AKBAR THE GREAT UNIFIER
On the morning of 31 August 1573, 3,000 horsemen of the imperial Mughal army paused at the banks of the river, Sabarmati. The rebels they were after lay just beyond the swollen river, but the soldiers were exhausted: they'd traversed 960 kilometres of difficult terrain in nine days, riding almost continuously.
Suddenly a warrior on a chestnut charger plunged into the raging torrent. As man and horse struggled on to the opposite bank, a thrill ran through the army. It was the emperor, Jalal-ud-din Akbar! With a roar the soldiers followed him across and within two days they had put down the rebellion so thoroughly that Gujarat remained in Mughal hands for the next 185 years.
Suddenly a warrior on a chestnut charger plunged into the raging torrent. As man and horse struggled on to the opposite bank, a thrill ran through the army. It was the emperor, Jalal-ud-din Akbar! With a roar the soldiers followed him across and within two days they had put down the rebellion so thoroughly that Gujarat remained in Mughal hands for the next 185 years.
Physical Prowess.
Few could have foreseen Akbar's place in history when he was born in Sind on November 23,1542. (Later, to frustrate hostile astrologers, the date was officially changed to October 15.) His father Humayun was then on the run, having been defeated by the Afghan Sher Shah. Humayun's father, the Turkish warlord Babur, had swept down from Afghanistan in the 1520s and established a loosely knit empire in northern India, but by 1540 Humayun, a clever but unstable man, had lost it all.
Humayun was so poor at the time of Akbar's birth that he didn't have money to celebrate. So he broke a pod of musk and distributed the pieces among his few followers saying wistfully that he hoped that the boy's fame would one day expand over the world just as the smell of musk now filled the tent. Few fond parental hopes have proved as prophetic.
Few could have foreseen Akbar's place in history when he was born in Sind on November 23,1542. (Later, to frustrate hostile astrologers, the date was officially changed to October 15.) His father Humayun was then on the run, having been defeated by the Afghan Sher Shah. Humayun's father, the Turkish warlord Babur, had swept down from Afghanistan in the 1520s and established a loosely knit empire in northern India, but by 1540 Humayun, a clever but unstable man, had lost it all.
Humayun was so poor at the time of Akbar's birth that he didn't have money to celebrate. So he broke a pod of musk and distributed the pieces among his few followers saying wistfully that he hoped that the boy's fame would one day expand over the world just as the smell of musk now filled the tent. Few fond parental hopes have proved as prophetic.
A few months after Akbar's birth, Humayun crossed over into Persia, to seek Shah Tahmasp's help in regaining his kingdom. Akbar, meanwhile, was left behind and raised by his uncles.
The young prince's spirit and strength soon became evident. At the age of three, after Akbar had quarrelled with his cousin Ibrahim over a pair of kettledrums, his uncle arranged a wrestling match between the two boys. Akbar swaggered into the arena, dressed like a pahahvan and downed Ibrahim - 18 months his elder - in less than a minute. As he grew older his physical strength increased. When he was 19, he killed a tiger with a single stroke of his sword.
Though the delight of his physical instructors, young Akbar drove his tutors of distraction. He got his first teacher addicted to pigeon flying, and when his formal initiation into learning was fixed, showed what he thought of the whole business by refusing to show up for the ceremony.
Great Mission.
Akbar's disdain for studying was a family scandal. For centuries, the Timurids had prized the written word: Akbar's grandfather Babur wrote so well that his memoirs are even today considered a literary classic. But although Akbar never learnt to read, his exceptional memory and enquiring mind eventually made him a very erudite man. In later years, he memorized religious and philosophical texts after they were read to him and often stunned scholars by quoting long passages from them.
By the late 1540s, Humayun, with the help of an army the Persian Shah had loaned him, had begun to reconquer his lost territories. By the age of nine, Akbar accompanied him in these campaigns and astonished everyone by his grasp of military matters. In 1551, during a siege of Kabul, Akbar made several suggestions to improve the trenches being dug around the camp, and, the next day, when he saw that the engineers were not carrying out his instructions properly, took them to task.
By July, 1555, Humayun had regained much of his kingdom. But in January 1556 he fell down the steps of his Delhi library and died a couple of days later. Akbar, 13 and then in the Punjab, was crowned King.
It didn't took as if he'd last long. Revolts broke out and in a few months several cities, including Delhi, fell to the insurgents. But the imperial armies under Bairam Khan, a general who remained loyal to Akbar, gradually subdued the rebels.
For the next four years Bairam Khan ran the kingdom, while Akbar appeared to be frittering away his time in hunting and other sports. But in fact, he was growing increasingly restless under the older man's domination and impatient to take charge himself. In 1560, Akbar sacked Bairam Khan and packed him off to exile. But it took him two more years to suppress various other court intrigues against him and take complete charge.
During the next 40 years Akbar slowly extended his authority across more than half of the subcontinent. And though his conquests were motivated largely by the straightforward desire to control as much territory as he could, there were other reasons too. "Each man has a mission to perform," he once told the Jesuit missionary, Father Aquaviva. "Mine is to unite this great land."
Mystical Streak. Akbar could be ruthless in this drive for unity: after the fall of Chitor, he ordered all its more than 30,000 inhabitants massacred. But he also realized that a large empire could not be held together purely by force. So, whenever possible, he wooed his opponents by marrying into their families and giving them top jobs in the imperial administration. This policy was particularly successful with the Rajputs. In 1562, Akbar married Jodha Bai, daughter of Raja Bihari Mai of Amber. The beautiful, intelligent Jodha Bai was allowed to remain a Hindu and was Akbar's favourite among his more than 300 wives. Her brother Raja Bhagwan Das and her nephew Raja Man Singh became two of Akbar's most distinguished generals, and the house of Amber served the Mughals loyally for four generations.
Apart from winning over the aristocracy, Akbar also endeared himself to ordinary Hindus, by repealing laws discriminating against them. Soon after he took charge, he stopped the practice of enslaving prisoners and forcibly converting them to Islam, and, within a couple of years, abolished all taxes levied only on non-Muslims.
These measures obviously made political sense, but they fulfilled the Emperor's personal needs too. Akbar had a strong mystical streak and he yearned for spiritual unity. He constantly sought out the company of holy men of different religions: during one of his campaigns, he took a Portuguese missionary along and discussed Christian theology along the way. He abolished the pilgrim tax against Hindus even though it brought millions of rupees every year into the treasury. In fact, he felt so exhilarated after revoking the pilgrim tax that he walked 58 kilometres at such a pace that only three of his courtiers could keep up with him.
Akbar also tried to bring Muslims and Hindus closer together by trying to make the personal laws of the two communities more similar. He banned marriages between cousins, and tried to abolish child marriage and suttee. He decreed that no widow could be cremated against her will: once, when he heard that the widow of one of his officials was about to be burnt, he jumped on a horse, rode alone to the site and stopped the proceedings.
The young prince's spirit and strength soon became evident. At the age of three, after Akbar had quarrelled with his cousin Ibrahim over a pair of kettledrums, his uncle arranged a wrestling match between the two boys. Akbar swaggered into the arena, dressed like a pahahvan and downed Ibrahim - 18 months his elder - in less than a minute. As he grew older his physical strength increased. When he was 19, he killed a tiger with a single stroke of his sword.
Though the delight of his physical instructors, young Akbar drove his tutors of distraction. He got his first teacher addicted to pigeon flying, and when his formal initiation into learning was fixed, showed what he thought of the whole business by refusing to show up for the ceremony.
Great Mission.
Akbar's disdain for studying was a family scandal. For centuries, the Timurids had prized the written word: Akbar's grandfather Babur wrote so well that his memoirs are even today considered a literary classic. But although Akbar never learnt to read, his exceptional memory and enquiring mind eventually made him a very erudite man. In later years, he memorized religious and philosophical texts after they were read to him and often stunned scholars by quoting long passages from them.
By the late 1540s, Humayun, with the help of an army the Persian Shah had loaned him, had begun to reconquer his lost territories. By the age of nine, Akbar accompanied him in these campaigns and astonished everyone by his grasp of military matters. In 1551, during a siege of Kabul, Akbar made several suggestions to improve the trenches being dug around the camp, and, the next day, when he saw that the engineers were not carrying out his instructions properly, took them to task.
By July, 1555, Humayun had regained much of his kingdom. But in January 1556 he fell down the steps of his Delhi library and died a couple of days later. Akbar, 13 and then in the Punjab, was crowned King.
It didn't took as if he'd last long. Revolts broke out and in a few months several cities, including Delhi, fell to the insurgents. But the imperial armies under Bairam Khan, a general who remained loyal to Akbar, gradually subdued the rebels.
For the next four years Bairam Khan ran the kingdom, while Akbar appeared to be frittering away his time in hunting and other sports. But in fact, he was growing increasingly restless under the older man's domination and impatient to take charge himself. In 1560, Akbar sacked Bairam Khan and packed him off to exile. But it took him two more years to suppress various other court intrigues against him and take complete charge.
During the next 40 years Akbar slowly extended his authority across more than half of the subcontinent. And though his conquests were motivated largely by the straightforward desire to control as much territory as he could, there were other reasons too. "Each man has a mission to perform," he once told the Jesuit missionary, Father Aquaviva. "Mine is to unite this great land."
Mystical Streak. Akbar could be ruthless in this drive for unity: after the fall of Chitor, he ordered all its more than 30,000 inhabitants massacred. But he also realized that a large empire could not be held together purely by force. So, whenever possible, he wooed his opponents by marrying into their families and giving them top jobs in the imperial administration. This policy was particularly successful with the Rajputs. In 1562, Akbar married Jodha Bai, daughter of Raja Bihari Mai of Amber. The beautiful, intelligent Jodha Bai was allowed to remain a Hindu and was Akbar's favourite among his more than 300 wives. Her brother Raja Bhagwan Das and her nephew Raja Man Singh became two of Akbar's most distinguished generals, and the house of Amber served the Mughals loyally for four generations.
Apart from winning over the aristocracy, Akbar also endeared himself to ordinary Hindus, by repealing laws discriminating against them. Soon after he took charge, he stopped the practice of enslaving prisoners and forcibly converting them to Islam, and, within a couple of years, abolished all taxes levied only on non-Muslims.
These measures obviously made political sense, but they fulfilled the Emperor's personal needs too. Akbar had a strong mystical streak and he yearned for spiritual unity. He constantly sought out the company of holy men of different religions: during one of his campaigns, he took a Portuguese missionary along and discussed Christian theology along the way. He abolished the pilgrim tax against Hindus even though it brought millions of rupees every year into the treasury. In fact, he felt so exhilarated after revoking the pilgrim tax that he walked 58 kilometres at such a pace that only three of his courtiers could keep up with him.
Akbar also tried to bring Muslims and Hindus closer together by trying to make the personal laws of the two communities more similar. He banned marriages between cousins, and tried to abolish child marriage and suttee. He decreed that no widow could be cremated against her will: once, when he heard that the widow of one of his officials was about to be burnt, he jumped on a horse, rode alone to the site and stopped the proceedings.
Successful Reforms.
Akbar also got Hindu religious texts such as the Atharva Veda, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana translated into Persian, the court language. When he heard that one of his ultra-orthodox Muslim courtiers was protesting at having to translate the Mahabharata,. Akbar remarked wryly "No sword can sever the jugular vein of his bigotry."
Akbar's quest for religious unity also led him to develop a new religion which he called the Din-i-IIlahi or "Divine Faith." Its doctrines were a mixture of several traditional religions and Akbar hoped that it would supplant both Hinduism and Islam. But to his great disappointment, it never took root and even at the imperial court only 18 of the top 500 nobles embraced it. One of those who didn't, the general Raja Man Singh, told Akbar: "I am a Hindu. If you order me to I will become a Muslim. But 1 do not know of any faith other than these two."
Akbar's administrative reforms, however, were far more successful than the Din-i-Illahi, Instead of relying on a hereditary aristocracy like his predecessors, Akbar ran the country directly through a corps of salaried officials whom he appointed. Around half the top jobs were held by Hindus. One, Revenue Minister Raja Todar Mal was the second most powerful bureaucrat in the empire.
Raja Todar Mal, under Akbar's direction, devised a system whereby peasants were taxed according to the crops they actually produced, rather than, as previously, according to royal whim. During Akbar's reign, the average Indian peasant had more to eat than his counterparts in Europe. Moreover, the imperial civil service that Akbar created lasted for two hundred years; the British adopted aspects of it, some of which continue even today. .
Akbar was interested in every aspect of life. Apart from spiritual and practical matters, he loved beautiful things and encouraged their creation. This passion fostered the growth of a new Indian style of art and architecture that combined the best of both Hindu and Islamic cultures.
A Dream City.
The best example of this fusion is Fatehpur Sikri, the city Akbar built and made his capital for 16 years. Thirty-seven kilometres from Agra, the traditional capital, Akbar built the city in honour of Sheikh Salim Chishti, a Sufi saint who lived near by. Distraught at having no sons, Akbar had sought the saint's blessings. Sheikh Salim predicted that the emperor would have three. In 1569, Jodha Bai gave birth to the first - the future emperor Jehangir - and the overjoyed Akbar decided to build a city as thanksgiving.
Akbar called the best architects in India and Persia to Agra and spent long hours discussing designs with them. He made suggestions, then later supervised the construction. So beautiful was Fatehpur Sikri that an English visitor described it as a "dream city, bigger and better than London."
Akbar was equally interested in painting. He encouraged Hindu artists to work along with Persian masters and thus helped the creation of a new style - Mughal miniatures. So knowledgeable was he that in a single painting done by several artists - as was often the case those days - he could tell who had done what. He had a knack for spotting talent, too. Once, he saw his servant Daswanth doodling on the wall. He sent him immediately for training, and within a few years Daswanth was amongst the best artists in the empire.
Akbar also got Hindu religious texts such as the Atharva Veda, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana translated into Persian, the court language. When he heard that one of his ultra-orthodox Muslim courtiers was protesting at having to translate the Mahabharata,. Akbar remarked wryly "No sword can sever the jugular vein of his bigotry."
Akbar's quest for religious unity also led him to develop a new religion which he called the Din-i-IIlahi or "Divine Faith." Its doctrines were a mixture of several traditional religions and Akbar hoped that it would supplant both Hinduism and Islam. But to his great disappointment, it never took root and even at the imperial court only 18 of the top 500 nobles embraced it. One of those who didn't, the general Raja Man Singh, told Akbar: "I am a Hindu. If you order me to I will become a Muslim. But 1 do not know of any faith other than these two."
Akbar's administrative reforms, however, were far more successful than the Din-i-Illahi, Instead of relying on a hereditary aristocracy like his predecessors, Akbar ran the country directly through a corps of salaried officials whom he appointed. Around half the top jobs were held by Hindus. One, Revenue Minister Raja Todar Mal was the second most powerful bureaucrat in the empire.
Raja Todar Mal, under Akbar's direction, devised a system whereby peasants were taxed according to the crops they actually produced, rather than, as previously, according to royal whim. During Akbar's reign, the average Indian peasant had more to eat than his counterparts in Europe. Moreover, the imperial civil service that Akbar created lasted for two hundred years; the British adopted aspects of it, some of which continue even today. .
Akbar was interested in every aspect of life. Apart from spiritual and practical matters, he loved beautiful things and encouraged their creation. This passion fostered the growth of a new Indian style of art and architecture that combined the best of both Hindu and Islamic cultures.
A Dream City.
The best example of this fusion is Fatehpur Sikri, the city Akbar built and made his capital for 16 years. Thirty-seven kilometres from Agra, the traditional capital, Akbar built the city in honour of Sheikh Salim Chishti, a Sufi saint who lived near by. Distraught at having no sons, Akbar had sought the saint's blessings. Sheikh Salim predicted that the emperor would have three. In 1569, Jodha Bai gave birth to the first - the future emperor Jehangir - and the overjoyed Akbar decided to build a city as thanksgiving.
Akbar called the best architects in India and Persia to Agra and spent long hours discussing designs with them. He made suggestions, then later supervised the construction. So beautiful was Fatehpur Sikri that an English visitor described it as a "dream city, bigger and better than London."
Akbar was equally interested in painting. He encouraged Hindu artists to work along with Persian masters and thus helped the creation of a new style - Mughal miniatures. So knowledgeable was he that in a single painting done by several artists - as was often the case those days - he could tell who had done what. He had a knack for spotting talent, too. Once, he saw his servant Daswanth doodling on the wall. He sent him immediately for training, and within a few years Daswanth was amongst the best artists in the empire.
Akbar spent some of his best years at Fatehpur Sikri. He slept only three hours a night, beginning his day at sunrise by appearing at a palace balcony to listen to his subjects' complaints. Apart from official duties, he spent much time with the "nine jewels" of his court - including men like Raja Birbal, whose shrewdness is still a byword today and Mian Tansen, the great singer, who came to Fatehpur Sikri after Akbar defeated the Maharaja of Rewa and insisted - as one of the peace conditions - that Tansen be surrendered to him.
Son's Rebellion. For more worldly pleasures, Akbar had a harem of over 5,000 women - no woman, it was said, except for Jodha Bai, entered the emperor's luxurious bedroom, the Khwabgab, twice. The apartment was jealously guarded. Once, when Akbar was away, a foster relative held a celebration there. Akbar was furious when he came to know; he demoted his kinsman and had the warden and housekeeper trampled to death by an elephant
Despite such punishments, Akbar was a liberal by the standards of his time. He banned the practices of flaying people alive, for instance. And, recognizing that he had a very short temper, he ordered that a death sentence should not be carried out until he had confirmed it three times.
In 1585, Akbar left Fatehpur Sikri and shifted to Lahore. He continued to marry more women and extend his empire. But his last years were not happy. By 1590, close friends like Raja Birbal and Todar Mai were dead. He was disappointed in his sons, and in 1601 the eldest, Salim, rose in rebellion against his father and declared himself emperor in Allahabad.
After negotiations with Salim collapsed in 1604, Akbar decided to march against his son. But then Daniyal, Akbar's youngest son died (the middle one, Murad, had died in 1599), thus leaving Salim as his only possible successor. An emotional reconciliation between the two took place and soon after, on 17 October, 1605, Akbar died.
Akbar lies buried at Sikandra, just outside Agra. Today, tourists, anxious to see the Taj Mahal built by Akbar's love-sick grandson Shah jahan, rush past the Sikandra mausoleum with barely a glance. But Akbar's place in history is assured: after Akbar, India could never remain as before. The seeds of unity had been sown.
Son's Rebellion. For more worldly pleasures, Akbar had a harem of over 5,000 women - no woman, it was said, except for Jodha Bai, entered the emperor's luxurious bedroom, the Khwabgab, twice. The apartment was jealously guarded. Once, when Akbar was away, a foster relative held a celebration there. Akbar was furious when he came to know; he demoted his kinsman and had the warden and housekeeper trampled to death by an elephant
Despite such punishments, Akbar was a liberal by the standards of his time. He banned the practices of flaying people alive, for instance. And, recognizing that he had a very short temper, he ordered that a death sentence should not be carried out until he had confirmed it three times.
In 1585, Akbar left Fatehpur Sikri and shifted to Lahore. He continued to marry more women and extend his empire. But his last years were not happy. By 1590, close friends like Raja Birbal and Todar Mai were dead. He was disappointed in his sons, and in 1601 the eldest, Salim, rose in rebellion against his father and declared himself emperor in Allahabad.
After negotiations with Salim collapsed in 1604, Akbar decided to march against his son. But then Daniyal, Akbar's youngest son died (the middle one, Murad, had died in 1599), thus leaving Salim as his only possible successor. An emotional reconciliation between the two took place and soon after, on 17 October, 1605, Akbar died.
Akbar lies buried at Sikandra, just outside Agra. Today, tourists, anxious to see the Taj Mahal built by Akbar's love-sick grandson Shah jahan, rush past the Sikandra mausoleum with barely a glance. But Akbar's place in history is assured: after Akbar, India could never remain as before. The seeds of unity had been sown.
