MlRZA ZU-LQARNAIN, A CHRISTIAN GRANDEE. 191 



. APPENDIX E. 

 Note on Mtrza Ztj-i>Oarnain from Armenian Sources. 

 By Mesrovb J. Seth. 1 



The following account of Mirza Zu-1-Qarnain is a literal translation from the 

 original Armenian of Thomas Khojamall. This account is found as an Appendix to 

 the second volume of Thomas Khojamall' s " History of India " in Armenian, which, 

 he says in his preface, was translated by him from the original Persian at Allahabad 

 under the following circumstances : — 



"In the year 1768, on the 15th Damah [one of the Armenian months], at the 

 time of Shah 'Alam, at the Capital City of Ellabas [Allahabad], where was the great 

 Dewan Khalsoo, whose name was Rajah Syedraff, and the other Rajah Driran, who 

 were my friends, at my earnest request and desire, I received from these persons, 

 and in the course of 12 days I translated from the royal Persian books into our lan- 

 guage, which was completed on the 26th Damah. " z 



Thomas Khojamall' s manuscript in iirmenian was found at Agra in 1822 in the 

 possession of one Satoor Arratoon of that place, and, as it was badly worm-eaten, it was 

 copied afresh by one Gabriel Andreasian at the instance of the Armenian Bishop Pogose 

 en route to Gwalior. The good Bishop brought the copy to Calcutta and it remained 

 here in manuscript until 1849, wn en it was edited and published by the Armenian 

 poet and journalist, the late Mesrovb David Thaliatin. 3 



THE ADOPTION BY KING AKBAR OF THE SON OF HAKOBJAN OF JULFA* 



WHOSE NAME WAS QULQURNELL. 



" Akbar Shah the Great, Emperor of India, son of Nasiruddin Humayon, ascended 

 the throne in the year of our Lord 1554. 5 In his days there had come from Julfa a 

 Mr. Jacob, with his wife, and he resided at Kashmir engaged in trade. There a son 

 was born to them; but, unfortunately, not finding a priest at that place to baptize 

 the child, the}' named him, according to their own wishes, Qulqurnell. 



'The mighty Emperor during this time goes to Kashmir to visit his subjects, 

 and, whilst going about incognito, he comes across the child of Mr. Jacob and is much 

 pleased with his beauty. He orders some of his chiefs to stay there and ascertain 

 whose child he is and to take him with his parents to him. The chiefs, having found 

 out, took the parents with him to the Emperor. When Akbar heard that he was of 

 the Armenian nation, he became very glad. He liked the child very much, and, turn- 

 er" supra, p. 120; 120 n. 1. 2 Sic. 



' Thomas Khojamall's account of Mirzi ZH-1-Qarnain seems to me to have been written by himself from traditions, 

 and not to have been translated from the Persian. — H. H. , S.J. 



* Hakob is the Armenian name for Jacob, fan being a Persian affix, meaning life. — M. J. S. 



Has this name anything to do with Yakoob Khan, the Nawab related to the Afghan family, from whose grand- 

 daughter Francis Bourbon was born in 1680? Cf. Col. W. Kincaid, Asiatic Quarterly Review, III (Jan. — April, 1887), 

 p 170.— H. H., S.J. h 1556, rather. 



