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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Akbar Biography AKBAR, (Ar. very great), properly Jalal-ud-Din Muhammad (1542-1605). Emperor of Hindustan, the greatest Asiatic monarch of modern times. His father, Humayun, was deprived of the throne of Delhi by usurpers and fled to Persia. On the way thither, in the town of Amerkote, Akbar was born in 1542. Humayun recovered the throne of Delhi in 1555, after an exile of 12 years, but died within a year. The prince of 14 at first committed the administration to Bahram Khan as regent minister, but finding this authority degenerating into tyranny, he shook it off by a bold stroke and took the power into his own hands (1560). At this time only a few of the many provinces once subdued by the Mongol invaders were actually subject to the throne of Delhi; in 10 or 12 years (1568-76) Akbar's empire embraced the whole of Hindustan north of the Deccan, aided by Abu-l Fazl. The wisdom, vigor, and humanity with which he organized and administered his vast dominions are unexampled in the East. He promoted commerce by constructing roads, establishing a uniform system of weights and measures and a vigorous police. He exercised the utmost vigilance over his viceroys of provinces and other officers, to see that no extortion was practiced and that justice was impartially administered to all classes of his subjects. For the adjustment of taxation, the lands were accurately measured, and statistics were taken, not only of the population, but of the resources of each province. He also forbade child-marriage, permitted the remarriage of widows, and endeavored to stop the practice of suttee. In politics, however, his main endeavor was to fuse the Mussulmans and the Brahmins. In religion Akbar was exceedingly liberal, largely on account of the influence of the vizier Abu-l Fazl. He was fond of inquiries as to religious beliefs and invited Portuguese missionaries from Goa to his court to give an account of the Christian faith. Literature received the greatest encouragement. Schools were established for the education of both Hindus and Mohammedans; and numbers of Hindu works were translated from Sanskrit into Persian. Abu-l Fazl (q.v.), the able minister of Akbar, has left a valuable history of his master's reign, entitled Akbar Nämah (‘History of Akbar’); the third volume, containing a description of Akbar's empire, derived from the statistical inquiries above mentioned, and entitled Ayîn-i-Akbarì (‘Institutes of Akbar’), has been translated into English by Gladwin (3 vols., Calcutta, 1786, and London, 1800), and by Blochmann and Jarett (3 vols., Calcutta, 1873-94). Akbar's latter days were embittered by the death of two of his sons from dissipation and by the rebellious conduct of the third, Selim (known as Jehangir), who succeeded his father in 1605 and was suspected of being the cause of his death. Consult Malleson, Akbar, Rulers of India Series (Oxford, 1891-1901); Garbe, Kaiser Akbar von Indien. (1909); id., "Akbar, Emperor of India," in the Monist, vol. xix (Chicago, 1909), and Modi, Parsees at the Court of Akbar (1903). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. I (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 287-288. |