MIRZA ZU-L-QARNAIN, A CHRISTIAN GRANDEE. 157 



him to remedy such disorders. The Firinguis, they said, were living in his own court 

 with as much freedom as if they had been in their own country, all of which brought 

 contempt upon the law of Muhammad professed by His Majesty and his vassals. 

 Hereupon the King felt roused to action. He ordered at once his officers to destroy our 

 Church, and the Fathers were told to leave the College. 1 They lodged for some months 

 in a sarai [mansion, inn] near the City, and the King would have sent them all to Goa 

 but for the intervention of the King's father-in-law, Acafaean [Asaf Khan], our friend, 

 as I said in its own place. The Church destroyed, the King signed a new formao [far- 

 man] thanks to Acafaean. It allowed the Fathers to return to the same College, but 

 not to build a Church. It granted us only to make a house within our compound, 

 where we might teach the Doctrine and instruct our Christians, as we did in our 

 country; but it forbade our making Christians of the Moors; otherwise, we should be 

 considered gunegares,' 1 or liable to any penalty the King might decree.. As for the 

 Church, the Fathers built in the place of the old one, a ground-floor with a terrace 

 above, something quite big enough to have in it the Divine Offices, Mass, etc., as I 

 have said/ Concerning the King's order in his formao that we should make no Chris- 

 tians of the Moors, we are in no danger of falling under such sentence, because, even 

 without the King's order, no Moor becomes a Christian in those parts, however much 

 the Fathers may speak to them, —as they always do, when occasion offers — about the 

 things of our holy faith, or the errors of their accursed sect. Many come to our Col- 

 lege at times out of curiosity, not from any wish of discussing with us. And I shall 

 tell here in passing what answer a distinguished and intelligent Moor gave to one of 

 our Fathers after a long discussion and explanation of the mysteries of our holy faith. 

 ' Padre Gi/ i.e., Senhor Padre, I see very well by what you have told me that 

 your law is better than ours; but I find it impossible for me to keep, and so, 

 good-bye.' 



" Both from a spiritual and temporal point of view, this destruction of Ogoly and 

 the large number of captives brought to Agra was like a thunderbolt lighting upon 

 our Christianity of Mogol. From a temporal point of view : because a large number 



law. Perhaps the word mulna (in the text) represents maulana {lit. our lord), a title given to persons respected for learning, 

 a doctor. But, is it likely that a long a would be slurred over ? 



1 Cf. Bernier (Constable's edu., p. 287) : " Chah-Jehau. .. .deprived them of their pension, and destroyed the church 

 at Lahor and the greater part of that of Agra, totally demolishing the steeple, which contained a clock heard in every part 

 of the city." This is not quite accurate The church at Agra was entirely destroyed. Was there a clock or a bell ? 



2 Gunahqur or gunahkdr=crhninal. 



3 This must be the old Cathedral of Agra, now the native chapel, minus the additions made under Father Francis 

 Xavier Wendel (1769, 1772) and Bishop Pezzoni (1835), additions attested and traceable by the inscriptions on the walls. 

 The cupola over the sanctuary must be one of the later improvements. 



Fr. J.de Castro writes to the General (Agra, Apr. 16, 1637) : " It is true that he [Shah Jahan] obliged us to destroy the 

 two churches of Lahor and Agra ; still he gave us leave [Dec. 8, 1635] to erect for our use another house in the above-said 

 place of the Church of Agra, as in fact we have done, building two or three rooms which serve us very well for our purpose. 

 There we celebrate at present the divine offices, and say Mass in such a way that the men on the one side, and the 

 women on the other, hear it without being seen by one another. Every day, after the Masses, we collect the sacred vest- 

 ments and whatever might give a clue to this." The new building referred to served as chapel. Xhe first Mass was said 

 oh Sept. 8, 1636. {MS. Letter of Fr. de Castro to the General, Sept. xy, 1636) . The openings still seen in the walls may 

 have been used as hiding-places, and the rings in the ceiling may have held the curtains hiding the women. 



+ J I : sir 



