Eternal India Encyclopedia

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LURE - THRU THE AGES

India

encyclopedia fined. The empire was divided into 15 provinces, each under a governor. * The main sources of Akbar's income, be- sides the land revenue, were from forests, irrigation lands and fisheries, tributes from feudatary princes, salt tax and cus- toms duties. * The Mughal imperial service was organ- ised on bureaucratic principles and was military in character, there was no clas- sification into military and civil services. * He amended the personal laws of both Muslims and Hindus. He declared that a man should not marry more than one wife unless his first wife was barren, forbade marriage between cousins and near rela- tives and ordered that boys were not to marry before the age of 16 and girls before 14. * He removed Islam as the religion of the state; extended equal patronage to all faiths and permitted legitimate religious propaganda and conversion to all. He adopted Hindu and Parsi beliefs and customs such as the belief in the doctrine of transmigration of the soul and sun worship. He created Din- Elahi a new religious order, which would combine the merits of all religions and eliminate their defects. This new order had its own initiation ceremony and rules of conduct. These measures enraged the orthodox Ulemas who considered themselves interpreters and guardians of the Shariat. Strengths * Though he was formally illiterate he had a prodigious memory and a keen intellect. * He had great physical strength and per- sonal courage which was seen in the feats of his early years. * He had the magic of magnetic leadership which excited devotion from his follow- ers. * He was more humane and more generous than most men of his time and more tol- erant. Son of Akbar, original name was Salim. He assumed the title Jehangir (world conqueror). Within a few months of his accession, he had to deal with the rebellion of his eldest son, Khusraw. Khusraw was defeated at Lahore. He was brought in chains before the emperor at Lahore and partially Jehangir (b,1569-d.l627); reigned (1605-27)

rebellion of his eldest son Salim who held court at Allahabad as an independent prince; eventually Salim submitted to him and Akbar forgave him. In Oct. 1605 Akbar fell ill and died. Administration * Akbar proclaimed that the king was god’s representative on earth and the impartial ruler of all his subjects, irrespective of their religion. He should be completely tolerant to every creed, establish univer- sal peace in his dominions and work untiringly for the welfare of all classes of his people. * Akbar started work at sunrise, when he appeared before his people at the balcony to salute and continued working until midnight, with a few hours gap for meals, rest, recreation and prayers. He is said not to have slept for more than three hours a night. * He delegated much of the work to his ministers and officers keeping in his hands the initiation of policy and the issuing of instructions and seeing that these were properly followed. He suc- cessfully exercised the functions of super- vision and control over every department of administration. * Akbar's central government consisted of four departments, each presided over by a minister, the Prime Minister, finance minister, paymaster general and chief sadr who was the chief justice and relig- ious official combined. They were ap- pointed, promoted or dismissed by the emperor, and their duties were well de-

Akbar. The infant was named Salim after the revered Sufi Saint Shaykh Salim Chishti of Sikhri. In 1575 Akbar ordered the erection of an elegant structure near the Jami mosque in his newly built town of Fatehpur Sikhri. It functioned as a debating hall. On each Thurs- day night Akbar repaired there for religious discussions which were resumed on Friday. In 1567 Akbar invaded Chi tor, the capital of Mewar, whose ruler had scornfully rejected the idea of recognising Akbar as his overlord. The fort was captured by the Mughals after a fierce fight. The Rajputs donned yellow robes, determined to fight and die a glorious death, they flung open the gate and faced the Mughals sword in hand (1568). Most of them were slain. Soon after the fall of Chitor, Akbar besieged Ranthambhor, a formidable fortress; it surrendered in March 1569. Almost the whole of Rajasthan submitted except the Rana of Mewar. In 1572 Akbar conquered Ahmedabad and in 1573 he captured Surat, both of. them in Gujarat. By 1576 he had annexed Bihar and Bengal. In 1572 Pratap became the new Rana of Mewar. He offered stiff resistance to the Mughals. In April 1576 Akbar deputed Man- singh of Amber to capture Mewar. A fierce battle took place in June 1576 at the entrance of Haldighad, a spur of the Aravalli chain. The Rana was defeated but subsequently managed to recover a good part of his ances- tral territory before his death in 1597. In 1581 Afghanistan was incorporated into the empire. Akbar later conquered Kashmir (1586), Sindh (1591), Orissa (1592), Balu- chistan (1595), and Qandahar (1595). Akbar's last days were full of anxiety due to the death of his younger sons and the