170 H. HOSTEN ON 



' What is this throne of Solomon at last coming to ? ' l Hereupon the Emperor 

 marvelled, remarking full well that Tulkarnet refused him his help for the protection 

 of his throne. He promised him therefore at once that the Missionary would come 

 back as soon as possible to the kingdom.* What I have just related happened in the 

 presence of the Ombraus, or chief Courtiers, and they seized this opportunity to accuse 

 the good Tulkarnet of leze-majesty. But the Emperor told them, ( Tulkarnet has 

 at heart the welfare of the kingdom ; hence, he takes the liberty to warn us of danger ; 

 no one else is allowed to do this.' 



i( As long as this pillar of the faith was standing, Christianity too stood firm; 

 but no sooner had Tulkarnet descended into the grave, advanced in years and redolent 

 with the perfume of his excellent virtues, than the fabric of the Church began to 

 shake, and the Grandees of the Kingdom who were devoted to Mahomet dared again 

 to harass us : one of them went so far as to take possession of our College at Agra, 

 on the plea that all Tulkarnet 's property reverted to the Emperor's exchequer. To 

 avoid a greater evil, the Fathers were obliged to submit to this injustice and to hide 

 for a time in secret corners. However, they trusted always in the Providence of 

 Almighty God, and soon they experienced its effects. For the Ombrao, against all 

 expectation, called the Fathers and told them to occupy their College again. The 

 Mother of God, he said, to whom the Church of Agra is dedicated, had appeared to 

 him and had threatened him with death, unless he restored their house to the Mission- 

 aries. The College had been robbed of many things, but the Fathers had to keep 

 silent about the plunder and consider themselves happy that they had recovered a 

 fixed abode." 8 



l,et us now return to 'Abdu-1-Hayy and see what else can be discovered about 

 him and his family. 



In the 35th year of Akbar's reign one f Abdu-l-Hayy, Mir 'Adl or Chief Justice of 

 the Empire, took part together with Sadr Jahan Mufti in a drinking bout, and Akbar 

 was so amused at seeing his ecclesiastical and judicial dignitaries over their cups that 

 he quoted a well-known verse from Hafiz (Am, transl. I. 468, No. 194). Khwaja 

 'Abdu-1-Hayy Mir 'Adl appears in the Tabaqat and Abul Fazl's list of Akbar's gran- 

 dees as a commander of 500 (ibid., I. 534, No. 178), Abul Fazl's list stopping at the 

 40th year of Akbar's reign (ibid., I. 535). 



In the 43rd year, he was QazI of the Imperial camp (urdu). Cf . ibid., I. 471. The 

 Tabaqat calls him Khwaja 'Abdu-1 Hai and says he was an Amir (ibid., I. 480, No. 230). 

 In Badauni's Muntakhab-iit-T awavlkh (Low's transl. II. 64), a witty saying is ascribed to 

 Mir 'Abdu-1-Hayy, and Mr. H. Beveridge notes (Tuzuk-i-Jahdngirl, transl., II. 194 n.) 

 that in some of the MSS. of the Akbamdma ' Abdu-1-Hayy, whom Mr. Beveridge iden- 

 tifies with our Armenian, is mentioned as taking part in the religious discussions. 

 Finally, one 'Abdu-1-Hayy and Bihzad are compared in the 13th year of Jahangir's 

 reign (1618) with the painter Ustad Mansur, Nadiru-z-zaman ("the wonder of the 



1 The meaning seems to be : " What has become of the Emperor's wisdom and justice ? " 



* The story may be a reminiscence of what happened to Fr. Busi (alias Uwens), as we saw in Pr. Botelho's narrative. 

 3 This story of the occupation of the College may be a corrupt account of what happened, during the Mirza's 

 lifetime, in 1635. 



