Confessions of a Thug. Taylor Meadows

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Название Confessions of a Thug
Автор произведения Taylor Meadows
Жанр Языкознание
Серия
Издательство Языкознание
Год выпуска 0
isbn 4057664166654



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had saved money enough to give a large sum at the court of Nagpoor for the office and lands of the Patelship (chief magistracy) of our village; nevertheless they pursued their profession of Thuggee. My grandfather, Kasim, as many of you know, was as notorious a leader of Thugs as any one has been since he died; and my father, who was then young, succeeded to his property and situation. Long he held it, and none arose to dispute his claim.

      "But his prosperity was not fated to last. Well do I remember the day when some soldiers, sent by order of the peshkar of the court, arrived at the village with an order to bring him to 'the Presence.' My father vainly endeavoured to learn from them the reason of this sudden call for him, as he was regular in his payments to the government; and finding reasoning would not avail, he strove to bribe the leader of the party into conniving at his absence. But all would not do; he was obliged to accompany them, and he took me with him at my earnest entreaty. I was then a young man, probably about the age of the Sahib-zada there. We reached Nagpoor after some long marches, and on our arrival we were cast into a vile prison, our legs loaded with irons, and we were denied the commonest comforts. We had no paun or tobacco, no clean clothes, were not allowed to see any one, and were given the coarsest and most wretched food to eat. In this manner we passed four long months. My father in vain entreated to know what he was accused of, or who was his accuser; and equally in vain were his attempts to have his situation made known to his family and friends. We wearied ourselves in our lonely prison with conjectures as to what the cause of the misfortune could be, but without success. At last, one day that wretch Brij Lall, who died last night by my hand, came into our prison attended by soldiers. My father gave himself up for lost, and thought his hour of death had arrived; but recovering, he appeared to recognise Brij Lall, and instantly assailed him with imprecations and abuse.

      "When he had finished, Brij Lall, eyeing him with a grim look, said—

      "'Pateljee! perhaps you will now condescend to give the government some account of the effects of Jeysookhdas, the merchant, who lived in your village, and about whose affairs you well know I was sent some years ago. You may also remember the reception and treatment you gave me, for which, by the blessing of God, I will now see whether I cannot effect a return.'

      "'Thou art a liar, and a base-born rascal of a mootsuddee!' cried my father, 'and not one word shalt thou ever know from my lips: send some one more fit to confer with Kasim Patel, and he will tell what he knows; but not one word to thee, thou dog and son of a dog.'

      "'We will see,' said the vile wretch; and making a sign to the soldiers with him, my poor father was seized; and a horse's nose-bag filled with hot ashes being tied over his head, he was thumped violently on the back till he was forced to inhale the hot dust, which nearly killed him. This was repeated several times, on every refusal to tell to Brij Lall what he desired to know. At last nature could bear no more, and he fainted. The wretch then left the prison, particularly ordering that no water should be given. But in this his vile intentions were frustrated; for fortunately some had remained from our morning's supply, and after sprinkling my father's face, and forcing a draught into his mouth, he recovered sufficiently to sit up and drink some more, which revived him."

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      "'I thought I should have died, my son,' said my father, at length; 'and see what a black heart that villain must have to treat an old man after that fashion. My curses on him and his! he will prosper awhile, but judgment for this and all his villanies will at last overtake him.'

      "'Tell me,' said I, 'what quarrel there is between you, and what cause he has to persecute you in this manner.'

      "'Listen,' he replied, 'and you shall know. Some years ago, when you were but a boy, Jeysookhdas, who was the principal sahoukar in the village, died. On his death-bed he sent for me, and delivering over his family to my care, entreated me as a Moosulman, and one of the faithful, to protect them against this Brij Lall, whom he had in the public durbar at Nagpoor beaten with a shoe, for slandering him in the vilest manner, with the intent of ruining his reputation. In fact, Brij Lall had accused him of making away with some of the revenue: for Jeysookhdas was the channel of payment not only of the revenue of our village, but of those around us, amounting in the year to nearly a lakh of rupees. Fortunately for him, the character of Jeysookhdas stood too high for the aspersions of a low wretch like this to hurt it, and no notice was taken of what he had said. But the insult he had received never left the mind of Brij Lall. He brooded over it, and made every attempt to ruin my old friend; who, as he had powerful enemies at the court, was ever afterwards kept in continual dread of being plundered under some false accusation, or cast into prison. At length however he died; and in our last interview he implored me to lose no time in sending off his wife and family to their country, Marwar, with their jewels and what money I could collect. I did so as soon as I possibly could, under an escort of our people, in case they should fall in with other Thugs on the road.

      "'They had scarcely been gone a week, when this Brij Lall and another mootsuddee came with an order from his master, Narayun Pundit, the Peshkar, to seize Jeysookhdas's family and effects. The order was a verbal one, and this being a very unusual circumstance, I directly refused to give any intelligence about the family, or account of the effects of the deceased. Brij Lall began to threaten, and at last became grossly abusive to me, on which I beat him with my shoe, had him turned out of the village, and he was pelted with mud and stones by all the idle lads, as he was conducted beyond the boundaries.

      "'I never heard anything more of Brij Lall; but I knew he was my enemy at court, as I could get no justice for many complaints I made against the ill conduct and aggressions of a neighbour, who had not only encroached on my boundaries, but seized grain which had been cut, on several occasions. This annoyance at last reached such a height, that I determined to send a deputation to the court to petition for redress. It was, however, fruitless; my people were openly opposed by Brij Lall, who it seemed had risen into great favour and power. I was openly accused as a usurper of the patelship of our village—a person was set up by Brij Lall as the descendant of the real patel; and so much countenance and support were given him, that my people returned to me in great alarm, and utterly discomfited.

      "'Since that time, my son—now about five years ago—I have been constantly alarmed by reports which have reached me through my friends at Nagpoor. I have been warned to beware of assassination, to allow no strange men to come into the village, nor to go anywhere without a sufficient escort. This, however, has not, as you know, interfered with our profession, which I have not neglected to follow; but in other respects I have been careful. In spite of all, however, we are fairly in his hands; and may Alla deliver us out of them!'

      "We remained some days without another visit from our tormentor; but at last he came again, and my poor father was again tortured in various ways, but without effect: he would tell nothing.

      "'You dare not kill me, cowardly kafir as you are,' cried he to Brij Lall; 'and, Inshalla! were I once out of this vile prison, you should see what a true Moosulman could do for himself. And I bid you beware.'

      "Brij Lall laughed at my father's impotent threats, and again left us.

      "We had remained in confinement for nearly three months, when one day one of the soldiers of our guard, won over by my father's promises, and really struck with the injustice of our case, agreed to convey a petition, which my father had drawn up, to a sahoukar with whom he was acquainted, who then managed the money affairs of our village, and resided in the city of Nagpoor.

      "He was extremely astonished to hear of our situation, and immediately set to work to procure our liberation. But this was no easy task; Brij Lall possessed the ear of the minister of the court, and every attempt our friend made was frustrated. At last he laid our case before the chief sahoukar of Nagpoor, a man of great influence, who went to the minister himself expressly on our behalf. We were told that the next day we were to appear in the durbar, and answer the accusations which had been made against us; and at the hour appointed we were taken to the house where the peshkar resided, and where he heard the various suits and cases which were brought before him.

      "Narayun