The Thugs / Thuggae / Thuggees of 13th-19th Century India

The Thuggae were a secret society in India, who dedicated their lives to ritualistically strangling victims as sacrifices to Kali, often in a way that specifically included first gaining their trust and confidance, and sometimes coming together en masse to perform a mass-murder. Parents initiated children into the order. It's not clear when they existed from, but they existed as a organised fraternity by the 13th century; they were eradicated in the 1830s. They believed that the killings kept the world in balance, and the victims and the Thuggae themselves were assured places in the afterlife for the performance.

"The Thuggae" by Vexen Crabtree contents:

1. For Kali, for Balance, for Paradise
2. Timeline (13th-19th century)
3. The Targets