Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Jim McDougall · 30th December 2007, 05:26 AM

So I continued to do some further research, and discovered some information that some might find interesting.

"...and the deep grave from which they dug them with thier sharp busy claws bore marks of the mystic pickaxe of the thuggee:.
from " A Geographical Reader" James Johonnot, 1882

Even Charles Dickens found this cult interesting, and in an article in "All the Year Round" (Feb.21,1885, p.475) wrote, "...when the pickaxe was made, great precautions were taken that no shadow might fall upon it before it had consecrated and render it useless".
"..seven crimson spots were then put on it".
Further, "...the pickaxe was a fetish, or holy thing. When buried in the earth, it would turn and point in the direction an expedition ought to take. An oath sword on it was inviolable".

In "the Thugs: The Myths of the Cult of Kali" (Dec. 11, 2007) John Walsh writes, "...the corpse would be tucked away in a rectangular grave swiftly dug with a special short handled pickaxe that all thugs carried. It is a curious thing that the same kind of pickaxe was issued to the soldiers fighting in WWI and these were used to dig the inordinately lengthy trench systems".

In further writing concerning the grandson of the British official who had suppressed the thuggee, Sir William Sleeman, it is noted that the pickaxe was shaped like an adze, five pounds in weight and seven inches in length, it had one point, was called a 'kussee' and given into the charge of the shrewdest thug in the gang. Its wooden handle was thrown away after its use, so the axe could be carried in the waistbelt.
Apparantly over seventy years after the events involving Sir William Sleeman, his grandson was involved in testing in India which resulted in the entrenching tool which ended up being issued to British forces in WWI. The article I read claims that he was unaware of the thuggee pickaxes , which seems unlikely and surprisingly coincidental, especially in that it is emphasized that the tool was remarkably similar to the thug 'kussee'.

It seems that seven inches would be a terribly small haft for a tool with which to dig effectively, and as it notes the handles were thrown away and the axes were often buried etc. perhaps this is why none seem to exist. It would seem that an implement as pronounced in the rituals of this cult might have been captured by those who infiltrated them and preserved as souveniers.

30th December 2007, 05:26 AM	#2
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,194	So I continued to do some further research, and discovered some information that some might find interesting. "...and the deep grave from which they dug them with thier sharp busy claws bore marks of the mystic pickaxe of the thuggee:. from " A Geographical Reader" James Johonnot, 1882 Even Charles Dickens found this cult interesting, and in an article in "All the Year Round" (Feb.21,1885, p.475) wrote, "...when the pickaxe was made, great precautions were taken that no shadow might fall upon it before it had consecrated and render it useless". "..seven crimson spots were then put on it". Further, "...the pickaxe was a fetish, or holy thing. When buried in the earth, it would turn and point in the direction an expedition ought to take. An oath sword on it was inviolable". In "the Thugs: The Myths of the Cult of Kali" (Dec. 11, 2007) John Walsh writes, "...the corpse would be tucked away in a rectangular grave swiftly dug with a special short handled pickaxe that all thugs carried. It is a curious thing that the same kind of pickaxe was issued to the soldiers fighting in WWI and these were used to dig the inordinately lengthy trench systems". In further writing concerning the grandson of the British official who had suppressed the thuggee, Sir William Sleeman, it is noted that the pickaxe was shaped like an adze, five pounds in weight and seven inches in length, it had one point, was called a 'kussee' and given into the charge of the shrewdest thug in the gang. Its wooden handle was thrown away after its use, so the axe could be carried in the waistbelt. Apparantly over seventy years after the events involving Sir William Sleeman, his grandson was involved in testing in India which resulted in the entrenching tool which ended up being issued to British forces in WWI. The article I read claims that he was unaware of the thuggee pickaxes , which seems unlikely and surprisingly coincidental, especially in that it is emphasized that the tool was remarkably similar to the thug 'kussee'. It seems that seven inches would be a terribly small haft for a tool with which to dig effectively, and as it notes the handles were thrown away and the axes were often buried etc. perhaps this is why none seem to exist. It would seem that an implement as pronounced in the rituals of this cult might have been captured by those who infiltrated them and preserved as souveniers.