Indian Antiquary Vol 49

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 80

76
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
APRIL, 1920
that to take any thing which is given with an ill-will, is not better than exacting it by main force ; for neither Petrus, nor any of the same cast, would do a piece of kindness without having some low design in it. They are to be pitied rather than blamed, since having once lost the sweets of liberty, and being kept under exorbitant tyranny for several centuries they are become like fatherless children, and it is impossible they should conduct them. selves with the same delicate sentiments as a free or polite nation."
NOTE (BY THE EDITOR, AMY APCAR]. Khoja Petrus Arathoon, the "earthly god of the Calcutta Armenians," died in 1778.
Emin is perhaps a little unjust to him. He was the Armenian (who] ... supplied the refugees at Fulta in 1756 with provisions for six months ...
Pietros Arathoon's tombstone in the south choir of Nazareth's Armenian Church, Calcutta, is & white marble stone let into the marble flooring with an inscription in an exaggerated style, as follows "The eminent princely chief Aga Pietros Arathoon of Erivan, New Julfa, Ispahan, of the family of Abraham, was a lustrous hyacinthine crown of the whole Armenian nation. He acquired a great fame amongst all peoples to the glory of his nation. He worked assiduously and expended lavishly. His generosity towards the destitute orphans and widows was without parallel. By his frequent munificent gifts he erected handsome and well-embellished churches. He departed in the hope of salvation at the age of fifty-three, and was placed in this tomb with pomp, in the year of Our Lord 1778, the 29th of August, corresponding with the year 163 of the era of Azariah, the 12th of the month of Nadar."
The word translated princely chief is Ishkhan ---prince, or absolute ruler. There were no princes, or even "meliks" in New Julfa. Next to Khojah Pietros lies his wife, under a plain stone of blackish grey marble, inscribed with five lines of Armenian, as follows:
“This is the tomb of Dastagool, the daughter of Aga Minas of the family of Khoja Minas of Erivan (a parish of Julfa) and wife of Aga Pietros. She departed this life on the 3rd of June 1805."
Pietros Arathoon erected two small altars in the Armenian Church of Calcutta ; on the north and south sides of the sanctuary there are respectively a vestry and a sacristy, and a flight of steps was introduced in each, leading up to an altar on a higher elevation than the principal altar. In an Armenian Church there should be only one altar, but apparently a man of Pietros Arathoon's position was privileged to make an innovation. The inscriptions on the walls facing the congregation above the doors leading from the choirs into the vestry and sacristy are as follows. In the north choir
* This alter in the name of the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul is (erected] to the memory of Aga Pietros, the son of Arathoon, a native of Old Erivan, in the year of Our Lord 1763."
In the south choir :
“This altar in the name of S. Gregory the Illuminator is [erected] to the memory of Aga Gricor, the son of Arathoon, a native of Old Erivan, in the year of Our Lord 1763, December 21st."
Both altars were erected in the lifetime of the donor.
Aga Gricor (Gregory), known in Indian history as Gurgin Khan, was the brother of Aga Pietros. He was in the service of Mir Kasim, commanding his soldiery, and he fought against the troops of the East India Company. He established a foundry at Monghyr for casting cannon and manufacturing firelocks. He died by assassination in August 1763, and his brother erected the small altar to his memory in the same year. Aga Pietros was also the founder of the Armenian Church at Saidabad, built in 1758.