K’s” that all Sikhs are supposed to wear,
so called because each of them begins
with the letter k: uncut hair(kesh), a
comb (kangha), a bangle on the right
wrist (kara), shorts (kacch), and a cere-
monial sword (kirpan). Many of Yogi
Bhajan’s followers keep the Sikh symbols
far more strictly than most people born
as Sikhs, but the movement has two
important divergences with the tradi-
tional Sikh community. One of these is
its emphasis on tantra, which has little
importance in the Sikh community. The
most significant difference, however, is
the religious authority that Yogi Bhajan
holds over his followers, which is very
different from the decentralized, essen-
tially democratic form of the traditional
Sikh community.
Thug
In the colonialist mythology describing
the savagery of the East and the demonic
qualities of Hinduism, one of the most
compelling stories is that of the Thugs, a
group of robbers who were devotees
(bhakta) of the goddess Kali. According
to popular belief, the Thugs were wide-
spread throughout India and frequented
the highways, seeking travelers as their
prey. They would travel with their vic-
tims, sometimes for days on end, and
then kill them—sometimes after giving
them sweets laced with drugs, and
sometimes simply by taking them by
surprise. The victims would be strangled
with a silken scarf, and whenever possi-
ble, no bloodwould be shed, for the vic-
tims’ blood was considered an offering
to the goddess Kali and thus should not
be spilled and wasted. The victims’
worldly possessions were claimed by the
Thugs themselves, in a division of the
spoils between deityand devotee. This
demonic practice persisted until the
1830s, when it was finally uprooted and
destroyed by the British.
Although the tale of the Thugs makes
a gripping story, much of it has been dis-
pelled by more careful recent scholar-
ship. One of the major factors in the rise
of the Thugs was the radical economic
dislocation caused by the arrival of the
British themselves. Many of the people
marginalized by these forces took to
wandering and, in their desperation,
resorted to banditry. These small-scale
and essentially local depredations were
transformed into a widespread religious
conspiracy. The myth of the Thugs cer-
tainly showed concern about the pre-
vailing law-and-order situation in
central India, but it may also have
reflected British colonial fears about
their ability to control their territory.
Even though there are references to the
Thugs in texts predating British contact,
on the whole, this was one of the more
enduring colonial stereotypes. For fur-
ther information see C. A. Bayly, Indian
Society and the Making of the British
Empire, 1988; and The Raj, 1990.Thursday
(Brhaspativar) The fifth day of the week,
whose presiding planet is Jupiter
(Brhaspati). Since in Hindu mythology
the sage Brhaspatiis the religious pre-
ceptor (guru) of the gods, another com-
mon name for Thursday is Guruvar. In
Hindu astrology (jyotisha) Jupiter is an
extremely powerful planet, and because
in religious life one’s spiritual preceptor
is often likened to a god, this makes
Thursday a ritually important and pow-
erful day. One of the “deities” to be hon-
ored and served on this day is one’s
religious preceptor.
Another deity worshiped on this day
is the goddess Lakshmi, who is wor-
shiped mainly by women. Lakshmi is
the wife of the god Vishnu and the
embodiment of wealth, prosperity, and
good fortune, which she brings with her
wherever she goes and removes when
she leaves. As the human counterpart to
Lakshmi, married women worshipher
to obtain these things or to retain them
if they already have them. Because it is
well known that good fortune is not per-
manent and can often change, Lakshmi
is also seen as a capricious and some-
what fickle divine presence. One of the
taboos for women, at least in parts ofThug