His coins were both round and square in shape with a unique 'mehrab' (lozenge) shape coin highlighting numismatic calligraphy at its best. [134] However, as Akbar increasingly came under the influence of pantheistic Sufi mysticism from the early 1570s, it caused a great shift in his outlook and culminated in his shift from orthodox Islam as traditionally professed, in favour of a new concept of Islam transcending the limits of religion. In 1599, Akbar shifted his capital back to Agra from where he reigned until his death. [53], Having established his authority over Gujarat, Akbar returned to Fatehpur Sikiri, where he built the Buland Darwaza to commemorate his victories, but a rebellion by Afghan nobles supported by the Rajput ruler of Idar, and the renewed intrigues of the Mirzas forced his return to Gujarat. [61] Mughal rule over today's Afghanistan was finally secure, particularly after the passing of the Uzbek threat with the death of Abdullah Khan in 1598. In 1584, 1592 and 1598, Akbar had declared "Amari Ghosana", which prohibited animal slaughter during Paryushan and Mahavir Jayanti. [44] Rana Udai Singh was descended from the Sisodia ruler, Rana Sanga, who had died fighting Babur at the Battle of Khanwa in 1527. The soldiers were provided with pay eight months in advance. [64], As early as 1586, about half a dozen Baluchi chiefs, that were still under nominal Pani Afghan rule, had been persuaded to attend the imperial court and acknowledge the vassalage of Akbar. His son and heir, Jahangir, wrote effusive praise of Akbar's character in his memoirs, and dozens of anecdotes to illustrate his virtues. He often plunged on his horse into the flooded river during the rainy seasons and safely crossed it. He was the maternal grandfather of Nadira Banu Begum, wife of Prince Dara Shikoh (eldest son of emperor Shah Jahan). [199], On 3 October 1605, Akbar fell ill with an attack of dysentery from which he never recovered. The practice of arranging marriages between Hindu princesses and Muslim kings was known much before Akbar's time, but in most cases these marriages did not lead to any stable relations between the families involved, and the women were lost to their families and did not return after marriage. Itimad Khan was sent with Miran's ambassadors, and when he came near the fort of Asir, which was Miran's residence. Akbar, the greatest of the Mughal emperors of India. [53] However, it fell only after a couple of months. Now, in 1586, the Mughal governor of Multan tried and failed to secure the capitulation of Mirza Jani Beg, the independent ruler of Thatta in southern Sindh. [95] Akbar's efforts to purchase and secure from the Portuguese some of their compact artillery pieces were unsuccessful and thus Akbar could not establish the Mughal navy along the Gujarat coast. Martí Escayol, Maria Antònia. [92], In the year 1572 the Mughal Empire annexed Gujarat and acquired its first access to the sea after local officials informed Akbar that the Portuguese had begun to exert control in the Indian Ocean. Akbar became the de jure king in 1556 at the age of 13 when his father died. Bhagwant Das’s son Man Singh emerged as one of the trusted generals of Akbar and became commander of 7000 cavalry in the Mughal forces on August 26, 1605. A year later, however, Daud Khan rebelled and attempted to regain Bengal. A few years later, in 1585, Muhammad Hakim died and Kabul passed into the hands of Akbar once again. The Afghan ruler, Baz Bahadur, was defeated at the Battle of Sarangpur and fled to Khandesh for refuge leaving behind his harem, treasure, and war elephants. Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic state identity, Akbar strove to unite far-flung lands of his realm through loyalty, expressed through an Indo-Persian culture, to himself as an emperor. [53] In 1572, he moved to occupy Ahmedabad, the capital, and other northern cities, and was proclaimed the lawful sovereign of Gujarat. Akbar was a great innovator as far as coinage is concerned. [203][204], Citing Akbar's melding of the disparate 'fiefdoms' of India into the Mughal Empire as well as the lasting legacy of "pluralism and tolerance" that "underlies the values of the modern republic of India", Time magazine included his name in its list of top 25 world leaders. [65], Kandahar was the name given by Arab historians to the ancient Indian kingdom of Gandhara. [34], Akbar's father Humayun had regained control of the Punjab, Delhi, and Agra with Safavid support, but even in these areas Mughal rule was precarious, and when the Surs reconquered Agra and Delhi following the death of Humayun, the fate of the boy emperor seemed uncertain. Mughal India developed a strong and stable economy, leading to commercial expansion and greater patronage of culture. The Portuguese made mention of the extraordinary status of the vessel and the special status to be accorded to its occupants. Folk tales revolving around him and Birbal, one of his navratnas, are popular in India. Facts about Akbar's 7 sons. The arguments of Jains against eating meat persuaded him to become a vegetarian. They were restored only in 1587 following the accession of Shah Abbas to the Safavid throne. [177], His second wife was the daughter of Abdullah Khan Mughal. [163] Delhi was left under the regency of Tardi Baig Khan. In this text it is stated that Akbar "was a miraculous child" and that he would not follow the previous "violent ways" of the Mughals. [citation needed] The gravest threat came from Hemu, a minister and general of one of the Sur rulers, who had proclaimed himself Hindu emperor and expelled the Mughals from the Indo-Gangetic plains. [60] The Uzbeks were also known to be subsidising Afghans. Akbar first moved against Gujarat, which lay in the crook of the Mughal provinces of Rajputana and Malwa. Then he and Bairam Khan returned to Punjab to deal with Sikandar Shah, who had become active again. Thus freed, Akbar began a series of campaigns to pacify the Yusufzais and other rebels. [157] He renounced beef and forbade the sale of all meats on certain days. [149] To commemorate Din-e-Ilahi, he changed the name of Prayag to Allahabad (pronounced as ilahabad) in 1583. 2009. [158] Even as he was in the Punjab, 200 miles away from the Ganges, the water was sealed in large jars and transported to him. [39] In the next six months, the Mughals won another major battle against Sikander Shah Suri, who fled east to Bengal. [9] From 1593 Prince Murad was in command of the army in the Deccan. Timurid and Perso-Islamic culture began to merge and blend with indigenous Indian elements, and a distinct Indo-Persian culture emerged characterized by Mughal style arts, painting, and architecture. According to the Jahangirnama, he was a son of Akbar, born from a royal serving-girl just like his younger half-brother, Daniyal Mirza. [154], Akbar decreed that Hindus who had been forced to convert to Islam could reconvert to Hinduism without facing the death penalty. "By the time of his death in 1605, Akbar controlled a broad sweep of territory from the Bay of Bengal to Qandahar and Badakshan. [131] Further, his childhood tutors, who included two Irani Shias, were largely above sectarian prejudices, and made a significant contribution to Akbar's later inclination towards religious tolerance. To minimise such incidents, bands of highway police called rahdars were enlisted to patrol roads and ensure safety of traders. [10] He was ineffective in command largely due to his drunkenness. Bairam Khan did not approve of this marriage, for Abdullah's sister was married to Akbar's uncle, Prince Kamran Mirza, and so he regarded Abdullah as a partisan of Kamran. [178] She was the mother of Princess Shakr-un-Nissa Begum, and Princess Aram Banu Begum[196] born on 2 January 1585. [182], The same year, Akbar married the former wife of Abdul Wasi, the son of Shaikh Bada, lord of Agra. Their betrothal took place in Kabul, shortly after Akbar's first appointment as a viceroy in the province of Ghazni. Murad Mirza (15 June 1570 – 12 May 1599 ) was a Mughal prince as the second surviving son of Mughal Emperor Akbar. [181] She was entitled Mariam-uz-Zamani after giving birth to Akbar's eldest surviving son, Prince Salim (the future emperor Jahangir). [64] Furthermore, Kandahar was at this time under threat from the Uzbeks, but the Emperor of Persia, himself beleaguered by the Ottoman Turks, was unable to send any reinforcements. Chicago, ALA Editions, A History of Hindi Literature, By F. E. Keay, p. 36. [86], The Kacchwaha Rajput, Raja Bharmal, of the small kingdom of Amer, who had come to Akbar's court shortly after the latter's accession, entered into an alliance by giving his daughter in marriage to the emperor. Like they say no plants can grown under a huge banyan tree, Akbar was a huge banyan tree that never allowed … His sixth son, Murad was born from his concubine Bibi Kheira and was the second surviving son of Akbar, after Salim. [183] Another of his wives was Gauhar-un-Nissa Begum, the daughter of Shaikh Muhammad Bakhtiyar and the sister of Shaikh Jamal Bakhtiyar. She was at first betrothed to Bairam Khan by Humayun. [126], Akbar, as well as his mother and other members of his family, are believed to have been Sunni Hanafi Muslims. [153] At the time of Akbar's death in 1605 there were no signs of discontent amongst his Muslim subjects, and the impression of even a theologian like Abdu'l Haq was that close ties remained. [66] It was intimately connected with the Mughals since the time of their ancestor, Timur, the warlord who had conquered much of Western, Central, and parts of South Asia in the 14th century. [155] In his days of tolerance he was so well liked by Hindus that there are numerous references to him, and his eulogies are sung in songs and religious hymns as well. [47], Having established Mughal rule over northern India, Akbar turned his attention to the conquest of Rajputana. [161] Jain authors also wrote about their experience at the Mughal court in Sanskrit texts that are still largely unknown to Mughal historians. He was the maternal grandfather of Nadira Banu Begum, wife of Prince Dara Shikoh (eldest son of emperor Shah Jahan). [23] Akbar's marriage with Ruqaiya was solemnized near Jalandhar, Punjab, when both of them were 14-years-old. Disillusioned with orthodox Islam and perhaps hoping to bring about religious unity within his empire, Akbar promulgated Din-i-Ilahi, a syncretic creed derived mainly from Islam and Hinduism as well as some parts of Zoroastrianism and Christianity. [25][4], Following the chaos over the succession of Sher Shah Suri's son Islam Shah, Humayun reconquered Delhi in 1555, leading an army partly provided by his Persian ally Tahmasp I. Murad was born on 7th June 1570 in the house of the saint Shaikh Salim Chishti, at Fathabad (Fatehpur Sikri), Agra. "[33] The term "gunpowder empire" has thus often been used by scholars and historians in analysing the success of the Mughals in India. The reason may have been that the water supply in Fatehpur Sikri was insufficient or of poor quality. Miran welcomed Itimad with honor, and despatched his daughter with Itimad. [62] Akbar responded by sending a Mughal army to besiege Sehwan, the river capital of the region. Miran's request was acceded and an order was issued. Jodha enjoyed an esteemed place in the heart and … [74] Zamindars of every area were required to provide loans and agricultural implements in times of need, to encourage farmers to plough as much land as possible and to sow seeds of superior quality. [21] Out of affection to the memory of his brother, Humayun betrothed Hindal's nine-year-old daughter Ruqaiya to his son Akbar. [184], His next marriage took place in 1564 to the daughter of Miran Mubrak Shah, the ruler of Khandesh. Nasir-al-mulk arranged an assemblage of pleasure and banquet of joy, and a royal feast was provided. He touched the western sea in Sind and at Surat and was well astride central India. [106][page needed] In October 1576 Akbar sent a delegation including members of his family, including his aunt Gulbadan Begum and his consort Salima, on Hajj by two ships from Surat including an Ottoman vessel, which reached the port of Jeddah in 1577 and then proceeded towards Mecca and Medina. [136] It made Akbar very powerful because of the complete supremacy accorded to the Khalifa by Islam, and also helped him eliminate the religious and political influence of the Ottoman Khalifa over his subjects, thus ensuring their complete loyalty to him. In 1564, he sent presents to the court with a request that his daughter be married by Akbar. [64], In 1593, Akbar began military operations against the Deccan Sultans who had not submitted to his authority. To unify the vast Mughal state, Akbar established a centralised system of administration throughout his empire and adopted a policy of conciliating conquered rulers through marriage and diplomacy. The marriage took place in 1570, when Akbar came to this part of the country. His approaching attendants found the emperor standing quietly by the side of the dead animal. The son of his nursemaid, a man called Adham Khan, killed another adviser in the palace after the victim discovered that Adham was embezzling tax funds. His imperial name means 'conqueror of the world', 'world-conqueror' or 'world-seizer'. The Mughal army was subsequently victorious at the Battle of Tukaroi in 1575, which led to the annexation of Bengal and parts of Bihar that had been under the dominion of Daud Khan. He also married the daughter of Rawal Har Rai, the ruler of Jaisalmer in 1570. [37] His army, led by Bairam Khan, defeated Hemu and the Sur army on 5 November 1556 at the Second Battle of Panipat, 50 miles (80 km) north of Delhi. A subsequent revolt forced Akbar to take the fort in August 1600. Bairam Khan ruled on his behalf until he came of age. His severed head was sent to Akbar, while his limbs were gibbeted at Tandah, the Mughal capital in Bengal. This event was followed by a rebellion of Muslim clerics in 1581 led by Mullah Muhammad Yazdi and Muiz-ul-Mulk, the chief Qadi of Bengal; the rebels wanted to overthrow Akbar and insert his brother Mirza Muhammad Hakim ruler of Kabul on the Mughal throne. [35] Akbar had firmly declared his intentions that the Mughals were in India to stay. [157], Even his son Jahangir and grandson Shahjahan maintained many of Akbar's concessions, such as the ban on cow slaughter, having only vegetarian dishes on certain days of the week, and drinking only Ganges water. After Bairam Khan's death in 1561, Akbar married her himself the same year. Akbar and his forces occupied Lahore and then seized Multan in the Punjab. Shaikh Salim Chisti had predicted the birth of Akbar’s three sons and Akbar hence sent both his chief queens, Mariam-uz-Zamani Begum (née Rajkumari Hira Kunwari Sahiba) and Salima Begum, to be kept under his care and blessing during their pregnancy. [64] The conquests of Sindh, Kashmir and parts of Baluchistan, and the ongoing consolidation of Mughal power over today's Afghanistan had added to Akbar's confidence. Beginning in 1561, the Mughals actively engaged the Rajputs in warfare and diplomacy. [61] Nevertheless, Akbar's stay in the northern frontiers was highly fruitful. We do not have the information of the mother of Akbar's twins, Hasan and Husain (they died after one month). [61] The Roshaniyya movement was firmly suppressed. Meanwhile, the debates at the Ibadat Khana grew more acrimonious and, contrary to their purpose of leading to a better understanding among religions, instead led to greater bitterness among them, resulting in the discontinuance of the debates by Akbar in 1582. Notably, Hilal is the elder son of Member Parliament from north Kashmir and senior National Conference leader, Mohammad Akbar Lone. Akbar accepted his proposal, and the marriage was arranged. Bairam Khan was appointed as Akbar's regent and chief army commander. [62] Baltistan and Ladakh, which were Tibetan provinces adjacent to Kashmir, pledged their allegiance to Akbar. Hence Akbar was conscious of the threat posed by the presence of the Portuguese and remained content with obtaining a cartaz (permit) from them for sailing in the Persian Gulf region. This shocked the orthodox theologians, who sought to discredit Akbar by circulating rumours of his desire to forsake Islam. In 1577 (at the age of seven), Murad was awarded his first military rank, receiving a mansab of 7000 men. Surat, the commercial capital of the region and other coastal cities soon capitulated to the Mughals. [52] Udai Singh's power and influence was broken. A common thread among Pakistani historians is to blame Akbar's Rajput policy. Shams belonged to the great men of the country, and had long cherished this wish. Several Uzbek chieftains were subsequently slain and the rebel leaders trampled to death under elephants. Following a brief confrontation, however, Muhammad Hakim accepted Akbar's supremacy and retreated back to Kabul. He quotes historian Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, who said that, due to his religious tolerance, "Akbar had so weakened Islam through his policies that it could not be restored to its dominant position in the affairs." [99] The emperor had his scribes translate the New Testament and granted the Jesuits freedom to preach the Gospel. [62] Akbar immediately fielded new armies to reinvade the Yusufzai lands under the command of Raja Todar Mal. Subsequently, he celebrated the victories over Chittor and Ranthambore by laying the foundation of a new walled capital, 23 miles (37 km) west of Agra in 1569, which was named Fatehpur ("town of victory") after the conquest of Gujarat in 1573 and subsequently came to be known as Fatehpur Sikri in order to distinguish it from other similarly named towns. There was a court plot to bypass him when the time came and install his son Khusrau on the throne, and the rumour was that Akbar did not frown on it. It was officially incorporated as a province of the Mughal Empire. [173], The Akbarnāma (Persian: اکبر نامہ), which literally means Book of Akbar, is an official biographical account of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor (r. 1542–1605), written in Persian. [58] Akbar left Kabul in the hands of his sister, Bakht-un-Nisa Begum, and returned to India. Question: Who was the son of Mughal Emperor Akbar? In Tuzuk, Jahangir says that Shahzada Khanum (eldest daughter of Akbar), Murad (second son of Akbar) and Daniel (third son of Akbar) were born to royal concubines. He was fond of literature, and created a library of over 24,000 volumes written in Sanskrit, Urdu, Persian, Greek, Latin, Arabic and Kashmiri, staffed by many scholars, translators, artists, calligraphers, scribes, bookbinders and readers. Land which was fallow or uncultivated was charged at concessional rates. [127] His early days were spent in the backdrop of an atmosphere in which liberal sentiments were encouraged and religious narrow-mindedness was frowned upon. Akbar forgave him, however, and gave him the option of either continuing in his court or resuming his pilgrimage; Bairam chose the latter. [22] Humayun conferred on the imperial couple all the wealth, army, and adherents of Hindal and Ghazni. [64] The recovery of Kandahar had not been a priority for Akbar, but after his prolonged military activity in the northern frontiers, a move to restore Mughal rule over the region became desirable. [90][91], At the time of Akbar's ascension in 1556, the Portuguese had established several fortresses and factories on the western coast of the subcontinent, and largely controlled navigation and sea-trade in that region. He pardoned his brother, who took up de facto charge of the Mughal administration in Kabul; Bakht-un-Nis continued to be the official governor. A Century of Political Decline: 1707–1803", "Six Ottoman Documents on Mughal-Ottoman Relations During The Reign of Akbar", "Book Reviews: Naimur Rahman Farooqi, Mughal-Ottoman Relations: A Study of the Political and Diplomatic Relations between Mughal India and the Ottoman Empire, 1556–1748, Delhi", "Din-i Ilahi – Britannica Online Encyclopedia", "Setting the Record Wrong: A Sanskrit Vision of Mughal Conquests", "Art Access: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian", "Abhishek Nigam to play the grown-up Akbar in Big Magic show", History of the friendship between Akbar and Birbal, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Akbar&oldid=1000061868, Wikipedia extended-confirmed-protected pages, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English, Articles containing Persian-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2020, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from August 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2013, Articles lacking reliable references from January 2010, Articles needing additional references from June 2018, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, The judiciary was a separate organisation headed by a chief, Akbar was portrayed in the award-winning 1960, Akbar and Birbal were portrayed in the Hindi series, Since 2013–2015, a television series, called, Abhishek Nigam portrayed Akbar in BIG MAGIC's historical drama, A fictionalised Akbar plays an important supporting role in, Akbar is mentioned as 'Raja Baadshah' in the, Akbar is also the AI Personality of India in the renowned game. [83] Akbar's portrait type gold coin (Mohur) is generally attributed to his son, Prince Salim (later Emperor Jahangir), who had rebelled and then sought reconciliation thereafter by minting and presenting his father with gold Mohur's bearing Akbar's portrait. Manik Khan is the youngest son of the legendary maestro, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. These Ottoman admirals sought to end the growing threats of the Portuguese Empire during their Indian Ocean campaigns. [22] Humayun conferred on the imperial couple, all the wealth, army, and adherents of Hindal and Ghazni which one of Hindal's jagir was given to his nephew, Akbar, who was appointed as its viceroy and was also given the command of his uncle's army. [14] Holy men of many faiths, poets, architects, and artisans adorned his court from all over the world for study and discussion. The marriage ceremony took place after Akbar's return from Nagor. [64] The Mughals also moved to conquer Sindh in the lower Indus valley. [107] Four more caravans were sent from 1577 to 1580, with exquisite gifts for the authorities of Mecca and Medina. Jalaludin Mohammad Akbar or Akbar The Great was the son of Nasiruddin Humayun. [94] At the initial meeting of the Mughals and the Portuguese during the Siege of Surat in 1572, the Portuguese, recognising the superior strength of the Mughal army, chose to adopt diplomacy instead of war.