________________
APRIL, 1887.)
A LETTER OF THE EMPEROR AKBAR.
135
A LETTER OF THE EMPEROR AKBAR ASKING FOR TIE CHRISTIAN
SCRIPTURES.
BY E. REHATSEK. From the text of a letter, which occurs in been well instructed in the Law, and shall have the first daftur of Abd'l-fazi's correspon- understood its perfection, they may return dence lithographed at Kênhpûr (Cawnpore) in whenever they like, and I shall send them back 1849-50, we can conjecture-bat no more-that with great honours and worthily remunerated. it was sent either to the Viceroy or to the Arch- Neither let them be at all afraid, as I take bishop of Portnguese India, as that neighbour- them under my protection and guarantee their hood is mentioned in it in such a way as to safety." imply contiguity of frontier between the two In consequence of the request made in this powers,—the Portuguese and the Mughal, letter, three Jesuits were sent to the Emperor and as the individual addressed is alluded to Akbar, namely, Ridolfo Aquaviva, who was as a propagator of the Christian religion. It an Italian, Antonio Montserrat, & Frenchis the only letter of this kind that appears, as man, and Francisco Enrichez (for Henriquez far as we know, to have been preserved in a native of India. The first of these, Padre Persian ; and the in other respects valuable Ridolfo, was still at the Court of the Emperor Archivo Portugues Oriental does not contain Akbar, when the Persian letter, now to be translations of any such, although it alludes to given in English, was despatched from it in correspondence, and to an ambassador from 1582. He arrived there on the 15th February Akbar, who arrived in Goa on the 25th 1580, and returned to Goa in 1583, where he October 1584, and remained there till his death, was soon afterwards slain at Salsette, together which occurred on the 5th May 1588.
with several other Padres, in a riot created by Before that time, however, according to angry Hindus on the 15th July of that year. another authority, an ambassador, 'Abdu'llah It will be seen hereafter that the purport of by name, had arrived and been received in the above letter, of which, as already said, we Goa with great honours in 1579 during the possess only the Italian translation, and which month of September. This ambassador, who was written more than three years before the was accompanied by an Armenian Christian Persian one,--and of the Persian letter, to be interpreter, Domenico Perez, brought to the given herein in as literal a rendering as possiArchbishop a letter which we know only in its ble, is nearly the same; although the former Italian rendering and translate as follows:- appears shorn of all the rhetorical oriental
"In the name of God. Letter from Jallalu- figures of speech that the original probably 'ddin Muhammad Akbar, the king, placed on contained. The Italian translated letter is, his seat by God. Chief Padres of the order of moreover, entirely devoid of that spirit of en. St. Paul, let it be known to them that I am lightenment and philanthropy, which permeated their great friend. I send them 'Abdu'llah, every document issued by the great and good my ambassador, and Domenico Perez, to ask Akbar, and which is noticeable also in the text you to send to 'me with them two of your of the Persian letter. On the other hand, it literati, (and) that they may bring with them the is a matter of some surprise, that in the Books of the Law, and above all the Gospels, Persian letter no mention is made of Padre because I really desire much to understand Ridolfo, who, when it was written, happened to their perfection; and pressingly again demand be still at the Mughal Court, which his two that they come with this my ambassador and companions had left, and who, although leadbring the Holy Books, that by their arrival I ing the retired life of a hermit during the last may obtain supreme consolation: they will be year of his sojourn, continued to enjoy the dear to me, and I shall receive them with every favour of the Emperor, who was very loth to possible honour. And when I shall have part with him."
Missione al Gran Mogor, Desoritta dal P. Daniello India than by their own. See Calcutta Review, No. Bartoli, S.J., p. 7, et seq.
CLXIII., January 1886, p. 18: end of the first footnote. • This is the name, as well as that of Paulista,' by La risposta no, il Re la diede sobita, ma non inaspetwhich the Jesuita were at that time better known in ata. Missions al Gran Mogor, p. 41 infra.
