No More Learning

The road between the Indus and the
pass was infested by the Yusufzais of Swat and Bajaur, and there was
one other object which drew Akbar to the Indus, the resolve to annex
the kingdom of Kashmir.
Akbar left Fathpur Sikri on 22 August, 1585, but not before he had
1 See Hodivala, Historical Studies in Mughal Numismatics, p. 11, for an ex-
planation of the era. (Ed. ]


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EXPEDITIONS INTO KASHMIR AND TRIBAL AREAS 135
received the first Englishmen who visited his court. These were
Newbery, Fitch and Leedes, a jeweller, the first of whom bore a
letter of recommendation from Elizabeth. We know nothing of the
nature of their reception, but Akbar took Leedes into his service.
From Kalanaur Akbar sent a mission to Yusuf Shah of Kashmir
summoning him to his camp to do homage for his kingdom, and
Ya'qub, Yusuf's son, who was in the imperial camp on a conciliatory
mission, fled on learning of the demand. Akbar's envoys rejoined
him when he reached Hasan Abdal and reported that though Yusuf
had received them well he had refused to do homage in person.
Akbar, therefore, resolved to enforce obedience, and on the last day
of 1585 an army, nominally under the command of Shah Rukh Mirza
but in fact under that of Bhagwan Das, marched from Attock
into Kashmir. '. At the same time an expedition under Zain Khan
was sent into Swat and Bajaur to subjugate the Yusufzais. Zain
Khan reported that his force was not strong enough to humble the
enemy, and Akbar sent him reinforcements under the command of
Raja Birbal, the court wit, and Hakim Abu-'l-Fath, a physician.
The amateur soldiers had plans of their own for the campaign, and
Zain Khan, fearing Birbal's personal influence with Akbar, dared
not oppose his insane project of a military promenade through the
difficult passes of Swat. The army, demoralised by earlier misad-
ventures, was attacked by the Yusufzais in the Malandarai Pass, and
Zain Khan, after fighting a most difficult rearguard action, was
defeated and narrowly escaped with his life. The Yusufzais fell on
the rest of the disorganised host, each man of which fought where
he stood. Of the twelve officers personally known to Akbar who fell,
the most important was Birbal, "who, from fear for his life, took the
road of flight, and was slain, and entered the ranks of the dogs of
hell, where he received a part of what was due to him for his base
actions". 1 Eight thousand men-about half of the army-perished,
and on 24 February, 1586, Zain Khan and Abu-'l-Fath led the remnant
into Akbar's camp. Akbar, overwhelmed with grief for the loss of
his intimate friend and early disciple, refused to see them and
severely blamed Abu-'l-Fath for his insubordination to Zain Khan,
but of the two amateurs Birbal had been the more to blame. The
responsibility for the mishap was Akbar's, who had appointed a
jester and a physician to a military command. Todar Mal was sent
to retrieve the disaster, and established fortified posts throughout the
Yusufzai country.
Meanwhile Bhagwan Das had advanced into Kashmir, and Yusuf
Shah, fearing lest he should succeed, in spite of cold, rain, snow and
scarcity of provisions, in reaching Srinagar, offered to do homage to
Akbar, and on 22 February, 1586, was received by Bhagwan Das, who
welcomed his submission for the army, which should never have
1 Bad. 0, 350.


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136
AKBAR, MYSTIC AND PROPHET
been sent into the mountains at that season of the year, was suffering
severely. It was understood by all that Akbar required only personal
submission and a promise of tribute, and that Yusuf would then be
permitted to return to his kingdom as the emperor's vassal. It was
on this understanding that Yusuf surrendered, and these were the
terms granted to him by Bhagwan Das. Akbar was displeased with
the treaty but, in order to secure Yusuf's submission, ratified it, and,
having ratified it, detained Yusuf as a state prisoner and prepared
to send another army into Kashmir to complete the subjugation of
the country. Bhagwan Das, whose honour had been besmirched by
his master, could not be expected to command a second expedition,
and was ordered to Kabul, but on his way thither attempted to
commit suicide. Abu-'l-Fazl attributes the act to a fit of temporary
insanity, but there is no doubt that he was in his right mind, and
that this act, characteristic of his caste, was an attempt to wipe out
the stain on his honour.
- Nearly all the counsellors of the emperor deprecated a second
invasion of Kashmir, but Akbar persisted and in July Muhammad
Qasim Khan invaded the country at the head of a large army.
On 15 October he entered Srinagar, the khutba was recited in the
name of Akbar, and Kashmir was formally annexed; but Yusuf's
son, Ya'qub Khan, evaded capture and remained in arms for nearly.
three years longer, until he surrendered to Akbar in August, 1589.
'Abdullah II had been suspicious of Akbar's movements, fearing
lest, after settling the affairs of Kabul, he should attack Balkh, and
he had sent an envoy to ascertain his intentions and to inquire the
meaning of his religious vagaries which had perplexed him for some
time. The envoy was not dismissed until September, 1586, by which
time 'Abdullah's anxiety had been allayed by Akbar's withdrawal
from the Indus. To 'Abdullah's implied censure he replied in a
quatrain:
Of God people have said that He had a Son;
Of the prophet some have said that he was a sorcerer ;
Neither God nor the prophet has escaped the slander of men,
Then how should I ?
Man Singh, having been appointed governor of Kabul, had reached
that city and had sent Muhammad Hakim's two young sons to Akbar.
He had inflicted more than one defeat on the Raushanais on his
way to Kabul, but they were neither crushed nor humbled, and
towards the end of 1586 closed both of the roads between Kabul
and the Indus and besieged Peshawar. Akbar was now at Lahore,
and Zain Khan was sent against the rebels, and with the help of
Man Singh compelled them to raise the siege, but they succeeded
in forming a confederacy with the Afridis, the Orakzais and the
Yusufzais, and kept the imperial troops in the field throughout the
year 1587. It was not until the following year that the Afridis and


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BERAR INVADED: SIND ANNEXED
137
the Orakzais submitted and undertook to keep the Khyber Pass
open. Jalal-ud-din, the youthful leader of the Raushanais, lost his
influence over his followers and fled to Balkh, and Zain Khan com:
pleted the subjugation of the Yusufzais.
· Before leaving Fathpur Sikri Akbar had sent an expedition into
the Deccan. Some of the nobles of Murtaza Nizam Shah of Ahmad-
nagar had made an attempt to overthrow his minister, Salabat Khan,
but, having been defeated, had fled to Akbar's court and begged him
to reinstate them in Berar as his vassals. Khan Afzam, governor of
Malwa, was ordered to invade and annex Berar, but the invasion of
that province was delayed by quarrels between Khan A'zam and
his officers, and it was not until 1586 that he led a futile raid into
Berar. An attack on the fortress of Kherla failed, and though some
districts of the province were ravaged and its capital, Ellichpur, was
plundered, the allied armies of Ahmadnagar and Khandesh cut the
raiders off from their base and compelled Khan A'zam to carry his
plunder off into Gujarat, harassing him on his way. After reaching
Nandurbar he attempted to arrange with Mirza Khan, Khan
Khanan, a concerted invasion of Berar, but the rainy season made
military operations impossible, and he returned to Malwa having
gained nothing but plunder.
The invasion of Berar was not the only attempt made at this time
to extend the imperial dominions. Sadiq Muhammad Khan, governor
of Multan, made an attempt to subdue Mirza Jani Beg, the ruler of
Sind, and, though he was unsuccessful, Jani Beg prudently sent to
Akbar's court at Lahore an envoy with tribute and an offer of sub-
mission. His allegiance was accepted but his submission was merely
formal, and it was not until 1590 that Sind was incorporated in the
empire. Akbar desired to possess it on sentimental grounds, as the
land of his birth, but also for use as a base of operations against
Qandahar, now in the hands of Shah ‘Abbas of Persia. The Khan
Khanan was therefore transferred to the government of Multan and
was ordered to annex Sind. He invaded the state, and, after twice
defeating Mirza Jani Beg, exacted from him a promise to make his
submission to Akbar in person. He appeared at court in 1593, and
at once gained favour by abjuring Islam and accepting the Divine
Faith. He was rewarded with the command of 3000 horse, and after
a short time was sent back to Sind as governor of the province. This
is a fair example of Akbar's method of gaining disciples.
The appointment of Man Singh to Kabul had been a mistake.
It may be that Akbar had appointed him to that province in order
to punish the Afghans, the champions, under Muhammad Hakim, of
orthodox Islam, and it is certain that his presence in Kabul with a
large force of Rajputs was most offensive to the Muslim population;
but Akbar was not obliged to admit his error, and recalled Man
Singh late in 1587 on the ground that he had been dilatory in dealing


## p. 138 (#170) ############################################

138
AKBAR, MYSTIC AND PROPHET
with the Raushanais, and appointed him to the government of Bihar.
With him was sent the unfortunate Yusuf of Kashmir, who received
the command of 500 horse and a grant in Bihar, in order, says
Abu-'l-Fazl, that his fitness for restoration to Kashmir as imperial
governor might be tested. The command of a small body of horse
and the administration of a small district are no tests of fitness for
the government of a great province. Yusuf never gained any promo-
tion and there is no evidence that Akbar ever proposed to make
amends for the wrong which he had done him.
In May, 1589, Akbar paid his first visit to Kashmir, but before
leaving Lahore availed himself of an opportunity of interfering
again in the affairs of the Deccan. Before he left Fathpur Sikri
Burhan-ud-din, the younger brother of Murtaza Nizam Shah of
Ahmadnagar, having rebelled against his brother, had fled from that
kingdom and had taken refuge with Akbar, who had received him
into his service. Murtaza Nizam Shah had since been murdered by
his son Husain, who succeeded him, but in April, 1589, had been
murdered by his nobles, who then raised to the throne Isma'il, the
son of Burhan-ud-din. Burhan now sought and obtained Akbar's
permission to make an attempt to gain the throne to which his son
had been raised, and Akbar offered to aid him, but Burhan declined
his assistance lest it should provoke the hostility of his subjects and
of the kings of Bijapur and Golconda. He failed in his first attempt,
but a second attempt, in which he was assisted by Raja 'Ali Khan
of Khandesh, was more successful. He deposed his son, and ascended
the throne of Ahmadnagar as Burhan Nizam Shah II. 1
In his tour through Kashmir Akbar inquired into the revenue
administration of the province, and at the end of July left Srinagar
for Kabul. At Baramula he received the submission of Ya'qub, who
had been in rebellion ever since the death of his unfortunate father.
Akbar, as he was returning from Kabul to Lahore, was deeply
grieved by the news of the death of Todar Mal on 20 November,
1589. He was himself much to blame for the death of his loyal and
faithful servant, for Todar Mal, who was old and worn out, had
sought and obtained permission to retire to Hardwar, but Akbar had
recalled him before he could even reach that town, and he had died
eleven days after his return to Lahore. He had served his master
with no less ability than zeal, and Abu-'l-Fazl remarks that if he
had not been a bigot he would have been truly great. This means,
of course, that he was a pious and orthodox Hindu, who refused to
acknowledge Akbar either as his prophet or his god. Bhagwan Das
attended his funeral, and probably caught a chill, for he died four
days later. Badauni records the two deaths in a characteristic manner.
"In the year 998 Raja Todar Mal and Raja Bhagwan Das, Amir
ul-Umara, who had remained behind at Lahore, hastened to their
1 See vol ma, pp. 461, 462.


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SECOND CHRISTIAN MISSION
139
abode in hell, and to torment, and in the lowest pit became the
food of beasts and scorpions. May God scorch them both ! "1 Man
Singh, the heir of Bhagwan Das, received the title of raja, and was
promoted to the command of 5000 horse.
During 1590 the rebellion in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa was finally
crushed by Man Singh and his son, Jagat Singh. The great Hindu
landholders, encouraged by the many Muslim rebels who yet
remained in arms, had ceased to pay revenue, or to admit imperial
officials to their estates. Order was first restored in Bihar, and Man
Singh marched in the spring through Chota Nagpur to Orissa. He
received some slight assistance from Sa'id Khan, now governor of
Bengal, and prepared to attack Qutlu Khan Lohani, who advanced
to meet him. Qutlu was a rebel who, by formally submitting, had
been recognised as governor of Orissa, and, having been left in peace
there, had ceased to remit revenue to the capital or to acknowledge
Akbar as his sovereign. He was now in failing health, and died before
he could meet Man Singh in the field. The Afghan officers attempted
to set up his young son, Nasir Khan, as their leader, but they were
neither sufficiently strong nor sufficiently united to withstand Man
Singh, and sought safety in submission, but the weakness of the
imperial cause in this remote province was disclosed by the terms of
peace. Nasir Khan made his submission in person to Man Singh,
and undertook that the khutba should be recited and the currency
issued in Akbar's name, in return for which, and for 150 elephants
and other tribute, he was confirmed in the government of Orissa.
Hindu sentiment was conciliated and imperial authority asserted by
the classification of the sacred area of Puri and Jagannath as crown
land.
It was in 1591 that the second Christian mission arrived at Akbar's
court. In 1590 a Greek sub-deacon named Leo Grimon, passing
through India with the object of travelling to Europe by way of Goa,
had reached Lahore, and had been entrusted with a letter to the
Portuguese authorities, requesting that some priests might be sent
to court. The letter seemed to indicate a desire on Akbar's part to
embrace Christianity, and two Portuguese priests set out for Lahore
with high hopes, only to discover on reaching court that the emperor
was in his usual frame of mind. He dallied with the priests, discussed
the doctrines of their faith, and expressed his approval of them, but
continued to issue regulations for his disciples in the Divine Faith.
The priests were well content to find that he had abjured Islam,
but were soon obliged to abandon all hope of converting him to
Christianity.
In March of this year Akbar had sent missions to the courts of the
Sultans of the Deccan. Faizi was accredited to Raja 'Ali Khan of
Khandesh and to Burhan Nizam Shah, and other envoys to Bijapur
171, 371.


## p. 140 (#172) ############################################

140
AKBAR, MYSTIC AND PROPHET
and Golconda. A report from Faizi acquainted Akbar with the
attitude of Burhan, who refused to acknowledge the emperor as his
overlord or to accept the position of a vassal. Akbar was furious and
sent his second son, Sultan Murad, with a large force into Malwa
with instructions to intervene in the affairs of the Deccan whenever
an opportunity should arise. It was not until 1593 that the missions
returned from the Deccan to court. The Sultans of Bijapur and
Golconda flattered Akbar's vanity by sending gifts rich enough to
pass as tribute, but Burhan's was paltry and his treatment of Faizi
had not been such as the emperor's envoy considered his due.
Meanwhile rebellion had once more broken out in Orissa. The
young Nasir Khan had observed the terms of his treaty with Man
Singh so long as his guardian lived, but on his death he had repudiated
it, had seized the crown lands of Puri and Jagannath, and had
plundered the estates of those who refused to join him in rebellion.
Man Singh, leaving Bihar in November, 1591, defeated the rebel
forces at Mednípur (Midnapore) on 18 April, 1592, and followed
them through Orissa. They evacuated Cuttack on his approach, and
took refuge with Raja Ram Chand of Seraen. Man Singh left a force
under Yusuf of Kashmir to besiege that fortress; on 8 June the garrison
surrendered and Orissa was at length completely subdued.
The inquiry into the sources and amount of the revenue of Kashmir
had caused deep discontent. Mirza Yusuf Khan, the governor, had
already reported to Akbar that the assessment which he had pro-
posed was too high, but Akbar had sent two officials to investigate
the question, obviously with a view to justifying his demand, and his
officers in the province, convinced that if he persisted in levying
revenue at the enhanced rate little or nothing would be left for them
and their troops, rose in arms and elected as their leader Yadgar,
the governor's cousin. Yadgar assumed the royal title and caused
the khutba to be recited in his own name. Akbar left Lahore for
Kashmir on 3 July, 1592, and halted at Bhimbar while a force which
he had sent in advance dispersed the rebels. Yadgar was captured
and put to death and his head was presented to the emperor, who
advanced and, on 14 October, entered Srinagar. Mirza Yusuf Khan
resigned the government of the province, professing himself unable
to administer it under the enhanced assessment, and the whole
province was therefore classed as crown land and was placed under
the charge of Khvaja Shams-ud-din, who had charge of the finances
of the Punjab, though it was assigned to the suba of Kabul, as a
sarkar of that great province. Akbar then left Kashmir and returned
to Lahore on 9 January, 1593.
He was now at the zenith of his power. In one year Kashmir,
Orissa, Sind and Kathiawar had been reduced to obedience, and the
last vestiges of rebellion had been wiped out in Gujarat. He was at
1 20° N. , 85° 45' E.


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QANDAHAR SURRENDERED TO MUGHULS
141
leisure to pursue fresh conquests, and it was to the Deccan, where
Burhan of Ahmadnagar had defied his authority, that his thoughts
first turned. Murad, first in Malwa but now in Gujarat, had been
ordered to seize an opportunity of invading Ahmadnagar, and now
more extensive preparations were made. The young prince Daniyal
was appointed to the nominal command of a great army, with the
Khan Khanan and Rai Singh of Bikaner as his tutors or advisers;
the governors of Delhi and Ajmer were ordered to join him with
their contingents, Shah Rukh Mirza and Shahbaz Khan were sent
to raise troops for him in Malwa, and Man Singh was directed to
invade the Deccan from the east; but the elaborate scheme came to
nought. Daniyal left Lahore in November, but loitered at Sirhind.
He was twenty-two years of age, far too young to command a great
army, but old enough to have his own way; and Akbar, incensed by
his dilatoriness, recalled him. It was as well that he did, for Murad,
who had, not unreasonably, regarded his appointment first to Malwa
and afterwards to Gujarat as an assurance that he was to receive
the chief command of the army of the Deccan, bitterly resented his
supersession by his younger brother, and had written to his father
a letter in which he announced his intention of rebelling if Daniyal
were allowed to retain the command.
Akbar now learned that his foster-brother, Khan A'zam, who had
fled to Mecca in 1593, rather than embrace the Divine Faith, had
returned to India, having landed at Veraval, in Kathiawar. Akbar
sent him a robe of honour, and he reached Lahore in 1594. The holy
men of Mecca had plundered him so shamelessly that he was dis-
gusted with orthodoxy and very readily abjured Islam, shaved his
beard, and became a disciple of the Divine Faith. For a convert so
distinguished and so beloved nothing was too good. His rank and
title were restored to him and he was offered his choice of the pro-
vinces of Gujarat, the Punjab, and Bihar, and chose the last.
The year 1595 was one of the most eventful in Akbar's reign. The
road to Qandahar had been opened by the capture of the fortress
and district of Sibi, and the Safavid prince, Muzaffar Husain Mirza,
who held Qandahar nominally as fief of the Persian empire but in
fact as an independent ruler, having quarrelled with his royal kins-
men and being menaced by the Uzbegs, surrendered Qandahar to
Shah Beg Khan, who had been deputed by Akbar to receive it. On
27 August the Persian prince arrived at Lahore with his escort of
2000 Qizilbash, and received the command of 5000 horse and an
assignment at Sambhal, "which was worth more than all Qandahar”.
The third Jesuit mission had already arrived at Lahore. Of the
second mission the Provincial of the Order of Jesus at Goa had
reported, with reference to its failure to convert Akbar: "Venerunt
filii usque ad partum, sed virtus non est pariendi”. The new mis-
sionaries, Jerome Xavier, a grand-nephew of St Francis, Father


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142
AKBAR, MYSTIC AND PROPHET
Pinheiro and Brother Benedict de Goes, had been sent in response
to another appeal from Akbar, and though no prospect of his con-
version remained they were permitted and even encouraged to preach
the Gospel to the people.
Akbar's own fantastic sect now lost one of its leading adherents,
for on 13 October Shaikh Faizi died of a complication of diseases.
The bigoted Badauni, who was deeply indebted to him and had
never permitted his orthodoxy to debar him from profiting by his
aid, extols him for his learning, justly enough criticises his poetry
and finds no language too strong for the condemnation of his
heterodoxy.
He was a master of malevolent activity, idle jests, conceit, pride, and malice,
and an epitome of hypocrisy, baseness, dissimulation, love of pomp, arrogance,
and ostentation. All Jews, Christians and Fireworshippers, not to speak of
Nizaris and Sabahis, held him in the very highest honour for his heresy, his
enmity to the followers of Islam, his contemptuous abuse of the noble com-
panions of the prophet, and of holy shaikhs, both dead and living, and of his
unmannerly behaviour towards all learned, pious, and excellent men. . . . He
used to regard all forbidden things as lawful, and all the injunctions of the
sacred law as unlawful. 1
Badauni also describes with much gusto his death agonies, and thus
excuses himself for his vilification of a deceased benefactor. "If any
should ask in accordance with what rules of generosity and fidelity
I arraign him so harshly. . . I reply, 'All this is true, but what can I do?
For the claim of the faith and the safeguarding of its covenant are
above all other claims; and love is of God and hatred is of God'. "
It is probably from regard for his patron's reputation that the
usually careful chronicler Abu-'l-Fazl refrains from noticing the
terrible famine of four years' duration which began in 1595; but
there is other unimpeachable evidence of the calamity, which was
followed by a pestilence. Relief measures were confined to the
distribution of alms, and failed lamentably to alleviate the sufferings
of the people. “In consequence of the dearth of grain and the necessi-
ties of ravenous hunger men ate their own kind. The streets and
roads were blocked with corpses, and no assistance could be given
for their removal. " 2 From the annual report of the Jesuit missions
for 1597 we learn that the pestilence was raging at Lahore in that
year, and that the Fathers baptized many children abandoned by
their parents.
The final plans for the conquest of the Deccan had now been
completed. The Khan Khanan, with whom were associated Shah
Rukh Mirza and Shahbaz Khan, was to invade the kingdom of
Ahmadnagar from Malwa, while Sultan Murad and Sadiq Muham-
mad Khan were to invade it from Gujarat, the two armies meeting
at Ahmadnagar, where Raja 'Ali Khan of Khandesh was to join
them.
1 Bad. (trans. Haig), II, 413, 414.
2 Zubdat-ut-Tavarikh, E, and D. VI, 193.


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SUCCESSES IN THE DECCAN
143
The course of the siege of Ahmadnagar has been followed in
vol. m. Its result was the cession of the province of Berar by Chand
Sultan to Akbar, and during the negotiations which ended with the
cession of the province the arrogance of Sadiq Muhammad Khan
drew from Chingiz Khan of Ahmadnagar the biting taunt : "I have
heard that the emperor Akbar claims to be a god. I now find that his
nobles claim to be prophets. ”
The peace procured by the cession of Berar was of short duration,
and in the war which broke out between the imperial troops and
those of the kingdoms of the Deccan, a battle was fought in the
neighbourhood of Sonpet on 8 and 9 February, 1597. 2 On the after-
noon of the first day both wings of the imperial army were put to
flight, and in the left wing Raja 'Ali Khan of Khandesh, who attempted
to make a stand, was slain, with thirty of his officers and 500 of his
men. 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


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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.


## p. 153 (#185) ############################################

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.