Chapter 8: , for cases of satî (suttees). For a good account of the

suttee discussions and legislation, see D. Boulger, _Lord William Bentinck_ (1897), chap. v, in 'Rulers of India' Series. No other biography of Lord William Bentinck exists.

6. Dhamonî is in the Sâgar district of the Central Provinces, about twenty-nine miles north of Sâgar. The fort was taken by General Marshall in 1818. It had been rebuilt by Râjâ Bîrsingh Deo of Orchhâ on an enormous scale about the end of the sixteenth century. In the original edition, the author's march is said to have taken place 'on the 24th'. This must be a mistake for 'on the 4th'; as the last date, that of the march to Bahrol, was the 3rd December. The author reached Agra on January 1, 1836,

7. The number fifty-two is one of the Hindoo favourite numbers, like seven, twelve, and eighty-four, held sacred for astronomical or astrological reasons. Bîrsingh Deo was the younger brother of Râmchand, head of the Bundêla clan. To oblige Prince Salîm, afterwards the Emperor Jahângîr, he murdered Abûl Fazl, the celebrated minister and historian of Akbar, on August 12, 1602, Jahângîr, after his accession, rewarded the murderer by allowing him to supersede his brother in the headship of his clan, and by appointing him to the rank of 'commander of three thousand'. The capital of Bîrsingh was Orchhâ. His successors are often spoken of as Râjâs of Tehrî. The murder is fully described in _The Emperor Akbar_ by Count von Noer, translated by A. S. Beveridge, Calcutta, 1890, vol. ii, pp. 384-404. Orchhâ is described _post_, Chapters 22,23.