Thought I'd give this a bump.....still an interesting topic !! Still no evidence of an actual axe with connections to the thugs. Its seems funny how that word has been used to describe unsavory characters through the years, but few people ever know where the term came from.
Thought maybe I'd specify what it is that still intrigues me, though it has been mentioned since I started this topic in 2007......wow, its been a minute! There are hopefully new readers and contributors out there as many from these earlier threads have essentially, and unfortunately, ceased writing here.
It has been suggested that the 'thuggee' situation was actually something contrived in the time of the British Raj as a sensationalized matter which created fear and support in their bid to control these populations in India, based on the fact that prior to the British coming to power there had been no active awareness of any such cult in native context. Naturally these matters always have more than one side, so bringing it up here is not intended for contention, but simply noted toward discussion on where the 'thuggee' phenomenon began.
As noted from the beginning of this thread, my personal interest was generated from the 1939 movie "Gunga Din" (Cary Grant, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) which I watched countless times
and being intrigued by the mysterious 'thuggee' cult, with the commanding officer holding the deadly axe used by them. Over the years I wanted to discover..was there such a group, and what were these deadly axes.
It seems clear that Hollywood seized on the longstanding lore of the Raj, and created their interpretation of the thuggee cult and axes. The axe used in the film appears to be a rather standard pickaxe tool. That aspect of the overall interpretation is of most concern here, outside the many other details on the thuggee.
As has been mentioned many times over these years, one of the most likely candidates for the apocryphal 'axe of the thuggee', is IMO the 'LOHAR' of the Indian northwest. These curious axes seem described typically (Stone, 1934) as the small axe of the Banochie/ Bannuchi tribe in Bannu Khyber regions. There is the suggestion that these axes are key personal items of these tribesmen and that each man crafts his own weapon. These axes are typically it seems smaller versions of the Indian 'zaghnal' (dagger axe) which were heavier war axes used by horsemen. With this came the notion that these were deadly combat weapons, and other ideas being the overplayed version of use for hamstringing horses (used in numerous other ethnographic weapon cases).
In Indian ethnography, the Lohar are noted as an ethnic group situated in Uttar Pradesh, Nepal, Jharkhand, but noted in Punjab as well. The word in Sanskrit means iron, metalworker etc. Some references indicate these Lohar were itinerant metal workers.
In the references I have seen on Thugs, it is said as part of their tradition, EACH MAN MUST MAKE HIS OWN AXE.........sounds like the Bannuchi story, each man makes his own axe (lohar).
The Thugs version have each axe commonly marked with 7 red dots (the meaning of this is not referenced anywhere I have found). Supposedly the cult purpose is to worship the Hindu goddess Kali. However a good percentage of the Thugs were apparently Muslim.
The lohar axe, despite notions as a weapon, is too small typically for such use in combat, however it could be easily concealed and used as a weapon covertly, which seems more likely.
In the Thug version, it seems odd that the axe was so important , as the method of dispatching victims was strangulation, and mention of these axes as weapons is made. However, one reference notes use for grave digging to 'hide bodies'.
All of this sounds profoundly contrived, and the interpolation of these elements seems at hand.
Again, I hope perhaps anyone has ever seen any example or reference to a Thug axe, or has ideas in regard to my lohar theory.
Whatever the case, it was indeed an interesting topic.