MIRZA ZU-L-QARNAIN, A CHRISTIAN GRANDEE. 145 



it to be removed and hung on the neck of his elephant ; this was promptly done. 

 Some days after, the King, seeing the elephant with this heavy bell suspended from 

 its neck, he thought that so great a weight might injure it, and he therefore ordered 

 it to be carried into the office of the Couteval [kotwal, police-magistrate], which is a 

 sort of barrier where a provost administers justice to those of the quarter, and it 

 has remained there ever since. This Armenian had been brought up with Shah 

 Jahan, and, as he was very clever and was an excellent poet, he was high in the good 

 graces of the King, who had given him valuable governorships, but had never been 

 able, either by promises or threats, to induce him to become a Muhammadan." l 



Zu-1-Oarnain was not long molested. He paid 8 lakhs of rupees, was reduced for 

 a time to extreme penury, and then gradually rose again to favour. Many of the 

 Portuguese captives from Hugli were <( released," says Manucci, "through the 

 petitions of some persons at court, chiefly an Armenian, who was a great favourite, 

 or through the money paid by a Venetian, my compatriot, called Hieronomo Veroneo, 

 a man ransomed by the Portuguese." 2 The reference belongs to the period between 

 1633 and 1640, since Veroneo died in 1640. 



On November 2nd, 1633, Zu-1-Qarnain assisted at the burial of Fr. Matthew de 

 Payva, S.J., and helped in carrying the coffin from the Church to what is called the 

 Martyrs' Chapel in the actual Catholic cemetery of Agra. In 1634 he was with his 

 chaplain at Lahore in the King's suite. The end of that year was marked with a 

 new outburst of bigotry on the part of the King; the Fathers of Agra were ejected 

 from their house, the images and pictures in their Church were broken or torn, and the 

 whole of 1635 the Fathers were in imminent danger of being expelled the country. 

 At last, thanks to Asaf Khan's never-flagging friendship, they were allowed on 

 December 8th, 1635, to return to their College, but on the iniquitous condition that 

 their Churches of Agra and Lahore be pulled down. This was done. Even the Church 

 of Sind (Tatta) was destroyed. The persecution had now done its worst, and, though 

 the Fathers never grew to favour with Shah Jahan, they were at least tolerated 

 after this. 



We next hear of Zu-1-Qarnain in 1636. John Drake wrote to the President and 

 Council of the E. I. Co. at Surat (June 4th, 1636) that he had arrived at " the lasker 

 which no we is at Kerkey [Kharki or Kirki, i.e., Aurangabad] six course wide of 

 Dowletabad," and he had delivered their letter to the Padre, who was living with 

 "Mirza Zulkerne." The latter had given Drake good advice and proffered his 

 services with Asaf Khan/ 



Father J. de Castro announced to the General of the Society in Rome (Agra, 



' Cf. Taverxier'S Travels in India, Ball's edn. , I. 112. Shih Jahin's order may have been given on the occasion of 

 the illness of some Armenian other than the MIrza. Possibly, the great role played by Zu-1-Qarnain during the persecution 

 and the great favour he enjoyed at other times is perhaps at the root of a confusion of names. On the other hand, the 

 incident may belong to an earlier period, but I have not found any trace of it in the Jesuit letters. Ta vernier's account 

 of his travels in India consists mostly of his observations during his sixth and last journey to the East (1664-1667). 



2 W. Irvine, Storia do Mogor, I. 183. 



: ' Cf. W. Foster, The English Factories in India (1634-36), Oxford, 191 1, p. 262. Reference communicated by Sir 

 Richard Carnac Temple. 



