74 E. D. Maclagan— Jesuit Missions to the Hinperor Akbar. [No. 1, 
presence of a number of persons he asked the full significance of the image 
he gave me an opportunity of spending some good time in explaining the 
sniterings and passion of Christ. I did the same on another occasion 
in the midst of a crowd of men, taking as my text a Japanese dagger on 
the head of which were a cross and some studs: the Prince meantime 
listening attentively to me from a window. 
One day as I visited him JI found him with two painters who were trac- 
ing out by the application of colour some small pictures, one of which re- 
presented the Angels appearing to the shepherds, and the other the Descent 
from the Cross:! and when heasked what these meant and of whomthey were 
likenesses, I renewed the discourses I had previously entered on before him 
regarding the sacred passion of Our Lord Christ. I also disputed with his 
teacher (magistro) regarding the mystery of the Holy Trinity and the In- 
carnation of the Son of God for man’s salvation, and the Prince showed 
himself satisfied with my replies. When he desired to know of me the way in 
which Christians conduct their prayers, | spoke of the difficulty experienced 
by those who pray to God with the arms outstretched and with the body held in 
the form of across. Whenacompanion of the Prince heard this he asked where 
the difficulty lay, and said he was able and willing to stand for an hour with 
his arms outstretched in the required position. The Prince then told him to 
try. He laughed and took up the position of the cross, but when after a little 
time he was asked how he felt he acknowledged he wasa little weary, and again 
after-a moderate interval he said he felt bodily pain and could not hold up his 
tired arms any longer, and he manifested such signs of distress as to move 
the Prince and the bystanders to laughter. The Prince then made two others 
try it, but they soon became weary and their calls for pity excited the derision 
of the onlookers. Thereafter the Prince having retired to a secret place 
attempted the experiment himself and when little over quarter of an hour 
had elapsed he brought himself to such a state of pain that he could scarcely 
1 There are many other evidences of the interest felt by the Mughal sovereigns 
in Christian Art besides the incidents recorded by the Jesuits: and it would be 
interesting to put together the information available on the subject. Reference 
may be made to the supposed ‘ Annunciation’ and ‘Fall’ at Fathpur Sikri: (see 
Smith’s Mogul Areit. of Fattehpur Sikr7): the Virgin and St. Tenatius at Sikandra 
(Manrique, Itim 1653. p 350. Catron, p. 135. ef Finch in Kerr VIII. 305): and the 
pictures at Lahor of Clirist and the Virgin, the Flood and the Baptism in Jordan 
(Purchas, Pilg, I. IV. 432. De. Laet, India Vera 1631, 59. Thevenot, III. ch. 36. 
Finch in Kerr VIII. 296. della Valle, III. 12-94. Tosi, 1.97. Harris, I. 815. 
Thornton’s Lahore, 53 and 122. M. Latif’s Lahore, 120. Herbert. 68, etc). Those who 
saw Col. H. B. Hanna’s exhibition of native pictnresin London in May 1890, will 
also recollect the ‘lemptation,’ the ‘ Adoration of the Magi’, the ‘ Madonna descend- 
ing near a Hindu temple,’ and ‘the Emperor Jahangir sitt:ng in a palace on the walls 
of which are a Madonna andan Ecce Homo.’ It is possible that the winged figures 
of the period (e.g-, on the walls of the Lahor fort, on the gate of the Gola Seraiteee 
Lahor, etc.) owe something to the influence of Christian art: though such figures 
are not unknown in Persian and other Oriental paintings. 
