Essays

A benevolent and wise ruler, a man of novel ideas, a sound judge of character, and tolerant to the core—these are some among many adjectives used to describe the Greatest of the Mughal emperors.

Born on October 15, 1542 to Humayun and Hamida Banu Begum who were in exile, Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar spent his early childhood away from the splendour of the court. He spent his youth learning to hunt, run and fight, but he never learnt to read or write. Bat his fortunes were about to change soon.

Following the chaos over the succession of Islam Shah (Sher Shah's son), Humayun reconquered Delhi in 1555. Only a few months later, Humayun died in an accident. Akbar succeeded his father on Feb 14, 1556, while in. the midst of a war against Sikandar Shah for the reclamation of the throne. Here, in Kalanaur, the 13 year old Akbar donned a golden robe, Darh Tiara and was proclaimed Shahanshah (King of kings).

Early into Akbar's career, he decided that he should eliminate the threat of Sher Shah's dynasty, and decided to lead an army against strongest of the three, Sikandar Shah Sun. He left the city of Delhi under the regency of Tardily Beg Khan. However, back in Delhi, Hemu, a Hindu warrior, succeeded in launching a surprise attack on the unprepared Tardi Beg Khan, who fled the city. Hemu appointed himself as the ruler and called himself Raja Vikramaditya. Akbar decided to fight tooth and nail.

On November 5, 1556 Akbar's army defeated the numerically superior forces of General Hemu at the Second Battle of Panipat, thanks to a chance arrow in Hemu's eye. Hemu was promptly beheaded. Thus, by the time Akbar was 15, his rule over Hindustan was secured. Akbar proved to be an able and benevolent emperor. While previous Muslim rulers, in particular the Mughal founder Babar, did not allow freedom of worship to Hindus and other religious groups, Akbar engaged in a policy of actively encouraging members of the varying religious groups to enter his government. In one instance, he persuaded the Kacchwaha Rajput rulers of Amber (modern day Jaipur) into a matrimonial alliance. The king of Amber's daughter, Hira Kunwari, became Akbar's queen. She took the name Jodhabai, and was the mother of Prince Salim, who later became Mughal emperor Jahangir.

Akbar did not want to have his court tied too closely to the city of Delhi. He ordered the court to be moved to Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra, but when site proved untenable, he setup a roaming camp that let him keep a close eye on what was happening throughout the empire. He developed and encouraged commerce, in part by abolishing religious restrictions on the conduct of business between Hindus and Muslims.

Akbar's tax reforms were an especially noteworthy achievement, and formed the basis of the Mughal Empire's immense wealth for successive generations. His officials prepared a detailed and accurate cadaster (land register) noting each land parcel's soil quality, water access etc. This was a distinct improvement on earlier land tax systems, including the Egyptian and Roman ones, which had levied land taxes as on kind share of the harvest. He also abolished Jizyah (a discriminatory tax on non-muslims) and gave strict orders to prevent extortion by tax collectors.

Besides this, Akbar also took cudgels against religious discrimination. He inherited a highly polarized society but adopted a policy of universal tolerance towards all religions. Akbar built a building called Ibadat Khana (House of worship), where he encouraged religious debate. He tried to reconcile differences of Hinduism and Islam by creating a new faith called the Din-i-Illahi (Faith of the Divine). This new religion incorporated both 'pantheistic' versions of Islamic sufism and 'bhakti' or devotional cults of Hinduism. This religion, however, amounted only to a form of personality cult for Akbar and quickly dissolved after his death.

Although Akbar was an emperor par excellence, the last few years of his reign were troubled by the misconduct of his sons. His son, Salim, later known as Emperor Jahangir, was frequently in rebellion against his father. Akbar keenly felt such calamities, and they may have affected his health and resulted his death. He died in Agra in 1605 and a magnificient mausoleum was built for him at Sikandra. "Fantastically brutal, and brutally fantastic," Akbar was much beyond his time and age. Undoubtedly, he deserves the title 'Great' to be added to his name.