Kalighat — The Goddess's Shadows

In the early 19th century, British India faced the threat of the Thugs, a secret society of bandits and ritualistic assassins, worshippers of the goddess Kali. Their acts, often involving strangulation, were seen as offerings to the dark goddess. The Raj government, led by figures like William Henry Sleeman, waged a fierce campaign to eradicate them, a mission that seemed accomplished by the 1830s, consolidating British control over the region.

However, a century later, in 1943, as Bengal was ravaged by a devastating famine, exacerbated by British wartime policies and disastrous resource management, social order collapsed. Amidst this chaos, whispers of a resurgence of the Thugs, or a sect claiming to be their heirs, began to circulate. These rumors, often linked to mysterious disappearances and the manipulation of starving populations, cast an even darker shadow over an era already marked by suffering and the concealment of truths by colonial power.