MIRZA ZU-L-QARNAIN, A CHRISTIAN GRANDER. 193 



nature a very humble and meek person, but the King Akbar liked him so much that 

 without his order notcdy cculd do anything, either rich or poor. It is said that 

 whoever wished to go to him was allowed freely and boldly , and he never allowed the 

 request of those who went to him to remain utigranted. He would neither eat nor 

 drink, not that he wished to show himself off with pride, but that he had made a 

 habit of it. But they say he had the Mansab [rank] of seven thousand and paid much 

 attention to it. 



"In the year of our Lord 1605, King Akbar died and Mirza Salim Salathin suc- 

 ceeded him and was called Nur-ud-din Jehangeer. When the whole world were 

 going to congratulate the King on his accession, Oulqurnell trembling through fear 

 would not come out of the house and would not go to offer his felicitations to the 

 King. Several times he sent word to him and invited him to come, but his false 

 fear compelled him to run away by himself and go to his jagir at Hooghly. This 

 escape made the King very, very sorry, so he ordered that all the Armenians be 

 watched. Afterwards when he learnt that the escape was more through fear than 

 anything else, he wrote on oath, ' Fear not, I and you are brothers. Do you not 

 know my love from my youth ? Come to me, and, whatever may be your requests, 

 I shall grant you the same. Is it likely that I should be ungrateful towards my 

 father's behest and think of harming you ? If you do not come willingly, I shall 

 have you brought in bonds.' In like manner, our own people [the Armenians] beseech- 

 ingly wrote to him to come. 



" When he came and presented himself, the King loved him much and said, ' Why 

 do you now keep aloof, brother ? Am I going to take back from you the properties 

 presented to you by my father, or is there anything wanting which I will not make 

 good? Ask, even half of my kingdom, and I shall grant it to you.' Our hermit 

 king to-be fell on his face to the ground and said, ' My Lord, I verily know your 

 love and favour, but I beg of you to allow me to stay at home like a poor man and 

 pray for you.' The King said, ' Since that is your wish, I am glad ; do as you like, 

 but come and see me sometimes.' 



" Henceforward, having retired from all important affairs, he gave himself up to 

 singing, which in the Indian language is called Rag, and he made so much progress 

 that he was not inferior to the very best singers of olden times. His name is pro- 

 claimed in the Indian work called Ragmala. Following such trivial pursuits, he 

 neglected himself, his children (of whom, they say, some are still to be found at 

 Chandernagore in Bengal), as also his properties and his own nation." 



Many points in this Armenian account are out of focus, exaggerated, unreliable, 

 or wrong: e.g., the name of Zu-1-Qarnain's father, his origin from Julfa, his meeting 

 Akbar first in Kashmir, Zu-1-Qarnain's birth before that of Prince Salim, the date of 

 Prince Salim' s birth (1563), Akbar's attributing it to the prayers of the Armenians, 

 the arrival at Agra before or about 1600 of Armenian priests and their establishing a 

 church there, the grant of 5000 bighas of land to the " Armenians " of Agra, Mirza 



