CHILDREN OF KALI Through India in Search of Bandits, The Thug Cult and the British Raj

Hardback. They murdered more than a million Indian travellers without spilling a drop of blood. They were inspired by religious fanaticism, yet came from many faiths. Their weapon was the handkerchief, their sacrament sugar, and their goddess Kali. They were the thugs, the greatest criminal gang in history and one supposedly exterminated by the British in the 1830s. The modern day bandit Veerappan is also responsible for many murders - more than 100. Still at large in the jungles of India, he avoids capture, his followers claim, by magical powers. Some say he is a freedom fighter, others that he is a vicious killer. He is India's most wanted man and its most notorious criminal. Two criminal legends: one ancient, one modern, but both deceptions, distorted and misused by those in power to further their own ends. The author investigates the dark side of India. His quest to uncover the reality behind Veerappan's story and that of the thugs takes him to prisons and gangster hideouts, probing the nature of crime and punishments in a country where good and evil may be as murky as the Ganges. Rulers with underworld connections, politicians without scruples, bandits as social workers and heroes - all the elements of misrule are here. Part history and part personal record, the author reveals how British India demonized millions as hereditary criminals, setting off a witch-hunt whose effects are still felt today. With thug family tree eps, Illus. in colour, + Map, Glossary, Bibliog. and Index. 292pp. lge 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. V. lightly browned edges, o/w Nr F. in G. only dw. which has a taped vertical tear from top edge to bottom edge (see image).