"The Thugs of India have been carefully written up by Thornton...they gang together in companies...each gang has its leader...each vying with the other in deceit, cunning, thievery and murder." Courier-Journal (Louisville), Jan. 12, 1890

What dangerous and mysterious group in India is responsible for the term "thug" that is now in common usage?

In 1851, British commissioner in India, Edward Thornton (1799-1875), would write a ground-breaking expose of this secretive and lethal society in his book titled "Illustrations of the History and Practices of the Thugs."

In introducing his book, Thornton writes:

"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 ignorant of the existence and habits of a body so dangerous to the public peace. This, however, seems to have been the case: and it may be regarded as affording a strong proof, how little progress was made by the Europeans, during a long series of years, in knowledge of the people among whom they resided, and over whom they exercised the functions of rulers."

About the author:

Edward Parry Thornton (1811-1893) was British commissioner at Rawul Pindi in 1849. He distinguished himself by arresting Nadir Khan in 1852 on which occasion he was wounded and in the mutiny by suppressing revolt of the Hazarah tribes. In 1857 he was judicial commissioner for the Punjaub and published a work on the Thugs.