Punjab Lasso - in The Novel

In The Novel

In Gaston Leroux's novel, the Phantom (named Erik) traveled throughout the world after running away from home at a young age. During his travels, he visited India, where he learned to kill people using the Punjab lasso. According to Erik's old friend, the daroga (the Persian- "daroga" was Erik's nickname for him), the Punjab lasso that Erik wields is "curiously made from catgut" (from the Leonard Wolf translation); the only way to escape it is to keep one's hand raised to eye level, thus preventing the loop from closing. This is attributed to Erik's skill at strangling.

When the Persian brought Erik to Persia, he used his skills at using the lasso in his new job as the Shah's personal assassin, a job he excelled at due to his lack of scruples. He also used it to entertain the Sultana. Later, when Erik moves to France, he kept a Punjab lasso in the torture chamber he built. Thus, the victims of the chamber would have the option of ending their lives rather than endure its tortures.

When the sceneshifter, Joseph Buquet, found the entrance to Erik's 'house' in the third cellar of the opera house, he fell into the chamber and used the lasso to kill himself.

Later, when the Persian and the Viscount de Chagny went in search of Christine Daae- whom Erik had kidnapped- they found a used Punjab lasso lying on the ground leading into the Phantom's chamber. Later in their journey to rescue Christine they fell into the torture chamber, where the Persian contemplated using the lasso to end his life as the tortures got worse.