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LURE - THRU THE AGES
Akbar. The infant was named Salim after the
revered Sufi Saint Shaykh Salim Chishti of
Sikhri. In 1575 Akbar ordered the erection
of an elegant structure near the Jami mosque
in his newly built town of Fatehpur Sikhri. It
functioned as a debating hall. On each Thurs-
day night Akbar repaired there for religious
discussions which were resumed on Friday.
In 1567 Akbar invaded Chi tor, the capital
of Mewar, whose ruler had scornfully rejected
the idea of recognising Akbar as his overlord.
The fort was captured by the Mughals after
a fierce fight. The Rajputs donned yellow
robes, determined to fight and die a glorious
death, they flung open the gate and faced the
Mughals sword in hand (1568). Most of them
were slain. Soon after the fall of Chitor,
Akbar besieged Ranthambhor, a formidable
fortress; it surrendered in March 1569.
Almost the whole of Rajasthan submitted
except the Rana of Mewar.
In 1572 Akbar conquered Ahmedabad and
in 1573 he captured Surat, both of. them in
Gujarat. By 1576 he had annexed Bihar and
Bengal. In 1572 Pratap became the new Rana
of Mewar. He offered stiff resistance to the
Mughals. In April 1576 Akbar deputed Man-
singh of Amber to capture Mewar. A fierce
battle took place in June 1576 at the entrance
of Haldighad, a spur of the Aravalli chain.
The Rana was defeated but subsequently
managed to recover a good part of his ances-
tral territory before his death in 1597.
In 1581 Afghanistan was incorporated into
the empire. Akbar later conquered Kashmir
(1586), Sindh (1591), Orissa (1592), Balu-
chistan (1595), and Qandahar (1595).
Akbar's last days were full of anxiety due
to the death of his younger sons and the
rebellion of his eldest son Salim who held
court at Allahabad as an independent prince;
eventually Salim submitted to him and Akbar
forgave him. In Oct. 1605 Akbar fell ill and
died.
Administration
*
Akbar proclaimed that the king was god’s
representative on earth and the impartial
ruler of all his subjects, irrespective of
their religion. He should be completely
tolerant to every creed, establish univer-
sal peace in his dominions and work
untiringly for the welfare of all classes of
his people.
*
Akbar started work at sunrise, when he
appeared before his people at the balcony
to salute and continued working until
midnight, with a few hours gap for meals,
rest, recreation and prayers. He is said not
to have slept for more than three hours a
night.
*
He delegated much of the work to his
ministers and officers keeping in his
hands the initiation of policy and the
issuing of instructions and seeing that
these were properly followed. He suc-
cessfully exercised the functions of super-
vision and control over every department
of administration.
*
Akbar's central government consisted of
four departments, each presided over by
a minister, the Prime Minister, finance
minister, paymaster general and chief
sadr
who was the chief justice and relig-
ious official combined. They were ap-
pointed, promoted or dismissed by the
emperor, and their duties were well de-
Eternal
India
encyclopedia
fined. The empire was divided into 15
provinces, each under a governor.
*
The main sources of Akbar's income, be-
sides the land revenue, were from forests,
irrigation lands and fisheries, tributes
from feudatary princes, salt tax and cus-
toms duties.
*
The Mughal imperial service was organ-
ised on bureaucratic principles and was
military in character, there was no clas-
sification into military and civil services.
*
He amended the personal laws of both
Muslims and Hindus. He declared that a
man should not marry more than one wife
unless his first wife was barren, forbade
marriage between cousins and near rela-
tives and ordered that boys were not to
marry before the age of 16 and girls
before 14.
*
He removed Islam as the religion of the
state; extended equal patronage to all
faiths and permitted legitimate religious
propaganda and conversion to all. He
adopted Hindu and Parsi beliefs and
customs such as the belief in the doctrine
of transmigration of the soul and sun
worship. He created
Din- Elahi
a new
religious order, which would combine the
merits of all religions and eliminate their
defects. This new order had its own
initiation ceremony and rules of conduct.
These measures enraged the orthodox
Ulemas who considered themselves
interpreters and guardians of the Shariat.
Strengths
*
Though he was formally illiterate he had
a prodigious memory and a keen intellect.
*
He had great physical strength and per-
sonal courage which was seen in the feats
of his early years.
*
He had the magic of magnetic leadership
which excited devotion from his follow-
ers.
*
He was more humane and more generous
than most men of his time and more tol-
erant.
Jehangir
(b,1569-d.l627); reigned (1605-27)
Son of Akbar, original name was Salim.
He assumed the title
Jehangir
(world
conqueror). Within a few months of his
accession, he had to deal with the rebellion
of his eldest son, Khusraw. Khusraw was
defeated at Lahore. He was brought in chains
before the emperor at Lahore and partially