaseeana, xxxi. Râmâyana, 484. Râmesvaram (Ramisseram), 592 n. Râmlîlâ, 104. Râmnagar, 25. Râmpur, Nawâb of, 87, 649. Ranjit Singh, (1) Maharaja of the Panjâb, 291, 297; (2) Râjâ of Bharatpur (Bhurtpore), 377, 380. Râvan, 377. Râwalpindi, military station, 545 n. Raziâ, Sultan ('empress'), 501 n. Reglioni (properly Regholini), General (Monsieur), 594. Regulations, VII of 1822 and IX of 1833, 575 n. Reinhard, Walter (Sombre), 596. Rent Acts, 62 n. 'Resumption' of revenue-free lands, 564, River thuggee, xxxiii, 652. Rîwâ (Rewah) State, 24, Roads, 301. Roe, Sir Thomas, ambassador, 351, 452. Rupee, value of, 77 n., 342 n., 583 n. Ryotwâr System, 576.

Saâdat Alî Khân of Oudh, 473 n., 565. Sacrifice, human, 46 n., 101. Sâdî (Sa'dî), Shaikh, poet, 75, 401, 410, 524. Sadr Amîn, Subordinate Judge, 646 n. Safdar Jang, tomb of, 507 n., 544 n. Sâgar (Saugor), 41, 92, 100, 161; and Nerbudda Territories, 57 n., 94 n., 110 n., 112 n. Sâlagrâms, ammonites, 121. Saleur, Monsieur, 610. Salîm, Prince, 350; Shaikh, 350, 362 n., 354. Salt manufacture, 260, 347 n., 428 n. Samadh defined, 570. Samarkand, 530. Samrû (Sumroo), Bêgam, 504, 545; death of, 567; history of, 594-615; character of, 613. Samthar, Râjâ of, 191. Sânsias, criminal tribe, 234 n. Sarasvatî, consort of Brahmâ, 7 n. Sardhana, 594-615. Sassanians of Persia, 137. Sâtârâ, Râjâ of, 286, 381. Satî, see Suttee. Sâtpura, mountains, 52. Scape-goat, 162-6. Schools, Muhammadan, 480. Science in India, 587. Sebastê, city, 532. Sects, Muhammadan, 49 n. Secunderabad, military station, 545 n. Seniority, promotion by, 622, 632. 'Settlements' of land revenue, 434 n., 575. Shâh Âlam, 137 n., 338, 563 n. Shahgarh, Râjâ of, 72, 114. Shâh Jahân, emperor, 314, 316, 320, 504, 510, 513, 560, 561 n.; Thugs in reign of, 652; sons of, 273. Shâhjahânâbâd, or New Delhi, 504. Shahryâr, Prince, 334. Shams-ud-dîn, Nawâb, 420, 458-75. Sharaf-ud-dîn, historian, 533. Shêr Afgan, 329-31. Shêr Khan (Shâh), 270. Sherwood, Dr., early writer on Thuggee, 653. Shîa sect, 48 n., 483 n. Shihâb-ud-dîn, Sultan, 269 n. Shîrîn, queen, 136. Shore, F. J., 44 n., 90; Sir John, 473 n., 605, 609. Sikandar Lodi, Sultan, 357 n. Sikandara (Secundra), Akbar's tomb at, 323, 354 n., 358 n. Sikh government, 381. Sikhs, history of, 477 n. Sîkrî, 351; see Fathpur-Sîkrî. Simla, trip to Gungoolee from, xxxvii. Sindh river, 258. Sindhia family, 271 n., 286, 294, 381. Sindhia's territory, 258; see Gwâlior State. Singhâra, or water-nut, 76. Sirâj-ud-daula, 581. Sîtâ Baldî Râmesar, 592. Siva, god, 6, 7 n., 9, 45 n., 103 n., 141 n., 376 n., 588, 591. Sivâjî, 381. Skanda, god, 259 n. Skinner, Colonel, 463, 612 n. Slavery in India, 282. Sleeman, Captain J. L., xx, xxx, 652; Captain Philip, xxi; Lady xxiii, xxxvi; Sir W. H., memoir of, xx-xxx; works of, xxxi-xxxvii, 89 n.; James, xxx; Henry Arthur, xxx; William Henry, xxx. Small-pox, 169-72. Smith, F. G., 90; B. W., on Akbar's tomb, 323 n.; on Fathpur Sîkrî, 351 n. Society in India, 582. Sombre, see Samrû. Sôn river, 14, 16. Spotted deer, 244. Spry, Dr., works of, 99 n. Statistics, falsified, 554 n. Stephen, Carr, on Delhi, 520 n. Subdivision of property, 432. Succession to crown, 239. Sugar-mills, 207-9. Suicide, vow of, 103. Sulaimân Shikoh, Prince, 272. Sultans of Delhi, 488 n. Sumroo, see Samrû. Sunnî sect, 48 n. Supreme (Superior) Court, 555 n. Sûraj Mall, Râjâ, 364 n., 378, 567. Survey myths, 201. Suttee, 18-31, 47, 109. Swallows, 353. Sweepers, 45, 49.

Taboos, 134 n. Tâj, the, 312-21. Tamarind tree, 566. Tamerlane, see Tîmûr. Tânda, town, 330. Tânsên, singer, 561, 562 n. Tarmasharîn, Moghal, 490, 507, 529, 535. Tasmabâz Thugs, 91. Tavernier, traveller, 316, 320 n. Taylor, Col. Meadows, Confessions of a Thug, 89 n., 653. Taxation, indirect, 427; in England and India, 485. Tehrî, town, 132, 143. Teignmouth, Lord, 473 n. Telescope, 543. Thagî, see Thuggee and Thugs. Thânadârs, 547. Thessalonica, massacre of, 402. Thevenot, de, quoted, 335; described Thuggee, 652. Thomas, George, adventurer, 603-8. Thuggee, 77-91,650-3. Thugs, venerate Nizâmuddîn, 491 n.; on the Bêgam's boundary, 545; method of suppressing, 556 n.; disguised as ascetics, 592 n. Tieffenthaler, Father, 336 n. Tiger myths, 124-9. Tîmûr, sack of Delhi by, 497 n.; history of, 527-34. Tonk, Nawâb of, 66 n. Tours, battle of, 513. Trade, free, 160; Indian, 409 n. Trap, Deccan, 97 n., 269 n. Trees, marriage of, 32, 122, 143; sacred, 386 n. Tughlak Shâh, 486. Tughlakâbâd, 486, 489. Tulasî Dâs, poet, 123 n. Tulsî (tulasî) plant, 121. Tûs, or Mashhad, q.v., 341 n.

Uchahara State, 33, 148 n. Ûj (Og), legend of, 374. Ujjain (Ujain), 146 n. Ulwar (Alwar) State, xxxii. 'Uncovenanted' service, 426. United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, 434 n. United States, war with, 628 n. Universities, Indian, 256 n. Urs, defined, 568 n. Ûsh in Persia, 494 n., 500 n. Usmân, see Osman.

Vaccination, 171 n. Vagrancy laws, 370. Vaikuntha, heaven of Vishnu, 8. Vegetius quoted, 626 n., &c. Venî-dânam, offering of hair, 56 n. Veracity, 383-411. Village communities, 394. Villages, 60. Vindhya mountains, 62. Vindhyan sandstones, 62 n. Vishnu, god, 2, 7 n., 9, 141 n., 376 n., 588, 591.

Warôrâ coalfield, 231 n. Washermen, 45. Water offerings, 141, 693. Water-nut, or -chestnut, 76. Watts, Governor, 581 n. Wazîr Alî of Oudh, 473. Weaver-bird, 173 n. Wellesley, Marquis, 473 n. Wells, 363, 435-41; songs sung at, 561 n. Western Provinces, defined, 574 n. Wheat, blight on, 195. Widow-burning, see Suttee. Widows, sold by auction, xxii; remarriage of, 26. Wife, a duty of, 132 n. Wilkinson, (1) Mr. L., and (2) Major, 89 n. Wilton, Mr. John, 341 n. Window-tax, 485. Witchcraft, 68-73. Wolf-children, xxxv. Women, dress of, 18; offering of hair by, 56 n.; form of tomb of Muhammadan, 510 n.; secret murders of, 561 n.

Yamarâja (Jamrâj), 9. Yudhisthira, 11, 522.

Zafaryâb Khân, son of Sombre, 611. Zâlim Singh, freebooter, 129. Zamân Shâh, 289. Zamîndârî tenure, 144.