What
were the diiculties faced by Akbar during the period 1556-1564? How did he overcome them?
"His
majesty [Akbar] plans splendid ediices ... Thus
mighty fortresses have been raised, which protect the timid, frighten the rebellious, and
please the obedient..."
-
Abul Fazl, Ain-i-Akbari (Regulations of Akbar), c. 1590
Miracles
occur in the temples of every creed.
-Akbar
Humayun’s death had been a blow to the Mughals and it was totally unexpected. It had only been a year since he had recaptured Delhi and the kingdom was still young. His son Jalal-ad-din Akbar was then formally seated on the throne of the Mughal Empire. In the course of the next ten years of young Akbar’s reign he faced several crises both from internal threats and from external ones. In this essay we shall look at what some of those problems were that Akbar had to deal with in the initial years of his reign.
The
major sources which throw light on Akbar’s period are divided into three categories; oicial, personal and
foreign accounts. Abul Fazl’s akbarnama
and ain-i-akbari which are the oicial accounts of the oicial court chronicler. In these works Akbar is
presented as an exalted monarch. Another oicial account was that of Nizamuddin
Ahmad. Abdul Qadir Badauni’s account
muntakhab-ut-tawarikh is a personal account which is highly critical of Akbar. Badauni’s work is
important as it provides a diferent
perspective from that of the other historians and provides details that are
either missing or avoided in the other accounts. There are also accounts by foreign travellers and Jesuit
missionaries which however sufer from
personal prejudices.
Since Akbar was very young at the time of him becoming the emperor, Behram Khan who was very close to Humayun and had been a favourite oicial of Humayun was appointed the khan-i-khana and the vakil of the empire. He was one of the most powerful nobles of the camp and initially the nobles agreed to support this decision since the empire facing many diiculties and a powerful leader was needed to ensure the safety of the empire.
In 1556, soon after the coronation of the young emperor, Delhi came under attack by the Afghans from Bihar which was led on the led by Hemu. Behram khan sent the army to meet him under Tardi Beg but the Mughal army was defeated. Many of the Mughal army oicials had led from the battle when they realised that they could not resist the attacks of Hemu and Tardi Beg was one among them. Behram khan then had him executed as punishment for it. This incident caused much confusion and resentment in the court and Beharam khan used this as a pretext to rise to power.
Iqtadar
Alam Khan divides the period of Behram Khan into 4 phases. The irst phase was up to the period of 1566 when
he was Akbar’s tutor and the other
nobles had sanctioned his rise to power based on his promise to keep the Afghans at bay. The Afghans were
still powerful and remained powerful in
many areas within the Indian subcontinent such as Hemu in Bihar and Bahadur Shah in Gujarat. The second
phase was from 1556-57, when Behram khan
rose to prominence and suppressed the other nobles by sending them away to parts of the empire.
The third phase was from 1557-59 when
the harem arrives from Kabul. She resents the rise of Behram khan and with the support of the other
nobles tries to curtail his powers. She
states that Akbar needs to consulted on important decision and they should be presented before him such
as in the case of the decision to
execute Tardi Beg. The fourth phase is from 1559-1560 when Akbar begins to assert his authority and
reclaims power from Behram Khan.
During the four years of Behram khan’s reign the Mughal Empire faced many dangers and threats but also showed considerable progress. The senior nobles had hoped that once he came to power, he would share it with them too. But when he sent them of to diferent parts of the empire on various tasks, the realised that he had diferent intentions. Within the court Behram khan faced much opposition from Akbar’s foster parents and mainly from the Turkish nobles. The dominant Sunni nobility felt that Behram khan being a Shia Muslim, had undermined their powers and was creating a nobility that favoured the men of his own creed or men who were entirely subservient to his will. The execution of Tardi Beg who was a Turk was considered by these nobles as an act of hostility towards them. By 1560, Akbar wanted to assert his position, but his views were not always taken into account by the now very powerful Behram khan. Akbar knew he had to confront his tutor but at the same time was wise enough to realise that an open conlict might jeopardise his position. So Akbar decided to tactfully deal with the situation and so on the pretext of going for a hunting expedition, Akbar led from Agra to Delhi and there he rallied the nobles and his troops. Behram khan could not entirely understand the situation and he felt that the emperor was acting under the inluence of the nobles. He decided to then take up arms to punish his enemies. But this resulted in his defeat which was then followed by Akbar giving him two options, to either remain in the court as a subordinate to Akbar and not as a regent or to go to Mecca on holy pilgrimage. Behram khan chose the latter and decided to go to Mecca, but on his way , while passing through Gujarat, he was killed by Mubarak Khan Nohani.
A
second major problem that Akbar faced was from his foster family. Maham Anagam the harem, came to Delhi in 1557
from Kabul. Winston Smith calls the
phase when Akbar was dominated by his foster family as a petticoat government.
The wet nurses of the emperor were incorporated
into the foster family which was a practice of central Asian tradition.
She along with the other Turkish nobles
had tried to curtail the powers of
Behram Khan. Now that Behram khan was removed, the foster family
and the nobles who had supported Akbar
against Behram khan hoped for a higher
share in power. When Akbar tried to centralise his empire and assert his authority, it led to conlicts with
the foster family. This is clearly relected through the actions of Adham khan,
the son of Maham Anagam when after the
conquest of Malwa, he refused to send the war booty to Akbar. Akbar then confronted him, at which
Adham khan ofered up everything to Akbar
except for 2 concubines which he kept for himself. When Akbar came to know of this, Maham Anagam,
had the 2 concubines killed so that it
would not cause further problems. Adham khan was recalled from Malwa and when he killed
Shamsuddin who was believed to be the
jure vakil , Akbar had Adham khan killed. This swift action helped prevent further bloodshed as Shamsuddin’s
eldest son was preparing to take
revenge.
The Turnai nobility consisted of 4 main groups; the Chagatai, the Uzbeks, the Mirza's and the Atka Khayl. All of them revolted at some point or the other. The Atka Khayl was the foster family and the Chagatai’s were also part of the Uzbeks. The Uzbek revolts and rebellions were a problem which was actually the beginning of the opposition of the Chagatai’s being presented. These nobles resented the centralising policies of Akbar and many of them began to revolt. The Uzbek nobles began asserting regional autonomy and there were several rebellions in the period between 1561- 62. There was growing resentment among them as they believed in the Chengizi tradition of sharing power among the elites. They resented the centralising policies of Akbar which prevented them from retaining the war booty and other tributes. However Akbar had many of them sent to diferent parts of the empire in order to better control them and limit their powers. The opposition of the Chagatai’s eventually manifested itself in the form of the Uzbek rebellions. The irst rebellion was that of Abdullah khan Uzbek of Malwa who refused to send Akbar the tribute. He had earlier recaptured Malwa for the Mughal Empire and had become the governor of the province. It eventually led to an a conlict between Akbar and Abdullah khan and the latter was defeated in this in 1564. There were also other Uzbeks who refused to send the tribute such as Ibrahim khan Uzbek, Sikander Khan Uzbek and Khan-i-Zaman Uzbek. In 1565 Akbar was informed of the rebellion being planned by Iskandar Khan Uzbek. The other Uzbek oicials also joined hands in this rebellion but they were ultimately defeated by Akbar. However, they were pardoned and given back their jagirs. The inal rebellion was in 1567 when these Uzbek nobles pledged their loyalty to Mirza Muhammad Hakim who Akbar had driven back to Kabul. They were yet again defeated by Akbar and this time too they were pardoned. Akbar was constantly on the move suppressing these rebellions mainly through the use of force.
The
Mirzas were a minor threat when compared to the Uzbeks. The Mirza's were a
small faction in Akbar’s court and were a part of the Chagatai nobility and aspired for greater share in
power. They were given jagirs in the
Sambal region. The irst Mirza rebellion was in 1560 under Mohammed sultan Mirza
who was related to Akbar. They attempted marching to Delhi to capture power but there were repressed by
the local Mughal governor. Some of them
managed to escape and led to Gujarat. All these rebellions led Akbar to bring about many reforms within
the nobility itself in order to prevent
such rebellions.
It
was these rebellions that led Akbar to broaden the base of the nobility and look for new alliances. There was a need
to transform those chieftains who saw themselves as autonomous or
semi-autonomous. Even during the time of
Babur, we see his conlict with Rana Sangha of Sissodiya, in which he faced defeat. Babur was also advised
by the Safavid ruler to ally with the
Rajputs. The Rajput policy of Akbar can be traced to 1562 when Akbar marries the daughter of raja Bara Mal
of Amer. Although popular legend refers
to this princess as Jodha Bhai, there is no clear evidence regarding this. The Kachwahas were a very
minor group among the Rajputs but this
did not concern Akbar much as he saw this alliance as an inroad to other Rajput relations. In 1562,
the raja Bara Mal came to meet Akbar on
his way back from Ajmer, to pay homage and also to seek protection as his brother Askaran was trying
to build an alliance with the Afghans
and claim the throne of Amer. The Kachwaha land was very near to Agra and Delhi and also their lands were
lat plains which left them open to attacks
from these diferent areas. So the Kachwaha family was sinking into ruin. Akbar however did not
consider this too much and considered an
alliance with them as the way into dealing with the rest of the Rajputs. Besides the Kachwahas were very
good warriors.
In 1563, Akbar abolished the jaziya in order to better the relations with the Rajputs even though this tax had existed only in paper and was not really implemented. But this act did not really help to improve the relations with them as only the Kachwahas were willing to enter into alliance with the Mughals. Akbar faced much criticism from his nobility and the ulema for his attempts to include new members in the nobility as they felt that he was not taking up the cause of Islam as a true Muslim ruler should. But despite this Akbar continued to try and build up his relations with the Rajputs and there were some advantages that were ofered with an alliance with them. Rajputana was very strategically located and provided the shortest route to the Deccan. In addition they provided access to the rich mercantile ports of Gujarat and Malwa. Also the Rajputs were known for their bravery and valour in battle and Akbar realised that they would be a good addition to his forces.
R.P.
Triparti, C.A. Bayly and I.A. Khan talk about neo-liberalism and talk of Akbar’s attempt to create a composite culture
and a cohesive empire. According to
A.L.Srivastav, Akbar was the only Muslim ruler who dreamt of Indian unity and
the alliance formed an integral part of his religious policy of building a state that was not based and
supported by Muslims alone. Badauni
blames the Rajput relations as the reason for the change in the ideological outlook of Akbar. I.A.Khan says
that these alliances were an attempt on
the part of Akbar to create a heterogeneous nobility as the Uzbek and Mirza rebellions led him to believe
that they could not be entirely depended
on.
Akbar
soon realised that his liberal policy with the Rajputs had not helped in creating new alliances and so he decides
to shift to a more harsher policy
involving military force. So in 1568, Akbar attacks chittor and lays siege to it. Since chittor was the capital of
the Sissodiyas, Akbar hoped that its
conquest would lead to the Rajputs accepting Mughal sovereignty. Abul Fazl claims that it was the arrogant
nature of the Rana of Sissodiya that led
to the attack. The siege of Chittor lasted for over four months from October 1567-february1568. There was a
lot of bloodshed and after the Mughals had
captured it, the fathnama(declaration of victory) was read in the name of the Mughal rulers. In the
following years most Rajput houses
accepted Mughal alliance and were inducted into Mughal nobility.
So we see that during the irst phase of Akbar’s reign as emperor of the Mughal Empire, he had to face several diiculties which he had to overcome. He had to initially shake of all the power and other ties which were trying hard to control him and gain access to power such as his regent and his foster family. He also then had to deal with the external threats that he faced from the diferent parts of the empire. In addition to all this he had to face the several rebellions and revolts from the various nobles who were always trying to carve out independent spheres of power for themselves. And inally, Akbar had to deal with the Rajputs and relations with them, both through his liberal policy and also through military force. While Akbar had to use force in many instances, we also see that he often pardoned the rebels and those who went against him. In these ways Akbar managed to deal with the several problems that he faced mainly during the initial phase of his reign from 1556-1564.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
>
Iqtidar Alam Khan - The Political Biography of a Mughal Noble: Munim Khan Khan-i Khanan, 1497-1575, Orient Longman
for the Department of History, Aligarh
Muslim University, 1973.
>
Douglas E. Streusand, The Formation of the Mughal Empire, Oxford University Press, 1989.
>
Irfan Habib, Akbar and his India, Oxford University Press, 1997.
>
Satish Chandra, Essays on medieval Indian history, Oxford University Press, 2003.
>
John F. Richards, The Mughal Empire, Cambridge University Press, 1995. >
Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, Akbar and his Religion, 1989.
>
Satish Chandra, Essays on medieval Indian history, Oxford University Press, 2003.
Arpith
Isaac
III
History