Confessions of a Thug

As nearly twenty years have elapsed since the original publication of this Work, a revised edition might, but for the present absorbing interest of Indian affairs, be considered unnecessary. On its first appearance-received as an exciting romance-the generality of readers little knew how much of melancholy and revolting truth lay beneath the surface. At the present time it may deserve a more attentive study; recent events will have too well prepared the Reader’s mind for implicit belief in all the systematic atrocities narrated: they are true, and most of them found their first record in legal and official documents brought under the notice of Captain Taylor, who from an early age possessed the rare advantage of long study and intimate knowledge of the languages, manners, and customs of the natives, Mahomedans as well as Hindoo. In fact, it may safely be affirmed, that the Reader will find no characters introduced, no scenes delineated, nor customs and manners of the East described, which have not been faithfully drawn from objects with which the writer was perfectly familiar.