religion of
the Portuguese, then settled at Goa. He directed Faizi to have
translated into Persian a correct version of the New Testament, and
he persuaded a Jesuit priest, Padre Rodolpho Aquaviva, a missionary
from Goa, to visit Agra.

It was on the occasion of the visit of this Father that a famous
discussion on religion took place in the Ibadat-Khana, at which the
most learned Muhammadan lawyers and doctors, Brahmans, Jains,
Buddhists, Hindu materialists, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians or
Parsis, each in turn spoke. The story is thus told by Abulfazl. 'Each
one fearlessly brought forward his assertions and arguments, and the
disputations and contentions were long and heated. Every sect, in its
vanity and conceit, attacked and endeavoured to refute the statements
of their antagonists. One night the Ibadat-Khana was brightened by
the presence of Padre Rodolpho, who for intelligence and wisdom was
unrivalled among Christian doctors. Several carping and bigoted men
attacked him, and this afforded an opportunity for the display of the
calm judgment and justice of the {162} assembly. These men brought
forward the old received assertions, and did not attempt to arrive at
truth by reasoning. Their statements were torn to pieces, and they
were nearly put to shame, when they began to attack the
contradictions of the Gospel, but they could not prove their
assertions. With perfect calmness and earnest conviction of the truth
the Padre replied to their arguments, and then he went on to say:

'"If these men have such an opinion of our Book, and if they believe
the Kuran to be the true word of God, then let a furnace be lighted,
and let me with the Gospel in my hand, and the 'Ulama (learned
doctors) with their holy book in their hands, walk into that
testing-place of truth, and the right will be manifest." The
black-hearted mean-spirited disputants shrank from this proposal, and
answered only with angry words. This prejudice and violence greatly
annoyed the impartial mind of the Emperor, and, with great
discrimination and enlightenment, he said:

'"Man's outward profession and the mere letter of Muhammadanism,
without a heartfelt conviction, can avail nothing. I have forced many
Brahmans, by fear of my power, to adopt the religion of my ancestors;
but now that my mind has been enlightened with the beams of truth, I
have become convinced that the dark clouds of conceit and the mist of
self-opinion have gathered round you, and t