Confessions of a Thug

By 1838 [Magistrate William] Sleeman had captured and tried a total of 3266 Thugs; several hundred more were in prison awaiting trial. … One of those he interrogated claimed to have murdered 931 people. Appalled, Sleeman asked him whether he ever felt ‘remorse for murdering in cold blood, and after the pretence of friendship, those whom you have beguiled into a false sense of security’. ‘Certainly not!’ replied the accused. ‘Are you yourself not a shikari (big-game hunter) and do you not enjoy the thrill of stalking, pitting your cunning against that of an animal, and are you not pleased at seeing it dead at your feet? So with the Thug, who regards the stalking of men as a higher form of sport.’

I came across the above passage in Niall Ferguson’s history of the British Empire.

In the 19th century over 40,000 travellers fell victim to the thagi, a cult of assassin-priests who were involved with the ritual killings of travellers, committing murder following precise religious rites to honour Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction.

The word “thug” was adopted into the English language to mean a cutthroat or ruffian but originated on the Indian continent, and transmitted through the Empire, like a number of other words that we use daily. Bonus points for whoever can tell me the origins of the English word “pundit”. HINT: Get out your Hopkirk.