Svetltdz: New A Entry...

2026-03-19T17:39:03Z

New A Entry...

New page

{{short description|Indian criminal and informant (1800–1855)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2026}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2026}}
{{Infobox criminal
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Feringheea
| honorific_suffix =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image =
| image_upright =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{circa|1800}}
| birth_place = Murnae, [[Gwalior State]]
| disappeared_date =
| disappeared_place =
| disappeared_status =
| death_date = Late 1855 (aged 54–55) 
| death_place = [[Jubbulpore]], [[Jubbulpore Division]], [[Company rule in India|British India]]
| death_cause =
| body_discovered =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| monuments =
| other_names =
| citizenship =
| education =
| alma_mater =
| occupation =
| years_active = 1813 – {{circa|1817}}, 1821–1830
| employer =
| organization =
| agent =
| known_for = [[Turn state's evidence|Turning King's evidence]]
| notable_works =
| style =
| height =
| television =
| title = ''[[Jemadar]]''
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party =
| movement =
| opponents =
| boards =
| criminal_charge =
| conviction_penalty = Death, commuted to life imprisonment
| conviction_status =
| spouse = 
| children = 
| parents = 
| relatives =
| callsign =
| awards =
| website =
| allegiance = 
| motive =
| conviction = [[Thuggee]] (conditionally pardoned)
| trial = 
| trial_start =
| trial_end =
| reward_amount =
| capture_status =
| wanted_by =
| accomplices =
| wanted_since =
| time_at_large =
| escaped =
| escape_end =
| comments =
| victims = Confessed to 233 murders over 1827–1830 by various gangs under his leadership{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=287}}
| date =
| time =
| beginyear = 1813
| endyear = 1830
| country =
| states =
| locations = [[Indian subcontinent]]
| targets = Travellers
| fatalities =
| injuries =
| weapons =
| apprehended = November 1830
| imprisoned = Central Jail, Jubbulpore<br/>{{no wrap|Jubbulpore School of Industry}} from 1837
| module =
| signature =
| signature_size =
| signature_alt =
| footnotes =
}}

'''Feringheea''', also '''Feringeea''', was a ''[[thuggee]]'' gang leader who was captured in 1830 and subsequently became [[William Henry Sleeman]]'s most valuable approver (the period term for [[informant]]) during the British anti-thuggee campaign of the 1830s.{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=61}}

Feringheea became famous after he was featured as the fictional chief of the Thugs in the 1844–1845 [[Serial (literature)|serial novel]] ''[[Le Juif errant]]'', and later appeared as the main character in the 1877 novel ''Le Procès des Thugs''.{{sfn|Van Woerkens|2002|p=273}} The ''[[Independent on Sunday]]'' described him as "the [[Errol Flynn]] of Thugdom".{{sfn|Dash|2005|loc=blurbs}}

== Early life ==
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = vertical
| width = 250
| header =
| image1 = Map of india 1827.jpg
| alt1 =
| class1 = bg-transparent
| caption1 = Map of [[Company rule in India|India under Company rule]] and the [[Maratha Confederacy]] in 1827, with the Gwalior State in green
| image2 = Feringheea map.png
| alt2 =
| caption2 = Enlarged view of [[Northern India|Northern]] and [[Central India|Central]] India
}}
Feringheea was born into a [[Brahmin]] family in the village of Murnae, part of the [[House of Scindia|Scindia-ruled]] [[Gwalior State]].{{sfn|Wagner|2007|pp=96,107}}{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=82}} His grandfather and uncle are present in a 1797 tax list of ''[[Thuggee|thugs]]'' prepared for [[Maharaja]] [[Daulat Rao Sindhia|Daulat Rao Scindia]], with his grandfather listed as the father of five heads of families.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|pp=95,107}} Feringheea himself later claimed be a seventh-generation thug.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=107}}

The [[oral history]] of his birth held that he had been born during his family's flight from Murnae after General [[Pierre Cuillier-Perron|Pierre Perron]] sent a regiment to force his uncle to pay back a debt to the state of Rs 18,000.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|pp=96-97}}{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=82}} He was therein purpotedly named Feringheea after those leading the attack, ''feringhee'' meaning 'foreigners' or '[[European people|European]]s'.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=97}}{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=82}} Another version held that the village was attacked by Colonel [[Benoît de Boigne]] because the local ''[[zamindar]]s'' were rebelling against Scindia rule.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=97}} [[Kim A. Wagner]] finds it plausible that the village was attacked as part of a campaign commanded by Perron against a rebellion based in the fortress of [[Seondha]], as sources also mention a Captain Bellasis who may have been the 'Captain Bulust' mentioned in one account.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=97}} Feringheea's family lived in Murnae until 1812, when it was razed in retribution for the killing of a British officer during an expedition to introduce British law into the area.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|pp=73-74,107,175-176}}

Feringheea joined a band of 150 men for his first thuggee expedition to [[Kota, Rajasthan|Kota]] in 1813, where he may have aided in deceiving his first victim.{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=88}} He was present at the killing of a party of treasure bearers near the village of Sujaina in 1814, which netted the 40 thugs Rs 4,500.{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=90}} Feringheea thereafter abandoned thuggee and sought service in the [[Presidency armies|army of the East India Company]].{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=90}}{{efn|He claimed that this was because of a falling out with his cousin, but [[Mike Dash]] surmises that it may have been because the roads had become more dangerous as a byproduct of the 1817–1819 [[Third Anglo-Maratha War]].}} By 1821 he had risen to chief of the messenger service under [[British Resident]] at [[Delhi]] [[David Ochterlony]], though fled after his friend was caught with one of Ochterlony's [[maidservant]]s.{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=90}} Feringheea resumed his thuggee career, working with the gangs of [[Rajputana]] and [[Telangana]] as a ''[[jemadar]]'' (gang leader).{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=90}} In 1822, a gang under Feringheea was caught and had their faces blackened.{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=204}} In the cold season of 1828–1829, Feringheea and his gang strangled 77 men and three women and he spent four months of 1829 imprisoned in Alumpore before escaping.{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=169}}

== Capture and collaboration ==
In December 1829, Feringheea's gang of 40 thugs was ambushed and the majority of them captured by Company ''[[sepoy]]s'' while he was in a village obtaining supplies, with only 12 managing to escape.{{sfn|Dash|2005|pp=176-177}} Seven of the captured thugs agreed to become approvers and, by January 1830, they had informed the British of Feringheea's identity, aliases, appearance, habits, and the location of his home in the village of Gorha, near [[Jhansi]].{{sfn|Dash|2005|pp=177-178}} A patrol of ''[[wiktionary:Nujeeb|nujeeb]]s'' ([[militiamen]] used by the [[Thuggee and Dacoity Department|Thuggee Department]] as pseudo-[[police detective]]s under [[William Henry Sleeman]]) attempted a midnight raid on Feringheea's cottage, however he managed to escape out the back.{{sfn|Dash|2005|pp=xvii,178-179}}<ref>{{cite thesis|last=Lunt|first=Andrew Paul|date=2020|title=Crime, Mobility and State-Building in Western India, c. 1850 – 1920|work=PhD diss.|publisher=School of History, [[University of Leeds]]|pages=VII,77|url=https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/29533/1/WREO_Lunt_AP_History_PhD_2020.pdf}}</ref> The nujeebs instead arrested the remaining occupants of the house, including his mother, wife, and child.{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=179}}{{sfn|Wagner|2007|p=211}}

Feringheea returned to Gorha a few weeks later and formed a smaller gang, setting off in June or July.{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=182}} He was arrested near the [[Narmada River]] by the militia of a local ''[[Raja|rajah]]'', upon which his gang abandoned him, but was able to secure his release after two days and joined another band of thugs near [[Sagar, Madhya Pradesh|Sagar]].{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=182}} The gang was shortly arrested by the local ''[[daroga]]'' on suspicion of robbery, though Feringheea was again able to secure his release and retired to [[Bundelkhand]].{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=182}}

[[File:Sleeman feringheea genealogy.png|thumb|upright=1.2|left|[[Genealogy|Genealogical]] tree made by Sleeman of Feringheea's family, published in his 1836 book ''Ramaseeana'']]
By this point there was a Rs 500 reward on Feringheea and a group of Sleeman's nujeebs, escorted by approvers, tracked him down and arrested him in the village of Kisrae in November, taking him to Jhansi jail.{{sfn|Dash|2005|pp=183-184}} Upon receiving news of his capture, Sleeman travelled to Sagar to escort Feringheea back to [[Jubbulpore]] in person, which they reached in early December.{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=184}} Feringheea convinced Sleeman of his usefulness and was subsequently accepted as an approver.{{sfn|Dash|2005|pp=184-185}}{{sfn|Wagner|2007|pp=107-108}} To prove his reliability in January 1831, he provided the location for where 25 men had been buried over the past ten years in a spot outside the village of Salohda.{{sfn|Dash|2005|pp=185-186}} Feringheea became Sleeman's favourite approver and assisted investigations.{{sfn|Dash|2005|pp=187-188}} He was the most influential out of the roughly 100 thuggee approvers and his depositions feature more often in the Company's records than any other.{{sfn|Dash|2005|pp=187-188}}{{sfn|Wagner|2004|p=953}} After the arrest of 289 thugs following a sweep through the villages surrounding Jhansi, Feringheea identified 283 of them and provided details on most of their careers.{{sfn|Dash|2005|p=188}} Feringheea was returned to jail in 1832 and died in late 1855.{{sfn|Dash|2005|pp=272,279}}

== In popular fiction ==
[[File:Le Procès des Thugs cover.jpg|thumb|Cover of the first serial in ''Le Procès des Thugs'', depicting the Feringheea character (centre-left)]]
In the 1844–1845 [[Serial (literature)|serial]] ''[[Le Juif errant]]'' (''The Wandering Jew'') by [[Eugène Sue]], Feringheea (spelled Feringhea in the novel) appears as the chief of the Thugs, who are presented as products of the tyranny of [[Indian society]] and the exploitation of colonisers.{{sfn|Van Woerkens|2002|p=272}} Feringheea escapes India with three Thugs, planning to continue their activities in [[Java]] and all countries of oppression, misery, corruption, and slavery.{{sfn|Van Woerkens|2002|p=272}}

In the 1877 novel ''Le Procès des Thugs'' (''The Trial of Thugs'') by René de Pont-Jest [[:fr:René de Pont-Jest|{{small|[fr]}}]], Feringheea's name is given to the hero of the book, heavily inspired by ''[[Confessions of a Thug (novel)|Confessions of a Thug]]'', and leader of the Thugs.{{sfn|Van Woerkens|2002|pp=273,277}} The book centres around a spectacular trial in [[Madras]] focused on the Thugs' depravities, but which reveals the Thugs to be patriots against their British oppressors, later allying with the [[Fenians]].{{sfn|Van Woerkens|2002|pp=273-278}} The character of Feringheea testifies that he had been born in a marble palace with servants but had been kidnapped at a young age.{{sfn|Van Woerkens|2002|p=277}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book|last=Dash|first=Mike|author-link=Mike Dash|date=2005|title=Thug: The True Story of India's Murderous Cult|publisher=Granta|location=London|isbn=978-1-86207-846-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SUexMnaEaqkC}}
* {{cite book|last=Van Woerkens|first=Martine|title=The Strangled Traveler: Colonial Imaginings and the Thugs of India|date=2002|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, London|isbn=978-022-685-086-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I8e79rdIoEsC}}
* {{cite journal|last=Wagner|first=Kim A.|author-link=Kim A. Wagner|title=The Deconstructed Stranglers: A Reassessment of Thuggee|date=2004|journal=Modern Asian Studies|volume=38|issue=4|pages=931–963 |doi=10.1017/S0026749X04001258 |jstor=3876674}}
* {{cite book|last= Wagner|first=Kim A.|author-link=Kim A. Wagner|title=Thuggee: Banditry and the British in Early Nineteenth-Century India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R1CBDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26|year=2007|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=978-0-230-59020-5}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feringheea}}
[[Category:British India]]
[[Category:Indian bandits]]
[[Category:Outlaws]]
[[Category:Indian robbers]]
[[Category:Gangs in India]]
[[Category:Secret societies in India]]
[[Category:Secret societies related to organized crime]]
[[Category:1855 deaths]]

Feringheea - Revision history

Svetltdz: New A Entry...