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{{Short description|Term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent}}
{{For|the graffiti artist from India|Daku (artist)}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2008}}

'''Dacoity''' is a term used for "[[banditry]]" in the [[Indian subcontinent]]. The spelling is the [[anglicised]] version of the [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]] word ''daaku''; "dacoit" {{IPAc-en|d|ə|ˈ|k|ɔɪ|t}} is a colloquial [[Indian English]] word with this meaning and it appears in the [[Hobson-Jobson|''Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases'']] (1903).<ref>Here, "Anglo-Indian" refers to the language, or linguistic usage. See: Yule, Henry and Burnell, Arthur Coke (1886; reprinted 1903). ''[[Hobson-Jobson|Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive]]''. London: J. Murry. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6Z5iAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA290#v=twopage&q&f=false 290]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140628030029/http://books.google.com/books?id=6Z5iAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA290 |date=2014-06-28 }}.</ref> [[Bandit#Banditry|Banditry]] is criminal activity involving robbery by groups of armed bandits. The [[East India Company]] established the [[Thuggee and Dacoity Department]] in 1830, and the [[Thuggee and Dacoity Suppression Acts, 1836–1848]] were enacted in [[British India]] under [[Company rule in India|East India Company rule]]. Areas with ravines or forests, such as [[Chambal division|Chambal]] and [[Chilapata Forests]], were once known for dacoits.

==Etymology==
The word "dacoity", the [[anglicise|anglicized]] version of the [[Hindi language|Hindi]] word ''ḍakaitī'' (historically spelled ''dakaitee''). [[Hindi]] डकैती comes from ''ḍākū'' (historically spelled ''dakoo'', [[Hindi]]: डाकू, meaning "armed robber").

The term '''dacoit''' ([[Hindi]]: डकैत ''ḍakait'') means "a [[bandit]]" according to the ''[[OED]]'' ("A member of a class of robbers in India and [[Burma]], who plunder in armed bands").

==History==
=== Bandits of Morena and Chambal ===
The dacoity have had a large impact in the [[Morena]] and [[Chambal Division|Chambal]] regions in [[Madhya Pradesh]], [[Rajasthan]], [[Haryana]] and [[Uttar Pradesh]] in north-central India.<ref name="trekking">{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/02/dacoit-highway-robbers-in-india/ |title=Trekking India's wild north, where bandits ruled |author=Paul Salopek |work=National Geographic |date=6 February 2019 |access-date=7 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209124421/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/02/dacoit-highway-robbers-in-india/ |archive-date=9 February 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> The exact reasons for the emergence of dacoity in the Chambal valley has been disputed. Most explanations have simply suggested feudal exploitation as the cause that provoked many people of this region to take to arms. The area was also underdeveloped and poor, so that banditry posed great economic incentives.<ref name="trekking" /> 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 honor codes and [[blood feud]]s would drive some into criminality.<ref name="trekking" />

In Chambal,India, organized crime controlled much of 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 bandit]]s toward the local poor, paying medical bills and funding weddings. One ex-dacoit described his own criminal past by claiming that "I was a rebel. I fought injustice."<ref name="trekking"/> 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 the fading of the dacoity was also due to social changes, as few young people were any longer willing to endure the harsh life as highway robber in the countryside. Instead, they prefer to join crime groups in the city, where life is easier.<ref name="trekking"/>

=== Other dacoity ===
The term is also applied, according to the ''[[OED]]'', to "pirates who formerly infested the [[Ganges]] between [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] and [[Baharampur|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 [[Fu Manchu|Dr. Fu Manchu]] also employed Burmese dacoits as his [[henchmen]].

Indian police forces use "Known Dacoit" (K.D.) as a label to classify criminals.

==Notable dacoits==
[[File:A family of Indian dacoits (c. 1900s).jpg|thumbnail|A family of Indian dacoits]]
Notable dacoits include:
*[[Gabbar Singh Gujjar]] - inspired the* famous 1975 film ''[[Sholay]]'', based on his life<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-32493120|title=Archived copy|access-date=2018-08-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805184158/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-32493120|archive-date=2018-08-05|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Paan Singh Tomar]] - soldier, athlete, who resorted to becoming a Baaghi due to the injustice he faced. Also inspired the famous film of [[Irrfan Khan]].
*[[Man Singh (dacoit)|Daku Man Singh]]<ref>Staff (5 September 1955) [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,893055,00.html "India: Dead Man"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130055612/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,893055,00.html |date=2010-11-30 }} ''Time magazine''</ref>
*Sultana singh Gujjar

*[[Dadua|Dadua Patel]]
*[[Veerappan]]
*[[Jagga Jatt]]
*[[Phoolan Devi]]<ref>{{cite news | author= Phoolan Devi | author2= Marie-Therese Cuny | author3= Paul Rambali | name-list-style= amp | title= The Bandit Queen of India: An Indian Woman's Amazing Journey from Peasant to International Legend | publisher = Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2006 | ISBN= 978-1-59228-641-6 }}</ref>
*[[Nirbhay Gujjar]] - the last dacoit of Chambal<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.southasianpost.com/portal2/ff8080810ec3b59f010ec3d055ad00bb.do.html |title=The 'Last Lion of Chambal' gunned down by police |date=20 September 2005 |publisher=www.southasianpost.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716113513/http://www.southasianpost.com/portal2/ff8080810ec3b59f010ec3d055ad00bb.do.html |archive-date=16 July 2011 }}</ref>
*Chavviram Singh Yadav
*Kalua Yadav
* Biswanath Sardar
* Ramesh Singh Sikarwar
* Amritlal Kirar<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bhaskar.com/news/KZHK-ramesh-singh-sikarwar-video-52-murder-100-robberies-5665508-NOR.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2018-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310010538/https://www.bhaskar.com/news/KZHK-ramesh-singh-sikarwar-video-52-murder-100-robberies-5665508-NOR.html |archive-date=2018-03-10 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Rambabu Gadariya and Dayaram Gadariya<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Gang-of-Brothers-The-Gadariya-story/articleshow/918132.cms|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908083357/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Gang-of-Brothers-The-Gadariya-story/articleshow/918132.cms|url-status=dead|archive-date=2015-09-08|title=Gang of Brothers: The Gadariya story - The Times of India|date=2015-09-08|access-date=2019-12-06}}</ref>
*Hafizullah<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/dreaded-gangsters-gunned-down-in-gomti-nagar/story-u69ZIBzDlQFeIzfjlgoRHO.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630105336/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/dreaded-gangsters-gunned-down-in-gomti-nagar/story-u69ZIBzDlQFeIzfjlgoRHO.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2018-06-30|title=Dreaded gangsters gunned down in Gomti Nagar {{!}} india {{!}} Hindustan Times|date=2018-06-30|access-date=2019-12-06}}</ref>
*[[Nizam Lohar]]
*[[Malangi (Dacuit)|Malangi]]
* Nihal Singh Meena
* Lotiya Meena
* Narain Singh Meena
* Bhanwar Meena
*[[Mohar Singh (dacoit)|Mohar Singh]]
* Ratnakar (became Sage [[Valmiki]])

==Protection measures==
In Madhya Pradesh, women belonging to 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.<ref>[http://www.learnaboutguns.com/2008/05/27/indian-women-granted-gun-permits-to-fend-off-armed-robbers/ "Indian Women Granted Gun Permits to Fend Off Armed Robbers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081123050813/http://www.learnaboutguns.com/2008/05/27/indian-women-granted-gun-permits-to-fend-off-armed-robbers/ |date=2008-11-23 }} LearnAboutGuns.com</ref>

==In popular culture==
===Dacoit films===
As the dacoits flourished through 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 [[Bollywood]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/out-of-eden-walk/articles/2019-02-last-dacoits/ |date=6 February 2019 |title=Outlaw Trails |first=Paul |last=Salopek |publisher=[[National Geographic Society]] |quote=They have grown up on news accounts and Bollywood movies about the remote Chambal, a vast badland at the northern heart of their country: a no-go zone of lumpy hills and silty rivers infested with thugs, robbers, murderers, gangsters—with infamous highwaymen called dacoits. |access-date=13 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214002744/https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/out-of-eden-walk/articles/2019-02-last-dacoits/ |archive-date=14 February 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> The genre began with [[Mehboob Khan]]'s ''[[Aurat (1940 film)|Aurat]]'' (1940), which he remade as ''[[Mother India]]'' (1957). ''Mother India'' received an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] nomination, and defined the dacoit film genre, along with [[Dilip Kumar]]'s ''[[Gunga Jumna]]'' (1961).<ref name="Teo">{{cite book|last=Teo|first=Stephen|title=Eastern Westerns: Film and Genre Outside and Inside Hollywood|date=2017|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|isbn=9781317592266|page=122|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pi8lDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA122|language=en|access-date=2017-11-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171130151204/https://books.google.com/books?id=pi8lDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA122|archive-date=2017-11-30|url-status=live}}</ref> 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).<ref>{{cite magazine|title=THE REAL LIFE HERO|url=http://www.screenindia.com/news/THE-REAL-LIFE-HERO/318575/|date=Jun 6, 2008|magazine=[[Screen (magazine)|Screen]]|access-date=1 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100303083722/http://www.screenindia.com/news/THE-REAL-LIFE-HERO/318575/|archive-date=3 March 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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 is ''[[Sholay]]'' (1975), written by [[Salim–Javed]], and starring [[Dharmendra]], [[Amitabh Bachchan]], and [[Amjad Khan (actor)|Amjad Khan]] as the dacoit character [[Gabbar Singh (character)|Gabbar Singh]]. It was a [[masala film]] that combined the dacoit film conventions of ''Mother India'' and ''Gunga Jumna'' with that of [[Spaghetti Western]]s, spawning the "Dacoit Western" genre,<ref name="Teo"/> also known as the "Curry Western" genre. The film also borrowed elements from [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s ''[[Seven Samurai]]''.<ref name="nyt">{{cite news|title=G. P. Sippy, Indian Filmmaker Whose ''Sholay'' Was a Bollywood Hit, Dies at 93 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/arts/27Sippy.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=23 February 2011 |first=Haresh |last=Pandya |date=27 December 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110828135232/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/arts/27Sippy.html |archive-date=28 August 2011 }}</ref> ''Sholay'' became 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 [[H. Vinoth|Vinoth]] did a two-year research about bandits to develop the script.

A related genre of crime films are [[Mumbai underworld films]].

===Other media===
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 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.

== See also ==
*[[Meenas]]
*[[Organised crime in India]]
*[[Criminal Tribes Act]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Phoolan Devi, with Marie-Therese Cuny, and Paul Rambali, ''The Bandit Queen of India: An Indian Woman's Amazing Journey from Peasant to International Legend'' Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2006 {{ISBN|978-1-59228-641-6}}
*Mala Sen, ''India's Bandit Queen: The true Story of Phoolan Devi'', HarperCollins Publishers (September 1991) {{ISBN|978-0-00-272066-3}}.
*G. K. Betham, ''The Story of a Dacoity, and the Lolapaur Week: An Up-Country Sketch''. BiblioBazaar, 2008. {{ISBN|0-559-47369-9}}.
*Shyam Sunder Katare, ''Patterns of dacoity in India: a case study of Madhya Pradesh''. S. Chand, 1972.
*Mohammad Zahir Khan, ''Dacoity in Chambal Valley''. National, 1981.

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|dacoit}}
*[http://devgan.in/ipc/section/391/ Dacoity - Indian Penal Code, Chapter XVII] (Mobile Friendly)
*[http://pdfs.island.lk/2006/11/06/p8.pdf As modern world closes in, India's fabled bandits are disappearing] - [[International Herald Tribune]]

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}

[[Category:British India]]
[[Category:Robbery]]
[[Category:Outlaws]]
[[Category:Illegal occupations]]
[[Category:Organised crime in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Indian robbers]]
[[Category:Gangs in India]]
[[Category:Indian slang]]
[[Category:Pakistani slang]]
[[Category:Bengali words and phrases]]
[[Category:Urdu-language words and phrases]]
[[Category:Organised crime in India]]
[[Category:Secret societies in India]]
[[Category:Secret societies related to organized crime]]

Dacoit - Revision history

WikiDwarf at 06:58, 25 July 2021