Ian, this is absolutely fascinating to have this kind of first hand anthropological insight into this group of people in India! I am sure that the instance being described by Sinclair, the author of the excerpt I noted, was describing an instance which reflects the disdain of which you speak toward these people in that time.
With the extreme diversity in India of ethnicity, religion, and languages, these kinds of circumstances in the social spectrum are to be expected, and the prevalent caste systems that exist there surely add to such conflicts.
Interesting that you note the Romani ('gypsies') in comparison to the Koli, and from what I have studied of the Gypsies, the references to India being their ancestral source seems widely held. The 'gypsy' term, if I am not mistaken, may derive from 'Egyptian' which Europeans considered 'exotic' and a sort of pejorative slang term with reference to them.
With these itinerant groups of India, another coming to mind are the Lohar, to the north and into what is now Afghanistan, who were apparently tinkerers and metal workers. Apparently Lohar is another of India's dialectic languages and its name became applied to this group of people. They have become known for the distinct 'pick axes' known from Khyber regions and termed 'lohar' in the panoply of Indian arms.
Which brings me to the question you asked David, on the axes of the 'Thuggee'. As I mentioned, an axe purported to be one of these was handled by the commander of the fort in "Gunga Din", and if I recall was a hafted type similar to the 'lohar'.
As far as generally known, there are no examples of these secretive weapons to have survived, and little is known of them. From what I recall the only reference to them (which I found passim in one source) is that they were small and of a hafted type very similar to lohar (a kind of ravens beak form).
Apparently they were crafted by the thug individual himself and followed elaborate ceremony involving concoctions of milk etc. and one note indicated decoration with seven strategically placed red dots.
It is interesting that this description of these axes being made by each man himself is remarkably mindful of the same description made by Stone (1934) toward the lohar axes of the Khyber, which each tribesman ( I believe they were Bannuchi if I recall) made himself.
We are seeing connections of these tribal groups here, and with the seeming variations of religious ascetics and mendicants which include the well known 'fakirs' it would be a fascinating study to learn how they are connected or differ. The unusual assortment of weaponry broadly ascribed to 'fakirs' such as madu madu; fakirs crutch and others seem to have an arms genre of their own, to which the lohar, Thuggee axes and for that matter these 'lohangi' may be added.
I just noted with 'lohangi' a possible cognate with 'lohar' ?
Again.....the game is afoot!
