Editing Thug Behram

{{Short description|Thuggee cult leader}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name          = Thug Behram Chor
| birth_date    = {{circa|1765}}

| birth_place   = 
| death_date    = 1840 (aged 74–75)
| death_place   = [[Jabalpur]], [[Company Raj]]
| nationality   = [[India]]n
| death_cause   = [[Execution by hanging]]
| occupation    = Leader of the Thuggee cult in [[Oudh]]
| conviction    = Murder
| years active  = 1790–1840
| victims       = 125 confirmed, suspect to be 931
}}
'''Thug Behram''' ({{circa|1765}} – 1840), also known as '''Buhram Jamedar''' and the '''King of the Thugs''', was a leader of the [[Thuggee]] cult active in [[Awadh]] in central [[British Raj|India]] during the late 18th and early 19th century, and is often cited as one of the world's most prolific [[serial killers]]. He may have been involved in up to 931 murders by strangulation between 1790 and 1840 performed with a ceremonial [[rumāl]], a handkerchief-like cloth used by his cult as a [[garrote]]. Only 125 were confirmed.<ref>[[Mike Dash|Dash, Mike]] (2005). ''Thug: The True Story of India's Murderous Cult''. London: Granta pp.283-9</ref><ref>''The Top Ten of Everything 1996'' (Page 65). {{ISBN|0-7894-0196-7}}</ref><ref>Rubinstein, William D. (2004) ''Genocide: A History''. Pearson Education Limited. p.83</ref>

==Biography==
While Behram is sometimes suspected of having committed 931 murders, James Paton, an [[British East India Company|East India Company]] officer working for the Thuggee and Dacoity Office in the 1830s who wrote a manuscript on [[Thuggee]], quotes Behram as saying he had "been present" at 931 cases of murder, and "I may have strangled with my own hands about 125 men, and I may have seen strangled 150 more."<ref>Paton, James. ''Collections on Thuggee and Dacoitee.'' British Library Add MS 41300, folios 118 & 202–03</ref>

The English word 'thug' is, in fact, borrowed from the [[Hindi]] word 'thag' (ठग). The thugs were covert members of a group, and the term 'Thugee' typically referred to an act of deceitful and organised robbery and murder.<ref>{{cite book|title=Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblesandrecoll15483gut|author=William Sleeman}}</ref>

Buhram used his [[cummerbund]] or ''[[rumāl]]'', with a large medallion sewn into it, as a [[garrote]] to execute his killing. He could cast the ''rumal'' to cause the medallion to land at the [[adam's apple]] of his victims, adding pressure to the throat when he strangled them.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

==See also==
*[[List of serial killers before 1900]]
*[[The Deadly Dozen: India's Most Notorious Serial Killers]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Behram, Thug}}
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:1760s births]]
[[Category:1840 deaths]]
[[Category:Criminals from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Executed gangsters]]
[[Category:Executed Indian serial killers]]
[[Category:Indian bandits]]
[[Category:Indian gangsters]]
[[Category:Indian people convicted of murder]]
[[Category:People executed by British India by hanging]]
[[Category:People from Jabalpur]]