Note {5} — Chapter XVII
Henry Yule translation
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 Féoilz or Trusty Lieges: “When a King in India dies, many persons voluntarily burn themselves with him. These are called Balánjaríyah (sing. Balánjar), 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.)