1836.] Memoir of a Hindu Colony in Ancient Armenia. 339 



to the village of Kuars, and succeeded in persuading its inhabitants 

 to forsake idolatry and embrace the Christian religion. Being duly 

 prepared for baptism, they were conducted to the valley of Ayzasan, 

 where they were baptised by St. Gregory, and thus admitted into 

 the fellowship of the Church of Christ. " The number of persons," 

 says Zenobius, " christened on the first of Navasard*, including men 

 and children, amounted to five thousand and fifty." Females, it 

 appears, were excluded from this number, and baptised on another 

 day, appointed for the occasion. Some of the heathen priests and 

 their families, however, tenaciously adhered to the idolatrous practices 

 of their forefathers. The paternal persuasions of St. Gregory had 

 no effect upon their minds. " Remember this well," said they to the 

 Armenian princes, " that if we live, we will make you a recompense 

 for your treatment ; but, if we die, the gods will wreck their venge- 

 ance on you all on our behalf!" Hereupon the prince of the house 

 of Angl ordered them to be taken to the city of Phaitacaranf, where 

 they were imprisoned and their heads shaved. The number of these 

 prisoners amounted to four hundred. 



It is impossible to know what was the number of this Hindu colony 

 at the time of their emigration from India into Armenia. We are, 

 however, certain, that from the date of their first settlement in the 

 Armenian province of Taron to the day of the memorable battle, a 

 period of about four hundred and fifty years, they must have consi- 

 derably increased and multiplied, and thus formed a part of the popu- 

 lation of the country. No vestiges of this Hindu race can, at present, 

 be traced in Armenia, save the record of their exploits, handed down 

 to us in the narrative of ZenobiusJ. 



* «. |i km [in prv, Navasard is one of the ancient Armenian months, corre- 

 sponding with the month of August. An account of these months is given by M. 

 Brosset in the Nouveau Journal Asiatique for December 1832, page 526. 



"t* 4 > lL3SlLhlLPLL < lj P^ a ^ acaran was t^ e capital of an extensive province 

 of that name, where Sanatruk, the great Armenian Satrap, proclaimed himself 

 king immediately after the death of Tiridates. It is situated on the confluence 

 of the rivers Araxes and Kur. 



X Our historian was also called by the appellation of Op^^ti Gla'k, whom St. 

 Gregory appointed primate of the convent of b'tiliVL 'llibll/b I nna knian, 

 which afterwards received the appellation of Op|i\ b Glak. 



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