History behind Temple of Doom

Strider

Strider

New member
I have also read up on the thuggies. A very interesting (and somewhat evil) culture. You should see the film "Gunga Din", It's one of the few other movies that involve the Thugs.
 
bob

bob

New member
Strider said:
I have also read up on the thuggies. A very interesting (and somewhat evil) culture. You should see the film "Gunga Din", It's one of the few other movies that involve the Thugs.
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Hmmmm be careful of movies about this subject
The Thuggees existed as bogeymen at the start of the 20th century, with little historical accuracy.
I mean just look at Temple of Doom, they did not really care about historical accuracy, they just constructed the most threatening villains they could think up combining elements of Voodo and Maya as well as Thugee/
 
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bungle92

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The Thuggee in real life were a secret Mafia-like society of criminals and thieves. They killed and robbed mostly travelers and then dropped thier bodies into pre-dug graves. The Thuggee in Temple of Doom are more based on the Thugs from Gunga Din and British literature. But half of the stuff they did in the movie were real too however: kidnapping children from nearby villages and then raising them to be part of the Thugs, human sacrifice, strangling people (when Indy is attacked in his room). The other half of Thug practices in Temple are a patchwork of various serial adventure staples: lava torture, voodoo dolls for example.

Oh, and the english word "thug" meaning violent criminal comes from these guys.
 
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bungle92

New member
Strider said:
I wonder if they really pulled peoples hearts out. (somehow I dought it).
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They didn't. The heart ripping thing is taken from the pagan worship of the Aztecs of ancient Mexico. In real life the Thuggee sacrifice was required to let out as little blood as possible.
 
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bungle92

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Strider said:
I can see that. But wasn't Gunga Din based on a true story?
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I'm pretty sure it wasn't based on a true story although the British were instrumental in getting rid of them.
 
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bungle92

New member
007 said:
Are there any book devoted to the history of the Thugee?
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The only books I could find are:

- Children of Kali: Through India in Search of Bandits, the Thug Cult, and the British Raj
by Kevin Rushby

- The Stranglers: The cult of Thuggee and Its Overthrow in British India

by George Bruce
 
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Luckylighter

New member
007 said:
Are there any book devoted to the history of the Thugee?
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There is an awesome book by fantasy writer Neil Gaiman called "American Gods." It imagines what would happen if the gods of all the immigrants who came here over the centuries took on lives on their own and lived among us as our butchers, our cab drivers, our bartenders, etc. And what if a war was brewing between the old gods--the spiritual gods--and the new gods of technology--the god of internet, the god of the mass media. There is a section with Kali that explains, briefly, her history and her followers. It was quite informative. Actually, the author did so much research on the subject of gods and mythology, and comparative religions, and it really shows in the book. Pretty much every myth and belief is represented as the old gods gather to wage war on the new gods.

By the way, my description of the book hardly does justice to the story. It is really an examination of the nature of folklore and its significance to a nation's identity.
 
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