Thug Behram
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- "Behram" redirects here. For the sixth Sultan of Delhi, see Muiz ud din Bahram.
Thug Behram, of the Indian Thuggee cult, has frequently been said to be the world's most prolific serial killer. According to numerous sources, he was believed to have murdered 931 victims by strangulation by means of a ceremonial cloth (or rumal, which in Hindi means handkerchief), used by his cult between 1790-1830, thus holding the record for the most murders committed by a single person in history.
Attribution of so many killings to this one murderer is, however, the product of confusion and mistaken reporting of unchecked statements. The original source for Behram's 'confession' is a manuscript on Thuggee written by James Paton, an East India Company officer working for the Thuggee and Dacoity Office in the 1830s. Paton's MS - now in the British Library - states that Behram had merely estimated that he had "been present" at 931 cases of murder, the killings themselves being committed by a gang of 25 to 50 men, at least half a dozen of whom, other than Behram himself, would have played an active role as stranglers.
In addition, Behram's statement is unverified and the Thug never stood trial for any of the murders he confessed to, having turned King's Evidence and agreed to inform on his companions.
It should further be emphasised that this Thug gave a second, much less publicised, account, concerning the actual number of murders he committed. At another point in Paton's papers, Behram is quoted as saying: "I may have strangled with my own hands about 125 men, and I may have seen strangled 150 more."
Since Behram's alleged murders were committed in the course of a 40-year career, and since it was in Thug informers' interests to make themselves appear as important as possible to their British captors, it would be unwise to attribute any specific total of killings to this one murderer.
[edit] References
[edit] Manuscripts
Paton, James. Collections on Thuggee and Dacoitee. British Library Add.Mss. 41300 fol. 118, 202-03.
[edit] Books
- Dash, Mike (2005). Thug: The True Story of India's Murderous Cult. London: Granta pp.283-9.
- The Top Ten of Everything 1996 (Page 65). ISBN 0-7894-0196-7.
