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their (later) wives, who, as in the case of S[=u]ry[=a), were probably only the female side of a god conceived of as androgynous, like Praj[=a]pat[=i] in the Brahmanic period.]
[Footnote 53: Historically, Thags, like Panj[ra]b, Santh[=a]ls, etc, is the more correct form, but phonetically the forms Thugs, Punj[=a]b, Sunth[=a]ls or Sonth[=a]ls, are correct, and (=a], the indeterminate vowel (like o in London), is generally transcribed by u or o (in Punj[=a]b, Nep[=all, the [=a] is pronounced very like au, and is sometimes written so, Punjaub, etc).]
[Footnote 54: The Jemidar, captain, gives the order to the Buttoat, strangler, who takes the rumal (yard of cotton) with a knot tied in the left end, and, holding his right hand a few inches further up, passes it from behind over the victim's head. As the latter falls the strangler's hands are crossed, and if done properly the Thugs say that "the eyes stand out of the head and life becomes extinct, before the body falls to the ground" (Notes on the 'Thags, Thugs, or Thegs,' by Lieutenant Reynolds, of whom Lieutenant-Colonel Smythe says that he knew more than any other European about the Thugs, 1836). The Buttoat received eight annas extra for his share. Each actor in the scene had a title; the victim was called Rosy. For their argot see the R[=a]maseeana.]
[Footnote 55: Thugs (defined as 'knaves' by Sherwood, more probably 'throttlers') must be distinguished from Decoits. The latter (Elphinstone, i. 384) are irreligious gangs, secretly bound together to sack villages. Peaceable citizens by day, the Decoits rise at night, attack a village, slay, torture, rob, and disappear before morning, 'melting into the population' and resuming honest toil. When the police are weak enough they may remain banded together; otherwise they are ephemerally honest and nocturnally assassins. The Thugs or Ph[=a]ns[=i]gars (ph[=a]ns[=il,
