November 2, 2018 ▸ History, Religion

Episode 344: Thuggee: Indian Assassination Cult

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On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we mix two of our listeners’ favorite topics–cults and serial killers–and we talk about the Thuggee Assassin Cults of India. This group terrorized the Indian countryside for almost five centuries, were the root of the English word “thug,” and according to some experts were responsible for the murder of an estimated 2 Million people. Their most notorious member, King Thug, was said to have killed 931, making him the most prolific serial killer in all of human history. So, what did these people believe, and why did they kill?

Well, it was to avert the apocalypse. You see, they believed that the goddess Kali was going to come and bring the end to this life cycle on Earth, thereby killing all humans. They thought that by making regular sacrifices to her, they would satiate her and keep her from coming back to Earth. They were true heroes!

Based on an ancient legend involving a demon whose blood would create more demons, the Thuggee cult would only kill using means that didn’t shed blood, typically strangling to death using the yellow sash they wore. After the murders, they would perform a ceremony involving sacred sugar and a holy pickaxe to bury the body.

They were amazingly secretive, and even the member’s wives didn’t know they were married to Thuggee cult murderers. Often, fathers would recruit their sons (for generation aftr generation) to join and have them witness their first murder at age ten and kill a few years after. When the men got too old to kill, they became assassin training gurus or spies or even cooks, anything they could do to keep Kali at bay.

So, who did their religion allow them to kill, and who was off limits? What tactics did the Thuggee use to kill and stalk their victims? What did the British Sir William Henry Sleeman do in order to finally destroy the terrifying reign of the Thuggee Cult? How were they able to travel and get support from Thugs they had never met? How did mass graves lead to their downfall, and why did society turn a blind eye to hundreds of years of mass murders? Most importantly, what does all of this have to do with Indiana Jones? Listen, laugh, learn.