The internet is filled with things. Here is one of them.
Thugee: Monsters of Orientalism2024 Jun 2
The word "thug" famously comes from the Sanskrit word "thag" due to the reports of "thuggee" – tribes of organized highway bandits in India which would steal and murder from unsuspecting travelers. But how much of this is true, and how much of it it simply Western Orientalism projected onto India and reinforced through lurid tales? This paper in Nature puts forth the argument that since most accounts of thuggee come not from Indian sources but from British, that the thugs in question likely didn't ever exist at all.
The word "thug" famously comes from the Sanskrit word "thag" due to the reports of "thuggee" – tribes of organized highway bandits in India which would steal and murder from unsuspecting travelers. But how much of this is true, and how much of it it simply Western Orientalism projected onto India and reinforced through lurid tales? This paper in Nature puts forth the argument that since most accounts of thuggee come not from Indian sources but from British, that the thugs in question likely didn't ever exist at all.