Children Of Kali: Through India in Search of Bandits, the Thug Cult and the British Raj.🍒🍒🍒🍒
By Kevin Rushby
2002
Walker and Company Books

Although this is a suppose to be a book about travel, it is clearly much much more, almost from the start.
Thus book is a history of India, the British Raj, and the criminal gang history throughout India. From many religions and faiths, they worship Kali.
Rushby searches for evidence and the history of the legendary Thug Cult and the British policeman, William Sleeman, who worked to suppress it's violence.
It's also a history of the Western prejudice and misrepresentation of the Orient, and how they are still happening today.
It definitely makes you think about your own beliefs about Islamophobia.
Excellent book, excellent research and seamless travel from past to present history. Recommended. ( )

I read this for research to learn more about the Thuggees, and found the book to be much deeper than a mere history lesson. Rushby wrote a book that is part travelogue of modern India and part history lesson, all about how the idea of thugs and Kali were perceived in the 19th century and now. He's British and he's very forthright about the deeds committed during the British colonial period--many details that I, as an American, was ignorant of. He comes to some fascinating conclusions regarding the historical Thug: why the subclass came to exist, why the British handled the phenomena as they did, and the repercussions this had. For nonfiction, it's a very fast read and very educational. The book provided me with more insight than I expected. ( )

While in a London bookstore, seeking out books to prepare himself for a prison lecture in front of a group of felons, author Kevin Rushby gets involved in a conversation about murder. So begins his fascination with the infamous Thugs or Thuggee, a bloodthirsty cult that would gain the confidence of travellers on the road before strangling and robbing them, all in the name of the goddess Kali. After hearing of the murderer and bandit Veerappan, who Rushby sees as a modern-day Thug, he sets out to India to find Veerappan and follow the trail of the original Thugs.

What he finds turns out to be surprising and much more complex. As he travels south from Mumbai to look for Veerappan and then north to where William Sleeman worked to eradicate Thuggee, Rushby gets a fascinatingly rounded picture of India, which was already starting to be transformed by its entry into the world service economy.

Rushby has a talent for description, an eye for detail, and a knack for finding the most interesting people. From a mysterious European to lecherous beat cops, his travel is full of fascinating people. The story he tells reflects an empathy towards the people he meets that allows the book to transcend the Orientalism that such an account risks. Rushby reports on an India that's complex and changing, full of poverty and corruption but also hard working and intelligent people. What originally started out as a quest for murderers ends up being a very humanistic account of a fascinating country. ( )