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Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official by William Sleeman

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GENERAL SIR W. H SLEEMAN. K.C.B.

RAMBLES
AND
RECOLLECTIONS
OF AN
INDIAN OFFICIAL

BY

MAJOR-GENERAL SIR W. H. SLEEMAN, K.C.B.

REVISED ANNOTATED EDITION
BY
VINCENT A. SMITH
M.A. (DUBL. ET OXON.), M.R.A.S., F.R.N.S., LATE OF THE
INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE,
AUTHOR OF 'THE EARLY HISTORY OF INDIA'
'A HISTORY OF FINE ART IN INDIA AND CEYLON'. ETC.

HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW
NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE BOMBAY
1915




Transcriber's Note

In producing this e-text the numerous notes have been moved to the
end of their respective chapters and renumbered. The printed
'Additions and Corrections' have been included in the relevant text.

In the printed edition the spelling of certain words is not always
consistent. This is especially true of the use of diacritical marks
on certain words, even within a single page. This e-text attempts to
reproduce the spellings exactly as used in the printed edition.

The use of italics is shown as _italics_.




AUTHOR'S DEDICATION

MY DEAR SISTER,

Were any one to ask your countrymen in India what has been their
greatest source of pleasure while there, perhaps nine in ten would
say, the letters which they receive from their sisters at home.
These, of all things, perhaps, tend most to link our affections with
home by filling the landscapes, so dear to our recollections, with
ever varying groups of the family circles, among whom our infancy and
our boyhood have been passed; and among whom we still hope to spend
the winter of our days.

They have a very happy facility in making us familiar with the new
additions made from time to time to the _dramatis personae_ of these
scenes after we quit them, in the character of husbands, wives,
children, or friends; and, while thus contributing so much to our
happiness, they no doubt tend to make us better citizens of the
world, and servants of government, than we should otherwise be, for,
in our 'struggles through life in India', we have all, more or less,
an eye to the approbation of those circles which our kind sisters
represent--who may, therefore, be considered in the exalted light of
a valuable species of _unpaid magistracy_ to the Government of India.

No brother has ever had a kinder or better correspondent than I have
had in you, my dear sister; and it was the consciousness of having
left many of your valued letters unanswered, in the press of official
duties, that made me first think of devoting a part of my leisure to
you in these _Rambles and Recollections_, while on my way from the
banks of the Nerbudda river to the Himalaya mountains, in search of
health, in the end of 1835 and beginning of 1836. To what I wrote
during that journey I have now added a few notes, observations, and
conversations with natives, on the subjects which my narrative seemed
to embrace; and the whole will, I hope, interest and amuse you and
the other members of our family; and appear, perchance, not
altogether uninteresting or uninstructive to those who are strangers
to us both.

Of one thing I must beg you to be assured, that I have nowhere
indulged in fiction, either in the narrative, the recollections, or
the conversations. What I relate on the testimony of others I believe
to be true; and what I relate upon my own you may rely upon as being
so. Had I chosen to write a work of fiction, I might possibly have
made it a good deal more interesting; but I question whether it would
have been so much valued by you, or so useful to others; and these
are the objects I have had in view. The work may, perhaps, tend to
make the people of India better understood by those of my own
countrymen whose destinies are cast among them, and inspire more
kindly feelings towards them. Those parts which, to the general
reader, will seem dry and tedious, may be considered, by the Indian
statesman, as the most useful and important.

The opportunities of observation, which varied employment has given
me, have been such as fall to the lot of few; but, although I have
endeavoured to make the most of them, the time of public servants is
not their own; and that of few men has been more exclusively devoted
to the service of their masters than mine. It may be, however, that
the world, or that part of it which ventures to read these pages,
will think that it had been better had I not been left even the
little leisure that has been devoted to them.

Your ever affectionate brother,

W. H. SLEEMAN.




CONTENTS

AUTHOR'S DEDICATION

EDITOR'S PREFACES

MEMOIR

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CHAPTER 1
Annual Fairs held on the Banks of Sacred Streams in India

CHAPTER 2
Hindoo System of Religion

CHAPTER 3
Legend of the Nerbudda River

CHAPTER 4
A Suttee on the Nerbudda

CHAPTER 5
Marriages of Trees--The Tank and the Plantain--Meteors--Rainbows

CHAPTER 6
Hindoo Marriages

CHAPTER 7
The Purveyance System

CHAPTER 8
Religious Sects--Self-government of the Castes--Chimneysweepers--
Washerwomen [1]--Elephant Drivers

CHAPTER 9
The Great Iconoclast--Troops routed by Hornets--The Rani of
Garha--Hornets' Nests in India

CHAPTER 10
The Peasantry and the Land Settlement

CHAPTER 11
Witchcraft

CHAPTER 12
The Silver Tree, or 'Kalpa Briksha'--The 'Singhara', or _Trapa
bispinosa_, and the Guinea-Worm

CHAPTER 13
Thugs and Poisoners

CHAPTER 14
Basaltic Cappings of the Sandstone Hills of Central India--Suspension
Bridge--Prospects of the Nerbudda Valley--Deification of a Mortal

CHAPTER 15
Legend of the Sagar Lake--Paralysis from eating the Grain of the
_Lathyrus sativus_

CHAPTER 16
Suttee Tombs--Insalubrity of deserted Fortresses

CHAPTER 17
Basaltic Cappings--Interview with a Native Chief--A Singular
Character

CHAPTER 18
Birds' Nests--Sports of Boyhood

CHAPTER 19
Feeding Pilgrims--Marriage of a Stone with a Shrub

CHAPTER 20
The Men-Tigers

CHAPTER 21
Burning of Deori by a Freebooter--A Suttee

CHAPTER 22
Interview with the Raja who marries the Stone to the Shrub--Order of
the Moon and the Fish

CHAPTER 23
The Raja of Orchha--Murder of his many Ministers

CHAPTER 24
Corn Dealers--Scarcities--Famines in India

CHAPTER 25
Epidemic Diseases--Scape-goat

CHAPTER 26
Artificial Lakes in Bundelkhand-Hindoo, Greek, and Roman Faith

CHAPTER 27
Blights

CHAPTER 28
Pestle-and-Mortar Sugar-Mills--Washing away of the Soil

CHAPTER 29
Interview with the Chiefs of Jhansi--Disputed Succession

CHAPTER 30
Haunted Villages

CHAPTER 31
Interview with the Raja of Datiya--Fiscal Errors of Statesmen--
Thieves and Robbers by Profession

CHAPTER 32
Sporting at Datiya--Fidelity of Followers to their Chiefs in India--
Law of Primogeniture wanting among Muhammadans

CHAPTER 33
'Bhumiawat'

CHAPTER 34
The Suicide-Relations between Parents and Children in India

CHAPTER 35
Gwalior Plain once the Bed of a Lake--Tameness of Peacocks

CHAPTER 36
Gwalior and its Government

CHAPTER 37 [2]
Contest for Empire between the Sons of Shah Jahan

CHAPTER 38 [2]
Aurangzeb and Murad Defeat their Father's Army near Ujain

CHAPTER 39 [2]
Dara Marches in Person against his Brothers, and is Defeated

CHAPTER 40 [2]
Dara Retreats towards Lahore--Is robbed by the Jats--Their Character

CHAPTER 41 [2]
Shah Jahan Imprisoned by his Two Sons, Aurangzeb and Murad

CHAPTER 42 [2]
Aurangzeb Throws off the Mask, Imprisons his Brother Murad, and
Assumes the Government of the Empire

CHAPTER 43 [2] Aurangzeb Meets Shuja in Bengal, and Defeats him,
after Pursuing Dara to the Hyphasis

CHAPTER 44 [2]
Aurangzeb Imprisons his Eldest Son--Shuja and all his Family are
Destroyed

CHAPTER 45 [2]
Second Defeat and Death of Dara, and Imprisonment of his Two Sons

CHAPTER 46 [2]
Death and Character of Amir Jumla

CHAPTER 47
Reflections on the Preceding History

CHAPTER 48
The Great Diamond of Kohinur

CHAPTER 49
Pindhari System--Character of the Maratha Administration--Cause of
their Dislike to the Paramount Power

CHAPTER 50
Dholpur, Capital of the Jat Chiefs of Gohad--Consequence of Obstacles
to the Prosecution of Robbers

CHAPTER 51
Influence of Electricity on Vegetation--Agra and its Buildings

CHAPTER 52
Nur Jahan, the Aunt of the Empress Nur Mahal,[3] over whose Remains
the Taj is built

CHAPTER 53
Father Gregory's Notion of the Impediments to Conversion in India--
Inability of Europeans to speak Eastern Languages

CHAPTER 54
Fathpur-Sikri--The Emperor Akbar's Pilgrimage--Birth of Jahangir

CHAPTER 55
Bharatpur--Dig--Want of Employment for the Military and the Educated
Classes under the Company's Rule

CHAPTER 56
Govardhan, the Scene of Kriahna's Dalliance with the Milkmaids

CHAPTER 57
Veracity

CHAPTER 58
Declining Fertility of the Soil--Popular Notion of the Cause

CHAPTER 59
Concentration of Capital and its Effects

CHAPTER 60
Transit Duties in India--Mode of Collecting them

CHAPTER 61
Peasantry of India attached to no existing Government--Want of Trees
in Upper India--Cause and Consequence--Wells and Groves

CHAPTER 62
Public Spirit of the Hindoos--Tree Cultivation and Suggestions for
extending it

CHAPTER 63
Cities and Towns, formed by Public Establishments, disappear as
Sovereigns and Governors change their Abodes

CHAPTER 64
Murder of Mr. Fraser, and Execution of the Nawab Shams-ud-din


CHAPTER 65
Marriage of a Jat Chief

CHAPTER 66
Collegiate Endowment of Muhammadan Tombs and Mosques

CHAPTER 67
The Old City of Delhi

CHAPTER 68
New Delhi, or Shahjahanabad

CHAPTER 69
Indian Police--Its Defects--and their Cause and Remedy

CHAPTER 70
Rent-free Tenures--Right of Government to Resume such Grants

CHAPTER 71
The Station of Meerut--'Atalis' who Dance and Sing gratuitously for
the Benefit of the Poor

CHAPTER 72
Subdivisions of Lands--Want of Gradations of Rank--Taxes

CHAPTER 73
Meerut-Anglo-Indian Society

CHAPTER 74
Pilgrims of India

CHAPTER 75
The Begam Sumroo

CHAPTER 76
ON THE SPIRIT OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE IN THE NATIVE ARMY OF INDIA
Abolition of Corporal Punishment--Increase of Pay with Length of
Service--Promotion by Seniority

CHAPTER 77
Invalid Establishment

Appendix:
Thuggee and the part taken in its Suppression by General Sir W. H.
Sleeman, K.C.B., by Captain J. L. Sleeman
Supplementary Note by the Editor
Additions and Corrections

INDEX

Notes:

1. A blunder for 'Sweepers' and 'Washermen'

2. Chapters 37 to 46, inclusive, are not reprinted in this edition.

3. A mistake. See _post_, Chapter 52, note 1.





EDITOR'S PREFACE (1893)[1]


The _Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official_, always a
costly book, has been scarce and difficult to procure for many years
past. Among the crowd of books descriptive of Indian scenery,
manners, and customs, the sterling merits of Sir William Sleeman's
work have secured it pre-eminence, and kept it in constant demand,
notwithstanding the lapse of nearly fifty years since its
publication. The high reputation of this work does not rest upon its
strictly literary qualities. The author was a busy man, immersed all
his life in the practical affairs of administration, and too full of
his subject to be careful of strict correctness of style or minute
accuracy of expression. Yet, so great is the intrinsic value of his
observations, and so attractive are the sincerity and sympathy with
which he discusses a vast range of topics, that the reader refuses to
be offended by slight formal defects in expression or arrangement,
and willingly yields to the charm of the author's genial and
unstudied conversation.

It would be difficult to name any other book so full of instruction
for the young Anglo-Indian administrator. When this work was
published in 1844 the author had had thirty-five years' varied
experience of Indian life, and had accumulated and assimilated an
immense store of knowledge concerning the history, manners, and modes
of thought of the complex population of India. He thoroughly
understood the peculiarities of the various native races, and the
characteristics which distinguish them from the nations of Europe;
while his sympathetic insight into Indian life had not orientalized
him, nor had it ever for one moment caused him to forget his position
and heritage as an Englishman. This attitude of sane and
discriminating sympathy is the right attitude for the Englishman in
India.

To enumerate the topics on which wise and profitable observations
will be found in this book would be superfluous. The wine is good,
and needs no bush. So much may be said that the book is one to
interest that nondescript person, the general reader in Europe or
America, as well as the Anglo-Indian official. Besides good advice
and sound teaching on matters of policy and administration, it
contains many charming, though inartificial, descriptions of scenery
and customs, many ingenious speculations, and some capital stories.
The ethnologist, the antiquary, the geologist, the soldier, and the
missionary will all find in it something to suit their several
tastes.

In this edition the numerous misprints of the original edition have
been all, and, for the most part, silently corrected. The extremely
erratic punctuation has been freely modified, and the spelling of
Indian words and names has been systematized. Two paragraphs,
misplaced in the original edition at the end of Chapter 48 of Volume
I, have been removed, and inserted in their proper place at the end
of Chapter 47; and the supplementary notes printed at the end of the
second volume of the original edition have been brought up to the
positions which they were intended to occupy. Chapters 37 to 46 of
the first volume, describing the contest for empire between the sons
of Shah Jahan, are in substance only a free version of Bernier's work
entitled, _The Late Revolution of the Empire of the Great Mogol_.
These chapters have not been reprinted because the history of that
revolution can now be read much more satisfactorily in Mr.
Constable's edition of Bernier's Travels. Except as above stated, the
text of the present edition of the Rambles and Recollections is a
faithful reprint of the Author's text.

In the spelling of names and other words of Oriental languages the
Editor has 'endeavoured to strike a mean between popular usage and
academic precision, preferring to incur the charge of looseness to
that of pedantry'. Diacritical marks intended to distinguish between
the various sibilants, dentals, nasals, and so forth, of the Arabic
and Sanskrit alphabets, have been purposely omitted. Long vowels are
marked by the sign ^. Except in a few familiar words, such as
Nerbudda and Hindoo, which are spelled in the traditional manner,
vowels are to be pronounced as in Italian, or as in the following
English examples, namely: a, as in 'call'; e, or e, as the medial
vowel in 'cake'; i, as in 'kill'; i, as the medial vowels in 'keel';
u, as in 'full'; u, as the medial vowels in 'fool'; o, or o, as in
'bone'; ai, or ai, as 'eye' or 'aye', respectively; and au, as the
medial sound in 'fowl'. Short a, with stress, is pronounced like the
u in 'but'; and if without stress, as an indistinct vowel, like the A
in 'America'.

The Editor's notes, being designed merely to explain and illustrate
the text, so as to render the book fully intelligible and helpful to
readers of the present day, have been compressed into the narrowest
possible limits. Even India changes, and observations and criticisms
which were perfectly true when recorded can no longer be safely
applied without explanation to the India of to-day. The Author's few
notes are distinguished by his initials.

A copious analytical index has been compiled. The bibliography is as
complete as careful inquiry could make it, but it is possible that
some anonymous papers by the Author, published in periodicals, may
have escaped notice.

The memoir of Sir William Sleeman is based on the slight sketch
prefixed to the _Journey through the Kingdom of Oude_, supplemented
by much additional matter derived from his published works and
correspondence, as well as from his unpublished letters and other
papers generously communicated by his only son, Captain Henry
Sleeman. Ample materials exist for a full account of Sir William
Sleeman's noble and interesting life, which well deserves to be
recorded in detail; but the necessary limitations of these volumes
preclude the Editor from making free use of the biographical matter
at his command.

The reproduction of the twenty-four coloured plates of varying merit
which enrich the original edition has not been considered desirable.
The map shows clearly the route taken by the Author in the journey
the description of which is the leading theme of the book.




EDITOR'S PREFACE (1915)

My edition published by Archibald Constable and Company in 1893 being
out of print but still in demand, Mr. Humphrey Milford, the present
owner of the copyright, has requested me to revise the book and bring
it up to date.

This new edition is issued uniform with Mr. Beauchamp's third edition
of _Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies_ by the Abbe J. A. Dubois
(Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1906), a work bearing a strong
resemblance in substance to the _Rambles and Recollections_, and,
also like Sleeman's book in that it 'is as valuable to-day as ever it
was--even more valuable in some respects'.

The labour of revision has proved to be far more onerous than was
expected. In the course of twenty-one years the numerous changes
which have occurred in India, not only in administrative
arrangements, but of various other kinds, necessitate the emendation
of notes which, although accurate when written, no longer agree with
existing facts. The appearance of many new books and improved
editions involves changes in a multitude of references. Such
alterations are most considerable in the annotations dealing with the
buildings at Agra, Sikandara, Fathpur-Sikri, and Delhi, and the
connected political history, concerning which much new information is
now available. Certain small misstatements of fact in my old notes
have been put right. Some of those errors which escaped the notice of
critics have been detected by me, and some have been rectified by the
aid of criticisms received from Sir George Grierson, C.I.E., Mr.
William Crooke, sometime President of the Folklore Society, and other
kind correspondents, to all of whom I am grateful. Naturally, the
opportunity has been taken to revise the wording throughout and to
eliminate misprints and typographical defects. The Index has been
recast so as to suit the changed paging and to include the new
matter.

Captain James Lewis Sleeman of the Royal Sussex Regiment has been
good enough to permit the reproduction of his grandfather's portrait,
and has communicated papers which have enabled me to make corrections
in and additions to the Memoir, largely enhancing the interest and
value of that section of the book.

Notes:

1. Certain small changes have been made.


MEMOIR
OF
MAJ.-GEN. SIR WILLIAM HENRY SLEEMAN, K.C.B.

The Sleemans, an ancient Cornish family, for several generations
owned the estate of Pool Park in the parish of Saint Judy, in the
county of Cornwall. Captain Philip Sleeman, who married Mary Spry, a
member of a distinguished family in the same county, was stationed at
Stratton, in Cornwall, on August 8, 1788, when his son William Henry
was born.

In 1809, at the age of twenty-one, William Henry Sleeman was
nominated, through the good offices of Lord De Dunstanville, to an
Infantry Cadetship in the Bengal army. On the 24th of March, in the
same year, he sailed from Gravesend in the ship Devonshire, and,
having touched at Madeira and the Cape, reached India towards the
close of the year. He arrived at the cantonment of Dinapore, near
Patna, on the 20th December, and on Christmas Day began his military
career as a cadet. He at once applied himself with exemplary
diligence to the study of the Arabic and Persian languages, and of
the religions and customs of India. Passing in due course through the
ordinary early stages of military life, he was promoted to the rank
of ensign on the 23rd September, 1810, and to that of lieutenant on
the 16th December, 1814.

Lieutenant Sleeman served in the war with Nepal, which began in 1814
and terminated in 1816. During the campaign he narrowly escaped death
from a violent epidemic fever, which nearly destroyed his regiment.
'Three hundred of my own regiment,' he observes, 'consisting of about
seven hundred, were obliged to be sent to their homes on sick leave.
The greater number of those who remained continued to suffer, and a
great many died. Of about ten European officers present with my
regiment, seven had the fever and five died of it, almost all in a
state of delirium. I was myself one of the two who survived, and I
was for many days delirious.[1]

The services of Lieutenant Sleeman during the war attracted
attention, and accordingly, in 1816, he was selected to report on
certain claims to prize-money. The report submitted by him in
February, 1817, was accepted as 'able, impartial, and satisfactory'.
After the termination of the war he served with his regiment at
Allahabad, and in the neighbouring district of Partabgarh, where he
laid the foundation of the intimate knowledge of Oudh affairs
displayed in his later writings.

In 1820 he was selected for civil employ, and was appointed Junior
Assistant to the Agent of the Governor-General, administering the
Sagar and Nerbudda territories. Those territories, which had been
annexed from the Marathas two years previously, are now included in
the jurisdiction of the Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces.
In such a recently-conquered country, where the sale of all widows by
auction for the benefit of the Treasury, and other strange customs
still prevailed, the abilities of an able and zealous young officer
had ample scope. Sleeman, after a brief apprenticeship, received, in
1822, the independent civil charge of the District of Narsinghpur, in
the Nerbudda valley, and there, for more than two years, 'by far the
most laborious of his life', his whole attention was engrossed in
preventing and remedying the disorders of his District.

Sleeman, during the time that he was in charge of the Narsinghpur
District, had no suspicion that it was a favourite resort of Thugs. A
few years later, in or about 1830, he was astounded to learn that a
gang of Thugs resided in the village of Kandeli, not four hundred
yards from his court-house, and that the extensive groves of Mandesar
on the Sagar road, only one stage distant from his head-quarters,
concealed one of the greatest _bhils_, or places of murder, in all
India. The arrest of Feringheea, one of the most influential Thug
leaders, having given the key to the secret, his disclosures were
followed up by Sleeman with consummate skill and untiring assiduity.
In the years 1831 and 1832 the reports submitted by him and other
officers at last opened the eyes of the superior authorities and
forced them to recognize the fact that the murderous organization
extended over every part of India. Adequate measures were then taken
for the systematic suppression of the evil. 'Thuggee Sleeman' made it
the main business of his life to hunt down the criminals and to
extirpate their secret society. He recorded his experiences in the
series of valuable publications described in the Bibliography. In
this brief memoir it is impossible to narrate in detail the thrilling
story of the suppression of Thuggee, and I must be content to pass on
and give in bare outline the main facts of Sleeman's honourable
career.[2]

While at Narsinghpur, Sleeman received on the 24th April, 1824,
brevet rank as Captain. In 1825, he was transferred, and on the 23rd
September of the following year, was gazetted Captain. In 1826,
failure of health compelled him to take leave on medical certificate.
In March, 1828, Captain Sleeman assumed civil and executive charge of
the Jabalpur (Jubbulpore) District, from which he was transferred to
Sagar in January, 1831. While stationed at Jabalpur, he married, on
the 21st June, 1829, Amelie Josephine, the daughter of Count Blondin
de Fontenne, a French nobleman, who, at the sacrifice of a
considerable property, had managed to escape from the Revolution. A
lady informs the editor that she remembers Sleeman's fine house at
Jabalpur. It stood in a large walled park, stocked with spotted deer.
Both house and park were destroyed when the railway was carried
through the site.

Mr. C. Eraser, on return from leave in January, 1832, resumed charge
of the revenue and civil duties of the Sagar district, leaving the
magisterial duties to Captain Sleeman, who continued to discharge
them till January, 1835. By the Resolution of Government dated 10th
January, 1835, Captain Sleeman was directed to fix his head-quarters
at Jabalpur, and was appointed General Superintendent of the
operations for the Suppression of Thuggee, being relieved from every
other charge. In 1835 his health again broke down, and he was obliged
to take leave on medical certificate. Accompanied by his wife and
little son, he went into camp in November, 1835, and marched through
the Jabalpur, Damoh, and Sagar districts of the Agency, and then
through the Native States of Orchha, Datiya, and Gwalior, arriving at
Agra on the 1st January, 1836. After a brief halt at Agra, he
proceeded through the Bharatpur State to Delhi and Meerut, and thence
on leave to Simla. During his march from Jabalpur to Meerut he amused
himself by keeping the journal which forms the basis of the _Rambles
and Recollections of an Indian Official_. The manuscript of this work
(except the two supplementary chapters) was completed in 1839, though
not given to the world till 1844. On the 1st of February, 1837, in
the twenty-eighth year of his service, Sleeman was gazetted Major.
During the same year he made a tour in the interior of the Himalayas,
which he described at length in an unpublished journal. Later in the
year he went down to Calcutta to see his boy started on the voyage
home.

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The seven Harry Potter novels have sold 400m copies worldwide and spawned five movies along with associated merchandise, helping to build their small publishers, Bloomsbury, into a major force in the book industry. The Deathly Hallows helped Bloomsbury's children's division earn £40m profits last year. Bloomsbury hopes to sell between 7.5m and 8m copies worldwide from the first print run of Beedle the Bard, which is already translated into 27 languages, raising at least £12m for the children's charity.

About 80,000 children, many disabled or from oppressed ethnic minorities such as the Roma, live in state institutions in Romania, Moldova, Georgia, the Czech republic and Armenia, the charity's director, Georgette Mulheir, said yesterday.

Rowling said she hoped the new book would "not only be a welcome present to Harry Potter fans, but an opportunity to give these abandoned children a voice. It will encourage young people across the world to think about those who are less fortunate, and help change many young lives for the better."

The Tales of Beedle the Bard has already raised at least £1.9m for the charity after Amazon won the bidding at a Sotheby's auction for the seventh and last handwritten version of the book last year, donated by Rowling. The major booksellers are now selling the stories for £3.95, after Amazon provoked a discounting war by offering the book as a recession-busting loss leader at half the publisher's recommended price of £6.95.

The official price includes a £1.61 donation from each copy to the Rowling-backed charity, leaving booksellers in the UK effectively using their own profits to contribute a large part of the £12m expected to go to the Children's High Level Group.

Last year's Sotheby's auction has meant Rowling's handwritten versions are valued at £2m.

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