iles in
twelve days in company with a party of sixty men, women and children,
before they found a propitious occasion. [683] Their favourite time
for the murder was in the evening when the whole party would be
seated in the open, the Thugs mingled with their victims, talking,
smoking and singing. If their numbers were sufficient three Thugs
would be allotted to every victim, so that on the signal being given
two of them could lay hold of his hands and feet, while the Bhurtot
or strangler passed the _rumal_ over his head and tightened it round
his neck, forcing the victim backwards and not relaxing his hold till
life was extinct. The _rumal_ or 'handkerchief,' always employed for
throttling victims, was really a loin-cloth or turban, in which a
loop was made with a slip-knot. The Thugs called it their _sikka_ or
'ensign,' but it was not held sacred like the pickaxe. When the leader
of the gang cleared his throat violently it was a sign to prepare
for action, and he afterwards gave the _jhirni_ or signal for the
murder, by saying either '_Tamakhu kha lo_,' 'Begin chewing tobacco';
'_Bhanja ko pan do_,' 'Give betel to my nephew'; or '_Ayi ho to ghiri
chalo_,' 'If you are come, pray descend.' Their adroitness was such
that their victims seldom or never escaped nor even had a chance of
making a fight for their lives. But if several persons were to be
killed some men were detached to surround the camp and cut down any
one who tried to escape. The Thugs do not therefore appear to have had
any religious objection to the shedding of blood, but they preferred
murder by strangling as being safer. After the murder the bodies were
at once buried, being first cut about to prevent them from swelling
on decomposition, as this might raise the surface of the earth over
the grave and so attract attention. If the ground was too hard they
were thrown into a ravine or down one of the shallow irrigation wells
which abound in north India; and it was stated that the discovery
of a body in one of these wells was so common an occurrence that
the cultivators took no notice of it. If there were people in the
vicinity so that it was dangerous to dig the graves in the open air,
the Thugs did not scruple to inter the bodies of victims inside their
own tents and to eat their food sitting on the soil above. For the
attack of a horseman three men were always detailed, if practicable,
so that one could seize the bridle and the other two pull him out
of th