146 H. HOSTEN ON 



Sept. ist, 1640) that Mirza Zu-1-Qarnain was again in the King's favour. His two eldest 

 sons were pages of honour in the King's service. The Mirza's Christian name was 

 Gonsalvo ; his three sons were called Gioa Baptista (the eldest), Gasparo, and Micaele 

 (the youngest) . Clara, his daughter, was 19 years old ; she ought to have been 

 married already, but it was difficult to match her with a Christian of her rank. 1 



On January ist, 1642, de Castro informed the General that the Mirza had asked 

 the King's permission to join the service of his second son (Sultan Shuja'), then 

 Governor of Bengal [1639-60]. He had left Agra with his three sons, while his daugh- 

 ter Clara, and Magdalen, the nurse and governess of the household, stayed behind. 1 



In 1645, the Mirza was still in Bengal with his three sons and Father Francis 

 Morando, his Chaplain. The Captain of the Christians at Sambhar was the Mirza's 

 uncle, Janibeg, a " Chaldean." Janibeg's salary was Rs. 50,000 a year; he had to 

 pay to the King an annual revenue of five lakhs of rupees. Father de Castro was 

 Chaplain to the family at Sambhar. 2 



We should not be surprised if Mirza Zu-1-Qarnain had been instrumental in obtain- 

 ing from Sultan Shuja' in 1646 the confirmation of the ancient privileges and exemp- 

 tions of the inhabitants and Augustinians of Hugli. 3 



Bernier states that Sultan Shuja c , while at Rajmahal, sent out "of the inferiour 

 Bengala for many pieces of Canon, and a good number of Portugals that were retired 

 thither, because of the fertility of the Country : For he much courted all those 

 Portugal Fathers Missionaries, that are in that Province, promising them no less than 

 that he would make them all rich, and build Churches for them wheresoever they 

 would. And they were indeed capable to serve him, it being certain, that in the 

 Kingdom of Bengala there are to be found no less than eight to nine thousand Fami- 

 lies of Frangnis, Portugals, and these either Natives or Mesticks." * 



Among the remarks which Father Alexander de Rhodes, S.J., makes on Mogor, 

 we find: "Our society has a large college in the town of Agra, which a very 

 honourable (honnete) Armenian, named. . . . [a blank], founded about 30 years ago." 6 



In 1648 the Mirza was back at Agra, for he watched from a balcony, with Father 

 Antonio Botelho, Shah Jahan's magnificent progress towards Delhi, his new capital. 



" These last years," wrote Father John Maracci, S.J., in April 1649, "while a 

 distinguished Christian L,ord, called Mirza, was Governor of Bengala, in the King of 

 Mogor' s name, Fr. Francis Morando, an Italian of the Province of Goa, being con- 

 fessor to him and the whole of his family, the propagation of the Faith was marvellous 

 in that Kingdom." 6 



1 MSS. in the author's possession. 



2 Letter of Fr. J. de Castro, Sambhar, July 20, 1645 (MS.). 



3 See our paper A Week at Bandel, in Bengal : Past and Present, Calcutta, Vol. X, Pt. I, pp. 107-111. 

 * Cf. F. Bernier, The History of the late Revolution London, 1671, pp. 193-194. 



6 Cf. Voyages et Missions du P. Alex, de Rhodes, Paris, 1854, p. 397. The remark occurs in the chapter on Surat, 

 where the Father was from September 30, 1647, to February 3, 1648. The first edition of his travels appeared in 1653. 

 There are other editions of 1666 and 1685. 



6 Cf. Jean Maracci, S.J., Relation de ce qui s' est passe dans les I tides Orientates, Paris S. Cramoisy, MDCU, 



pp. 65-66. 



