Life of Akbar the Great

(born 1542, ruled from 1556 to 1605)

In 1556, the third Great Moghul, Emperor Akbar, began a wise and enlightened rule, legendary for its tolerance. After an unbroken string of military victories, he built an exquisite new capital, Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra in north-west India.

There, Akbar conferred with representatives of all the major religions of his vast empire. He combined the highest truths of each to form a new religion suitable for all, named the Divine Faith. Alas, this proved to be too great a task for even Akbar the Great, and he died without realizing his fond dream.

But his greatness passed down to his highly cultivated grandson, Shah Jahan, whose love for his wife, Arjomand, inspired the construction of the most ethereally beautiful of all edifices: The Taj Mahal. 

Akbar (1542-1605), third Mughal emperor of India (1556-1605), generally considered the true founder of the Mughal Empire. The son of Emperor Humayun, he was born in Umarkot, Sind (now in Pakistan), and succeeded to the throne at the age of 13. He first ruled under a regent, Bairam Khan, who recaptured for the young emperor much of the territory usurped at the death of his father. In 1560, however, Akbar took the government into his own hands. Realizing that Hindu acceptance and cooperation were essential to the successful rule of any Indian empire worthy of that name, he won the allegiance of the Rajputs, the most belligerent Hindus, by a shrewd blend of tolerance, generosity, and force; he himself married two Rajput princesses. Having thus secured the Hindus, he further enlarged his realm by conquest until it extended from Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal and from the Himalayas to the Godavari River. Akbar's supreme achievement, however, was the establishment of an efficient administrative system that held the empire together and stimulated trade and economic development. Almost as notable was his promulgation of a new religion, the Dini-Ilahi (Divine Faith), a blend of Islam, Brahmanism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism. Although this attempt failed, Akbar surrounded himself with learned men of all faiths and, although illiterate himself, made his court a center of arts and letters.

Akbar 1543 - 1605 A.D.

Akbar stands tall among the kings who ruled India. He was the greatest of the Moguls, the Muslim dynasty that dominated India between the early 16th and 18th centuries.

Akbar was exposed to the battles and powers of rule from a young age. Akbar inherited the throne, after the sudden death of his father king Humayun, at the age of 13, in 1556.   In 1579 he abolished the Jizya, a tax imposed on all but the poorest non-Muslims. This was the most notable in a series of measures to recruit the Hindu majority and others to the cause of unifying and expanding his empire. He defeated an impregnable Hindu fortress in Rajasthan and went on to marry the Rajput princess Padmini, who was permitted to conduct Hindu rites in the harem.

Akbar's religious tolerance strengthened his empire and earns him his special place in history. He is credited with innovations in textiles and artillery alike. Himself  an illiterate man, perhaps because of dyslexia, he loved learning and disputation. His administrative and fiscal innovations underpinned it for a century after his death. He patronized such scholars as Birbal, Abul Fazl and Tansen. He was subject to bouts of melancholy and what were probably epileptic fits early in life. He saw these as spiritual experiences; and perhaps they gave his curiosity a religious twist.

As his reign progressed Akbar moved ever further from Islamic orthodoxy. He built a capital, Fatehpur Sikri, around the tomb of a Sufi (Islamic mystic) saint who had prophesied the birth of his heir. Later he took to inviting clerics from various religions, including Portuguese Jesuits from Goa, to debate their faiths.

Eventually, Akbar came up with his own ``religion of God'', more a fraternal order, headed by himself, than a religion, based on a creed of harmony among peoples and a practice that involved making disciples of his leading nobles. Unsurprisingly, Muslim clerics saw this as blasphemy. Eventually, it became official policy to discourage, if not to prohibit, Islamic forms of prayer. Akbar paid the price in an abortive rebellion by his son, claiming to be a defender of the faith. Akbar softened towards Islam thereafter, and is thought to have died, in 1605, a Muslim, not an apostate.

His descendants, most notably,  the deeply bigoted great-grandson Aurangzeb overturned the religious tolerance Akbar had established for the Mogul Government. Aurangjeb tore down Hindu temples and revived the Jijya--and a Hindu consciousness that after his death was to help pull the Mogul empire apart, weaken India, and let in the British.

. Re–Union

One day, when Akbar and Birbal were in discussions, Birbal happened to pass a harmless comment about Akbar’s sense of humour.  But Emperor Akbar was in a foul mood and took great offense to this remark. He asked Birbal, his court-jester, friend and confidant, to not only leave the palace but also to leave the walls of the city of Agra.  Birbal was terribly hurt at being banished. 

A couple of days later, Akbar began to miss his best friend.  He regretted his earlier decision of banishing him from the courts. He just could not do without Birbal and so sent out a search party to look for him. But Birbal had left town without letting anybody know of his destination.  The soldiers searched high and low but were unable to find him anywhere. 

Then one day a wise saint came to visit the palace accompanied by two of his disciples.  The disciples claimed that their teacher was the wisest man to walk the earth.  Since Akbar was missing Birbal terribly he thought it would be a good idea to have a wise man that could keep him company. But he decided that he would first test the holy man’s wisdom.

The saint had bright sparkling eyes, a thick beard and long hair. The next day, when they came to visit the court Akbar informed the holy man that since he was the wisest man on earth, he would like to test him. All his ministers would put forward a question and if his answers were satisfactory he would be made a minister. But if he could not, then he would be beheaded. The saint answered that he had never claimed to be the wisest man on earth, even though other people seemed to think so. Nor was he eager to display his cleverness but as he enjoyed answering questions, he was ready for the test.

One of the ministers, Raja Todarmal, began the round of questioning. He asked “Who is a man’s best friend on earth?”  To which the wise saint replied, “His own good sense”. Next Faizi asked which was the most superior thing on earth? “Knowledge”, answered the saint. “Which is the deepest trench in the world?”, asked Abdul Fazal. And the saint’s answer was “a woman’s heart”. “What is that which cannot be regained after it is lost?” questioned another courtier and the reply he received was ‘life’. “What is undying in music” asked the court musician Tansen. The wise saint replied that it was the “notes”. And then he asked “which is the sweetest and most melodious voice at night –time? And the answer he received was “the voice that prays to God.” 

Maharaj Mansingh of Jaipur, who was a guest at the palace asked, ”what travels more speedily than the wind?” the saint replied that it was “man’s thought”. He then asked, “which was the sweetest thing on earth?” and the saint said that it was “a baby’s smile”. 

Emperor Akbar and all his courtiers were very impressed with his answers, but wanted to test the saint himself. Firstly he asked what were the necessary requirements to rule over a kingdom, for which he was answered ‘cleverness’. Then he asked what was the gravest enemy of a king. The saint replied that it was ‘selfishness’.  The emperor was pleased and offered the saint a seat of honour and asked him whether he could perform any miracles. The saint said that he could manifest any person the king wished to meet. Akbar was thrilled and immediately asked to meet his minister and best friend Birbal. 

The saint simply pulled off his artificial beard and hair much to the surprise of the other courtiers. Akbar was stunned and could not believe his eyes. He stepped down to embrace the saint because he was none other than Birbal.

Akbar had tears in his eyes as he told Birbal that he had suspected it to be him and had therefore asked him whether he could perform miracles. He showered Birbal with many valuable gifts to show him how happy he was at his return. 

The Mughal Dynasty in India - Stories of Akbar and Birbal

Background :

Stories of Akbar and Birbal are extremely popular in India. The several instances when Birbal uses his wit and intelligence to calm the ire of Emperor Akbar and amuse him at the same time, are told to children from a very early age. It used to be part of the oral tradition of storytelling, but in recent years, these stories have been compiled into books by various authors.

Akbar was the third Mughal Emperor to rule over India in the 16th century. He is also known as Akbar the Great for his contributions in the areas of art, architecture and music. It said that in his reign, Hindus and Muslims lived side by side in syncretisic harmony. He was illiterate himself, but provided patronage to fine arts and literature. In his court he had Nine Jewels or ‘Navr tans.’ These were poets, musicians, advisers and learned men.

The Story of how Birbal came to Akbar’s court

Emperor Akbar loved to go hunting. On one such trip, he came across a young man named Mahesh Das. In the meeting that occurred, the Emperor was extremely impressed by the wit of Mahesh Das. The Emperor gave Mahesh Das his ring and asked him to come and visit him in his palace at anytime.

A few years later Mahesh Das decided to try his luck in the city and to take the emperor up on his offer. He reached the city of Agra where Emperor Akbar had his fort on the banks of the Yamuna River. At the gate of the fort he was greeted by the guards. He told them that he had come to visit with the emperor. The guards looked at him in disdain (since he was not very well dressed) and asked him why they should let him in. He showed them the ring that was given to him by the emperor as proof. One of the guards realized that this individual obviously was of importance to the emperor and gave him permission to enter, based on one condition that the young man would share half of what he received from the emperor with the guard. Mahesh Das promised to do so and was given access into the court of Emperor Akbar. He bowed to the emperor as he went in and showed him the ring. The reputedly benevelont Emperor Akbar recognized the ring and the young man and immediately offered him anything he wanted. The young man thought a while, and asked the emperor for fifty lashes of the whip. The emperor was amazed but he knew that Mahesh Das was a very astute young man and asked him for his reason for his wish. Mahesh Das revealed to the emperor that deal that he had made with the guard outside the fort. The emperor was thoroughly amused and angry at the same time. He awarded the fifty lashes to the guard for his impertinence and his habit of bullying people. He rewarded Mahesh Das by including him in his court and giving him all the comforts he could desire. He also bestowed on him the name of Birbal.

Till this day, stories of Birbal’s wit are told to children in India.