Their leader, the thirteenth man, was their general. His name was Ghalib.

The Department for the Study of Religions was part of the School of Oriental and African Studies which, in turn, was part of the University of London. The school boasted a vast library located in the main school building just off Russell Square.

On this damp morning, faculty librarian Barbara Poulson was attempting to prepare the library for its first wave of students and faculty members at the opening time of 9 am.

Most students would start their search withthe library catalogue, which indicated whether the library had the required item.Inthe catalogue one could find the class mark-a reference number-of the item one wanted and this could be used to find the exact location of the book.

The previous day, Professor Terry Acton had been attempting to locate a copy of the Hindu treatise, The Bhagavad Gita, published in 1855 by Stephen Austin. The absentminded professor had been unable to locate it and had requested Barbara’s assistance. She had promised to find it before his arrival that morning.

She mechanically typed the words ‘Bhagavad Gita’ into the library’s computerised catalogue. There were only two books displayed, neither of which was the one that the professor wanted. She then recalled the professor mentioning that the Bhagavad Gita was actually part of a broader epic, the Mahabharata. She quickly typed ‘Mahabharata’ into the computer and saw 229 entries. The twelfth entry was ‘The Bhagavad Gita, A Colloquy Between Krishna and Arjuna on the Divine’. She clicked on this hyperlink and she had it-the book by Stephen Austin, published by Hertford in 1855. Noting the class mark-CWML 1220-she looked it up on the location list.