Jalaludin Mohammad Akbar or Akbar The Great was the son of Nasiruddin Humayun. He was born on 15th October 1542 in the Rajput fortress of Umarkot, Sind. When he was born Humayun was in exile He was raised by his uncle Askari and his wife in Afghanistan. In his youth he learnt to hunt, run and fight but he never learnt to read and write,
but was a well informed ruler with refined taste in every field. He ascended the throne on 14th February 1556, when his father Humayun died of an accident. At that time Akbar was barely 13 years old and in his initial days he was under the able guidance of one of his father’s minister Bairam Khan
After ascending the throne he decided to destroy the power of Sikander Shah Suri, son of Sher Shah Suri, in Punjab, and left the city of Delhi under Tardi Beg Khan. He succeded in this and Sikander Shah withdrew from the territories, but in Delhi, sensing the opportunity, another Hindu ruler Hemu attacked Delhi and Tardi Beg Khan fled the city. Akbar met the forces of Hemu at the second battle of Panipat and defeated him. He was a very efficient ruler and tried to bring almost whole of the India under his rule. For this he adopted various strategies, at some places he used his military power while at other he used his administrative skills. He formed marital alliances with many Hindu states. After marriage he did not force his Hindu wives to convert to Islam instead encouraged them to practice their own religion. He respected all the religions of the world. According to him all the religions lead us to one God. His secular outlook resulted in the formation of a new religion called Din-e-Elahi, Faith of the Divine. He built a building called Ibadat Khana (house of worship), where he encouraged religious debate
He had Nine Navaratnas or nine jewels at his court, this include: Abul Fazel, Faizi, Tansen, Birbal, Raja Todar Mal, Raja Man Singh, Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana, Fakir Aziao-Din and Mullah Do Piazza. The last years of his reign were not peaceful. His son Salim, later known as Emperor Jahangir, rebelled against him. He died in Agra, and was buried in Sikandra, where his magnificent mausoleum stands today.
Facts and Information about Akbar
|Full name||Abu’l-Fath Jalal ud-din Muhammad Akbar I|
|Known as||Akbar the Great|
|Regin||11 February 1556 – 27 October 1605|
|Born||14 October 1542 (Umerkot, Sindh)|
|Died||27 October 1605 (Fatehpur Sikri, Agra)|
|Buried at||Sikandra, Agra|
|Coronation||14 February 1556|
|Regent||Bairam Khan (1556-1561)|
|Consort||Ruqaiya Sultan Begum|
|Wives||Heer Kunwari, Hira Kunwari, Harka Bai, Jodha Bai
Salima Sultan Begum
|House||House of Timur|
|Mother||Hamida Banu Begum|
|Children||Jahangir, Daniyal, Sultan Murad Mirza, Hassan, Hussain|
|Married||Akbar married Ruqaiya Sultan Begum, his first cousin, at Kabul in November 1551. She was his chief consort.|
|The young emperor||After Humayun’s death, the 13-year-old Akbar was crowned in Kalanaur, Punjab by Bairam Khan. Until Akbar became capable to rule independetly, Bairam Khan decided on state affairs.|
|Reclaiming Delhi||On 5 November 1556, Hemu and the Sur army were defeated by Akbar’s army that was being led by Bairam Khan at the Second Battle of Panipat.|
|Dismissing Bairam Khan||On the advice of his foster mother, Maham Anaga, and his relatives, Bairam Khan was dismissed by Akbar in 1560.|
|Expansion into Central India||In 1564, the Gondwana kingdom was conquered by the Mughal forces.|
|Battle of Haldighati||In 1576 the Mughals defeated Pratap Singh, the son and successor of Udai Singh, at the Battle of Haldighati.|
|Conquering Baluchistan||Baluchistan was also conquered by the Mughal Empire.|
|The Safavids and Kandahar||In 1558, Tahmasp I, the Safavid emperor, surrouded Kandahar and overthrew its Mughal governor.|
|Taxation||Akbar adopted decentraized annual assessment of taxation, but it failed in 1580. A system called the Dahsala was started instead.
Akbar was perhaps the first to adpot a target-based remuneration system for his revenue officials. They were to receive only three-quarters of their salary, the rest being payable only when the revenue targets were met.
|Capital||In 1599, Agra was made the capital of the kingdom.|
|Coinage||Coins introduced by Akbar were round and square, having dotted borders, floral motifs, and quatrefoil. They were also designed in the ‘mehrab’ shape.|
|Patron of scholars||Akbar patronized Muslim scholars like Tahir Muhammad Thattvi and Mir Ahmed Nasrallah Thattvi.|
|Din-i-Ilahi||Akbar propounded a syncretic religion, the Din-i Ilahi in 1582 AD. Being far ahead of its time, the idea failed.|
|Relation with Hindus||Akbar declared that there would be no death penalty for people converting to Hinduism.
Akbar celebrated Diwali. Brahmans were allowed to wear strings round their wrists by way of blessing. Beef was renounced and the sale of meat was forbidden on certain days.
|Mention in literature||Ain-i-Akbari and Akbarnama by Abul Fazal. Books by Badayuni, Shaikhzada Rashidi and Shaikh Ahmed Sirhindi.
The Akbarnama is a biography of Akbar in Persian.
|Death||He died on or about 27 October 1605. His burial chamber was made at a mausoleum in Sikandra, Agra.|
|Films and television||Jodhaa Akbar
Akbar-Birbal (TV serial)
Akbar the Great (TV serial)
Jodha Akbar (TV serial)
|Fiction||The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie (2008)|
|Video games||Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword
Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties