The Sun. — 1845-11-20 (London, England)

ROBBERS IN INDIA.  Various classes of robbers, under the designations of Thugs, Dakoits, Choars, Kuzzaks, and Budhukes, infest the entire country. The first and the last would appear to be identical, be-. ing sets ofvillainsdistinguished by their practice of strangling unsuspecting travellers with whom they may contrive to fall'in upon a journey ; they are sometimes formed into secret societies, not dissimilar from some of those in the middle ages : and it was vainly hoped that Lord William Bentinck had utterly extirpated them. The Kuzzaks are mounted robbers, who singly beset the highroads, or, being collected into parties, attack and plunder entire villages : in other words, they are Turpins, or Robin Hoods, or Rob Boys, as occasion may require. The Dakoits and Choars are more like the early companions of Gil Blas—thieves who naturally and constitutionally assemble in gangs, and who usually limit their depredations to the houses or persons of those reputed to possess valuables or money in concealed hoards. These were once the most formidable. being thoroughly organised under Birders, or leaders: they commonly meet for their lawless procedures under cover of the night, being by day, to all ap pearanas, among the most peaceable and quiet members of the community. Their grand characteristic, wherever they subsist, still continues to be that of Dan—" an adder in the path." They have watchwords and secret signals. Companies, variously armed with swords, clubs, pikes, and matchlocks, will grow, as it were, out of the ground, coming to.. gether nobody knows how, and gathered from no one kr.ows where, in numbers from fifteen to fifty. The spot will be some tope or grove adjacent to the desired spoil. The following is a midnight picture of what these worthies were some thirty years ago, as also of what they too often are now :—" When collected, their !marauding excursion was preluded by a religious ceremony—the worship of the goddess Durga—the patroness of thieves, typified by a water-pot, or a few blades of grass. The ceremony was conducted by a Brahmin of degraded condition and dissolute life. Having propitiated the goddess by the promise of a portion of their spoil, they marched with lighted torches, and little attempt at concealment, beyond disguising their faces by pigment, or. covering them with masks, to the object of their expedition, usually the dwelling of some shopkeeper or money-changer, in which it was expected to discover treasure. Occasionally the motive of the attack was vengeance; and information given by the imuseholder, or any member of his family, against some ,:nember of the gang, brought upon him the res!•ntment of the whole fraternity.' Upon entering the village, it was customary to fire a gun as a signal for the inhabitants to keep within their dwellings • the house against which the operation was designed was then surrounded; and whilst some of the gang forced an entrance, others remained as a guard without. Unless exasperated by resistance, or stimulated by revenge, the Dakoits did not commonly proceed to murder; but they perpetrated atrocious cruelties upon such persons a. 9 refused to give them, or were unable to give them, infortnation regarding property which they suspected of having been concealed ; burning them with lighted torches or blazing straw or wrapping cloth or flax steeped in oil around their limbs, and setting it on fire ; or indicting various tortures which caused immediate or speedy 'death. Theobject being accomplished, and the booty sec'ared, the gang retired before daylight, and the guilty individuals resumed their daily occupations." In Bengal alone, six hundred and ninety such atrocities disgraced a single year.—Eclectk Review for July.