Akbar The Great

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Akbar the Great: If Mughal empire is the center of conversation, then its architect cannot be left unmentioned.
Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, commonly known as Akbar the Great was third Mughal Emperor who ruled in India. He was born in Umarkot, Sindh on the 15th of October in 1542 and he is one of the bols known rulers of India. Able ruled from 1556 to 1605 and his rule brought military expansion, administrative changes as well as reformation in the cultural profile of the Mughal Empire into a strong and influential empire.

King Henry IV of England: The Early Life and Ways to the Throne
Akbar was born to Emperor Humayun and Hamida Banu Begum when the political dynasty was in infancy. At thirteen Akbar became a king after his father’s death in 1556 but unfortunately he got to rule during his minority. An advisor and his regent initially, Bairam Khan, provided him the much needed support in the early years of his rule, two of which include the Second Battle of Panipat in 1556 wherein Akbar’s forces were able to defeat the Afghan king Hemu and established the power of the Mughal in the northern regions of ...
... India.

Military Conquests and Expansion
Akbar had an extremely active policy of conquest as a sign of a new aggressive wave in his reign. He was a good defensive general, and even invaded other kingdoms through negotiations or sending assault. He established his empire over almost the major portions of today’s Indian subcontinent ranging from Afghanistan in the northwest to the Bengal in the east and down to the lowlands of the Deccan plateau in the south.

Key military achievements included:

Taking over the Rajasthan, the region where Akbar battled against the Rajput kingdoms and yet convinced them into surrender by marrying their daughters.
The defeat of the Gujarat Sultanate in 1573 and later the expansion of its territory in Bengal.
Campaigns in the Deccan, by which areas of present day central and southern India were incorporated into the Mughal Empire.
Akbar was one of the most effective military commanders of his time; and his policy of pardoning the defeated kings also helped in expansion of the empire to considerable proportions.

Administrative Reforms
Not only was he a military genius, he was also an able administrator in his own right. His focus on centralization of power differentiated it with the earlier feudal systems of power. Some of his key reforms include:Some of his key reforms include:

Land Revenue System: As for the administration of Akbar’s finance, namely Raja Todar Mal could actually be credited with standardizing measurements for taxation and setting rather unified rates based on the fertility and soil productivity of the provinces. This system known as Zabt was effective for enhancing the collection of revenues besides exercising measures in checking corruption.

Religious Policies: Akbar is known to have reinstate Sulh-i-Kul which means the policy of tolerance for all. Unlike many of those who came before him to rule over the land he desired to unite the people, no matter the religion they possessed. He also stopped taking the jizya from the people of the book and allowed the scholars of different religions to proceed with their healthy discussions. His court comprised of diverse scholars that comprised of Hindus, Muslims, Jains, and Christians.

Religious and Cultural Legacy
It may also be quite noted that Akbar, the emperor of Mogul’s India launched efforts at religious tolerance between different communities. He had a great interest in religion but it was not limited to the conventional Islam teachings. In 1582, he formulated a syncretic religion which was the Din-i Ilahi (Religion of God), the new religion included principles from Islam, Hinduism and the Jains, along with Christians. While it did not have a huge following, but nice proof of Akbar’s stance of the religious tolerance.

Artistically and intellectually, culturally, Akbar’s court turned into the center of attraction. Under his rule Mughal art found its zenith and the amalgamation of Persian, Indian and cental Asian style of architectural designing which can be perhaps best described in the city of Fatepur Sikri which was his capital and tomb of Akbar at Sikandra.

Akbar also encouraged literature and he was a scholar’s king. In many ways, he personally ordered the translation of the Hindu epics like the Mahabharata into Persian that affected the amount of interest he showed in the reading of both Islamic and other literature.

Death and Legacy
Akbar the great died on 27 th October 1605 and his son Jahangir ascended the throne. His death can be said to have signaled the end of the Mughal Empire in India but his policies and reforms provided the basis to the prosperity the Mughals were to experience under other kings.

Akbar is being remembered today as a wise and charismatic king that attempted to consolidate the Indian territory with force, order and tolerance. King Sobhuza II may be described as a monarch who ruled a country way before the dawn of the modern democratic principles of leadership that was characterized by consultative, meritocratic, and famously patronizing approach to cultural practices.
Conclusion
The reign of Akbar the Great is a epoch making event in the annals of Indian history. He succeed in uniting military and civil governance, as well as in creating a policy of religious tolerance that certainly underscores his greatness among world leaders. Due to his great innovative abilities, the creation of Mughal empire achieved its golden era in the middle age of India and it became a role model in power, cultured and religious tolerance.

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