NOTE 4. - The Saggio, here as elsewhere, probably stands for the
Miskal.
NOTE 5. - This is stated also by Abu Zaid, in the beginning of the 10th
century. And Reinaud in his note refers to Mas'udi, who has a like passage
in which he gives a name to these companions exactly corresponding to
Polo's Feoilz or Trusty Lieges: "When a King in India dies, many persons
voluntarily burn themselves with him. These are called Balanjariyah
(sing. Balanjar), as if you should say 'Faithful Friends' of the
deceased, whose life was life to them, and whose death was death to them."
(Anc. Rel. I. 121 and note; Mas. II. 85.)
On the murder of Ajit Singh of Marwar, by two of his sons, there were 84
satis, and "so much was he beloved," says Tod, "that even men devoted
themselves on his pyre" (I. 744). The same thing occurred at the death of
the Sikh Guru Hargovind in 1645. (H. of Sikhs, p. 62.)
Barbosa briefly notices an institution like that described by Polo, in
reference to the King of Narsinga, i.e. Vijayanagar. (Ram. I. f. 302.)
Another form of the same bond seems to be that mentioned by other
travellers as prevalent in Malabar, where certain of the Nairs bore the
name of Amuki, and were bound not only to defend the King's life with
their own, but, if he fell, to sacrifice themselves by dashing among the
enemy and slaying until slain.
