A Western Miror of Princes to an Eastern Potentate: Jerome Xavier SJ to Mughal Emperor Akbar (2011)

* Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Evora (Portugal), 1977-2008. Currently Visiting Professor and Research Fellow, Institute of Oriental Studies, Universi-dade Católica Portuguesa at Lisbon. – A shorter Portuguese version of this study was published under the title ‘O Espelho de Príncipes de Jerónimo Xavier SJ dedicado ao Imperador Mogol (1609)’, in Caminhos cruzados em História e Antropologia: Ensaios de Homenagem a Jill Dias, ed. Ph. Havick et al. (Lisboa, 2010), pp. 37-50. Thanks are due to Dulce Santana, Evora, for her help in producing the English text and to Leonard Harrow, London, for the general revision and the discussion of some issues mostly related to the Persian language, including the text translations in the Appendices below. 1 Encyclopaedia of Islam, new ed., 13 vols. (Leiden, 1954-2007): ‘Akbar I’.

A WESTERN MIRROR FOR PRINCES FOR ANEASTERN POTENTATE

THE ADAB AL-SAL™ANAT BY JEROME XAVIER SJ FOR

THE MOGUL EMPEROR

ADEL SIDARUS*

It is well known that Jalal al-din MuÌammad Akbar (963-1014 A.H. / 1556-1605 A.D.)1 was the greatest Mogul Emperor of India, responsible for the everlasting foundation of the Empire, which his grandfather Babur had estab-lished some thirty years before and his father Humayun had restored just one year earlier (after the fifteen years of the Suri interregnum …). It is worth stressing that this happens precisely in the sixteenth century, universally con-sidered the great century of the European Renaissance. It was, in fact, contem-porary with the Golden Age of three Islamic Empires. Beside the Indo-Mogul one, it was also the time of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in the Middle East and the Persian Safavid Empire in the region between the two neighbours. Arab or Arab-speaking Islam had just experienced its great era under the Mam-luks of Cairo, who ruled the Nile Valley as far as the borders of West Sudan on the one side, and the Mesopotamian region on the other. The precise cause of the decay of this Mamluk Sultanate was the expansion of both Christian Portuguese and Muslim Ottoman Empires in the sixteenth century!

The main feature of the new Indian Muslim Empire was the complete inclu-sion – legal and civil, we may say – of Muslims and Hindus, together with other

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2 Beside the monographs of Edward Maclagan, The Jesuits and the Great Mogul (London, 1932; repr.: Piscataway NY, 1972; Gurgaon, Haryana, 1990) and Arnulf Camps, Jerome Xavier SJ and the Muslims of the Mogul Empire (Schöneck-Beckenried, Switzerland, 1957), see also the outlines of Irfan Habib (ed.), Akbar and his India (New Delhi, 1997); Sri Ram Sharma, The Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors, 3d ed. (New Delhi, 1988; 1st ed. 1940); M.L. Roychoudhury, The Din i-Ilahi: The Religion of Akbar, 3d ed. (New Delhi, 1985; repr. 1997; 1st ed. Calicut, 1941), pp. 103-128 (Ch. V, Section VII); Sayid Athar Abbas Rizvi, Religious and Intellectual History of the Muslims in Akbar’s Reign: With Special Reference to Abu’l Fazl, 1556-1605 (New Delhi, 1975), pp. 374-417 (Ch. 10); Stephen Neill, A History of Christianity in India: The Beginning to AD 1707 (Cambridge, 1984), pp. 166-190 (Ch. 8) & pp. 259-278 (Ch. 11). For a general and updated political and cultural contextualisation, see now the article by Hugues Didier, ‘Muslim Heterodoxy, Persian Murtaddun and Jesuit Missionaries at the Court of King Akbar (1580–1605)’, The Heythrop Journal, 49 (2008), pp. 898–939 (French version with a slight different perspec-tive in two papers, both published in Paris, 2010: L’Islam des marges, ed. R. Martimier, and Islam et christianisme: Éthique et politique, ed. M.-Th. Urvoy); Manuel Lobato, ‘Os Jesuítas perante o islão e a política religiosa do imperador Akbar: Notas de leitura’, in Livro de Homenagem ao Professor Doutor António Dias Farinha, eds. F.C. Domingues and J.S. Horta (Lisbon, in the press); Jorge M.C.S. Flores, Firangistân e Hindustân: O Estado da Índia e os Conflitos Meridionais do Império Mogol (1572-1636) (unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, 2004), esp. pp. 25-189 on the period of Akbar and the Jesuit Missions; on pp. 296-326: a newly discovered chronicle by Jerome Xavier him-self, Tratado da Corte e Caza de Iamguir .

believers: Buddhists, Jains, Zoroastrians, Sikhs, Jews, etc. – although this ideal of interreligious coexistence was not fully realised and did not last for ever.

It was under these circumstances that, from 1580 (988 A.H.), Emperor Akbar had persistently asked the Portuguese in Goa to send some ‘learned religious men’, so that the Christian faith (in its European Catholic fashion, as Armenians and other Eastern Christians were already to be found there) and Western thought could be represented in the interreligious forum (‘iba-dat khana) established at the Imperial Court. We should bear in mind that Goa, considered the Rome of the East, was the capital of the rival Empire in the region: a seaborne empire that challenged the continental empire of the Moguls. Therefore, clerics present in the court acted at the same time as actual ambassadors (for political and commercial purposes) of the ‘cristianís-simo’ Luso-Eastern Empire, and their proper religious ‘mission’ sometimes had to suffer as a consequence.

The three missions sent from 1580 onwards are as follows:2

– 1st Mission (1580-1583): Rodolfo Acquaviva (Italian), Antoni Montserrat (Catalan), Francisco Henriques (a Persian convert from Hormuz!)


A WESTERN MIRROR FOR PRINCES FOR AN EASTERN POTENTATE 75

3 This third mission never ended formally. It happened that the last missionary in North of India, Fr. Francis Xavier Wendel SJ, died in 1803, 30 years after the Jesuit Order’s suppression! Even though, in 1615 the mission’s first members J. Xavier and M. Pinheiro went back to Goa, less than two years after a major crisis that changed substantially the relationship between the two empires (meanwhile Bento de Goes had died in 1607 in China). Furthermore, this date matches the arrival of the first English Embassy to the Court, which marks an end to the monopoly of the Catholic representation of Europe. 4 Encycl. Islam: ‘Abu al-Fa∂l ‘Allami. 5 Encycl. Islam: ‘Din-i Ilahi. 6 In the synopsis provided, I have tried to sum up the information gathered by Maclagan, The Jesuits, pp. 203-218, and Camps, Jerome Xavier, pp. 13-49 & 191-198, together with that of the work list on the back of our MS of the Adab al-sal†anat (see Appendix 1). Re Espelho da verdade or Fuente de vida see now the text edition by H. Didier: Jerónimo Xavier S.I., Fuente de Vida: Tratado apologético dirigido al Rey Mogol de la India en 1600 (San Sebastian, 2007). On this text in particular see also the contribution Leonard Harrow in the present volume.

– 2nd Mission (1590, very short): Duarte Leitão (Portuguese), Cristóbal de Vega (Castillian), Estévão Ribeiro (Portuguese lay brother)

– 3d Mission (1595-): Gerónimo Javier (Navarran); Manuel Pinheiro (Portu-guese), Bento de Goes (Portuguese lay brother). Later: Francesco Corsi (Ital-ian, from 1600), António Machado (Portuguese, since 1602), José de Castro (Italian of Iberian origin, from 1610), etc.3

Under the influence of his vizier, the Shi‘ite sufi and theologian Abu al-Fa∂l (alias Abu’l-FaÂl) ‘Allami,4 and on the threshold of the new Islamic millennium, bound up as it was with Shi‘ite-like Mahdist expectation, Akbar experienced a new prophetic faith, the Din-i Ilahi (‘The Divine Religion’).5 A mixture of rationalism, eclecticism and mysticism, this new religion, actu-ally intended for a small loyal elite, corresponded to a true apostasy (ridda), at least in the eyes of Orthodox Sunnites. And it was exactly in this ‘breach’ that the Portuguese Jesuits at the court tried to clear a way to spread the Christian faith. They even hinted at the proposal of a strategic alliance between both Empires, which could help them in standing up to the expan-sion of the other two Islamic Empires: Shi‘ite Persian and Sunnite Ottoman.

Writing was the main instrument of this Christian offensive undertaken within the Mogul court. As a consequence, Jerome Xavier SJ (1549-1617), the head of the mission and the most qualified of the Fathers, wrote several apologetic and controversial works, as well as books on ethics and political philosophy, all writings that were soon translated into Persian:6


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7 Apart from Harrow’s essay referred to in the previous note, the most recent and detailed study on the Gospels is by Roberto Gulbenkian, The translation of the Four Gospels into Persian (Immensee, Switzerland, 1981). My discovery of two more MSS. in Lisbon, brings the total there to four; see the chapter ‘Portugal’, in World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts, ed. G. Roper, vol. 2 (London, 1993), pp. 626, 628 & 630. – On the linguistic proficiency of the Jesuits, see Maclagan, The Jesuits., pp. 192-202 (Ch. XIII); Camps, Jerome Xavier, pp. 181-185. 8 Maclagan, The Jesuits, p. 204; Camps, Jerome Xavier, pp. 36-37, n. 2. 9 He mentions the European and Iberian stories referred to below, which had already been presented to Akbar in 1596; Camps, Jerome Xavier, p. 34. Later, in 1604, we find mention of the selection of philosophical and political treatises; ibid., pp. 34-35; Maclagan, The Jesuits p. 221, n. 97. 10 Maclagan, The Jesuits, p. 216; Camps, Jerome Xavier, pp. 13 & 37-38; see also pp. 196-197. A critical transcript of the bilingual listing is given in Appendix 1.

– Two works on the Christian Faith using a hagiographical approach: – The Life of Christ followed by the Life of the Blessed Virgin – Lives of the 12 Apostles followed by the Lives of a number of Martyrs and

Saints– Espelho da verdade (A’ina-yi Ìaqq-numa) [‘Mirror of Truth’, c. 600 MS-pages! Also in the form of an abridgement

(muntakhab). An apology of Christian faith and law and polemics against Islam. After some revisions it gave way to the Castilian version Fuente de vida (‘Spring of Life’), a handbook for mission among Muslims]

– Directorio dos Reis (Adab al-sal†anat) [A political philosophical treatise also in some 600 MS-pages]

As noted by more than one author, it was on this very level rather than on that of missionary work that the Jesuit missions had some enduring impact on Mogul society.

At the explicit request of the Emperor and his counsellor Abu’l-FaÂl, the missionaries also furthered the translation of the Gospels and the Psalms into Persian.7 But also that of some western philosophical and historical works, for Akbar was fond not only of religious issues but also of history, science and philosophy. He urged, for example, the literate ‘Abd al-Sattar ibn Qasim al-Lahuri (from Lahore) to learn Portuguese with the missionaries in order to translate some western works, of which we shall speak later,8 and Xavier began his activity as a writer precisely with such texts, as he stated in a letter.9 We offer below a synopsis of this literary output, which is based on the list of works mentioned above, together with information gathered from Xavier’s letters and other data.10 For the main part, the works correspond to the



11 Is the compilation itself to be identified with the work entitled al-Siraj al-munir, once in the Marsden collection of manuscripts from the Jesuit mission and others (Camps, op. cit., p. 39)? The Pseudo-Maecenas’ text itself, or a paraphrase of it, actually constitutes the content of the Conclusion of Xavier’s treatise. 12 Pirouz Eftekhari, Coimbra, and Taher Ansari, Lisbon, to whom I am pleased to pub-licly express my gratitude here. 13 See the colophon in Appendix 3. The original opening page of the MS is reproduced in Fig. 4.

sources excerpted in the book itself, as we shall see, but we are not sure that all were really translated before they were used in the Adab:

– Plutarch: Sayings (indubitably from Moralia) and other treatises– Cicero: On duties and other writings– Selection of philosophical and political treatises (among which Pseudo-Mae-

cenas’ Advice to Caesar Augustus)11

– Story of the foundation of Rome and account of its emperors– European and Iberian histories

The Adab al-sal†anat

To some extent, this literary activity was a prelude to the treatise on political philosophy that Jerome Xavier composed for Akbar, having in mind the new order the emperor intended to implement.

I should state here that my information about the content of this volumi-nous book is mainly based on the analysis and translation of some key issues made by two Iranian friends.12 In fact, my aim is simply to offer an initial perspective on this important political writing in the hope that some Iranol-ogist may become interested in the subject in order to dwell on it in greater depth, if not to work on the edition and translation of the text.

The book is known from two manuscripts held in European libraries: in London at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and in Rome at the Casanatense. But other manuscripts may exist in Indian, Pakistani, Bengali or Persian libraries and elsewhere, as is the case with Xavier’s other works. Here we have made use of the London codex: SOAS, MS No. 7030, in 286 ff. (plus one additional folio in Portuguese) and dated to the 8th of Rama∂an 1018 (= 5 December 1609 A.D.).13 The title Adab al-sal†anat may be translated as ‘Manners and Duties of the Kingship’. The Portuguese


78 ADEL SIDARUS

14 See Appendix 2. 15 Encycl. Islam: ‘Djahangir b. Akbar’. 16 See the reference in Camps, Jerome Xavier, p. 23, n. 5. 17 According to the colophon (Appendix 3): YaÌya katib az qawm-i Bani Isra’il. The following study was inaccessible to me: W.J. Fischel, ‘Jews and Judaism at the Court of the Mogul Emperors in Medieval India’, Proceedings of the American Academy of Jewish Research, 18 (1948-49), pp. 137-177.18 Maclagan, The Jesuits, p. 215; Camps, Jerome Xavier, p. 24. 19 See the respective information in the articles of E. D. Ross and of H. Hosten on the Marsden’s Collection of MSS. published in the Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, 2 (1921-23), 533 & 3 (1923-25), 138 (# 14).

heading given on the title page, written in the author’s own hand, is Directo-rio dos Reis, that is ‘Directory/Guide of the Kings’.14 It is not certain whether any Portuguese original exists bearing this title. In one way or another Xavier could have dictated his book directly in the Persian language.

It is also stated in the full Portuguese title that the work was dedicated (dirigido) to Emperor Jahangir, Akbar’s son, who succeeded his father after 1014/1605 (until 1037/1627),15 and was done (feito) in 1609 at the royal court in Agra – an item of information repeated in one of Xavier’s letters.16 However, Xavier certainly began to compose the work in Akbar’s time, along with the Mirror of Truth or Fuente de vida. This work was completed in its first version as early as 1597, but the complete Persian text, or its abridge-ment, was not ready until the same year of 1609 (and dedicated obviously to Jahangir…). We have seen above the interest of Akbar in such texts and how the Jesuit priest soon began to respond to this request.

Emblematic of the religious intercourse of that time and place is the fact that our codex was copied by a Jewish scribe named YaÌya!17 Although the colophon gives the end of 1609 (Rama∂an 1018 A.H.) as the date for the conclusion of the work (tamma ha∂a al-kitab), it was not the first original copy, for an inscription on the aforementioned Portuguese title page dedicates this very copy to John Baptist Vechietti that is, the former papal envoy to Agra, who met the Jesuit priests there in 1604,18 and later General Secretary of the Propaganda Fide. Nevertheless, it was never sent to the addressee. As we saw above, in 1649 Fr. Morando from the Jesuit Mission added his bibliographical annotations to the book and this was acquired by William Marsden in the 18th/19th century together with other material belonging to the Mission, before it entered the King’s College library and later the SOAS library.19



20 See the author’s own presentation in his Preface in Appendix 4 and also the title page in Appendix 2. 21 On Persian literature, which had a tremendous impact on later Indo-Mogol treatises, see Ch.-H. Fouchécour, Moralia: Les notions morales dans la littérature persane du 3e/9e au 7e/13e siècle (Paris, 1986). On the latter particularly, see Muzaffar Alam, The Languages of Political Islam in India – c. 1200-1800 (Delhi, 2004), pp. 71-75 & 61; Idem, ‘Akhlaqi Norms and Mughal Governance’, in The Making of Indo-Persian Culture: Indian and French Studies, eds. M. Alam, F. Delvoye and M. Gaboriau (New Delhi, 2000), pp. 68-91. Alam also refers to the study of Sunil Kumar, ‘The Value of Adab al-Muluk as a Historical Source: An Insight into the Ideals and Expectations of Islamic Society in the Middle Period (AD 945-1500)’, The Indian Economic and Social History Review, XXII/3 (1985), pp. 307-327.

The structure of the book appears as follows:20

Preface/Introduction – Importance and benefits of knowledge and education – Examples of wise men/philosophers and counselors of the king Part I – The King’s reverence and obedience due to GodPart II – The King’s manners and virtues (exempla of Kings from the Bible & Roman/European history)Part III – Dealing with the kingdom’s officials: governors and administrators; courtiers and counselors; generals and soldiersPart IV – Love, providence and protection of the subjectsConclusion (Pseudo-Maecenas’ Advice to Caesar Augustus)

Content and General Appreciation

The genre of ‘Mirror for Princes’ is well-known as writings on political phi-losophy dedicated to a ruler, sometimes combined with educational and literary material and topics. It is widespread in both western and eastern literatures.21

Machiavelli’s Il Principe, from sixteenth-century Europe is perhaps the most famous treatise on the subject, though it is not inspired by Christian principles and has not the humanist depth of such works as Thomas More’s Utopia or Erasmus’ Institutio principis christiani (‘Education of a Christian Prince’). Both latter works were written in the same year of 1516, three years after Il Principe, though Machiavelli’s essay was not published until 1532. The renowned Dutch humanist Erasmus (1466-1536) dedicated his book to


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22 P. Calafate, ‘A Reflexão portuguesa sobre a política nos séculos XVI-XVII’, in Idem, História do Pensamento Filosófico Português, Vol. II: Renascimento e Contra-Reforma (Lisboa, 2001), pp. 663-700. One may also consult Martim de Albuquerque, O Poder político no Renascimento português (Lisboa, 1981). I have referred to some examples in the Portuguese version mentioned in the preliminary note. 23 Is it possible to trace here any influence of Erasmus’ Institutio, where, as opposed to Machiavelli, for example, such ideas are defended as a way to hold power, which consti-tutes a true public service?

his patron Archduke Henry, who became later the most famous and power-ful monarch of sixteenth-century Europe, Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire.

In Portugal where the Navarran Jerome Xavier dwelt for a while before his departure to the East (1581), as a missionary under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Portuguese Padroado, one finds works which are clearly similar.22

The Adab al-sal†anat as a whole stands in the same religious philosoph-ical line. For the Jesuit priest Jerome Xavier, the art of the good governance is considered from a moral and religious point of view in the general framework of an absolute and enlightened monarchy inspired by divine justice and compassion. The set of counsels and rules aims to secure the political stability needed to ensure the well-being and protection of the subjects, in the first place the weak and underprivileged! To attain this aim the King shall respect his counsellors and the kingdom’s officials, provided they have been carefully chosen. He is required to take care of them and at the same time to be constantly vigilant in order to keep them disci-plined, to ensure their honesty and loyalty and to avoid any kind of cor-ruption and abuse.

Throughout the text the author persistently recommends that the king shall be the supreme paradigm of justice and equity, of contentedness and good sense, of modesty and a simple way of life. In short, through his irreproachable behaviour he shall offer his subjects and the whole people a model to be followed. The Jesuit father even calls for the applica-tion of the Gospel’s golden rule of the Master-Servant, however without explicit reference to Jesus’ example.23 To quote the last words of the apoc-ryphal Advice to Caesar Augustus, undoubtedly paraphrased by the Jesuit author:



24 Cf. Matthew 7:12 & Luke 6:31. 25 Fol. 286r, just before the final conclusion reproduced in Appendix 5. 26 See the listing in Appendix 6.

Here is the essence of everything that has been said: If you act towards your subjects in the same way you would like to be

treated if one of them is set over you,24 if you behave according to this stand-ard, you will never fall into error and everything will go on in the best way and so you will have a quiet and peaceful life.

All people will see you as a father and a guide and will always love you, if they see you as a man of moderation and find perfection in your behav-

iour, either in war or peace, if they know that nobody will be unfairly injured by you either in words

or in any other means and that you act according to justice in every instance,if they ascertain that you do not heap up treasure from the alms spent by

other people and do not indulge in luxury and pleasure while others are in misfortune, but rather you behave in all things with the approval of the sub-ordinates and you lead the same way of life as they do.

If no one suffers because of you, it is certain that you will have a great company around you to keep you safe and no one shall belittle or demean you. You will spend your days in ease.

For what is sweeter and better than the person who by good actions enjoys all the benefits of the world and makes others participants in them?25

The Sources of the Book

All these instructions for good governance are founded on great erudition, western of course. They are presented in such a way that they seem to emerge from a personal experience in ruling! Everything is outlined and explained in great detail, with constant repetition and tiresome redundancy. Every idea or subject is illustrated by means of historical tales and episodes taken from the lives and actions of kings and emperors, governors and generals, and also of thinkers, sages or philosophers, mainly European, but also Jewish, as well as Babylonians or Assyrians, as far as they are extant in the Jewish-Christian Holy Scriptures.26

One is indeed amazed with the erudition of the author, who has written his treatise based on well-assimilated knowledge rather than on actual books,


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27 One may also check the classical sources used by his colleague Monserrate, a member of the first Mission, in one of his texts; Maclagan, The Jesuits, pp. 190-191. 28 This Summa could be the Summa theologica moralis by the Dominican St Antoninus of Forciglione, Archbishop of Florence (1389-1459); see for now the references by Mac-lagan, The Jesuits, (with n. 6 on p. 200). 29 More than one thousand pages!

for he complains in the Preface (f. 4v) about the lack of works on the matter at his disposal. Yet some of them were available, and even in Persian, as noted above. Nevertheless, for those who are interested in the general educa-tion which the Jesuits received shortly after the foundation of their order, the ‘Mirror for Princes’ composed by Jerome Xavier appears to be a helpful witness.27

In some ways the textual sources of which the author took advantage in his Directory are summed up above in the listing of the Persian translations. We should add two religious texts: the Bible, particularly the historical books of the Old Testament, and one Summa of the Christian faith and law men-tioned in the listing in Appendix 1.28 As a matter of fact, one is surprised not to find mention of St Augustine! His important City of God could easily be quoted in the text explicitly or not, as it constituted the main source of the Portuguese political treatises to which we alluded above. However, the study of the Adab is not to be regarded as exhaustive at this stage.

As for the European classical authors, Plutarch is by far the most quoted author in the Adab al-sal†anat. This is not surprising, for the Greek thinker, pedagogue and polymath from the first century of the Christian era (c. 45 to 125) had been much appreciated in Europe since the Middle Ages. Some seventy-eight of his essays and other works circulated under the name of Moralia, which found favour until the great epoch of Humanism, inspiring thinkers like Montaigne, Shakespeare or the German classic writers. His Parallel Lives aimed at pairing a philosophical biography of a famous Roman with one of a Greek who was comparable in some way, followed by a short moral essay of comparison. We may suppose that some of the Greek and Roman heroes (generals, kings, wise men etc.) quoted in Xavier’s book pro-ceed from this huge biographical collection.29 And it may be that the work called Thamarat al-falasifa (‘The Fruit of the Philosophers’) or AÌwal-i Far-angistan (‘Story of Europe’), in which ‘Abd al-Sattar ibn Qasim (see above)



30 See Alam, The Languages, pp. 71-75 & 61; Idem, ‘Akhlaqi Norms’, pp. 88-91. For the latter author, see also Encycl. Islam, VII, p. 433a. 31 Although one may ask if the Jesuit’s treatise was not a challenge to the Muslim intel-lectuals, leading them to produce analogical writings based on their own culture and values. 32 Camps, Jerome Xavier, p. 23. See also Maclagan, The Jesuits, p. 215 (with n. 89 on p. 221).

speaks of Greece and Rome and some western philosophers, is a translation or compilation of it.

We see indeed the originality and richness of our Mirror for Princes. It would be exciting to compare it with eastern works of a similar kind that circulated in the region at that time, especially those dedicated to Emperor Jahangir by Nur al-Din Qa∂i al-Khaqani, Akhlaq-i Jahangiri, and by MuÌammad Baqir Najm-i Thani, Mawa ̈iÂah-i Jahangiri.30 However, pro-duced within the framework and for the puropse of religious proselytising, Xavier’s work served at the same time as a broader cultural contact between peoples. Unfortunately, we have no indication about the actual circulation of the book in the society for which it was written.31 In contrast with other writings from the Jesuit Mission at the Mogul Court, the only two manu-scripts of the Adab al-sal†anat that we know of so far are held in European libraries and were actually sent to European individuals. We have already noted that it is the London MS on which we have worked, although it had not reached its addressee and remained in the Mission Library in India for more than two centuries. But the MS in the Casatanense Library at Rome also represents the copy sent to the General of the Jesuit order as stated in the dedication in Jerome Xavier’s own hand.32


APPENDICES AND FIGURES


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APPENDIX 1

THE WORKS OF JEROME XAVIER IN PERSIAN

AND OTHER TRANSLATIONS1

Rol dos livros que os P[adres de]sta2 // missaõ compuseraõ e [P]arsio(List of the books composed by the Fathers of this Mission in Persian)

Portuguese transcript Persian transcript (with English transl.)

– espelho da verdade de onde se confutaõ todos os // erros dos mouros e o Alcorão e se prova a verdade // da fe catolica (do Pe. Heronimo xavier)3

– A’ina-yi Ìaqq-numa(The Truth-revealing Mirror)

– mais o compendio do livro sobredito4

– IntiÌab-i A’ina-yi Ìaqq-numa(Summary of the Truth-revealing Mirror)

– Vida de Cristo N. Sr.5 – Mir’at al-quds ya‘ni dastan-i Ìa∂rat-i ‘Isa8

(Mirror of the Holy, that is Stories of the Lord Jesus)

– Vidas dos 12 Apostolos6 – Dastan-i davazdah havariyan talami∂an-i Ìa∂rat-i ‘Isa9

(Stories of the Twelve Apostles, the disciples of the Lord Jesus)

– forma dos Principes e virtudes que saõ proprias // delles7

– Adab al-sal†anat(Manners and Duties of the Kingship)

– Dotrina cristã – Intikhab-i ‘aqa’id-i din-i ‘isaviyan(Summary of the Beliefs of the Religion of the Christians)

– explicaçaõ difusa do Credo – Bayan-i iman-i ‘isaviyan(Explanation of the Faith of the Christians)

te aqui compus o // Pe. Heronimo [x]avier // os que se segue [naõ] // no sey 10(untill here composed by Fr. Jerome Xavier – those following I do not know)

– dittos de Plutarco – Maqulati-yi Palutarku(Sayings of Plutarch)

– fundaçaõ de Roma e Imperadores della

– GarÌ-i bina-yi Ruma u ∂ikr-i padgahan-i u(Description of the Foundation of Rome and Account of its Emperors)

– libro de filosophia [com] dittos de filosophos

– ∑aha’if-i muqaddimat-i falasifa(Pages from Treatises of the Philosophers)



1 Verso of the last and additional folio of the MS, corresponding to the recto of the first folio following the orientation of a European book (Fig. 1). It begins with a small cross at the top edge. Listing most probably done by Fr. Francesco Morandi SJ, one of the later missionaries around the middle of the 17th century. The quoted authors in footnotes 2 & 6 of the main text took advantage of this listing in their attempt to identify some of the works of the Jesuit missionary, however, the list was never critically and comparatively (Portuguese/Persian) edited. We avoid here establishing explicit equivalencies between our list and those inventories. In the transcript of the Portuguese section (right-hand column and elsewhere) we follow the orthog-raphy and punctuation of the original, displaying the abbreviations except where they are customary. The right-hand column with the Persian titles and their translation are the work of Leonard Harrow. On the recto of the folio (verso from the European perspective), a note in an unknown hand informs of the joint publication (in fact bilingual, Latin-Persian!), also recorded elsewhere, of the Life of Christ and the Lives of the Apostles by Louis De Dieu: ‘Versio lat. ac Notæ in Xavierii Historia Christi ac Petri a Lud. de Dieu… 4° Lugd. Bat. 1639’. 2 The added passages appear defective in the original. 3 Later addition by another pen, overwritten on the final part of the Persian title. On the left margin there is a kind of tick mark. 4 On the left margin there is a sequence of dots (?). 5 Idem. 6 On the left margin, a cross mark together with a tick mark (?). 7 On the left margin, a cross mark. 8 The first word is written Mirat. 9 The word Ìavariyan is written with an initial he, and the spelling of talami∂an seems defec-tive. 10 Later addition on the right margin written on three lines (apparently by the same hand), under the draught of a line. 11 The added name ‘Mark’ appears defective in the original. It is obviously Cicero. 12 The word Palutarku appears defective. 13 The word Marku appears defective.

– Soma da ley dos cristaõs – Intikhab-i din-i ‘isaviyan(Summary of the Religion of the Christians)

– Plutarco e Parsio – Tarjuma-yi Palutarku(Translation of Plutarch)

– Plutarco da consolaçaõ da morte de hu filho

– Kitabat-i Palutarku dar bab-i sangini-yi marg-i pisar(Plutarch on the Grief at the Death of a Son)

– Plutarco do proveito que se pode tirar do inimig[o]

– [Palutarku] az dugman [sic] tavan bi-dallat avurd12

(Plutarch on the profit that could be taken from an enemy)

– Algumas obras de M[arco] Tullio11 – Ba‘∂i-yi muqaddimat-i [Marku] Tuliyu13

(Some of the Treatises of Marcus Tullius)


88 ADEL SIDARUS

1 Fol. 1r or front page (first page from right to left, see Fig. 2). In the transcript we follow the orthography and punctuation of the original, displaying the abbreviations according to the conventions of Portuguese paleography. The words or passages between brackets represent reconstitutions, as they are not clear in the original.

APPENDIX 2

TITLE PAGE1

+

Directorio dos Reys. em que se trata como se ha // de aver hum Rey nas cousas de seu governo. Composto // polo Padre Jeronimo Xavier da companhia de Jesu, dirigid[o] // a el Rey Jahanguir grão Mogol. feito no ano // do Senhor de 1609 – em esta sua corte de Agra.

Tem 4 capitulos o 1o. trata da reverencia e obediencia // que deve ter el Rey a Deus. o 2o. do concerto de [vida] // que deve ter el Rey pera com sigo. O 3o. da doctrina // e direição que deve ter el Rey pera cõ os seus grand[es] // e oficiais. E o 4o. do amor e amparo e pro // videncia que deve ter el Rey pera com o povo.

Ao Senhor João baptista Vechietti+

Jeronimo Xavier

—————————

(Translation)

Directory/Guide of the Kings. It treats of the manner in which a King should manage the affairs of government. Written by Fr. Jerome Xavier from the Society of Jesus and dedicated to the King Jahanguir, the Great Mogul. Done in the year 1609 of [Our] Lord, at this royal court of Agra.

It has 4 chapters. The 1st treats of the reverence and obedience owed by the King to God. The 2nd, of the care the King should have for his own person. The 3rd, of the doctrine and the mode of conduct the King should follow as regards his high-ranking subjects and officials. The 4th, of the love, assistance and providence the King should show towards the people.

To Sir John Baptist Vechiete+

Jeronimo Xavier



1 End of fol. 286v.

APPENDIX 3

COLOPHON 1

Tammat (sic) ha∂a al-kitab bi-kha†† a∂ ̈af al-‘ibad faqir-i Ìaqir-i YaÌya katib // az qawm-i Bani Isra’il bi-itmam rasid bi-tarikh-i hashtum-i mah-i // Rama∂an al-mukar-ram sana 1018. Bar khwanandagan u mu†ala‘a kunandagan lazim ast // ki ghala†-i kitab-ra islaÌ dahand u mustaqim-ra ÒaÌiÌ gardanand. Tamma.Tamma (repeated four times in the form of a some cross draw).

This book was finished by the hand of the weakest of [God’s] worshippers, the humble, the vile, YaÌya the Scribe, from the People of Israel [lit. ‘people/nation of Israel’s sons/tribe’]. It was completed on the date of the eighth of Rama∂an al-mukarram in the year 1018. It is incumbent upon readers and scholars to amend the errors of the writer and restore the correct [form]. Finis. Finis (repeated four times).


90 ADEL SIDARUS

1 Fol. 8v-9r. 2 In Persian: fahz/fakhz va naz – doubtful reading. 3 In Persian: julbat guyan – doubtful reading.

APPENDIX 4

OUTLINE AND CONTENTS ACCORDING TO THE INTRODUCTION1

Contents of the book

This manuscript has four sections. The first explains the esteem which the king shall give to God. It comprises the submission, prayer and honour that shall be given to God and the divine decrees, the punishments done to those who act contrary to this, the obedience the king will give to divine ordinances and the requital of the unfortunate who have taken the path of governance.

Second section: explaining how the king betters his own precious soul; this section comprises several accounts, i.e. since he is a man and His creation, he shall recognise his own weakness, shall not behave proudly and not set himself up on high and in important matters shall act intelligently; since he is also the king, he shall under-stand the obligations of kingship and not consider his own benefit at all; he shall act with an open heart and abundant patience which is within the capacity of eve-ryone. He shall not act in a boastful and arrogant2 way with the wealth and posses-sions he has and shall not indulge in avarice and thrift; regarding his fellows he shall be forgiving and chivalrous and shall cherish mercy and kindness and shall make justice his companion; he shall seek truth and righteousness; he shall listen to the account both good and bad from everyone and give credit to the words of lesser people; he will not tolerate flatterers and avoid slanderers.3

Third section: in this section is mentioned an explanation for instruction of those in responsibility; the king has need of various people who act with integrity in his service, some by way of service, some in friendship and fellowship, as companions and confidants in whose conversation he takes pleasure; some run the kingdom; they are advisors, or ministers or executives or governors whom he sends as deputies to the towns and provinces, god-fearing and just men who keep ordinary people secure by justice, generals and soldiers who protect the frontiers of kingdom from plunderers; all these people are given special instruction so that everyone shall carry out his obligation in the best way.

Fourth section: on the love for ordinary people and their protection; this section is comprised thus: how wise it is for the king to love his people and become loved by his fellows; in governing the kingdom he should behave lovingly towards the people, and take care that he gives them protection either from their own oppressors or



4 The first letter mim is lacking. 5 Lit. ‘a stone in the road’.

from molestation by thieves or the cruelty of governors; he should protect the sons of the noble, the common people, soldiers, traders, travellers and strangers. The end of the book is adorned by the words of the philosopher (Ìakim) Maecenas4 who was counsellor to Augustus Caesar.

The truth-loving reader will observe that in this book the names of prophets, philosophers, kings and princes quoted are not people of this region [of India]. It seems appropriate and necessary for the sake of the authority of their words that these names are considered. However, because when studying these thoughts the names might be an impediment to such thoughts,5 it is deemed expedient that they are removed from the text and written in the margins.


92 ADEL SIDARUS

1 Fol. 286v (Fig. 3).

APPENDIX 5

FINAL WORDS OF THE WORK’S CONCLUSION1

This is the substance of the advice which the aforementioned Maecenas gave to Caesar Augustus that he might exercise governance fittingly. It is expedient that with these words I conclude the book.

Your servant entreats that those things which have been written in this book are weighed in the scales of noble reason and those points are selected which are actually enacted. In the royal court, where the king of kings is, we unfailing desire that, with excellence and nobility, guidance and direction, will have led his majesty to follow a fitting path in the court of the kingdom. Then the Master of all other hearts shall make the hearts of lesser men submissive in their service and his majesty, the shadow of God, shall desire and pay heed to protecting and cherishing his lowly subjects. His majesty, the asylum of the caliphal empire, [its] dependencies and provinces, shall protect in this world the truth of those who serve that [most high] Majesty in security and safety and with tranquillity and joy. In that place where all good things are brought together, he shall achieve the highest degree and the most exalted rank.



1 As stated in the original Introduction (Appendix 4), most of the names appear in the margins. I am indebted to Armando Martins, Evora, for his help to identifying the personalities of the Classical period.

APPENDIX 6

ONOMASTIC LISTING

Personalities quoted in the Adab (emperors, kings, generals, philosophers, thinkers, saints…)1

The listing is not intended to be exhaustive, nor are the identifications always sure.Many other names have not been identified so far.

The majority of names quoted belong to the Western Classical period.

Graeco-Roman Personalities

Adrian – Agrippa – Agrippina (mother of Nero) – Alexander The Great – Anax-agoras – Anthony – Antigonus – Antiochus – Antoninus Gallus – Antoninus Pius – Apollodorus (of Athens?) – Apollonius of Tyana – Apuleius – Arcadius – Aristides – Aristotle – Augustus Caesar – Belisarius – Caligula – Caracalla – Cato – Claudi-anus – Claudius – Cleopatra – Constantine The Great – Callisthenes – Callistus – Commodus – Decius – Democritus – Demosthenes – Diogenes – Dion – Dio-nysius – Domitian – Emilianus – Epaminondas – Fabian – Gallian – Gordian – (Hannibal) – Hector – Heliodorus – Heracles – Heraclius – Hippocrates – Julius Caesar – Justinian – Lotharius – Lucius – Lucretia – Maecenas – Maximian – Nero – Othelo – Pericles – Phalaris – Philip The Macedonian – Plato – Plotinus – Plu-tarch – Propertius – Ptolemy – Pythagoras – Scipio – Seneca – Severus – Sextus Pompeius – Sextus Tarquinius – Seleucus – Socrates – Sophocles – Themistocles – Terence – Theodosius the Great – Theophrastes – Tiberius – Titus – Trajan – Tullius (Cicero) – Ulysses – Valentine – Valerius Maximus – Virgil – Vespasian – Zeno.

Personalities from the Bible

Abiathar – Abimelech – Abinadab – Abraham – Absalom – Agag – Amazias – Ard-eshir (Artaxerxes) – Aristobulus – Assur – Baruch – Balthasar – Bakhtanassar – Cyrus – Daniel – Dara – Darius – David – Esther – Hezekiah – Holofernes – Isaac – Isaiah – Israel – Jacob – Jeroboam – Jezebel – Jesus Ben Sirach – Jethro – John Hyrcanus – Jonathan – Joram – Josiah – Josaphat – Joseph – Judith – Khosroes – Micah – Moses – Paul – Raphael – Rehoboam – Solomon – Sardanapalus – Saul – Shapur – Tobias – Xerxes (the Great).


94 ADEL SIDARUS

Christians and Contemporay European Personalities

Afonso Albuquerque – Afonso Henriques – Alphonse (various Iberian Kings) Alphonse, Archbishop of Toledo – Alfred the Great – Ambrosius (of Milan) – Benedict (Pope) – Bonifatius (Pope) – Charlemagne – Charles V – Catherine of Portugal – Denis (King of Portugal.) – Duke of Alba – Edward II – Ferdinand of Castille – Francis I – Henry II of Castille – Hernando Cortez – Isabella of Castille – Isidore (of Seville) – Jesus Pinheiro – John I & II (Kings of Portugal) – Louis (Saint) – Manuel I (King of Portugal) – Martim Gonçalves – Otto (Emperor) – Paul III (Pope) – Pius II (Pope) – Philip II (King of Spain) – Roderick (King of Hispania) – Sancho (King of Portugal) – Sebastian (King of Portugal) – Thomas Aquinas – Vasco da Gama – Viriatus.



Fig. 1 – MS SOAS 7030 = Additional folio at codex end = bilingual work list.


96 ADEL SIDARUS

Fig. 2 – MS SOAS 7030, fol. 1r or front page.



Fig. 3 – MS SOAS 7030, fol. 286v = Final part of the conclusion.


98 ADEL SIDARUS

Fig. 4 – MS SOAS 7030, fol. 2r: Original opening page.


A Western Miror of Princes to an Eastern Potentate: Jerome Xavier SJ to Mughal Emperor Akbar (2011)

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