In honor of their guardian deity, there is a temple dedicated at Bindachul, near Jiirzapur, to the north of Bengal. When about to go out upon a murdering ex- pedition, the Thugs betook themselves to the temple of the goddess, presented their prayers, supplications, and offerings there, and vowed, in the event of success, to con- secrate to her service a large proportion of the booty. So implicit was their trust in Kali that no amount of misfortune, even death, could make them waver in their faith in her. All the evil that befell them they attrib- uted to a want of faithful observance of all the divinely appointed rules of their sanguinary craft. After every murder they performed a special solemnity called Tajmni, the principal feature of which consisted in addressing a prayer to the goddess, and in making the murderers partake of f/cmr, or consecrated sugar, the effect of which was believed to be irresistible. Another feast ob- served by the Thugs throughout India is Kuihae Ktvna, or Kote. It is also in honor of Kali, and the requisites for its celebration are goats, rice, ghee (butter), spices, and spirits. The superstitions of the Thugs are all of Hindu origin; but they are also adopted by the Mo- hammedans, who, while stout adherents to the tenets of the Koran, yet pay divine honors to the Hindu god- dess of destruction. This inconsistency they sometimes reconcile by identifying Kali, whose other name is Bhavani, with Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed, and wife of AH, and by saying that Fatima invented the use of the noose to strangle the great daemon Ru- kutbijdana.
At various periods steps have been taken by the na- tive and English governments to suppress the Thugs, but it is only since 1831 that energetic measures have been adopted by the British authorities to counteract the evil. This has been successfully accomplished by captain (afterwards Sir William) Sleeman, who secured the ar- rest of every known Thug, or relative of a Thug, in In- dia. They were colonized at Jubbulpore, where tech- nical instruction was afforded them and their children. Their descendants are still under government supervis- ion there, and the practice of Thuggee has become ex- tinct. For a fuller accoimt of the Thugs the reader is referred to Sleeman, Ramaseeana, or a Vucalndari/ of
the Peculiar Lavguage used hy the Thugs (183fi); Tay- lor, The Confessions of a Thug (Loud. 1858) ; Thornton, Illustrations of the History and Practices of the Thugs (ibid. 1837).
Thunibstall, in ecclesiastical nomenclature, is a ring, set with pearls and rubies, or a rich ornament worn by the bishop over that part of the thumb of his right hand which had been dipped in the chrism, or holy oil. This was worn out of respect to the holy oil, and to pre- serve his garments from stains. It was removed at that part of the service when he washed his hands. This ring was anciently called a " poucer."
Thum'mim. See Ukim and Thummim.
Thunder (prop. D>"^, raam, fSpovTr] ; occasionally [Exod. ix, 28, 29, 33, 34; xix, IG; xx, 18; 1 Sam. vii, 10; xii, 17, 18; Job xxviii, 26; xxxviii, 25] bip, kol, voice, as an elliptical expression for Jehovah's voice [Psa. xxix, 3 sq., etc.] ; so also in the plur. C^b'p, thun- ders, Exod. ix, 23, etc.; which is likewise elliptical for the full voices of God [ix, 28] ; once [Job xxxix, 19 (23)] erroneously in the A. V. for ■TC>'n, raamah, a shuddering, i. e. probably the mane of a horse as brist- ling and streaming in the wind). This sublimest of all the extraordinary phenomena of natur6 is jmetically represented as the voice of God, which the waters obeyed at the Creation (Psa. civ, 7; comp. Gen. i, 9). For other instances see Job xxxvii, 4, 6; xl, 9; Psa. xviii, 13 ; and especially ch. xxix, which contains a magnificent description of a thunder-storm. Agree- ably to the popular speech of ancient nations, the poet ascribes the effects of lightning to the thunder, "The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars" (ver. 5; comp. 1 Sam. ii, 19). In Jer. x, 13 the production of rain by lightning is referred to: " When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, he mak- eth lightnings with (or for) rain." See Rain. Thun- der is also introduced into the poetical allusion to the passage of the Red Sea in Psa. Ixxvii, 18. The plague of hail on the land of Egypt is very naturally repre- sented as accompanied with "mighty thunderings," which would be literally incidental to the immense agency of the electric fluid on that occasion (Exod. ix, 22-29, 33, 34). It accompanied the lightnings at the giving of the law (xix, 16; xx, 18). See also Psa. Ixxxi, 7, which probably refers to the same occasion, "I answered thee in the secret place of thunder,'" liter- ally, " in the covering of thunder," C""l "irD3, i. e. the thunder-clouds. It was also one of the grandeurs at- tending the divine interposition described in 2 Sam. xxii, 14; comp. Psa. xviii, 13. The enemies of Jehovah are threatened with destruction by thunder; perhaps, how- ever, lightning is included in the mention of the more impressive phenomenon (1 Sam. ii, 10). Such means are represented as used in the destruction of Senna- cherib's army ( Isa. xxix, .5-7; comp. xxx, 30-33). Bishop Lowth would understand the description as metaphorical, and intended, under a variety of expres- sive and sublime images, to illustrate the greatness, the suddenness, the horror of the event, rather than the manner by which it was effected (new transl., and notes ad loc). Violent thunder was employed by Jehovah as a means of intimidating the Philistines in their at- tack upon the Israelites, while Samuel was offering the burnt-offering (1 Sam. vii, 10; Ecclus. xlvi, 17). Homer represents Jupiter as interposing in a battle with thun- der and lightning (//loc/, viii, 75, etc. ; xvii, 594; see also Spence, Polymetis, Dial, xiii, 21 1). The term thun- der was transferred to the war-shout of a militari' leader ( Job xxxix, 25 ), and hence Jehovah is described as "causing his voice to be heard'' in the battle (Isa. xxx, 30). Thunder was miraculously sent at the request of Samuel (1 Sam. xii, 17, 18). It is referred to as a natu- ral phenomenon subject to laws originally appointed by the Creator (Job xxviii, 26; xxxviii, 25; Ecclus. xliii.