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.
