1896.| E. D. Maclagan— Jesuit Missions to the Emperor Akbar. 87 
when Pinheiro ultimately went to take his leave of the Emperor, he was 
treated with great kindness and presented with a horse for the journey. 
Before Pinheiro left Agra, Xavier had laid before the Emperor a 
book describing in Persian, the life, miracles and doctrine of Christ.! 
With this the Emperor was so pleased that he frequently had it read 
to him by ‘Aziz Koka, and ‘Aziz Koka himself asked the Fathers for a 
second copy. The Emperor also asked that a similar work might be 
' prepared to describe the lives of the apostles. 
Considerable excitement was caused about this time by a copy of 
the picture of the Madonna del Popolo at Rome,? which the Fathers 
had with them. Although the picture had been in their possession for 
two years they had not dared to show it in public for fear of the 
Emperor taking a fancy to it. At Christmas time A. D. 1601, however, 
they let it be seen in the Church and immediately great crowds pressed 
to see it, including many Muhammadans. Among those who came were 
the brother and nephew of the king of Xhandar (Khandesh),* a son 
of the king of Qandahar® and other courtiers. The Emperor heard 
of the picture and expressed a wish to come, but, as the Fathers’ house 
(though in the city) was a good half league from the palace, he bade 
the Fathers bring it to him. While Pinheiro was fetching the picture, 
the Emperor presented Xavier with a rich kind of waterproof and des- 
cended five steps from his throne to put it on his shoulders. When 
the picture came, the Hmperor treated it with all possible respect, and 
kept it for a day to show it to his zanana. After it had been returned, 
the Emperor sent for it again as his mother who had not seen it 
before had expressed a wish to see it. It was brought back, therefore, 
and the Hmperor lifted it up himself and took it into the zanana and 
stood by it, allowing none to come near. After it had been duly seen 
1 The Dastan-i-Masih : completed in 1602 (see p. 110 below). In describing Akbar’s 
character the Provincial at Goa in 1607 wrote as follows (see Dre: Neue Relationes): 
‘When once he had listened to the Life of Christ written by Jerome Xavier in 
Persian, he began to reverence highly the pictures of Christ and to speak more 
respectfully of Christ himself, though several of the Muhammadans tried to 
persuade him that Christ’s miracles were not due to any supernatural power, but to 
Christ’s exceeding skill as a physician, dealing with natural methods.’ 
2 Which was apparently done. See p. 118 below. 
3 The painting of the Virgin onthe high altar of the Church of S. Maria del 
Popolo is one of those attributed to S. Luke. Forbes’ Rambles in Rome, p. 4. 
4 Bahadur Khan who had been besieged at Asir and who was now a prisoner at 
Gwaliar. Hlliot, VI. 146. 
5 Muzaffar Khan had died in 1599-1600 and this probably refers to his eldest 
son Bahram Khan (Blochm. Ain I. 314). Guerreiro (p. 52) adds that the king had 
been driven out by ‘Abduxam [ Abdulla Khan] Rey de Husbec,’ apparently con- 
fusing him with the king of Badakhshan. 
