oni (sacrifice)
changes our nature. It would change the nature of a horse. Let any man
once taste of that _gur_ and he will be a Thug, though he knows all the
trades and have all the wealth in the world. I never wanted food; my
mother's family was opulent, her relations high in office. I have been
high in office myself, and became so great a favourite wherever I went
that I was sure of promotion; yet I was always miserable while absent
from my gang and obliged to return to Thuggee. My father made me taste
of that fatal _gur_ when I was yet a mere boy; and if I were to live
a thousand years I should never be able to follow any other trade."

The eating of this _gur_ was clearly the sacrificial meal of the
Thugs. On the analogy of other races they should have partaken of the
body of an animal god at their sacrificial meal, and if the goddess
Kali is the deified tiger, they should have eaten tiger's flesh. This
custom, if it ever existed, had been abandoned, and the _gur_ would
in that case be a substitute; and as has been seen the eating of the
_gur_ was held to confer on them the same cruelty, callousness and
desire to kill which might be expected to follow from eating tiger's
flesh and thus assimilating the qualities of the animal. Since they
went unarmed as a rule, in order to avoid exciting the suspicions
of their victims, it would be quite impossible for them to obtain
tiger's flesh, except by the rarest accident; and the _gur_ might be
considered a suitable substitute, since its yellow colour would be
held to make it resemble the tiger.

17. Worship of ancestors

The Thugs also worshipped the spirits of their ancestors. One
of these was Dadu Dhira, an ancient Thug of the Barsote class,
who was invoked at certain religious ceremonies, when liquor was
drunk. Vows were made to offer libations of ardent spirits to him,
and if the prayer was answered the worshipper drank the liquor, or if
his caste precluded him from doing this, threw it on the ground with
an expression of thanks. Another deity was the spirit of Jhora Naik,
who was a Muhammadan. He and his servant killed a man who had jewels
and other articles laden on a mule to the value of more than a lakh
and a half. They brought home the booty, assembled all the members
of their fraternity within reach, and honestly divided the whole as
if all had been present The Thugs also said that Nizam-ud-din Aulia,
a well-known Muhammadan saint, famed for his generosit