RootedinEvil's Vampire Journal

RootedinEvil's Journal

THIS JOURNAL IS ON 36 FAVORITE JOURNAL LISTS
Honor: 0 [ Give / Take ]

1 entry this month

Worshippers of Kali; an ancient evil
15:31 Jul 15 2009
Times Read: 685

There is a legend that pours forth from India that relates the beginning of Kali worship. It tells of a time when an evil demon hunted down mankind in order to devour him. During this time children were being killed even as they were born, so Kali decided to stop him. She tried to kill the demon with a sword, but every time she cut the him, spilling his blood, a new demon would arise. Eventually there were so many demons Kali had to find help. Her help arrived in the form of two men that were created from the sweat of her arm. She gave these men each a piece of cloth, which came from the hem of her dress, and told them to strangle the demons. It is this legend that is the catalyst for the religion of Kali and her worshipers, the Thugs. What does the Thug worship and murder by Kali entail? In her book, Klein describes a typical Thug murder thusly; a gang of Thugs anywhere from ten to two-hundred men would befriend a perspective victim. The Thugs would then travel with them, becoming friends, serving beside them, helping them, and "generally making them feel at ease.". After traveling with their victims, sometimes for miles and miles, they would determine a night and drug their traveling companions. The Thugs would then take bandannas that were weighted down with rocks and strangle their victims, much like the helpers in the Legend of Kali.

Captain William Sleeman, expert on the Thug cult, could be considered a "Victorian hero," because during the Victorian Era he took on the Thugs, capturing and interviewing them by droves. He discovered that each year approximately 40,000 people were murdered by the Thugs. Some men even believed they could trace their Thugary back to the times of Alexander the Great!

One Thug, Sahib Khan, was asked, by Captain William Sleeman, how he could murder innocents. His reply was quite shocking. "...We consider them victims thrown into our hands by the deity to be killed, and that we are the mere instruments in her hands to destroy them; if we do not kill them she will never again be propitious to us, and our families will be involved in misery and want."

Sleeman took on an activist approach and determined to finally put an end to the practice of Thug Kali worship. His most important target was Feringeea, the "Prince of Thuggee." While he was not able to capture him directly he did arrest Feringeea's mother, wife, and child. Feringeea turned himself in a few days later.

Feringeea turned informant upon his capture and with his help Sleeman was able to gather large amounts of information about the crimes the Thugs had committed. Captain Sleeman and his men captured and prosecuted around 3,000 Thugs between the years 1830 and 1840. Nearly 470 men were executed for their participation in the Thug cult.

It took years of hard work from many men, like Captain William Sleeman, but eventually the Thug cult was eradicated. After 600 years, their ancient evil is no longer being practiced (Klein). People, both local and foreign, once again travel through India without the fear of being attacked by Thugs disguised as friends.

It was during the time of Queen Victoria that the Thugs first came to the attention to the European world through a book entitled,

Confessions of a Thug. While this book, written by Colonel Philip Meadows Taylor, was a fictional work, it was based on many truths that he discovered as he served his country in India. (Klein) It has been estimated that the number of murders committed by the Thugs during the 1800's may have ranged from one million to three million murders in that one-hundred year span. (Klein)

Not all Kali worshiper's followed the Thug path, such as those in southern India and those that held the Kashimari tradition. (Klein) But, who is the Kali of Thug practice, and how is she represented? "Kali derives from the Sanskrit word for "time" or "dark" and is supposed to mean black female" (Klein). She is often times represented as a black woman with a blue face. Kali's tongue hangs from her mouth as a symbol of defiance, and many times her mouth is shown bleeding (Klein). Her hair is often represented as being braided with green snakes. But, the most disturbing part of her depiction is her clothes, which are generally made of human body parts. Her necklace is a string of skulls. She wears a skirt made from severed arms, and in a lot of representations she is also wearing the corpses of infants as earrings.