Kapil Kumar
( IRJMSH Vol 6 Issue 12 [Year 2015] ISSN 2277 – 9809 (0nline) 2348–9359 (Print) )
Abu'l-Fath Jalal ud-din Muhammad Akbar, popularly known as Akbar I literally "the great"; 15 October 1542]– 27 October 1605) and later Akbar the Great (Urdu: Akbar-e-Azam; literally "Great the Great") was Mughal Emperor from 1556 until his death. He was the third and one of the greatest rulers of the Mughal Dynasty in India. Akbar succeeded his father,Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expand and consolidate Mughal domains in India. A strong personality and a successful general, Akbar gradually enlarged the Mughal Empire to include nearly all of the IndianSubcontinentnorth of the Godavari river. His power and influence, however, extended over the entire country because of Mughal military, political, cultural, and economic dominance. To unify the vast Mughal state, Akbar established a centralised system of administration throughout his empire and adopted a policy of conciliating conquered rulers through marriage and diplomacy. In order 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. Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic state identity, Akbar strived to unite far-flung lands of his realm through loyalty, expressed through a Persianised culture, to himself as an emperor who had near-divine status.
Early
years
Defeated
in battles at Chausa and Kannauj in 1539-40 by the forces of Sher Shah Suri
Mughal emperorHumayun fled westward to
Sindh. There he met and married the then 14-year old HamidaBanu Begum, daughter
of Shaikh Ali Akbar Jami, a teacher of Humauyun's younger brother HindalMirza. Jalal ud-din Muhammad
Akbar was born the next year on 15 October
1542 (the fourth day of Rajab, 949 AH) at theRajput Fortress of Umerkot
in Sindh (in modern day Pakistan), where his parents had been given refuge by
the local Hindu ruler Rana Prasad.
Conquest
of Rajputana
Having established Mughal rule over northern India, Akbar turned his attention to the conquest of Rajputana. No imperial power in India based on the Indo-Gangetic plains could be secure if a rival centre of power existed on its flank in Rajputana.The Mughals had already established domination over parts of northern Rajputana in Mewar, Ajmer, and Nagor. Now, however, Akbar was determined to drive into the heartlands of the Rajput kings that had never 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; the ruler of Mewar, Udai Singh, however, remained outside the imperial fold. Raja Udai Singh was descended from the Sisodia ruler, RanaSanga, who had died fighting Babur at the Battle of Khanwa in 1527.As the head of the Sisodiaclan, he possessed the highest ritual status of all the Rajput kings and chieftains in India. Unless Udai Singh was reduced to submission, the imperial authority of the Mughals would be lessened in Rajput eyes. Furthermore, Akbar, at this early period, was still enthusiastically devoted to the cause of Islam and sought to impress the superiority of his faith over the most prestigious warriors in Brahminical Hinduism.
Campaigns in Afghanistan and Central Asia
Following his conquests of Gujarat and Bengal, Akbar was preoccupied with domestic concerns. He did not leave FatehpurSikri on a military campaign until 1581, when the Punjab was again invaded by his brother, Mirza Muhammad Hakim. Akbar expelled his brother to Kabul and this time pressed on, determined to end the threat from Muhammad Hakim once and for all. In contrast to the problem that his predecessors once had in getting Mughal nobles to stay on in India, the problem now was to get them to leave India. They were, according to AbulFazl "afraid of the cold of Afghanistan."The Hindu officers, in turn, were additionally inhibited by the traditional taboo against crossing the Indus. Akbar, however, spurred them on. The soldiers were provided 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, in the absence of his brother, who had fled into the mountains.[ Akbar left Kabul in the hands of his sister, Bakht-un-Nisa Begum, and returned to India. He pardoned his brother, who took up de facto charge of the Mughal administration in Kabul; Bakht-un-Nis continued to be the official governor. A few years later, in 1585, Muhammad Hakim died and Kabul passed into the hands of Akbar once again. It was officially incorporated as a province of the Mughal Empire.
Economy
Trade
The
reign of Akbar was characterised by commercial expansion. The Mughal
government encouraged traders, provided
protection and security for transactions, and levied a very low custom duty to stimulate foreign trade.
Furthermore, it strived to foster a climate conductive to commerce by requing local administrators to
provide restitution to traders for goods stolen while in their territory. In order to minimize such
incidents, bands of highway police
called rahdars were enlisted to parol roads and ensure safety of
traders. Other active measures taken
included the construction and protection of routes of commerce and communications. Indeed, Akbar would make
concerted efforts to improve roads to facilitate the use of wheeled vehicles through the Khyber
Pass, the most popular route frequented by traders and travellers in journeying from Kabul into
Mughal India.]He also strategically occupied the northwestern cities of Multan and Lahore in
the Punjab and constructed great forts, such as the one at Attock near the crossing of the Grand
Trunk Road and the Indus river, as well as a
network of smaller forts called thanas throughout the frontier to secure
the overland trade with Persia and
Central Asia.
Coins
Akbar
was a great innovator as far as coinage in concerned. The coins of Akbar set a
new chapter in India's numismatic history.
The coins of Akbar's grandfather, Babur, and father, Humayun, are basic and devoid of any
innovation as the former was busy establishing the foundations of the Mughal rule in India while
the latter was ousted by the Afghan, Farid Khan
Sher Shah Suri, and returned to the throne only to die a year later.
While the reign of both Babur and
Humayun represented turmoil, Akbar's relative long reign of 50 years allowed
him to experiment with coinage.
Akbar
introduced coins with decorative floral motifs, dotted borders, quatrefoil and
other types. His coins were both round
and square in shape with a unique 'mehrab' (lozenge) shape coin highlighting numismatic calligraphy at its
best. Akbar's portrait type gold coin (Mohur) is generally attributed to his son, Prince Salim
(later Emperor Jahangir), who had rebelled and then sought reconciliation thereafter by minting
and presenting his father with gold Mohur's bearing Akbar's portrait. The tolerant view of Akbar
is represented by the 'Ram-Siya' silver coin type while during the latter part of Akbar's
reign, we see coins portraying the concept of Akbar's newly promoted religion 'Din-e-ilahi' with
the Ilahi type and Jalla Jalal-Hu type coins.
The
coins, left, represent examples of these innovative concepts introduced by
Akbar that set the precedent for Mughal
coins which was refined and perfected by his son, Jahangir, and later by his grandson, Shah Jahan.
Religious
policy
Akbar,
as well as his mother and other members of his family, are believed to
have been Sunni HanafiMuslims. His early
days were spent in the backdrop of an atmosphere in which liberal sentiments were encouraged and
religious narrow-mindednness was frowned
upon. From the 15th century, a number of rulers in various parts of the
country adopted a more liberal policy of
religious tolerance, attempting to foster communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims. These sentiments were earlier
encouraged by the teachings of popular saints
like Guru Nanak, Kabir and Chaitanya, the verses of the Persian poet
Hafez which advocated human sympathy and
a liberal outlook, as well as the Timurid ethos of religious tolerance in
the empire, persisted in the polity
right from the times of Timur to Humayun, (the second emperor of the mughal empire), and influenced Akbar's
policy of tolerance in matters of religion. Further, his childhood tutors, who included two Irani
Shias, were largely above sectarian prejudices, and made a significant contribution to Akbar's
later inclination towards religious tolerance
When
he was at FatehpurSikri, he held discussions as he loved to know about others'
religious beliefs. On one such day he
got to know that the religious people of other religions were often bigots (intolerant of others religious
beliefs ). This led him to form the idea of the new religion, Sulh-e-kul meaning universal peace. His idea
of this religion did not discriminate other religions and focused on the ideas of peace, unity and
tolerance.
Conclusion
Akbar's
reign was chronicled extensively by his court historian AbulFazal in the books Akbarnama and Ain-i-akbari. Other
contemporary sources of Akbar's reign include the works of Badayuni, ShaikhzadaRashidi and
Shaikh Ahmed Sirhindi.
Akbar
was an artisan, warrior, artist,
armourer, blacksmith, carpenter, emperor, general, inventor, animal trainer (reputedly keeping thousands of
hunting cheetahs during his reign and training many himself), lacemaker, technologist and
theologian. Believed to be dyslexic, he was read to everyday and had a remarkable memory.
Akbar
was said to have been a wise emperor and a sound judge of character. His son
and heir, Jahangir, wrote effusive
praise of Akbar's character in his memoirs, and dozens of anecdotes to illustrate his virtues According to Jahangir,
Akbar was "of the hue of wheat; his eyes and eyebrows were black and his complexion rather
dark than fair". Antoni de Montserrat,
the Catalan Jesuit who visited his court described him as follows:
"One
could easily recognize even at first glance that he is King. He has broad
shoulders, somewhat bandy legs
well-suited for horsemanship, and a light brown complexion. He carries his head bent towards the right shoulder. His
forehead is broad and open, his eyes so bright and flashing that they seem like a sea shimmering
in the sunlight. His eyelashes are very long. His eyebrows are not strongly marked. His nose is
straight and small though not insignificant. His nostrils are widely open as though in
derision. Between the left nostril and the upper lip there is a mole. He shaves his beard but wears a
moustache. He limps in his left leg though he has never received an injury there.
Akbar
was not tall but powerfully built and very agile. He was also noted for various
acts of courage. One such incident
occurred on his way back from Malwa to Agra when Akbar was 19 years of age. Akbar rode alone in advance of
his escort and was confronted by a tigress who
along with her cubs, came out from the shrubbery across his path. When
the tigress charged the emperor, he was
alleged to have dispatched the animal with his sword in a solitary blow.
His approaching attendants found the
emperor standing quietly by the side of the dead animal.
References
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Eraly, Abraham (2004). The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors. 2. "Akbar (Mughal emperor)".
Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Retrieved
3. Metcalf, Barbara, Thomas (2006). A Concise
History of Modern India. Cambridge
University
4.
Eraly, Abraham (2000). Emperors of the Peacock Throne : The Saga of the
Great Mughals.
5.
"Akbar I". EncyclopaediaIranica.
6.
"Akbar I". Oxford Reference.
7.
Tharoor, Ishaan (4 February 2011). "Top 25 Political Icons:Akbar the
Great". Time. 8. Banjerji, S.K. (1938). Humayun Badshah. Oxford University
Press 9. Eraly, Abraham (2000). Emperors of the Peacock Throne : the Saga of
the Great Mughals.
10.
Jahangir (1968). Henry Beveridge, ed. The Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī: or, Memoirs of
Jāhāngīr, Volumes 1-2.
MunshiramManoharlal.
11.
Ferishta, MahomedKasim (2013). History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power
in India, Till the Year AD 1612.
Cambridge University
12.
"Gurdas". Government of Punjab.
13.
Lal, Ruby (2005). Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World.
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