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Hamida Banu Begum (1527–1604): Persian wife of Humayun and mother of Akbar.
Hemu: Styled Raja Vikramaditya, prime minister of Adil Shah Sur.
October 1556: Hemu, a Sur general, takes over Delhi.
1562: Akbar is married to Harkha Bai, daughter of Raja Bharmal of the Kachhwaha Rajputs in Amer, later known as Maryam uz Zamani (popularly but mistakenly known as Jodha Bai).
The Marwar Rathores send a daughter, Rajkumari Mani Bai (also known as Jagat Gosain), the daughter of Rao Udai Singh, to be married to Prince Salim. Akbar gives her the title Taj Bibi though she was popularly known as Jodh Bai.
Akbar issues an order permitting widows to remarry.
Wow
Akbar was to use this vast physical courage all his life, as he threw himself into battle from the age of twenty, to create an empire that would encompass most of the subcontinent up to the Deccan as well as present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The only other Indian empire* to bring more of the subcontinent under its control was the Mauryan Empire,† and its greatest emperor, Ashoka, would be the only ruler in Indian history to be ranked in the same league as the Mughal Padshah by many.
He urged people to learn about others’ religions, so as to dispel intolerant prejudices against each other and develop, instead, a sense of empathy. This, Akbar was convinced, would lead to a spirit of universal peace and active tolerance, which he called sulh kul. All religions, he believed, were either equally true or equally untrue and so deserved equal respect and protection.
Amazing
From an early age, Akbar displayed a spirit of compassion and empathy which, combined with his courage and self-belief, allowed him to make audacious and brave decisions. He abolished the jiziya and the pilgrimage tax on non-Muslims, to the horror of conservative Muslims. He prohibited the slaughter of cows and peacocks, in deference to Hindu sentiments. He instituted patronage for Hindu and Jain temples.
Something for the current fanatics in India to learn from
One of the reasons that Akbar was so willing to look beyond Islam for truths and validation was that, as relatively recent converts to Islam, the Mughals were less tenacious in their allegiance to religion alone.
More recently, popular narratives of suspect scholarship have veered sharply towards the identification of the Mughal Empire with the infamous notion of one thousand years of oppression of Hindus.
Perhaps one of the most fascinating aspects of Akbar’s life and personality was his deep bond of love, affection and respect, with the multitude of women who accompanied him on his journeys.
the Persian word for Mongol—Mughal.
Persian word for Mongol is Mughal
By the seventeenth century, the Mughal Empire would be using ‘more than a million soldiers under arms and controlling nearly a quarter of the world’s economic output’.
Economic powerhouse
Three days later, on the full moon night of 15 October 1542, Hamida Banu delivered a baby boy.
Akbar’s birthday
Akbar would work hard to convince his subjects about the evils of child marriage and his vehemence seems to have arisen from a bleak and personal space. He would raise the marriageable age of boys to sixteen and girls to fourteen, and would forbid the marrying of one’s cousin or close relative:
Hamida Banu
Akbar’s mother
Harkha Bai.*
Akbar’s rajput wife who people mistakenly call Jodhabai
‘Accordingly at the beginning of his reign a certain brahman musician, Gadain Brhmaindas by name, whose whole business was perpetually to praise the Hindus and who [was] possessed of a considerable amount of capacity and genius, came to court. By means of conversing with the emperor and taking advantage of the idiosyncrasies of his disposition, he crept day by day more into favour until he attained to high rank, and was honoured with the distinction of becoming the emperor’s confidant.’ This man, acknowledged even by the critical Badauni as having innate genius, would later gain fame at
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About Birbal
Persian was already greatly prized as the courtly language par excellence.
Language of the mogul courts
Turki had been the beloved mother tongue.
Court language was Persian and it was Turki at home
When the Rajput brides entered the Mughal harem they brought with them their holy fires and their sparkling language, their busy gods, and their swaying clothes. For Akbar did not require these women to convert to Islam and they were allowed to fully participate in their Hindu rituals as they had in their own homes.
Rajput wives did not have to convert
‘5000 chandra bans and kahak-bans Mazamdarani (a type of rocket made of an iron tube and bamboo rod, packed with combustible material which was lit and then directed by hand and launched primarily at horses and elephants)
Weapons used by Akbar
an extensive system of couriers and informants who relayed information to the Padshah. Qandahari has described this extremely efficient system: He [Akbar] is such an expert in espionage that he keeps four thousand* foot-runners, who in Hindi are called Meurah. They are on His Majesty’s service day and night so that news and reports reach regularly everyday from all sides of the world. This class of men run as fast as lions, so that within ten days news comes from Bengal, which is at a distance of seven hundred karohs (kos) from Agra. His Majesty gets all information of good or bad and profit
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Information and courier system
(The Portuguese, needing firmer mangoes that could be cut for the table for consumption in Europe, had begun experimenting with grafts in Goa and had developed a new, fragrant, and firm variety which they named the Alphonso, in honour of Alfonso de Albuquerque, the man who had conquered Goa in 1510.)
Origin of the Alphonso mango
Akbar isolated himself from the swirl and skitter of his court and would spend nights sitting on a stone slab in a quiet cell, gratitude filling his heart ‘with his head bent over his chest, gathering the bliss of the early hours of dawn’.
Akbars gratitude
has been noted earlier, Eaton quotes an observer who, in 1615, estimated the Mughals’ annual revenue at 120 million silver coins compared to forty-five million for the Ottoman Empire. (See India in the Persianate Age, p. 371.)
Bigger than Ottoman empire
Akbar proposed that ‘all religions are either equally true or equally illusory’.
Profund statement
Akbar told the assembled scholars and courtiers: I perceive that there are varying customs and beliefs of varying religious paths. For the teachings of the Hindus, the Musalmans, the Jazdini, the Jews and the Christians are all different. But the followers of each religion regard the institutions of their own religion as better that those of any other. Not only so, but they strive to convert the rest to their own way of belief. If these refuse to be converted, they not only despise them but also regard them for this very reason as their enemies. And this causes me to feel many serious doubts
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Amazingly progressive
Din-i Ilahi
Akbars created religion
As for the disciples, only eighteen were ever accounted for, making this more a collection of like-minded courtiers who were willing to go along with the Padshah on his religious quest rather than a new religion for everyone as has been suggested.
Followers of Din-e-ilahe Akbars religion
he knows a little of all trades and sometimes loves to practise them before his people either as a carpenter or as a blacksmith or as an armourer,
Amazing that he was a handyman
At one time he would be deeply immersed in state affairs or giving audiences to his subjects, and the next moment he would be seen shearing camels, hewing stones, cutting wood, or hammering iron, and doing all with as much diligence as though engaged in his own particular vocation.
Akbar was clearly very energetic and intelligent
He said that Akbar ‘decided to explore the reason for the hostility that divided the Muslims, Jews and Hindus and in doing so realized that their denial of one another was all too obvious’. Once Akbar had understood this problem, ‘he decided to translate the authentic books of the different groups into another language, so that both groups could have the pleasure of benefitting from the perfect knowledge; thus forgetting their enmity and hostility and seeking the divine truth…
An evolved soul trying to build bridges between reigions something todays leaders can learn from
Of all the musicians, the most revered of them all was Tansen, still at court and still singing his haunting Dhrupad compositions. ‘A singer like him,’ wrote Abu’l Fazl confidently, ‘has not been seen in India for the last thousand years.’ Tansen was not just a singer, but also a poet-composer, and wrote his lyrics in Brajbhasha.
About Tansen
To ensure that women were not forced to commit sati against their will Akbar appointed officials in every town so that only ‘those who of their own impulse wished to commit sati might be allowed to do so’. Akbar had already decreed that ‘Hindu child-widows who had not enjoyed conjugal relations should not be burnt; but if the Hindus should find this difficult, they were not to be interfered with.’ It was a fine balance that Akbar tried to maintain,
Amazing views on Sati the practice of bride burni
Akbar raised the minimum age for marriage to sixteen years for boys and fourteen for girls, and instructed the kotwals to establish the ages of the bride and groom before allowing weddings to take place.
Minimum marriage age
people began bribing the officials to allow the practice to continue.
Bribing to allow children to be married before minimum age of 16.
Akbar also brought in an order in 1587 permitting widows to remarry, ‘in the manner that the people of India do not prohibit’. He was greatly saddened by the notion that ‘here in India among the modest, a woman once married cannot go [again] to anyone else’. That Akbar would find the idea of widows not being allowed to re-marry puzzling and distressing is understandable given the Timurids’ pragmatic approach to women’s chastity. Women who ‘fell’ to enemies in times of war were never blamed for their predicament, and were taken back with honour by their families when they were returned.
Remarry during Akbars time
Badauni tells us about specific bans brought in to protect the beliefs of the Hindus at this time: ‘He prohibited the slaughter of cows, and the eating of their flesh, because the Hindus devoutly worship them.’
Akbar banned cow slughter as a mark of respect to Hindus
five-times-namaaz were deemed unnecessary.
Wow
Akbar had decreed that the birth of a girl would be celebrated with the same gratitude and joy as that of a boy,
Girls were celebrated
The best people in Kashmir, according to Abu’l Fazl, despite their lamentable dependence on the ‘bonds of tradition’, were the Hindus: The most respectable class in this country is that of the Brahmans, who notwithstanding their need of freedom from the bonds of tradition and custom, are true worshippers of God. They do not loosen the tongues of calumny against those of their faith, nor beg nor importune. They employ themselves in planting fruit trees, and are generally a source of benefit to the people.
Akbars recordkeepers observation about Kashmir Brahmins
Jodha–Akbar
Jodha was a fiction her real name was Harkha Bai and she was Jahangirs mother
well as other Hindustani women, Mughal women owned their property and wealth outright, and could spend it according to their wishes and ambitions.
Mogul women’s financial independence
The Mughal Empire was now greater in size than any previous Indian kingdom bar the Mauryan Empire of nearly two millennia previously, far larger than any contemporary European kingdom, and was rivalled only by China. It included much of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, including the cities of Kandahar, Kabul, and Dhaka. It contained Kashmir and southern Kumaon, and stretched upto Bengal, along the line of the Himalayas. In the Deccan, Khandesh and Ahmadnagar were part of the empire and Berar was about to be incorporated too. Up to a million people lived within it.
Size of the empire under Akbar
The Mughal emperor, with an annual income estimated at 100 million pounds* was by far the richest ruler in the world.
Mogul wealth
But perhaps the secret of his enduring appeal, that which made him ‘the Great Mughal’, and one of only two Indian monarchs to be considered ‘Great’, was his determination, in a complex and complicated land, to negotiate a place of dignity for each person and every creed through the idea of sulh kul. ‘He was a prince beloved of all, firm with the great, kind to those of low estate,’ wrote Monserrate, ‘and just to all men, high and low, neighbour or stranger, Christian, (Muslim) or (Hindu); so that every man believed that the King was on his side.’
Why was Akbar considered great
