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45-596: Dacoity is a term used for " banditry " in the Indian subcontinent . The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word डाकू (ḍākū); "dacoit" / d ə ˈ k ɔɪ t / is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning. It appears in the Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases (1903). Banditry is a criminal activity involving robbery by groups of armed bandits. The East India Company established

90-529: A classic in the genre, and its success led to a surge of films in this genre, including Ganga Ki Saugandh (1978), once again starring Amitabh Bachchan and Amjad Khan. An internationally acclaimed example of the genre is Bandit Queen (1994). The Tamil movie starring Karthi , Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru (2017) deals elaborately with bandits. The film reveals the real dacoity incidents which held in Tamil Nadu between 1995 and 2005. Director Vinoth did

135-508: A commander sent to hunt down local bandits. However, such patronage did not guarantee immunity. An effective and determined official, empowered by influential superiors or eunuchs, could pose a severe threat to bandits’ survival. Through a well-planned raid, Ning Gao, a client of another powerful eunuch Liu Jin, successfully wounded and captured Zhang Mao, who was then transported to Beijing and executed. Even though bandits were subject to capital punishment, they could still be incorporated into

180-597: A large number of bandits were actually garrison soldiers and had access to and able usage of weapons and armors. Another skill was the ability to deploy road blocks to stop and prey on travelers. Once they forcefully acquired goods and commodities, bandits had to sell them. One 1485 official report revealed that local people, some probably working as fences (see Fences in Ming China ), purchased stolen animals and goods from highway bandits at lower prices. Robinson further points out that "[a] widespread network to dispose of

225-689: A living. Also, policies and conditions in the Capital Region provided opportunities for soldiers/bandits to dodge governmental punishment. During the Ming Dynasty, military and civil jurisdictions were separated. This was especially troubling when soldiers lived physically far from their superiors: when soldiers committed robbery, civil officials had no jurisdiction nor power to apprehend them. Policy of transporting nearby garrisons to Beijing for annual training also created opportunities for banditry. One official reported that soldiers travelling by

270-567: A symbiotic relationship with their followers. Among other benefits, a Sirdar would lend loans to members and provide them protection. This allowed for the formation of a special bond between Sirdar and his followers, which meant that cases of desertion and exiting the gang were virtually unheard of. In Burdwan, dacoities were heavily planned, and considerable thought was put into their seamless execution. Sirdars in Burdwan employed several informants who kept them updated about prospective targets. When

315-516: A target was finalized, the Sirdar and relevant gang members were constantly made aware of his whereabouts. The informants were always on the lookout for wealthy business people and kept a close watch on those who exchanged bank notes of considerable value or received a shipment of merchandise they would store in their houses. The term is also applied, according to the OED , to "pirates who formerly infested

360-575: A two-year research about bandits to develop the script. A related genre of crime films are Mumbai underworld films . Bengali novel Devi Chowdhurani by author Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1867. Bengali poem Birpurush by Rabindranath Tagore in 1903. A Hindi novel named Painstth Lakh ki Dacoity (1977) was written by Surender Mohan Pathak ; it was translated as The 65 Lakh Heist . Dacoits armed with pistols and swords appear in Age of Empires III: Asian Dynasties . They frequently appeared in

405-403: A village defence group have been issued firearm permits to fend off dacoity. The Chief minister of the state, Shivraj Singh Chouhan , recognised the role the women had played in defending their villages without guns. He stated that he wanted to enable these women to better defend both themselves and their villages, and issued the gun permits to advance this goal. As the dacoits flourished through

450-456: Is Sholay (1975), written by Salim–Javed , and starring Dharmendra , Amitabh Bachchan , and Amjad Khan as the dacoit character Gabbar Singh . It was a masala film that combined the dacoit film conventions of Mother India and Gunga Jumna with that of Spaghetti Westerns , spawning the "Dacoit Western" genre, also known as the "Curry Western" genre. The film also borrowed elements from Akira Kurosawa 's Seven Samurai . Sholay became

495-638: The OED ("A member of a class of robbers in India and Burma , who plunder in armed bands"). The dacoity have had a large impact in the Bhind and Morena of Chambal regions in Madhya Pradesh , Rajasthan , Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in north-central India. The exact reasons for the emergence of dacoity in the Chambal valley have been disputed. Most explanations have suggested feudal exploitation as

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540-655: The Ganges between Calcutta and Burhampore ". Dacoits existed in Burma as well— Rudyard Kipling 's fictional Private Mulvaney hunted Burmese dacoits in " The Taking of Lungtungpen ." Sax Rohmer 's criminal mastermind Dr. Fu Manchu also employed Burmese dacoits as his henchmen . Indian police forces use "Known Dacoit" (K.D.) as a label to classify criminals. Introduced in 1836, the suppression acts brought about several legislative measures, including establishing special courts, authorization for using rewards for informants, and

585-613: The Greater Germanic Reich as "bandits" — dangerous criminals who did not deserve any consideration as human beings. German authorities suppressed partisan opposition with maximum force and, usually, with the mass slavery of civilians from partisan -controlled areas. Banditry (Dao, qiangdao) in Ming China (1368–1644) was defined by the Ming government as “‘robbery by force’ punishable by death.” But throughout

630-487: The Holy Roman Empire was Acht or Reichsacht , translated as " Imperial ban ". In modern Italian, the equivalent word "bandito" literally means banned or a banned person. The New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (NED) defined "bandit" in 1885 as "one who is proscribed or outlawed ; hence, a lawless desperate marauder, a brigand : usually applied to members of the organized gangs which infest

675-695: The Thuggee and Dacoity Department in 1830, and the Thuggee and Dacoity Suppression Acts, 1836–1848 were enacted in British India under East India Company rule . Areas with ravines or forests, such as Chambal and Chilapata Forests , were once known for dacoits. The word "dacoity" is an anglicized version of the Hindi word ḍakaitī (historically transliterated dakaitee ). Hindi डकैती comes from ḍākū (historically transliterated dakoo , Hindi : डाकू, meaning "armed robber"). The term dacoit ( Hindi : डकैत ḍakait ) means "a bandit " according to

720-530: The Unification of Italy in the 1860s. Brigands such as Carmine Crocco , Michelina Di Cesare , Ninco Nanco , and Nicola Napolitano were active during this period and eventually developed followings as folk heroes . Brigandage in Southern Italy continued sporadically following the 1870s, with brigands such as Giuseppe Musolino and Francesco Paolo Varsallona forming bandit gangs at the turn of

765-1023: The 1940s–1970s, they were the subject of various Hindi films made during this era, leading to the emergence of the dacoit film genre in Hindi Film Industry . The genre began with Mehboob Khan 's Aurat (1940), which he remade as Mother India (1957). Mother India received an Academy Award nomination, and defined the dacoit film genre, along with Dilip Kumar 's Gunga Jumna (1961). Other popular films in this genre included Raj Kapoor ’s Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1961) and Moni Bhattacharjee 's Mujhe Jeene Do (1963). Pakistani actor Akmal Khan had two dacoit films, Malangi (1965) and Imam Din Gohavia (1967). Other films in this genre included Khote Sikkay (1973), Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971), and Kuchhe Dhaage (1973) both by Raj Khosla . The most famous dacoit film

810-561: The 20th century. Salvatore Giuliano and Gaspare Pisciotta formed a brigand group in Sicily in the 1940s to 1950 and similarly became known as folk heroes. Sardinia has a long history of banditry , with the bandit and kidnapping group anonima sarda being the most recent manifestation of this phenomenon. In Nazi-occupied Europe from 1939 to 1945, the German doctrine of Bandenbekämpfung ("bandit fighting") portrayed opponents of

855-459: The Capital Region throughout the first three decades of the sixteenth century. They had posed such serious threat that special police attention was given to them and failure to arrest them on time incurred severer punishment (further information on Ming justice system can be found in History of criminal justice ). Ming historian David M. Robinson identifies some prominent causes of banditry in

900-628: The Capital Region. The Region was agriculturally disadvantaged due to constant flood, and thus the peasants often lived in poverty. Furthermore, the Region's economy provided plentiful opportunities for highway robbery. In addition to the highly developed economy of Beijing, the Region also contained numerous commercial cities; these cities not only attracted merchants but also bandits. Robinson also points out that many eunuchs in Beijing resorted to banditry. As Shih-Shan Henry Tsai explained, self-castration

945-534: The French language Bob Morane series of novels by Henri Vernes , principally as the main thugs or assassins of the hero's recurring villain, Mr. Ming and in English as the agents of Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu. Banditry The term bandit (introduced to English via Italian around 1776) originates with the early Germanic legal practice of outlawing criminals, termed *bamnan (English ban ). The legal term in

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990-584: The Grand Canal from adjacent garrisons to the capital committed robbery and murder against civilian travelers and merchants; on the land, these soldiers had fallen into mounted banditry as well. Bandits’ technique involved the martial skills to use various weapons, ranging from bows and arrows to swords. Another important skill was horsemanship, especially in the Northern Capital Region, where mounted banditry concentrated. As shown above,

1035-573: The Ming and the Qing Dynasties to analyze patterns of violence during the Ming Dynasty. Tong analyzes that the peasants had to make a "rational choice" between surviving harsh conditions and surviving through illegal activities of banditry. He identifies multiple important factors in peasants' calculation of whether to become bandits or not, such as the government's ability to punish bandits. Tong concludes that his "rational choice model predicts that there would be more rebellions and banditry where

1080-494: The benefits of supporting rebel cause but they also could be repelled to join; as a result, the 1510s rebels attracted a lot of local bandits and outlaws as they moved from one place to another. Marauding was one of the most common peasant reactions to oppression and hardship. In early Republican China , the growth of warlord armies during the Warlord era was also accompanied by a dramatic increase in bandit activity exploiting

1125-625: The cause that provoked many people in this region to take arms. The area was also underdeveloped and poor, so banditry posed great economic incentives. However, the fact that many gangs operating in this valley were composed of higher castes and wealthy people appears to suggest that feudalism may only be a partial explanation of dacoity in Chambal Valley (Bhaduri, 1972; Khan, 1981; Jatar, 1980; Katare, 1972). Furthermore, traditional honour codes and blood feuds would drive some into criminality. In Chambal, India, organized crime controlled much of

1170-475: The countryside from the time of the British Raj up to the early 2000s, with the police offering high rewards for the most notorious bandit chiefs. The criminals regularly targeted local businesses, though they preferred to kidnap wealthy people and demand ransom from their relatives – cutting off fingers, noses, and ears to pressure them into paying high sums. Many dacoity also posed as social bandits toward

1215-506: The dacoits of Bengal, the colonial official CH Keighly mentions the “great difference between gangs of hereditary dacoits or thugs in other parts of India and the dacoits of Bengal”. It is notable that, unlike the rest of India, dacoits in Bengal did not come from a particular social class, caste, or creed. Dacoit gangs in Nadia and Hooghly were mainly known for their ceremonial practices before

1260-443: The dynasty, people had entered into the occupation of banditry for various reasons and the occupation of banditry was fluid and temporary. Ming China was largely an agricultural society and contemporary observers remarked that famine and subsequent hardship often gave rise to banditry. In his 1991 book Disorder under Heaven: Collective Violence in the Ming Dynasty , James W. Tong uses data from provincial and prefectural gazetteers of

1305-454: The fading of dacoity was also due to social changes, as few young people were any longer willing to endure the harsh life of highway robbers in the countryside. Instead, they prefer to join crime groups in the city, where life is easier. While thugs and dacoits operating in northern and central India are more popularly known and referenced in books, films, and academic journals, a significant number of accounts also come from Bengal. Writing about

1350-740: The field in the 1969 study Bandits . Social banditry is a widespread phenomenon that has occurred in many societies throughout recorded history, and forms of social banditry still exist, as evidenced by piracy and organized crime syndicates. Tradition depicts medieval German robber barons as bandits. Pope Sixtus V had about 5,000 bandits executed in the five years before his death in 1590, but there were reputedly 27,000 more at liberty throughout Central Italy . Banditry or brigandry , while existing in Italy since pre-historic times, became particularly widespread in Southern Italy following

1395-534: The leadership of Liu Brothers, Tiger Yang raided and plundered Shandong and Henan. Their illegal actions eventually evolved into open rebellion against the Ming Dynasty as they blatantly besieged cities, seized imperial weaponry, extended area of operation southward, and even assumed rhetoric and attire of an imperial dynasty. The rebellion took the Ming almost two years to crush. Similarly, small groups of local bandits could also end up joining larger groups of rebels. Robinson points out that bandits obviously perceived

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1440-466: The likelihood of surviving hardship is minimal but the likelihood of surviving as an outlaw is maximal." As a result, Tong finds that banditry, like other types of collective violence, had a spatial and temporal pattern. Banditry was especially pervasive in the southern provinces (most notably Guangdong and Fujian) and the second half of the dynasty (1506-1644). However, the Northern China and

1485-480: The local poor, paying medical bills and funding weddings. One ex-dacoit described his criminal past by claiming that "I was a rebel. I fought injustice." Following intense anti-banditry campaigns by the Indian Police, highway robbery was almost completely eradicated in the early 2000s. Nevertheless, Chambal is still popularly believed to be unsafe and bandit-infested by many Indians. One police officer noted that

1530-434: The middle Ming period (1450–1525) had their fair share of banditry. Mounted banditry was the major and pervasive type of banditry plaguing roads around the capital Beijing and its surrounding areas, administrated and named as the Capital Region. Xiangmazei (whistling arrow bandits) was a category of mounted bandits named after their practice of firing whistling arrows to alert their victims. Whistling arrow bandits had troubled

1575-465: The mountainous districts of Italy, Sicily, Spain, Greece, Iran, and Turkey". In modern usage the word has become a synonym for "thief", hence the term "one-armed bandit" for gambling machines that can leave the gambler with no money. " Social banditry " is a term invented by the historian Eric Hobsbawm in his 1959 book Primitive Rebels , a study of popular forms of resistance that also incorporate behaviour characterized as illegal. He further expanded

1620-418: The night of dacoity. Before setting off for their mission, the members would assemble to perform “kalipuja” led by the Sirdar (leader). The dacoits would form a straight line, and a pot of liquor, torches, and weapons to be used in the dacoity would be laid down in a clear space. The Sirdar would then dip his finger in oil and touch the forehead of all the dacoits, making them promise never to confess. Even during

1665-666: The power to arrest suspects. The suppression acts marked the beginning of active British intervention in policing and law enforcement in Indian society. These acts were known to be authoritarian and further deepened the uneven power dynamic between the British and the Indians. The British often saw Indians as primitive, violent, and unruly, and this often acted as a justification for colonization and further consolidated their “civilization mission” pretext. The practice of thuggee and dacoity

1710-451: The raid, when dacoits opened chests and discovered a good fortune, they would shout “Kali, Jai Kali”. Dacoity was prevalent in 19th century West Bengal. One of the gangs, led by a charismatic leader named Bhabani Pathak, was known for its loyalty to their leader. After the British captured Bhabani, the inner workings and social factors that led to the construction of this gang were revealed. Leaders such as Bhabani were known as Sirdars and had

1755-581: The regime, serving as local police forces and personal soldiers employed by officials to secure order and suppress bandits. Such transition was not permanent and could often be reversed. Tiger Yang once served as a personal military retainer of the aforementioned Ning Gao before turning to banditry; similarly, when facing unemployment, some of Ning's former "bandit catchers" simply joined the bandit leaders Liu Brothers. The career of banditry often led leaders to assemble more bandits and army deserters and organize predatory gangs into active rebel groups. One example

1800-609: The stolen livestock linked" towns in the Capital Region to nearby provinces. The career nor the identity of a bandit was permanent. Some bandits actually had a settled life and were even married. Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty relates that the great bandit Zhang Mao lived in a big mansion in his hometown Wenan. Similarly, Zhang's comrades Liu Brothers and Tiger Yang had wives and children. Bandits often operated in groups under one or more leaders. These charismatic leaders were not only skilled in fighting and riding but also possessed material and social capital. One exemplary leader

1845-557: Was Gao Yingxiang, who started as a mounted bandit in Shaanxi and later became an important rebel leader in late Ming. Another example would be Deng Maoqi, a bandit in Fujian who perpetrated robbery on roads and in villages in the late 1440s. His gang of bandits eventually grew into a rebel army and Deng conducted attacks on the government in Fujian. Bandit-rebels were not only common in late Ming. In 1510 and 1511, several bandit gangs under

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1890-410: Was Zhang Mao of Wenan. He had assembled a massive following and by using his connection and wealth, he managed to bribe and befriend important eunuchs in the court. Of course, the Ming government used a heavy hand to crack down on banditry. Local commanders and constables were responsible for apprehending bandits, but the emperors often dispatched special censors to cope with rampant banditry. Ning Gao

1935-644: Was just another way to escape impoverishment; and when a group of eunuchs failed to find employment in the palace, they often turned to mob violence. The Capital Region also housed a huge number of soldiers with Ming's system of hereditary military and a major portion of bandits were actually soldiers stationed in the region. In 1449, Mongolian soldiers in the service of Ming attacked and plundered Beijing area. Another report of 1489 attested that soldiers had raided in Henan province. Robinson points out that "dire economic straits" forced soldiers to use illegal means to make

1980-425: Was one of the censors of 1509, and he employed gruesome means such as display of severed heads and body parts to kill off existing bandits and to intimidate potential ones. Other than escaping to difficult terrains, powerful bandits used their connections with high-standing figures in the capital to negotiate safety. In one occasion, the influential eunuch Zhang Zhong helped his sworn brother Zhang Mao to negotiate with

2025-414: Was seen in a similar Eurocentric light without understanding the local context. An orientalist view of such activities was portrayed in the rest of the world to account for several repressive legislative measures that the British took. Under this punitive approach, several innocent individuals fell prey to false suspicion and were incriminated. Notable dacoits include: In Madhya Pradesh, women belonging to

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