No More Learning

The centre, under the Khan Khanan, stood fast and the wings
rallied during the night, and, finding the Khandesh camp empty,
concluded that their ally had either fled or deserted to the enemy,
and plundered his camp. After the battle, which was resumed on
the following day and ended in a decisive victory for the imperial
troops, the corpse of the valiant and unfortunate prince was dis-
covered, and those who had plundered his camp were overcome with
shame. It was the behaviour of the imperial troops on this occasion
that embittered Qadr Khan, who succeeded his father on the throne
of Khandesh under the title of Bahadur Shah, against Akbar.
Further successes in the Deccan were gained by Mirza 'Ali Beg
in 1598, but the local victories of an enterprising subordinate officer
failed to counterbalance the injury suffered by the imperial cause
from the disputes between Sultan Murad and the Khan Khanan,
which compelled the Khan Khanan to retire into Malwa. Owing
to these quarrels field operations were almost suspended, until Sayyid
Murtaza Sabzavari, by cutting off supplies, compelled the garrison
of the great fortress of Gawil to surrender, and by causing the family
of the officer commanding Narnala to be seized and detained as
hostages obliged him to surrender that fortress to Sultan Murad on
13 December, 1598.
Akbar spent the summer of 1597 in Kashmir, where he introduced
a lighter assessment of the revenue and opened public works, which
alleviated the distress of the famine-stricken, but returned to Lahore
in the early winter. During his long sojourn in the north peace had
not reigned in all parts of his empire, and the rebellion of Ram
Chandra, Raja of Bhath (Rewah), in Baghelkhand, was not sup-
pressed until Rai Patr Das captured his stronghold, Bandhogarh
Man Singh had been occupied in suppressing sporadic outbursts of
rebellion in Bengal and Orissa, had destroyed a nest of rebels in
pp. 464, 465.
2 See vol. II, p. 465.
3 23° 41' N. , 81° 3' E
1


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144
AKBAR, MYSTIC AND PROPHET
the Sunderbans, and had suppressed two attempts to place a pre-
tender on the throne of Cooch Behar, the ruler of which, Lachmi
Narayan, had submitted to Akbar.
Akbar, whose presence had been most necessary in the Deccan,
had been detained in the north by the apprehension that 'Abdullah II,
who had wrested Badakhshan from his cousins, intended to annex
Kabul also. His apprehensions were allayed by the death, on 4
February, 1598, of 'Abdullah. From his son and successor, 'Abdul-
Mumin, Akbar had nothing to fear, and he was now free to turn
towards the Deccan, but the desire of recovering his ancestral home
was revived by the opportune death of 'Abdullah and was, not
improbably, encouraged by Abu-'l-Fazl, who perceived an oppor-
tunity of attaining his own ends. He detested Akbar's eldest son,
,
Salim, and suggested that the task should be entrusted to him; but
the prince detected the malice which prompted the proposal. Akbar
was growing old, a campaign in Central Asia, against unknown
powers and unknown interests, might last long, and he had no inten-
tion of jeopardising his chance of ascending the imperial throne.
Abu-'l-Fazl naïvely records his disappointment by attributing Salim's
refusal to certain "worshippers of India". the writer's own native
land, and Akbar, too, was disappointed. He proposed to entrust the
task to one of his two younger sons, but honest and outspoken coun-
sellors dissuaded him from pursuing the scheme, and he wisely
resolved to march to the Deccan.
Akbar set out from Lahore on 20 November, and on 1 January,
1599, put to death Shaikh Sultan, the governor of Thanesar, an
orthodox old officer who had expressed himself too freely on the
subject of the Divine Faith. On 15 February Akbar dispatched
Abu-'l-Fazl from Agra to summon Sultan Murad to court, and to
order the Khan Khanan to march, with all the force which he could
muster, to the Deccan Abu-'l-Fazl was received near Burhanpur
.
by Bahadur of Khandesh, but the meeting was not cordial. Bahadur
offered Abu-'l-Fazl some gifts, which were not accepted, but refused
to join the imperial army in person, offering a contingent of 2000
horse under the command of his son, Kabir Khan.
Sultan Murad, whose health was completely shattered, left Shahpur
and marched towards the frontier of the Ahmadnagar kingdom in
order to avoid meeting. Abu-'l-Fazl and receiving the orders which
he bore, but Abu-'l-Fazł followed him, and joined his camp near
Tembhumi 1 early in May, 1599. He found the prince's army in a
state of mutiny. Pay was in arrears, the country was unfamiliar, the
strength of the enemy was unknown, and it was uncertain whether
the prince were alive or dead. On 12 May he died of delirium tremens,
and Abu-'l-Fazl, with the help of his own contingent of 3000 horse,
succeeded in restoring some degree of discipline in the demoralised
120° 7' N. , 76° 4' E.


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NEGOTIATIONS WITH AHMADNAGAR
148
army, and the order to advance towards Ahmadnagar restored
confidence.
Salim, loth to accept any employment at a distance from the
capital, declined the command in the Deccan, and his younger
brother Daniyal, who was appointed in his stead, left Agra on
4 June, but moved slowly, and in the meantime Shah Rukh Mirza
joined the army on 18 August. His presence was necessary, for the
enemy, encouraged by the death of Murad, was besieging an im-
perial garrison in Bir. Abu-'l-Fazl sent reinforcements which com-
pelled the enemy to raise the siege, and urged Sher Khvaja, who
commanded in Bir, to leave the isolated fortress, but the gallant
officer refused to abandon his post.
The disorganisation of the army in the Deccan had almost destroyed
its fighting value. It was without funds and for months neither
officers nor men had received any pay. Akbar ordered the governor
.
of Gujarat to transmit to the Deccan all the surplus treasure of his
province, and remitted 300,000 rupees from Agra by means of bills
of exchange. He then set out for Malwa with the object of super-
vising personally the operations in the Deccan and hastening the
movements of Daniyal, who was loitering by the way. Salim was
appointed to the government of Ajmer, but as his loyalty was
doubtful his brother-in-law, Man Singh, was associated with him,
Man Singh's son, Jagat Singh, holding the government of Bengal as
his father's deputy. But Jagat Singh died on 19 October, and his
place was taken by his young son, Maha Singh. Akbar left Agra
on 29 September with 80,000 horse, and sent the Khan Khanan to
join Daniyal in order that Abu-'l-Fazl might be free to return to
court.
The situation of the army was now much improved. The fortress
of Baitalwadi,1 in southern Berar, had been surrendered in October,
and dissensions at Ahmadnagar weakened both parties in the state
and advanced the imperial cause. Chand Sultan was in the fortress,
with the young king, Bahadur Nizam Shah, but the army was weary
of female rule and only a minority supported her. Ahang Khan the
African was encamped before the town with the object of gaining
possession of the young king's person and excluding the "noble
queen" from the management of affairs. She entered into corre-
spondence with Abu-'l-Fazl, who plainly told her that mere pro-
fessions would not serve her, and that the emperor would judge her
by her deeds. Eventually it was agreed that the imperial troops
should remove Ahang Khan, and that Chand Sultan should then
surrender Ahmadnagar and tender her own and the young king's
submission. Ahang Khan, having learned of these negotiations, took
the offensive and sent an army to invade Berar, whence the imperial
troops drew all their supplies, and this force was able, owing to the
*120° 34' N. , 75° 36' E.
10


## p. 146 (#178) ############################################

146
AKBAR, MYSTIC AND PROPHET
negligence of the imperial officers in Berar, to penetrate as far as
Ellichpur. Here, however, it was defeated and dispersed, its leader
being slain.
On the arrival of Daniyal at Burhanpur in January, 1600, a new
complication arose. Bahadur Faruqi of Khandesh remained in the
citadel and refused to come forth and welcome him or to see him.
Daniyal was furious and summoned the officers in Berar to his
assistance, and many of the officers with Abu-'l-Fazl left him for the
prince, and the camp at Paithan was exposed to considerable danger
of being attacked.
Akbar, who had intended to halt for some time in Malwa, hastened
to Burhanpur on hearing of the defiant attitude of Bahadur Faruqi.
Daniyal was ordered to continue his march to Ahmadnagar and to
leave his father to deal with the rebel. It was believed that Bahadur
might have been withheld by some scruples from making his sub-
mission to the prince before he had made it to the emperor, but
envoys sent to him reported that this was not so and that his attitude
was defiant.
Akbar arrived before Burhanpur on 8 April, and on the following
day sent a force under Khan A'zam to open the siege of Asirgarh.
Abu-'l-Fazl was appointed governor of Khandesh, and succeeded in
establishing some degree of order in the province. On 24 May Partab
Baharji, Raja of Baglan, made his obeisance to Akbar and was re-
warded with the command of 3000 horse.
Bahadur Faruqi now attempted to open negotiations with Akbar,
but it soon became apparent that his only object was to gain time
in the hope that the exhaustion of supplies in Khandesh would oblige
Akbar to raise the siege of Asirgarh.
Rebellion now broke out again in Bengal. Although Man Singh's
young grandson was nominally governor of the province, the raja
himself was understood to be responsible for its administration, which
he carried on by means of agents. Abu-'l-Fazl unjustly blames him
for this arrangement, which was approved if not originally suggested
by Akbar, who insisted on Man Singh's presence with Salim. He
may be more justly blamed for placing too much confidence in the
turbulent and perfidious Afghans of Bengal. Maha Singh and his
tutor, falling into the common error of despising their enemy, were
defeated on 6 May, and, though the province was not lost, the rebels
occupied many important military posts.
Salim had done nothing in Mewar beyond compelling the Rana
to take to the hills, and his father's unconcealed displeasure and
obvious preference for Daniyal and the influential Abu-'l-Fazl's bitter
hostility fanned his smouldering disaffection into rebellion. He
first proposed to march into the Punjab and raise the standard of
revolt there, but his brother-in-law, Man Singh, whose influence was
great in Bengal, where he could count on the support of the now


## p. 147 (#179) ############################################

AHMADNAGAR TAKEN BY STORM
147
successful rebels in any movement directed against Akbar, persuaded
him to select that province as the scene of his activities, and on
23 July he crossed the Jumna in the neighbourhood of Agra on his
way to Bengal. His grandmother, Akbar's aged mother, hastened
after him to implore him to make his peace with his father, but he
avoided her and travelled by boat to Allahabad, where he obtained
possession of the treasure from Bihar, amounting to over three
millions of rupees. Akbar feigned not to believe that Salim was in
open disobedience, and wrote to him warning him against the sin of
rebellion. Salim replied evasively, but persisted in his disobedience
and appointed his own officials in the provinces of Allahabad, Bihar
and Oudh, ousting those appointed by his father. His success was
largely due to his being the avowed enemy of Abu-'l-Fazl, who had
encouraged the emperor in his religious innovations.
Meanwhile affairs in the Deccan progressed favourably for Akbar,
The siege of Ahmadnagar was opened on 21 April, and those who
resented Chand Sultan's agreement with Abu-'l-Fazl caused her to
be assassinated, but there remained within the walls many partisans
of the imperial cause. The siege was vigorously prosecuted, and after
the destruction of a portion of the defences by mines the fortress was
stormed on 28 August. Bahadur Nizam Shah was captured, and
the rich spoils which rewarded the victors included the royal jewels,
a splendid library, twenty-five elephants, and a large quantity of
guns and ammunition. The fall of Ahmadnagar was an event of
such sinister import to the Deccan that Ibrahim 'Adil Shah II of
Bijapur deemed it politic to conciliate the emperor by tendering his
congratulations.
Akbar's schemes of conquest in the Deccan overshadow at this
period the importance of events in other parts of the empire, but
the death of Jalal-ud-din, the leader of the Raushanais, which
secured tranquillity between the Indus and Kabul, merits notice.
He was attacked by a force of imperial troops, defeated, pursued
and slain.
Owing to the sloth and venality of many of the imperial officers
the siege of Asirgarh was progressing languidly and Abu-'l-Fazl was
sent to stimulate the activity of the besiegers. On 9 December an
.
important outwork was carried, and on 21 December Bahadur Faruqi
appeared in Akbar's camp and made his submission,
Akbar has been charged with gross perfidy in inveigling Bahadur
into his toils and in detaining him in spite of solemn engagements.
but the perfidy was not all on one side, and each strove to outwit
the other. Akbar's terms included personal submission but made no
specific mention of the surrender of the fortress. Bahadur must.
however, have known that the demand would be made and had
taken precautions for evading it. He had instructed Yaqut, the
1 See vol. II, p. 466.


## p. 148 (#180) ############################################

148
. . AKBAR MYSTIC AND PROPHET
African commander of the fortress, to hold it to the last, disregarding
any orders purporting to be his which he might receive from the
imperial camp, his object being to represent the garrison as rebels
who defied his authority and thus escape responsibility. Yaqut had
opposed his leaving the fortress for Akbar's camp and bitterly re-
sented his meanness of spirit but faithfully obeyed his orders, and
when his own son, Muqarrab Khan, arrived from the imperial camp
with Bahadur's orders that the fortress was to be surrendered he
refused to hear him, and Muqarrab, on his return, reported that his
father would never surrender the fortress, and was shortly afterwards
stabbed to death by Akbar's orders. This atrocious murder is one of
the darkest blots on Akbar's name.
The jealousy of the Faruqi kings confined in the fortress of Asir
all males of the royal house except the reigning monarch, and there
were at this time nearly fifty princes so imprisoned, among them
seven near in blood to Bahadur. Yaqut released them and implored
one of them to ascend and defend the throne, but none replied.
"Would to God that ye were women ! ” ejaculated the brave old
African, and, turning away, took poison and died. The fortress sur-
rendered to Akbar on 6 January, 1601, and Khandesh was annexed
to the empire. On 7 March Daniyal arrived in his father's camp
and was received with the honour due to the conqueror of Ahmad-
nagar. He was appointed to the government of Khandesh, which
was fancifully renamed Dandesh after him, and before leaving the
Deccan Akbar formed the provinces of Khandesh and Berar, together
with so much of the kingdom of Ahmadnagar as had been conquered,
into the viceroyalty of the Deccan, to which the prince was appointed.
In Daulatabad, now the capital of the remnant of the kingdom of
Ahmadnagar, the son of Shah 'Ali, third son of Burhan I, was raised
to the throne as Murtaza Nizam Shah II, and Malik 'Ambar the
African, long the virtual ruler of the state, defeated the imperial
troops in south-eastern Berar and rose into prominence. Both parties
in the Deccan were now weary of the strife, and on 3 January, 1602,
some months after Akbar's departure for Agra, Abu-'l-Fazl made
peace with Murtaza II.
Akbar's counsellors had for some time been urging him to return
to Agra, but he had at first refused to leave the Deccan until Ahmad
nagar and Asirgarh had fallen, and after their fall had dallied with
the project of conquering the kingdoms of Bijapur, Golconda and
* Bidar. He was aroused from these dreams by the menace of Salim's
rebellion, which was assuming more serious proportions. Akbar had
sent the prince's school companion, Sharif, to Allahabad to recall
him to a sense of his duty to his father, but Salim had seduced hini
from his allegiance and appointed him his minister.
Salim, hearing that his father was returning from the Deccan,
raised additional troops and conferred titles and assignments on his


## p. 149 (#181) ############################################

MURDER OF ABU L-FAZL
149
principal followers. Akbar, who reached Agra on 23 August, hesi-
tated to take the field against his son, and negotiations were opened;
but Salim's demands were so extravagant that they could not be
granted, and he advanced from Allahabad towards Agra with thirty
or forty thousand horse, plundering the country on his way. Akbar
contented himself with conciliatory messages and mild remonstrances,
and though his weakness was condemned by his courtiers, who
trembled for their own safety, his policy was so far successful that
Salim retired to Allahabad, and was rewarded with a farman ap-
pointing him viceroy of Bengal and Orissa, with almost independent
powers, but Salim persisted in refusing to leave the vicinity of the
capital, and declined the appointment, at the same time insulting
his father by sending to him specimens of the coins which he had
struck in his own name at Allahabad.
Akbar now longed for the counsel of Abu-'l-Fazl, and summoned
him from the Deccan. He replied by promising to bring the rebel
bound to court, and at once set out.
It was to him that Salim attributed the estrangement between
himself and his father, and when he heard that his enemy was to be
consulted he was convinced that Akbar would be urged to put forth
all his strength to destroy him. He therefore sent for Bir Singh,
the Bundela, of Orchha, who was in his service, and ordered him to
intercept Abu-'l-Fazl before he could reach the capital, and to put
him to death. Bir Singh accepted the commission, and on 19 August,
1602, waylaid Abu-'l-Fazl between Barki Sarai (25° 5842' N. , 78°
1072' E. ) and Antri (26° 32' N. , 78° 342' E. ). He was an easy victim,
for, though he had been warned that mischief was afoot, he refused
to travel more rapidly, to alter his route, or to provide himself with
a sufficient escort. Bir Singh severed his head from his body, and
sent it to Salim, who received it with joy and treated it with insult.
In his memoirs he describes the murder with unblushing effrontery
and attributes the assassin's success to God's grace. 1
Akbar was engaged in his childish sport of pigeon-flying when he
received the news of his favourite's death. He shrieked and was for
a time beside himself with grief and rage, even abstaining for three
days from appearing in public. He railed bitterly against his son
and ordered that Bir Singh should be hunted to death. Patr Das,
Rai Rayan, drove the murderer into the fortress of Erachh (25° 48'
N. , 79° 6' E. ) on the Betwa, and his death or capture seemed certain,
when he broke out and made his escape. Akbar was furious, and
ordered that the circumstances of his escape should be investigated,
but the inquiry was inconclusive. Akbar was old and nobody was
eager to incur the resentment of his natural heir,
Again, in 1604, Rai Rayan, then entitled Raja Bikramajit (Vikra-
maditya), was sent in pursuit of the murderer but the operations
1 Trans. , Rogers and Beveridge, I, 25.


## p. 150 (#182) ############################################

150
AKBAR, MYSTIC AND PROPHET
were a pure formality. Except Akbar, and perhaps Shaikh 'Abdur-
Rahman, the son of the murdered man, nobody expected and nobody
specially desired to catch the elusive Bir Singh. Salima Sultan
Begam, Akbar's cousin and wife, interceded for her stepson, and she
was permitted to visit him at Allahabad, with a view to recalling
him to a sense of his duty. On her return, in February, 1603, she
reported that Salim was now well disposed, and wished to visit his
father. The Khuda Bakhsh Library at Patna contains the copy of
the divan, or collection of the odes of Hafiz, the great lyrical poet of
Persia, used in the East as the works of Virgil were used in the West,
for the taking of omens, from which Salim took an omen before
setting out, and in a note it is recorded by him that the passage from
which he took his omen was an ode beginning :
Why should I not set out for my own country?
Why not become the dust beneath the foot of my friend?
Since I cannot endure the grief and the toil of exile
I will go to my own city and become lord of myself. 1
The omen was clear enough, and Salim set out. At his own request
he was met at a distance of one stage from the capital by his grand-
mother, who led him by the hand into his father's presence. He
rubbed his forehead on his father's feet, and with tears confessed
his guilt. Akbar, though he probably never in his heart forgave him
the murder of Abu-'l-Fazl, raised him up and embraced him. His
gifts, which included 12,000 gold mohurs and 770 elephants, probably
bore their part in the reconciliation but Akbar found it difficult to
contemplate the prospect of being succeeded by his drunken and
brutal first-born. He had, however, little choice, for his only other
son, his favourite, was rapidly drinking himself to death in the
Deccan. It was an open secret that Khusrav, Salim's eldest son, was
preferred to his father, but to designate him as heir without putting
Salim to death would have been to devote him to destruction. Akbar
was thus compelled to complete his reconciliation with Salim by
designating him heir apparent.
On 14 October, 1603, the Hindu festival of the Dasahra, Salim was
again ordered to lead an expedition against the Rana, and did not
now venture on open disobedience, but loitered at Fathpur Sikri and,
after a time, wrote to Akbar, complaining that his force was both
insufficient and ill-equipped with artillery, and begging for per-
mission to return to Allahabad in order that he might supply its
deficiencies. Akbar probably knew that he had never intended to
accept banishment to Rajputana with an arduous task to perform,
but complied with his request rather than provoke him again to
open rebellion, and he withdrew, well pleased, to Allahabad, drinking
freely by the way. Reports of his behaviour at Allahabad gave Akbar
much pain. He had become so hardened a toper that pure wine had
1 Catalogue of Persian Poetry, 1908, p. 249.


## p. 151 (#183) ############################################

.
MISCONDUCT OF SALIM
151
lost its savour and efficacy for him, and required the addition of
opium. His first wife, the sister of Man Singh and mother of Khusrav,
had earlier in the year committed suicide in consequence of his
ill-treatment of her, and Man Singh was for this reason completely
alienated from him, and had been occupied since parting from him
in restoring order in Bengal and Orissa in the interests of Khusrav,
of whose claim to succeed his grandfather he had become a warm
advocate.
Meanwhile Salim continued his drinking bouts, and in his fits
of intoxication committed the most revolting cruelties. The news-
writer who reported his misdeeds was flayed alive in his presence;
he emasculated one of his father's servants, and beat one of his own
to death. These atrocities roused the wrath of Akbar, and he set
out from Agra to call his son to account, but was first delayed by the
grounding of his boat, and then by heavy rain, and before he could
proceed was recalled to Agra by the illness of his mother who died
on 10 September immediately after his arrival. He mourned her in
Hindu fashion, shaving himself clean.
On 16 November Salim arrived at court from Allahabad, ostensibly
to offer his condolences to his father, but actually in order to be on
the spot in case the shock of his mother's death should seriously
affect his health. He brought valuable gifts and was well received
at the public audience, but Akbar afterwards had him arrested, and,
after upbraiding him with his crimes, struck him in the face and
imprisoned him in a room in the inner apartments where he could
obtain no wine. He was released after ten days' confinement, but
would have been deprived of his command and his fiefs had not the
reports of his brother Daniyal's health restrained Akbar from pro-
ceeding to extremities against him. On 28 April, 1605,1 this wretched
drunkard died of delirium tremens at Burhanpur. He had been placed
under restraint, but some of his personal servants, moved by his
distress, contrived to convey liquor to him in a gun-barrel, and he
died raving. They were arrested by the Khan Khanan and were
beaten and stoned to death. Akbar was deeply grieved by the death
of his favourite son, but reports from the Deccan had prepared him
for the news, which he received with resignation.
Three Englishmen, Newbery, Fitch and Leedes, had already visited
Akbar's court, in 1585, and in 1603 a fourth arrived. This was
John Mildenhall, a merchant, who had been sent out in 1600 to try
to acquire from Akbar for the newly founded East India Company
trading privileges equal to those enjoyed by the Portuguese, and he
bore a letter to this effect from Queen Elizabeth but was in no sense
an ambassador or an accredited envoy. He presented to Akbar
twenty-nine good horses, and received from him in return gifts
worth £500. Salim supported him, but the Portuguese Jesuits, who
1 More probably in 1604, vide V. A. Smith, Akbar, p. 331. (Ed. ).


## p. 152 (#184) ############################################

152
AKBAR, MYSTIC AND PROPHET
denounced the English as "thieves and spies”, bribed the ministers
and were so successful that he obtained no concession so long as
Akbar lived, and did not receive the farman which he sought until
1608, when Jahangir had been for three years on the throne. He
died in 1614 and, being a Roman Catholic, was buried in the old
Jesuit cemetery at Agra. He is thus described by one writer :
John Mildenhall was not an estimable character. In plain words he was a
dishonest scoundrel. He cheated, or tried to cheat, Akbar with an assumption
of ambassadorial dignity; he tried to cheat the Company with concessions that,
in all probability, he had never received; he ended by cheating his own em-
ployers, the merchants in London. . . . But he was of some note of a kind
even in his own day. He was a pioneer of Anglo-Indian enterprise, not less en-
terprising than his many enterprising successors. He was one of four English-
men who spoke with Akbar face to face, and much the greatest of the four. l.
The partisans of Khusrav, who was now aged eighteen, were
headed by two of the most influential courtiers, Khan A'zam and
Man Singh, and were using every endeavour to induce Akbar to set
aside his son and designate the grandson as his heir. Unfortunately
the young prince, conscious of this powerful support, began to bear
himself haughtily, as though he were already secure of the crown.
On 3 October Akbar fell sick of dysentery. A violent quarrel
between the servants of Salim and those of Khusrav, connected with
an elephant fight, further embittered the relations between father
and son and aggravated the emperor's disorder, which did not yield
to the treatment of Hakim 'Ali, his physician. Khan A'zam and Man
Singh conspired to seize and imprison Salim on a day on which
it had been arranged that he should visit his father, but he was
warned in time of their intentions and returned home without
entering the palace.
They then convened a meeting of the courtiers,
and laid before them a proposal that Salim should be set aside, but
dissolved the meeting on discovering that they could not command
a majority. Salim's supporters now bestirred themselves; Ram Das
the Kachhwaha placed a guard of his Rajputs over the treasury in
his interest, and the valiant Sayyids of Barha declared for him. Man
Singh, on his failure to secure his nephew's succession, prepared to
carry him off to Bengal, but Salim's party converted many trimmers
and some opponents by exacting from him two oaths, the first that
he would protect Islam, and the second that he would refrain from
punishing his son and others who had sought to deprive him of his
birthright.
Hakim 'Ali checked Akbar's dysentery by administering a powerful
astringent, but the result was an attack of fever and strangury, and
when Salim, on 21 October, visited the patient, his condition was so
serious that he could no longer speak, though he retained conscious-
ness. He made a sign to his son to put on the imperial turban, and
1 E. A. H. Blunt, J. R. A. S. 1910, pp. 495-8.


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DEATH OF AKBAR
163
to gird himself with the sword of Humayun, which hung at the foot
of the bed, and Salim went out acknowledged as emperor.
The administration of an aperient brought on a return of the
dysentery, and at midnight on 25-26 October 1 Akbar died, a month
before completing the sixty-third year of his age. According to some
authorities he recanted his errors before his death and died pro-
fessing the faith of Islam, but there is little doubt that he was past
speech, and could make no response to the exhortations of those who
surrounded his bed, though the Jesuits were informed that he died
attempting to utter the name of God.
At dawn his body was washed in accordance with the rites of
Islam, and was carried out by the courtiers to the garden five miles
from the palace, then known as Bihishtabad and since as Sikandra,
The age of Akbar has been described as an age of great rulers,
and some hold that of his contemporaries, Elizabeth of England,
Henry IV of France, and 'Abbas the Great of Persia, he was not the
least. Some have even written of him as though he were no less than
what his enemies alleged he pretended to be. But with all his faults,
and they were neither few nor venial, he was by far the greatest of
all who ruled India during the era of the dominance of Islam in that
land. A foreigner in blood, though he happened to have been born
on Indian soil, he was the only one of the long line of rulers pro-
fessing Islam who even conceived the idea of becoming the father
of all his subjects, rather than the leader of a militant and dominant
minority, alien in faith, and to a great extent in race, to the nations
of India.
Difference of religion was the chief bar between the nations of
India and the ruling class, and to remove this Akbar first announced
his adherence to the principle of sulh-i-kull, universal peace or tole-
ration. He was so far ahead of his age that it was not surprising that
he was misunderstood, for in that age toleration, in the East as in
the West, was the symbol not of an enlightened and humane mind
but of laxity of principle, for if a man would tolerate error he could
not love truth; but toleration would have served Akbar well had he
remained content with it as a means to his end. Unfortunately he
lost patience with the obstinacy of the orthodox and was persuaded
by self-seekers to assume the spiritual as well as the temporal sove.
reignty over his peoples, and, ere long, to violate the conditions under
which his spiritual sovereignty had been accepted, to abjure Islam,
and to found a faith of his own. This was not, as one writer has
described it, merely "an association of students and free-thinkers
who had transcended the barriers of faith and creed, and shaken off
the tyrannous yoke of age-long customs”; it was a new sect, with
minute rules of ritual and belief, and the acceptance of it was urged
on all the leading men in the state; but it was condemned by Hindus
i Hodivala, op. cit. p. 267.


## p. 154 (#186) ############################################

154
AKBAR, MYSTIC AND PROPHET
and Muslims, Sunni and Shiah alike. Akbar perceived that all his
subjects would not accept Christianity, Islam or Zoroastrianism, and
knew that they could not, even if they would, enter the fold of
Hinduism. He believed that he could invent a faith better than any
of these, a faith which would be accepted by all, except perhaps an
obstinate minority of his subjects. This was certainly, as Dr Vincent
Smith describes it, “the outcome of ridiculous vanity, a monstrous
growth of unrestrained autocracy", and Akbar was bitterly dis-
appointed. But we must not lose sight of his object, which was to
make all his subjects one people. The object was noble; the means
adopted for attaining it absurd.
Some light is thrown on the character of Akbar by his "Happy
Sayings”, recorded by Abu-'l-Fazl. Most of these are unexception-
able as religious or moral aphorisms; but some few display ignorance,
and some are such as might be expected from one who could amuse
himself to the end of his life with the childish pastime of pigeon-
flying, and could immure wretched infants with dumb nurses in
order to discover the "divine language". Occasional drinking bouts
indicate that the vice which killed two of his sons, and would
certainly, but for the blessing of a robust constitution, have killed
the third, was to some extent inherited; but Akbar was never a slave
to drink and in his later years was temperate.
His life's record is smirched with more than one dark blot, his
"earth-hunger" was insatiable, and he sometimes displayed duplicity
and, despite his tenderness for animal life, cruelty; but we must
beware of judging him by moral standards. Conquest was regarded
as the principal pursuit of an oriental ruler, and, as Akbar said, "a
monarch should be ever intent on conquest, otherwise his neighbours
rise in arms against him”. He grossly deceived Yusuf of Kashmir,
Bahadur Faruqi and others, but in duplicity and mendacity he was
far surpassed by Elizabeth of England.
Instances of his courage and address, of his bodily strength, and
of his great power of endurance have been cited. In spite of his
illiteracy he was far from being unlearned, nor was his intellect
uncultivated, for he delighted in listening to the reading of works on
history, theology, philosophy and other subjects, and of discussing
afterwards what had been read, and his memory was such that he
acquired through the ear a stock of learning as great as that which
most of his associates could acquire through the eye. The Jesuits
at his court were probably not biased in his favour, but one of them
thus describes him :
Indeed he was a great king ; for he knew that the good ruler is he who can
command, simultaneously, the obedience, the respect, the love, and the fear of
his subjects. He was a prince beloved of all, firm with the great, kind to those
of low estate, and just to all men, high and low, neighbour or stranger, Chris-
tian, Saraçen, or Gentile ; so that every man believed that the King was on his
side. He lived in the fear of God, to whom he never failed to pray four times


## p. 154 (#187) ############################################

1
y
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## p. 154 (#188) ############################################

The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV
Map 2

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BIDAR - GOLCONDA
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BIJAPUR
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WESTERN
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AT THE DEATH OF
AKBAR (1605)
The Mughal Empire ZI
Akbar's Provinces thus. . . . DELHI
Approximate Boundaries -. -. -


## p. 155 (#189) ############################################

AKBAR'S PERSONAL APPEARANCE
165
daily, at sunrise, at sunset, at midday, and at midnight, and, despite his many
duties, his prayers on these four occasions, which were of considerable dura-
tion, were never curtailed. Towards his fellow-men he was kind and for-
bearing, averse from taking life, and quick to show mercy. Hence it was that
he decreed that if he condemned anyone to death, the sentence was not to be
carried into effect until the receipt of his third order. He was always glad to
pardon an offender if just grounds for doing so could be shown. 1
We have two good contemporary verbal portraits of him. The
first is by his son, Salim, or Jahangir, who in his memoirs thus
describes him :
He was of the middle height, of a wheat-coloured complexion, with black eyes
and eyebrows. His beauty was of form rather than of face, and he was power-
fully built, with a broad chest and long arms. On his left nostril was a fleshy
mole, very becoming, of the size of a split pea, which physiognomists understood
to be an augury of great wealth and glory. His voice was extremely loud, and
in discourse and narration he was witty and animated. His whole air and ap-
pearance had little of the worldly being, but exhibited rather divine majesty.
The second portrait is by Father Monserrate, who writes :
He was in face and stature fit for the dignity of King, so that anybody, even
at the first glance, would easily recognise him as the King. His shoulders were
broad, and his legs slightly bandy, and adapted to riding. His complexion was
fair, but slightly suffused with a darker tint. He carried his head slightly
inclined to one side, towards the right shoulders ; his brow was broad and open,
and his eyes sparkled as does the sea when lighted by the sun. His eyelids
were heavy, as are those of the Sarmatians, the Chinese, the Niphonians, and
nearly all Asiatics of the more northern regions. His eyebrows were narrow,
and his nose was of the middle size and drooping, but had a high bridge. His
nostrils were expanded as though he were enraged, and on the left one he had
a wart, which met the upper lip. He shaved his beard, but not his moustache,
following the custom of young Turks before they assume the full costume of
manhood, who, after they have taken the virile toga, cherish and arrange their
beards. Unlike his forefathers, he did not shave his head, nor did he wear a
cap, but bound his hair with a turban, which they say, he did in imitation of
the Indian custom, in order to conciliate them. He dragged his left leg slightly,
as though he were lame in it, though he had not been injured in the foot. He
has in his body, which is very well made, and neither thin and meagre nor
fat and gross, much courage and strength. When he laughs he is distorted,
but when he is tranquil and serene he has a noble mien and great dignity. In
his wrath he is majestic. 2
1 Akbar and the Jesuits, pp. 205, 206.
2 A portrait coin, struck by Jahangir, is illustrated at p. 56, British Museum
Quarterly, v, 1930.


## p. 156 (#190) ############################################

CHAPTER
VI
JAHANGIR
Eight
T days after his father's death the new sovereign crowned
himself in the fort of Agra, on Thursday, 3 November, 1605, being
then thirty-six years old. In his memoirs he explains that he assumed
the new name of Jahangir (Holder of the world) because the business
of kings is the controlling of the world, and the title of Nur-ud-din
(Light of the faith) because he took his seat on the throne shortly
after sunrise, and also because this title had been foretold by sages. '
Following ancient custom he issued a liberal proclamation of
policy defined in twelve rules, which was forgotten almost as soon
as it was written. ? Prisoners were released, and for the moment some
of his old enemies were conciliated. Feelings of gratitude which were
innate in his character led to the appointment to high office of several
mediocrities who had aided or favoured his revolt, and of descendants
of Shaikh Salim Chishti whom he regarded as his spiritual guide.
While such acts were regarded as not unusual, resentment was felt
at the promotion of Raja Bir Singh Bundela, the murderer of Abu-'l-
Fazl, which showed itself in a rising led by the raja's brother. In
two cases a wiser choice was exercised. Ghiyas Beg, a Persian, who
had served Akbar well, was appointed revenue minister with the
title of I'timad-ud-daula, and Zamana Beg, a capable soldier, was
ennobled as Mahabat Khan; both of these men were to exercise
great influence in the reign, though not without the vicissitudes to
which service of a Mughul emperor was liable.
A few months after his accession Jahangir celebrated the new year
(March, 1606) or vernal equinox with the gorgeous display that
marked his reign. Roe has described these ceremonies observed
some years later when he was present at the festival; the emperor
sitting in public received rich presents, delighting in those which
were rare or curious, and critical of those which did not strike his
fancy. Almost at once, however, occurred a sudden challenge to the
new emperor. Raja Man Singh, who had begged and obtained
assurances for the safety of prince Khusrav, his nephew, had left
for his post of governor in Bengal, and Khusrav had been placed in
semi-confinement in the fort at Agra. On the pretext of a ride to
visit the tomb of Akbar, a few miles distant, he escaped northwards
with a small body of men, which grew rapidly as the flight continued
i Tuzuk, trans. I, 1-3. An undated coin, struck at Ahmadnagar, probably by
an adherent during his rebellion, gives his title as Burban-ud-din.
2 See the analysis in E. and D. VI, 493.
8 Journal, 125.


## p. 157 (#191) ############################################

REVOLT BY KHUSRAV QUELLED
J57
through the Punjab. Funds were obtained by the capture of a convoy
with treasure intended for the court, and 'Abdur-Rahim, the revenue
minister of Lahore, was appointed prime minister; Guru Arjan Singh
the spiritual leader of the Sikhs, gave a present, and the force, which
now exceeded 12,000, laid siege to Lahore. Here, however, the stout
resistance of the governor gave time for pursuers to arrive. The
emperor himself was following with I'timad-ud-daula, and he sent
ahead Shaikh Farid, a brave soldier whom he had promoted for his
support during Akbar's last moments. Khusrav was now in danger
both from the garrison at Lahore and from the relieving force. With
most of his troops he turned to meet the latter. Jahangir was still
willing to treat with his son, who was a favourite even in rebellion,
but the negotiations failed and a battle was fought at Bhairowal.
Most of the rebel army consisted of untrained men, and it was
defeated by the imperial troops in spite of the success of its cavalry
under Husain Beg. After the battle Husain Beg suggested flight to
the north, but the fords were guarded and the fugitives were arrested
and taken to Lahore. Husain Beg was sewn up in a raw hide and
paraded through the city on an ass, while the skin slowly dried and
crushed him to death. Several hundred of the rebels were impaled
on stakes by the roadside and Khusrav was taken past them in chains
to receive the ironical homage of his would-be subjects. Guru Arjan
Singh was executed for aiding the rebel, and his death raised among
his followers a mutinous spirit which under Aurangzib and his suc-
cessors led to open rebellion. Not long afterwards Raja Man Singh
was removed from the governorship of Bengal where he had done
such excellent service under Akbar.
The stability of an empire under personal rule is particularly
dependent on the estimate held from time to time by its officials
and its enemies of the capability of its head. Akbar had left a fairly
compact territory extending from the confines of Persia to the Bay
of Bengal, and from Kashmir to Ahmadnagar. On the west Shah
'Abbas of Persia, a ruler of equal ability, was watching for an oppor-
tunity of recovering Qandahar, the gate through which traffic passed
between India and Persia. Along the southern border there were
watchful foes from Malik 'Ambar who was consolidating the Mu-
hammadan states, to Orissa which had not been perfectly subdued.
Within the empire were many ambitious and unsettled chiefs who
needed little inducement to rebel. Khusrav's revolt was followed by
disturbances in Bihar which were soon quelled, and by a
dangerous attempt by Rai Rai Singh of Bikaner who had been
promoted by Jahangir and was actually conducting the imperial
harem to Lahore when he broke away. Raja Jagannath of Amber,
with the forces intended for Mewar, soon captured and brought him
to court.
The Persian attack was more insidious owing to preoccupation


## p. 158 (#192) ############################################

158
JAHANGIR
with war against the Turks under Ahmad I, and at first showed itself
mérely in border incursions and a siege not strongly pressed: A re-
lieving force arrived early in 1607, the garrison was strengthened,
and Shah 'Abbas wrote letters describing the attacks as unauthorised
raids by disobedient officers. His immediate anxieties being removed,
Jahangir sought relaxation in a visit to Kabul during the hot summer
months, thus early in his reign displaying the love of pomp and
personal ease which distinguished him from his more austere and
energetic father. Some action was taken to reduce the turbulence
of the Afghan tribes, but the emperor's personal interest was chiefly
evident in horticulture. The low esteem in which he was held was
soon shown by a fresh plot on behalf of Khusrav. Some of the younger
men about the court, relations of high officials, formed a plan to kill
Jahangir while he was out hunting. Information leaked out and the
scheme failed. The ringleaders were executed or disgraced and
I'timad-ud-daula, whose son had been concerned, was put in prison,
but afterwards released on payment of a heavy fine. The danger to
the throne of the growing popularity of Khusrav led to his being
blinded, though his sight was partially restored later.
Before his accession Jahangir had been deputed by his father to
complete the conquest of Mewar, but had proceeded no farther than
Fathpur Sikri. Early in his reign he sent his son Parviz with a large
force commanded by Asaf Khan and accompanied by Raja Jagan-
nath of Amber or Jaipur. Their plan was to instal, as Rana, Sagar,
an uncle of the real chief Amar Singh, and thus create internal feuds.
Amar Singh, who had succeeded his father in 1597, had devoted
himself to internal reforms but had to some extent lost the martial
vigour which had marked the rulers of Chitor. Spurred by his nobles
he roused himself, and though the forces sent against him were able
to occupy several places and left Sagar in possession of Chitor, they
were withdrawn when Khusrav rebelled and Amar Singh still held
most of his state. Jahangir on his return from Kabul to Agra
despatched a new force under Mahabat Khan, whose skill and
bravery were effective so long as he could meet the Rajputs in pitched
battles. In the wild and broken country of the interior, however,
the enemy was able to avoid defeat. After a year, a fresh commander,
'Abdullah Khan, who like Mahabat Khan had risen from the lowest
rank, was appointed and had more success, defeating Karan the son
of Rana Amar Singh in 1611.
While Jahangir was thus attempting the reduction of Mewar which
he had neglected when it was committed to his charge, another
portion of his empire also claimed his attention. Akbar's last cam-
paign in the Deccan had been checked, after the fall of Asirgarh,
by his need to return to northern India caused by Salim's revolt.
1 See Beni Prasad, Jahangir, p. 166, n. 12, for a discussion of the various
accounts of the blinding.


## p. 159 (#193) ############################################

1
DISASTERS IN THE DECCAN
189
The kingdoms of the Deccan, torn by constant broils with no object
but territorial expansion, and misruled by successions of licentious
and drunken monarchs, were still able to command the services of
a few able men. One of these named Malik ‘Ambar was an Abyssinian
slave who had been in the service of Chingiz Khan, the faithful
general of Murtaza Nizam Shah I. Akbar's departure had left his
army without direction or capable leadership. Though the city of
Ahmadnagar was still held by the imperial forces Malik 'Ambar had
set up a ruler named Murtaza Nizam Shah II in the south of the
kingdom, and had instituted valuable reforms in the administrative
system. He also saw the military advantage to be gained in the
rugged country of the Deccan by developing guerrilla tactics and
using the Marathas as predatory bands. In 1608 Raja Man Singh
was first ordered to command the imperial army, but when he pro-
ceeded to his home to make preparations the Khan Khanan who had
come north from Burhanpur persuaded Jahangir to allow him to
undertake the conquest, promising to complete it within two years
if adequate troops and funds were supplied. Within a year, however,
it had become clear that success was still remote, and prince Parviz
took command with Asaf Khan as his tutor. Khan Khanan attempted
a campaign on the arrival of the prince but his forces were ill.
supplied, the terrain was difficult, and the commanders quarrelled.
Having thus failed he came to terms with Malik 'Ambar and with-
drew to Burhanpur, which was the base for operations in the Deccan.
Ahmadnagar itself, though bravely defended by Khvaja Beg Mirza,
a Persian soldier who had been in charge of it since its first capture,
was beset; a relieving force from Burhanpur failed to reach it
through bad leading, and it was surrendered.
Affairs were going so badly that Jahangir contemplated taking
command in person, but decided to adopt the simpler though less
satisfactory plan of changing his generals. Pir Khan Lodi, who
belonged to an old ruling family, and had won the title of Khan
Jahan, arrived with reinforcements soon after the disasters. Impressed
by his reports and promises Jahangir gave him the command, in
1610, and also restored to active service Khan A'zam, who had been
kept at court since the rebellion of Khusrav, and though nominally
governor of Gujarat, had administered that province through his
son as deputy. Khan A'zam had previous experience of warfare
in the Deccan during Akbar's reign, and a disloyal letter written
by him at that time to the ruler of Khandesh, but craftily produced
soon after Khusrav's revolt had nearly led to his execution. Mahabat
Khan, who was probably at this time and for many years the most
trustworthy servant of the empire, was deputed to bring Khan
Khanan back to court. There he was received by Jahangir with
strong marks of disfavour in spite of the old bond of affection which
1 See Vol. m, pp. 451-5.


## p. 160 (#194) ############################################

160
JAHANGIR
had existed since he had been guardian and tutor to the emperor's
youth.
These changes in the supreme command, though accompanied by
reinforcements in men and money, were ineffectual against the diffi-
culties of the country of which the defenders made the most by their
strategy and tactics. Want of combination continued to mark the
leadership on the imperial side. Affairs in Mewar had been suffi-
ciently prosperous to justify the replacement of 'Abdullah Khan, who
was also sent to the Deccan in 1611, though he had been appointed
governor of Gujarat. An enveloping movement was planned in which
Khan Jahan and Raja Man Singh were to take the left or eastern side
through Khandesh and Berar while 'Abdullah Khan advanced on the
west. Eager to obtain the whole credit for himself, 'Abdullah Khan
rashly pressed on through Nasik with inadequate scouting and failed
to keep touch with the other army though pressed by Raja Man Singh
to make a concerted plan. Maratha skirmishers harassed his forces
by day and night, acting as a screen to hide the concentration by Malik
'Ambar of a large force. Though he penetrated the Ahmadnagar
country as far as Daulatabad, his forces had suffered so much that in
the absence of reinforcements he was forced to retire, and withdrew
to Gujarat sustaining heavy losses so long as he was within hostile
territory.
The Punjabi Raja Basu, who had replaced 'Abdullah Khan in the
Mewar campaign, had not been successful in it, as might have been
anticipated from his previous history. He had several times revolted
during Akbar's reign, and had supported Salim in his attempt to
seize the throne. Apart from the Mewar campaign and the unsatis-
factory operations in the Deccan the country was generally quiet.
In 1610 a man who pretended that he was Khusrav, and to support
his claim pointed to certain marks round his eyes alleged to be the
result of an attempt to blind him (see p. 158), had seized Patna
during the absence of the governor, but the rebellion was soon
quelled. The Afghans of Bengal had also given trouble. A Persian
adventurer called 'Ali Quli, after rendering good military service,
had been attracted to Salim's staff, and was rewarded by the title
of Sher Afgan (tiger-slayer) for his gallant conduct during a hunting
expedition. Though he had resumed his allegiance to Akbar after
first joining in Salim's revolt he had been forgiven by Jahangir on
his accession and appointed to an office in Bengal. In 1607 he was
suspected of complicity with the Afghans and Qutb-ud-din, the
foster-brother of Jahangir who had been appointed successor to Raja
Man Singh as governor of Bengal, was directed to send him to court.
Sher Afgan appeared before the governor and was at once surrounded
by guards. Impelled either by apprehension for his own life, or by
the knowledge of his own guilt, he immediately attacked Qutb-ud-
din, wounding him mortally, and was cut to pieces on the spot.


## p. 161 (#195) ############################################

KHURRAM'S SUCCESS IN MEWAR
161
Another successor died and Islam Khan became governor with a
mission to subdue the Afghans. Chief among these was 'Usman
Khan, a fat heavy man who went to war on an elephant. In his
memoirs Jahangir gives a spirited account of the fight in which
Islam Khan's commander defeated and killed 'Usman Khan and
restored order (1612).
Jahangir now felt that he could leave the capital and be nearer
the control of the campaign in Mewar.