Akbar

AKBAR

• Akbar, in full Abū al-Fatḥ Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Akbar, (born October 15?, 1542, Umarkot [now in Sindh province, Pakistan]—died c. October 25, 1605, Agra, India), the greatest of the Mughal emperors of India. He reigned from 1556 to 1605 and extended Mughal power over most of the Indian subcontinent.
  
  Akbar (1542-1605) ranks among the greatest rulers in the history of the world. He is considered as the real founder of the Mughal Empire. Among the medieval rulers, he was the only one who strived for secularism. The firmness and wisdom of his rule won him the title 'Guardian of Mankind'4Akbar gradually enlarged the Mughal Empire to include much of the Indian subcontinent through Mughal military, political, cultural, and economic dominance. To unify the vast Mughal state, Akbar established a centralised system of administration and adopted a policy of conciliating conquered rulers through marriage and diplomacy. To preserve peace and order in a religiously and culturally diverse empire, he adopted policies that won him the support of his non-Muslim subjects, including abolishing the sectarian tax and appointing them to high civil and military posts.Under Akbar, Mughal India developed a strong and stable economy, which tripled in size and wealth, leading to commercial expansion and greater patronage of an Indo-Persian culture. Akbar's courts at Delhi, Agra, and Fatehpur Sikri attracted holy men of many faiths, poets, architects, and artisans, and become known as centres of the arts, letters, and learning. Timurid and Perso-Islamic culture began to merge and blend with indigenous Indian elements into a distinct style of Mughal arts, including painting and architecture. Disillusioned with orthodox Islam and perhaps hoping to bring about religious unity within his empire, Akbar promulgated Din-i Ilahi, a syncretic creed derived mainly from Islam and Hinduism as well as elements of Zoroastrianism and Christianity.
  
  Early years
  
  Akbar was born in the wake of his father Mughal Emperor Humayun's defeats at Chausa and Kannauj from 1539–1541 by the forces of Sher Shah Suri, after he fled westward to what is now modern-day Sindh. There, he met and married the 14-year-old Hamida Banu Begum, daughter of Shaikh Ali Akbar Jami, a Persian teacher of Humayun's younger brother Hindal Mirza. Jalal ud-din Muhammad Akbar was born the next year on 25 October 1542 (the fifth day of Rajab, 949 AH) at the Rajput Fortress of Amarkot in Rajputana (in modern-day Sindh), where his parents had been given refuge by the local Hindu ruler Rana Prasad.Akbar as a boy
  
  During the extended period of Humayun's exile, Akbar was brought up in Kabul by his paternal uncles, Kamran Mirza and Askari Mirza, and aunts, in particular, Kamran Mirza's wife. He spent his youth learning to hunt, run, and fight, and although he never learned to read or write, when he retired in the evening, he would have someone read to him. On 20 November 1551, Humayun's youngest brother, Hindal Mirza, died in a battle against Kamran Mirza's forces. Upon hearing the news of his brother's death, Humayun was overwhelmed with grief.
  
  About the time of nine-year-old Akbar's first appointment as governor of Ghazni, he married Hindal's daughter, Ruqaiya Sultan Begum.Humayun gave Akbar command of Hindal's troops and conferred on the imperial couple all of Hindal's wealth. Akbar's marriage to Ruqaiya was solemnised in Jalandhar, Punjab, when they were both 14 years old. Begum was his first wife and chief consort.
  
  Following chaos over the succession of Sher Shah Suri's son Islam Shah, Humayun reconquered Delhi in 1555, leading an army partly provided by his Persian ally Tahmasp I. A few months later, Humayun died. Akbar's guardian, Bairam Khan, concealed his death to prepare for Akbar's succession. Akbar succeeded Humayun on 14 February 1556, while in the midst of a war against Sikandar Shah to reclaim the Mughal throne. In Kalanaur, Punjab, the 14-year-old Akbar was enthroned by Bairam Khan on a newly constructed platform (which still stands ) and was proclaimed Shahanshah (Persian for "King of Kings"). Bairam Khan ruled .
  
  
  
  A portrait of Akbar's wife Jodha bai-but is it? Apparently there was not any historical character called Jodha bai. Yet there is mention of a Mariam-uz-Zamani the wife of Akbar and the mother of his much awaited heir Salim, this rajpur queen was known in Mughal history as Mariam-uz-zamani meaning "compassionate to the world" she was so named by Akbar on the eve of the birth of his son and heir Salim later known as Jhangir..
  
  Struggle for North IndiaAkbar training an elephant
  
  Akbar's father Humayun had regained control of the Punjab, Delhi, and Agra with Safavid support, but Mughal rule was still precarious when Akbar took the throne. When the Surs reconquered Agra and Delhi following the death of Humayun, Akbar's young age and the lack of military assistance from the Mughal stronghold of Kabul—which was in the midst of an invasion by the ruler of Badakhshan, Prince Mirza Suleiman—aggravated the situation. When his regent, Bairam Khan, called a council of war to marshall the Mughal forces, none of Akbar's chieftains approved. Bairam Khan was ultimately able to prevail over the nobles and it was decided that the Mughals would march against the strongest of the Sur rulers, Sikandar Shah Suri, in Punjab. Delhi was left under the regency of Tardi Baig Khan. Sikandar Shah Suri avoided battle as the Mughal army approached.
  Akbar also faced Hemu, a minister and general of one of the Sur rulers, who had proclaimed himself Hindu emperor and expelled the Mughals from the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Urged by Bairam Khan, who re-marshalled the Mughal army before Hemu could consolidate his position, Akbar marched on Delhi to reclaim it. His army, led by Bairam Khan, defeated Hemu and the Sur army on 5 November 1556 at the Second Battle of Panipat, 50 miles (80 km) north of Delhi. Soon after the battle, Mughal forces occupied Delhi and then Agra. Akbar made a triumphant entry into Delhi, where he stayed for a month. Then, he and Bairam Khan returned to Punjab to deal with Sikandar Shah Suri, who had become active again. In the next six months, the Mughals won another major battle against Sikander, who fled east to Bengal. Akbar and his forces occupied Lahore and then seized Multan in the Punjab. In 1558, Akbar took possession of Ajmer, the aperture to Rajputana, after the defeat and flight of its Muslim ruler. The Mughals also besieged and defeated the Sur forces in control of Gwalior Fort, a stronghold north of the Narmada river.
  Royal begums, along with the families of Mughal amirs, were brought over from Kabul to India at the time, "so that men might become settled and be restrained in some measure from departing to a country to which they were accustomed", according to Fazl. Akbar made clear that he would stay in India, reintroducing the historical legacy of the Timurid Renaissance, in contrast to his grandfather and father, who reigned as transient ruleers.
  
  
  Expansion into Central IndiaAkbar hawking with Mughal chieftains and nobleman, accompanied by his guardian Bairam Khan
  
  By 1559, the Mughals had launched a drive to the south into Rajputana and Malwa.However, Akbar's disputes with his regent, Bairam Khan, temporarily put an end to the expansion. The young emperor, at the age of eighteen, wanted to take a more active part in managing the Empire's affairs. Urged on by his foster mother, Maham Anga, and other relatives, Akbar dismissed Bairam Khan following a dispute at court in the spring of 1560 and ordered him to leave on Hajj to Mecca. Bairam Khan left for Mecca, but on his way, was persuaded by his opponents to rebel. He was defeated by the Mughal army in the Punjab and forced to submit. Akbar forgave him and gave him the option of either continuing in his court or resuming his pilgrimage; Bairam chose the latter. Bairam Khan was later assassinated on his way to Mecca, allegedly by an Afghan with a personal vendetta.In 1560, Akbar resumed military operations A Mughal army under the command of his foster brother, Adham Khan, and a Mughal commander, Pir Muhammad Khan, began the Mughal conquest of Malwa. The Afghan ruler, Baz Bahadur, was defeated at the Battle of Sarangpur and fled to Khandesh for refuge, leaving behind his harem, treasure, and war elephants. Despite initial success, Akbar was ultimately displeased with the aftermath of the campaign; his foster brother retained all of the spoils and followed through with the Central Asian practice of slaughtering the surrendered garrison, their wives and children, and many Muslim theologians and Sayyids, who were descendants of Muhammad ,Akbar personally rode to Malwa to confront Adham Khan and relieve him of command. Pir Muhammad Khan was then sent in pursuit of Baz Bahadur, but was beaten back by the alliance of the rulers of Khandesh and Berar. Baz Bahadur temporarily regained control of Malwa until, in the next year, Akbar sent another Mughal army to invade and annexe the kingdom. Malwa became a province of the nascent imperial administration of Akbar's regime. Baz Bahadur survived as a refugee at various courts until, eight years later in 1570, he took service under Akbar. When Adham Khan confronted Akbar following another dispute in 1562, the emperor threw him from a terrace into the palace courtyard at Agra. Still alive, Adham Khan was dragged up and thrown to the courtyard once again by Akbar to ensure his death.
  
  Akbar also created specialised ministerial posts relating to imperial governance to prevent nobles from consolidating power. When a powerful clan of Uzbek chiefs broke out in rebellion in 1564, Akbar routed them in Malwa and then Bihar.He pardoned the rebellious leaders, hoping to conciliate them, but they rebelled again; Akbar quelled their second uprising. Following a third revolt, with the proclamation of Mirza Muhammad Hakim—Akbar's brother and the Mughal ruler of Kabul—several Uzbek chieftains were slain and the rebel leaders trampled to death under elephants. Simultaneously, the Mirzas, a group of Akbar's distant cousins who held important fiefs near Agra, rebelled and were defeated by Akbar. In 1566, Akbar moved to meet the forces of his brother, Muhammad Hakim, who had marched into the Punjab with the intention of seizing the imperial throne. Following a brief confrontation, Muhammad Hakim accepted Akbar's supremacy and retreated back to Kabul.
  
  In 1564, Mughal forces began the conquest of Garha, a thinly populated, hilly area in central India that was of interest to the Mughals because of its herd of wild elephants. The territory was ruled over by Raja Vir Narayan, a minor, and his mother, Durgavati, a Rajput warrior queen of the Gonds Akbar did not personally lead the campaign because he was preoccupied with the Uzbek rebellion, leaving the expedition in the hands of Asaf Khan, the Mughal governor of Kara. Durgavati committed suicide after her defeat at the Battle of Damoh, while Raja Vir Narayan was slain at the Fall of Chauragarh, the mountain fortress of the Gonds.The Mughals seized immense wealth, including an uncalculated amount of gold and silver, jewels, and 1,000 elephants. Kamala Devi, a younger sister of Durgavati, was sent to the Mughal harem. The brother of Durgavati's deceased husband was installed as the Mughal administrator of the region.
  As with Malwa, Akbar entered into a dispute with his vassals over the conquest of Gondwana. Asaf Khan was accused of keeping most of the treasures and sending back only 200 elephants to Akbar. When summoned to give accounts, he fled Gondwana. He went first to the Uzbeks, then returned to Gondwana where he was pursued by Mughal forces. Finally, he submitted and Akbar restored him to his previous position.
  
  
  Assassination attemptAround 1564, an assassin shot an arrow at Akbar, which piereced his right shoulder, as he was returning from a visit to the Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin near Delhi. The Emperor ordered the apprehended assassin, a slave of Mirza Sharfuddin—a noble in Akbar's court whose recent rebellion had been suppressed—to be beheade dest of Rajputana
  
  Mughal Emperor Akbar shoots the Rajput warrior Jaimal during the Siege of Chittorgarh in 1568.Bullocks dragging siege-guns uphill during Akbar's attack on Ranthambhor Fort in 1568
  
  Having established Mughal rule over northern India, Akbar turned his attention to the conquest of Rajputana, which was strategically important as it was a rival centre of power that flanked the Indo-Gangetic plains. The Mughals had already established domination over parts of northern Rajputana in Mewat, Ajmer, and Nagor. Akbar sought to conquer Rajputana's heartlands, which had rarely previously submitted to the Muslim rulers of the Delhi Sultanate. Beginning in 1561, the Mughals actively engaged the Rajputs in warfare and diplomacy. Most Rajput states accepted Akbar's suzerainty; however, the rulers of Mewar and Marwar—Udai Singh and Chandrasen Rathore—remained outside the imperial fold.
  Udai Singh was descended from the Sisodia ruler, Rana Sanga, who had fought Babur at the Battle of Khanwa in 1527. As the head of the Sisodia clan, he possessed the highest ritual status of all the Rajput kings and chieftains in India. The Mughals viewed defeating Udai Singh as essential to asserting their imperial authority amongst the Rajputs. During this period of his reign, Akbar was still devoted to Islam and sought to impress the superiority of his faith over what were regarded by contemporaries as the most prestigious warriors in Hinduism.
  In 1567, Akbar attacked the Chittor Fort in Mewar. The fortress-capital of Mewar was of strategic importance as it lay on the shortest route from Agra to Gujarat and was also considered a key to holding the interior parts of Rajputana. Udai Singh retreated to the hills of Mewar, leaving two Rajput warriors, Jaimal and Patta, in charge of the defence of his capital. Chittorgarh fell in February 1568 after a siege of four months. The fall of Chittor was proclaimed by Akbar as "the victory of Islam over infidels [i.e., non-Muslims]." In his Fathnama (dispatches announcing victory) issued on 9 March 1575 conveying his news of victory, Akbar wrote: "With the help of our blood-thirsty sword we have erased the signs of infidelity in their minds and destroyed the temples in those places and all over Hindustan."
  Akbar had the surviving defenders and 30,000 non-combatants massacred and their heads displayed upon towers erected throughout the region to demonstrate his authority. The booty that fell into the hands of the Mughals was distributed throughout the empire. Akbar remained in Chittorgarh for three days, then returned to Agra, where, to commemorate the victory, he set up statues of Jaimal and Patta maed on elephants at the gates of his fort. Thereafter, Udai Singh never ventured out of his mountain refuge in Mewar.
  The fall of Chittorgarh was followed up by a Mughal attack on the Ranthambore Fort in 1568. Ranthambore was held by the Hada Rajputs and reputed to be the most powerful fortress in India.However, it fell only after a couple of months. At that point, most of the Rajput kings had submitted to the Mughals; only the clans of Mewar continued to resist. Udai Singh's son and successor, Pratap Singh, was later defeated by the Mughals at the Battle of Haldighati in 1576. Akbar would celebrate his conquest of Rajputana by laying the foundation of a new capital, 23 miles (37 km) west-southwest of Agra, in 1569. It was called Fatehpur Sikri, or the "City of Victory". Pratap Singh continued to attack the Mughals and was able to retain most of his kingdom during Akbar's reign.
  
  
  Annexation of Western and Eastern India
  See also: Mughal conquest of GujaratThe court of young Akbar, aged 13, showing his first imperial act: the arrest of an unruly courtier, who was once a favourite of Akbar's father. Illustration from a manuscript of the Akbarnama.
  Akbar's next military objectives were the conquest of Gujarat and Bengal, which connected India with the trading centres of Asia, Africa, and Europe through the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. Gujarat had also been a haven for rebellious Mughal nobles. In Bengal, the Afghans still held considerable influence under their ruler, Sulaiman Khan Karrani. Akbar first moved against Gujarat, which lay in the crook of the Mughal provinces of Rajputana and Malwa. Gujarat possessed areas of rich agricultural production in its central plain, an impressive output of textiles and other industrial goods, and the busiest seaports of India. Akbar intended to link the maritime state with the massive resources of the Indo-Gangetic plainsAkbar's ostensible casus belli for warring with Gujarat was that the rebel Mirzas, who had previously been driven out of India, were now operating out of a base in southern Gujarat. Moreover, Akbar had received invitations from cliques in Gujarat to oust the reigning king, which further served as justification for his military expedition. In 1572, Akbar moved to occupy Ahmedabad, the capital, and other northern cities, and was proclaimed the lawful sovereign of Gujarat. By 1573, he had driven out the Mirzas who, after offering token resistance, fled for refuge in the Deccan. Surat, the commercial capital of the region, and other coastal cities soon capitulated to the Mughals. The king, Muzaffar Shah III, was caught hiding in a corn field; he was pensioned off by Akbar with a small allowance.
  Akbar then returned to Fatehpur Sikiri, where he built the Buland Darwaza to commemorate his victories. But, a rebellion by Afghan nobles supported by the Rajput ruler of Idar, as well as the renewed intrigues of the Mirza, forced his return to Gujarat. Akbar crossed Rajputana and reached Ahmedabad in 11 days—a journey that normally took six weeks. The outnumbered Mughal army won a decisive victory on 2 September 1573. Akbar slew the rebel leaders and erected a tower out of their severed heads. The conquest and subjugation of Gujarat proved highly profitable for the Mughals; after expenses, the territory yielded a revenue of more than five million rupees annually to Akbar's treasury.
  After conquering Gujarat, the remaining centre of Afghan power was Bengal. In 1572, Sulaiman Khan's son, Daud Khan, succeeded him. Daud Khan defind Mughal rule, assuming the insignia of royalty and ordering that the khutbah be proclaimed in his name, rather than Akbar's. Munim Khan, the Mughal governor of Bihar, was ordered to chastise Daud Khan. Eventually, Akbar himself set out to Bengal, and in 1574, the Mughals seized Patna from Daud Khan, who fled to Bengal. Akbar then returned to Fatehpur Sikri and left his generals to finish the campaign. The Mughal army was subsequently victorious at the Battle of Tukaroi in 1575, which led to the annexation of Bengal and parts of Bihar that had been under the dominion of Daud Khan. Only Orissa was left in the hands of the Karrani dynasty, albeit as a fief of the Mughal Empire. A year later, however, Daud Khan rebelled and attempted to regain Bengal. He was defeated by the Mughal general Khan Jahan Quli and fled into exile. Daud Khan was later captured and executed by Mughal forces. His severed head was sent to Akbar, while his limbs were gibbeted at Tandah, the Mughal capital in Bengal.
  
  Campaigns in Afghanistan and Central AsiaPlate and helmet of the personal armour of AkbarFollowing his conquests of Gujarat and Bengal, Akbar was preoccupied with domestic concerns. He did not leave Fatehpur Sikri on a military campaign until 1581, when Punjab was again invaded by his brother, Mirza Muhammad Hakim. Akbar expelled his brother to Kabul and waged a campaign to remove him from power. At the same time, Akbar's nobles were resisting leaving India to administer the Empire's holdings in Afghanistan; they were, according to Abul Fazl "afraid of the cold of Afghanistan". Likewise, Hindu officers in the Mughal army were inhibited by the traditional taboo against crossing the Indus. To encourage them, Akbar provided them with pay eight months in advance.
  In August 1581, Akbar seized Kabul and took up residence at Babur's old citadel. He stayed there for three weeks and his brother fled into the mountains. Akbar left Kabul in the hands of his sister, Bakht-un-Nissa Begum, and returned to India. He then pardoned his brother, who took up de facto control of the Mughal administration in Kabul; Bakht-un-Nissa continued to be the official governor. In 1585, after Muhammad Hakim died, Kabul passed into the hands of Akbar and was officially incorporated as a province of the Mughal Empire.
  The Kabul expedition was the beginning of a long period of activity over the northern frontiers of the empire. For thirteen years, beginning in 1585, Akbar remained in the north, shifting his capital to Lahore while he dealt with challenges from Uzbek tribes, which had driven his grandfather, Babur, out of Central Asia.The Uzbeks were organised under Abdullah Khan Shaybanid, a military chieftain who had seized Badakhshan and Balkh from Akbar's distant Timurid relatives, and whose troops challenged the northwestern frontiers of the Mughal Empire.The Uzbeks also subsidised Afghan tribes on the border that were hostile to the Mughals. The tribes felt challenged by the Yusufzai of Bajaur and Swat and were motivated by a new religi
  Akbar decreed that Hindus who had been forced to convert to Islam could reconvert to Hinduism without facing the death penalty. Akbar was well liked by Hindus, who sung religious hymns to him and his eulogies.Akbar practised several Hindu customs. He celebrated Diwali and allowed Brahman priests to tie jewelled strings around his wrists by way of blessing. Following his lead, many nobles took to wearing rakhi (protection charms). He renounced beef and forbade the sale of all meats on certain days.His son Jahangir and grandson Shahjahan maintained many of Akbar's concessions, such as the ban on cow slaughter, having only vegetarian dishes on certain days of the week, and drinking only Ganges water. When Akbar was in Punjab, 200 miles away from the Ganges, water was sealed in large jars and transported to him. He referred to the Ganges water as the "water of immortality".Relation with JainsAkbar enters Surat triumphantly.
  Akbar regularly held discussions with Jain scholars and was impacted by their teachings. His first encounter with Jain rituals was when he saw a procession of a Jain Shravaka named Champa after a six-month-long fast. Impressed by her power and devotion, he invited her guru, Hiravijaya, to Fatehpur Sikri. Hiravijaya accepted the invitation and travelled to the Mughal capital from Gujarat.Akbar was impressed with his scholarly approach. He held several inter-faith dialogues among philosophers of different religions. The arguments of Jains against eating meat persuaded him to become a vegetarian. Akbar also issued many imperial orders that were favourable for Jain interests, such as banning animal slaughter. Jain authors also wrote about their experience at the Mughal court in Sanskrit texts that are still largely unknown to Mughal historians.The Indian Supreme Court has cited examples of the co-existence of Jain and Mughal architecture, calling Akbar "the architect of modern India" and stating that "he had great respect" for Jainism. In 1584, 1592, and 1598, Akbar declared "Amari Ghosana", which prohibited animal slaughter during Paryushan and Mahavira Janma Kalyanak. He removed the Jazia tax from Jain pilgrim places like Palitana. Santichandra, disciple of Suri, was sent to the Emperor, who in turn left his disciples Bhanuchandra and Siddhichandra in the court. Akbar invited Hiravijaya Suri's successor Vijayasena Suri to his court who visited him between 1593 and 1595. Akbar's religious tolerance was not followed by his son Jahangir, who later threatened Bhanuchandra.Death
  Gate of Akbar's mausoleum at Sikandra, Agra, 1795
  On 3 October 1605, Akbar fell ill from an attack of dysentery,[235] from which he never recovered. He is believed to have died on 26 October 1605. He was buried at his mausoleum in Sikandra, Agra,[236] which lies a kilometre next to the tomb of Mariam-uz-Zamani, his favourite,