Chapter XII: The Principles and Internal Administration of Akbar (2)

In his diet Akbar was simple, taking but one regular meal a day. He disliked meat, and abstained from it often for months at a time. He was specially fond of fruits, and made a study of their cultivation. Abulfazl records that he regarded fruits 'as one of the greatest gifts of the Creator,' and that the Emperor brought horticulturists of Iran and Turan to settle at Agra and Fatehpur-Sikri. 'Melons and grapes have become very plentiful and excellent; and water-melons, peaches, almonds, pistachios, pomegranates, etc., are everywhere to be found.' He adds that fruits were largely imported from Kabul, Kandahar, Kashmir, Badakshan, and even from Samarkand. The Ain contains a long list of these, which the reader who knows India will read with pleasure. It is interesting to find that, even in those days, the first place among the sweet fruits of Hindustan is given to the mango. This fruit is described as 'unrivalled in colour, smell, and taste; and some of the gourmands {181} of Turan and Iran place it above musk-melon and grapes.'

One word as to the daily habits of Akbar and to the manner in which he was accustomed to pass an ordinary day at Agra or Fatehpur-Sikri. It would seem that he kept late hours, spending the evenings far into the early morning in conversation and discussion. In such matters he occupied himself, according to the record of Abulfazl, till 'about a watch before daybreak,' when musicians were introduced. At daybreak the sovereign retired into his private apartments, made his ablutions, dressed, and about an hour later presented himself to receive the homage of his courtiers. Then began the business of the day. Probably this was concluded often long before midday, when the one meal which Akbar allowed himself was usually served, though there was no fixed hour for it. The afternoon was the recognised hour of sleep. Sometimes Akbar devoted the early morning to field sports, and sometimes the late evenings to the game of chaugan, or polo, for which purpose balls made of the palas wood were used. The hottest hours of the day were the hours of rest and recuperation.

Akbar had not reigned long ere he recognised the importance of attaching to his throne the Hindu princes of Rajputana by a tie closer even than that of mere friendship. It is interesting to note how he managed to overcome the inborn prejudices of the high caste princes of Rajast'han to consent to a union which, in their hearts, the bulk of them regarded as {182} a degradation. It would seem that his father, Humayun, had to a certain extent prepared the way. In his erudite and fascinating work,[3] Colonel Tod relates how Humayun, in the earlier part of his reign, became the knight of the princess Kurnavati of Chitor, and pledged himself to her service. That service he loyally performed. He addressed her always as 'dear and virtuous sister.' He also won the regard of Raja Bihari Mall of Amber, father of the Bhagwan Das, so often mentioned in these pages.

[Footnote 3: _Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han_, by Lieutenant-Colonel James Tod, second (Madras) edition, pp. 262, 282-3.]

Akbar subsequently married his daughter, and becoming thus connected with the House of Amber (Jaipur), could count upon Bhagwan Das and his nephew and adopted son, Man Singh, one of the greatest of all his commanders, as his firmest friends. Writing in another page of Bhagwan Das, Colonel Tod describes him as 'the friend of Akbar, who saw the value of attaching such men to his throne.' He adds, and few men have ever enjoyed better opportunities of ascertaining the real feelings of the princes of Rajputana, 'but the name of Bhagwan Das is execrated as the first who sullied Rajput purity by matrimonial alliance with the Islamite.' Prejudice is always strong, and, like the dog, it returns to its vomit.

Rajputana never produced greater or larger-minded princes than Bhagwan Das and his nephew. Their intimate union with Akbar contributed more than any other circumstance to reconcile the Rajputs to {183} the predominance of the Mughal. The union was further cemented by the marriage, already referred to, between Prince Salim and a daughter of Bhagwan Das. What the real influence of Akbar's administration was upon that chivalrous race may be gathered from the short summary which Colonel Tod, himself, more Rajput in his sympathies than the Rajputs themselves, devotes to his career.

'Akbar,' writes that author, 'was the real founder of the empire of the Mughals, the first successful conqueror of Rajput independence. To this end his virtues were powerful auxiliaries, as by his skill in the analysis of the mind and its readiest stimulant to action, he was enabled to gild the chains with which he bound them. To these they became familiarised by habit, especially when the throne exerted its power in acts gratifying to national vanity, or even in ministering to the more ignoble passions.' Unable, apparently, to comprehend the principle which underlay the whole policy of Akbar, that of conquering that he might produce union, and regarding him as he rightly regarded his Afghan and Pathan predecessors, Colonel Tod attacks him for his conquests. Yet even Colonel Tod is forced to add: 'He finally succeeded in healing the wounds his ambition had inflicted, and received from millions that meed of praise which no other of his race ever obtained.' I need not add that if to render happiness to millions is one of the first objects of kingship, and if to obtain that end union has to be cemented by conquest, the means sanction {184} the end. Akbar did not conquer in Rajputana to rule in Rajputana. He conquered that all the Rajput princes, each in his own dominions, might enjoy that peace and prosperity which his predominance, never felt aggressively, secured for the whole empire.

From the Raja of Jodhpur, Udai Singh, at the time the most powerful of the Rajput princes, Akbar obtained the hand of his daughter for his son Salim. The princess became the mother of a son who succeeded his father as the Emperor Shah Jahan. In him the Rajput blood acquired a position theretofore unknown in India. Of this marriage, so happy in its results, Colonel Tod writes that Akbar obtained it by a bribe, the gift of four provinces which doubled the fisc of Marwar (Jodhpur). He adds: 'With such examples as Amber and Marwar, and with less power to resist temptation, the minor chiefs of Rajast'han, with a brave and numerous vassalage, were transformed into satraps of Delhi, and the importance of most of them was increased by the change.' Truly did the Mughal historian designate them as 'at once the props and ornaments of the throne.'

There surely could not be a greater justification of the policy of Akbar with respect to Rajputana and its princes than is contained in the testimony of this writer, all of whose sympathies were strongly with the Rajputs.

Whilst on the subject of the imperial marriages, I may mention that Akbar had many wives, but of these eight only are authoritatively mentioned. His {185} first wife was his cousin, a daughter of his uncle, Hindal Mirza. She bore him no children, and survived him, living to the age of eighty-four. His second wife was also a cousin, being the daughter of a daughter of Babar, who had married Mirza Nuruddin Muhammad. She was a poetess, and wrote under the _nom de plume_, Makhfi (the concealed). His third wife was the daughter of Raja Bihari Mall and sister of Raja Bhagwan Das. He married her in 1560. The fourth wife was famed for her beauty: she had been previously married to Abul Wasi. The fifth wife, mother of Jahangir, was a Jodhpur princess, Jodh Baei. As mother of the heir apparent, she held the first place in the harem. The sixth, seventh, and eighth wives were Muhammadans.

In the matter of domestic legislation Akbar paid considerable attention to the mode of collecting revenue. He found existing a system devised by Sher Shah, the prince who had defeated and expelled his father. The principles upon which this system was based were (1) the correct measurement of the land; (2) the ascertaining the average production of a block of land per bigha;[4] (3) the settlement of the proportion of that amount to be paid to the Government by each; (4) the fixing of the equivalent in money for the settled amount in kind. Akbar proposed rather to develop this principle than to interfere with it. {186} With this object he established a uniform standard to supersede the differing standards theretofore employed.

[Footnote 4: A bigha is a portion of land measuring in the North-west Provinces nearly five-eighths of an acre. In Bengal, it is not quite one-third of an acre.]

'This laudable regulation,' we are told in the Ain, 'removed the rust of uncertainty from the minds of collectors, and relieved the subject from a variety of oppressions, whilst the income became larger, and the State flourished.' Akbar likewise caused to be adopted improved instruments of mensuration, and with these he made a new settlement of the lands capable of cultivation within the empire. We are told in the Ain that he was in the habit of taking from each bigha of land ten sers (about twenty pounds) of grain as a royalty. This was at a later period commuted into a money payment. In each district he had store-houses erected to supply animals, the property of the State, with food; to furnish cultivators with grain for sowing purposes; to have at hand a provision in case of famine; and to feed the poor. These store-houses were placed in charge of men specially selected for their trustworthy qualities.

The land was in the earlier part of the reign divided into three classes according to its fertility, and the assessment was fixed on the average production of three bighas, one from each division. The cultivator might, however, if dissatisfied with the average, insist on the valuation of his own crop. Five classifications of land were likewise made to ensure equality of payment in proportion to the quality of the land and its immunity from accidents, such as inundation. Other regulations were {187} carefully formed to discriminate between the several varieties of soil, all having for their object the fixing of a system fair alike to the cultivator and the Government.

Gradually, as I have above indicated, as the Government became settled, a better principle was introduced to fix the amount payable to the State. For this purpose statements of prices for the nineteen years preceding the survey were called for from the village heads. From these an average was struck, and the produce was valued at the current rates. At first these settlements were annual, but as fresh annual rates were found vexatious, the settlement was made for ten years, on the basis of the average of the preceding ten.

To complete this agricultural system, Akbar made at the same time a new division of the country for revenue purposes. Under this scheme the country was marked out in parcels, each yielding a karor (ten millions) of _dams_, equal to twenty-five thousand rupees. The collector of each of these parcels was called a karori. Whenever a karori had collected the sum of two lakhs of _dams_,[5] he was required to send it to the Treasurer-General at head-quarters. It was found, however, after a time, that the arbitrary division based simply upon a mathematical theory produced {188} confusion and disturbed ancient ways, of all others most congenial to the Hindus. After a trial, then, the artificial division was abandoned in favour of the ancient system of the people, under which the lands were parcelled out in conformity with the natural features of the country and the village system prevailing therein.

[Footnote 5: Two hundred thousand _dams_, equivalent to five thousand rupees. A _dam_ is a copper coin, the fortieth part of a rupee. The coin known as the _damri_, used at the present day for the purposes of calculation, is the eighth part of a _dam_.]

Against the farming of the revenue, as a certain mode of oppression, Akbar was very strong. He particularly enjoined upon his collectors to deal directly, as far as was possible, with the cultivator himself, rather than with the village headman. This was an innovation which, though based upon the best intentions, did not always answer. Custom counts for much in India, and custom pronounced in favour of the recognition of the influence of the chief man of the village, and it became necessary practically to deal, at least conjointly, with him.

When the Emperor took into consideration the circumstances attending the holding of lands, he found not only that grants had been made by his predecessors to unworthy objects, but that his own administrators had been guilty of bribery and corruption of various degrees. It was shortly after Faizi joined him in camp, and had acquired great influence with him, that his eyes were opened to these enormities. He found to his horror that the chief perpetrators of them were men who made the largest professions of sanctity. Then followed, almost immediately, the sarcastic exile of these men to Mekka: {189} then, a thorough inquiry into the department. There were four classes to whom it had been considered desirable that the sovereign should be able to render State assistance. The first class comprised the men who devoted themselves to literature and learning, and who had no means of their own. It had seemed desirable that such men should not be harassed by the need of having to care for their daily bread. The second class included those who 'toil and practise self-denial, and while engaged in the struggle with the selfish passions of human nature, have renounced the society of men.' The third, the weak and poor, who had no strength for toil. The fourth, honourable men of gentle birth, who, from want of knowledge, are unable to provide for themselves by taking up a trade.

To inquire into the circumstances of petitioners of these classes an experienced officer of presumably correct intentions had been appointed. He was entitled Sadr, or chief, and ranked above the Kazi and the judges. When, in consequence of the inquiries set on foot at the instance of Faizi, it was discovered that the whole of this department was a hotbed of corruption, Akbar made a clean sweep of the officials, from the Sadr down to the smallest Kazi, and nominated men drawn from a different class, fencing their functions with strict regulations.

But, as sovereign who had to reward great services rendered to the crown, Akbar required to dispose of large grants of land to men devoted to his service. Thus, he paid the Mansabdars, or officers entrusted {190} with high command, by temporary grants of land in lieu of a money allowance. He found that the most powerful of his immediate predecessors, the Sher Shah who had expelled his father, Humayun, had been more than lavish in his grants of land to his immediate followers, men mostly of Afghan descent. Akbar inquired into the circumstances under which these grants had been made, and in many instances he resumed them to bestow them upon his own adherents.

In acting in this way he only followed the precedent set him by previous sovereigns. But he had even more reason than that which precedent would sanction. He found that the land specified in the _firman_ granted to the holder but rarely corresponded in extent to the land which he actually held. Sometimes it happened that the language of the _firman_ was so ambiguously worded as to allow the holder to take all that he could get by bribing the Kazis and the provincial Sadr. Hence, in the interests of justice and the interests of the crown and the people, he had a perfect right to resume whatever, after due inquiry, he found to be superfluous. He discovered, moreover, that the 'Ulama, or learned doctors, a class more resembling the pharisees of the New Testament than any class of which history makes record, and whom he cordially detested, had been very free in helping themselves during the period of his minority, and before the representations of Faizi had induced him to make inquiries. He therefore made the strictest {191} investigation into their titles. When these were found faulty, or he had reason to believe that they had been dishonestly obtained, he resumed the grants, and exiled the ex-holders to Bukkur in Sind, or to Bengal, the climate of which had, in those days, a very sinister reputation. At the period of his reform, moreover, he greatly reduced the authority of the Sadr, transferring to his own hands the bulk of the power which had devolved upon them.

Regarding the general tendency and result of the reforms instituted by Akbar in the territorial system of the country, a distinguished writer[6] has recorded his judgment that, much as they 'promoted the happiness of the existing generation, they contained no principle of progressive improvement, and held out no hopes to the rural population by opening paths by which it might spread into other occupations, or rise by individual exertion within his own.' I venture, with some diffidence and with the greatest respect, to differ from this criticism. Akbar, admittedly, promoted the happiness of the generation amongst whom he lived. To have proceeded on the lines suggested by Mr. Elphinstone, he would have destroyed a principle which was then vital to the existence of Hindu society as it was constituted. Akbar went dangerously near to that point when he attempted to negotiate directly with the cultivators instead of through the headman of the village. He recognised in sufficient time that he must deal very charily and {192} cautiously with customs which had all the force of law, and he withdrew his order.

[Footnote 6: _The History of India_, by the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone.]

The chief adviser of Akbar in matters of revenue, finance, and currency was the Raja Todar Mall, of whom I have spoken in the last chapter. He was a man of great ability and of tried integrity. Though attached to the court of a Muhammadan sovereign, he was an earnest Hindu, and performed faithfully all the ceremonies of his religion. On one occasion when accompanying Akbar to the Punjab, in the hurry of departure he forgot his idols. As he transacted no business before his daily worship he remained for several days without food or drink, and was at last with difficulty consoled by the Emperor.

Of the army the principal component force was cavalry. Elephants too constituted an important feature in the array of battle. As a rule, the presence of elephants was supposed to indicate the presence of the Emperor, or rather, it was believed that the sovereign could not be present unless elephants were there. In the last chapter I have given an example of the happy mistake committed by a formidable antagonist of the Emperor in consequence of this prevailing impression.

The empire north of the Vindhyan range was portioned by the Emperor into twelve subahs or provinces. These were each governed by a viceroy, subordinate only to the sovereign. He held office during good behaviour, and was bound in all things to carry out the instructions of his master. Under {193} him were local military officers called _faujdars_, who united in their own persons the duties devolving upon a chief of police and a military commander. To them was consigned the maintenance of peace in their several districts; the superintendence of military establishments within the same; the command of the regular troops there located; and, generally, the repression of disturbances.

The lines upon which justice was administered by the officers of Akbar were the same as those introduced by his Afghan predecessors. The Kuran was the basis upon which the law rested. But precedents often modified the strict interpretation. Where, moreover, the law leaned to severity it was again modified by the instructions drafted by the Emperor or his advisers. The leading features of these instructions were to temper justice with mercy. The high officers were enjoined to be sparing in capital punishments. In one rescript addressed to the Governor of distant Gujarat, that functionary was directed in no case, except in that of dangerous sedition, to inflict capital punishment until his proceedings had received the confirmation of the Emperor.

South of the Vindhyan range, in the division known as the Deccan, or South, the imperial possessions were originally divided into three subahs or commands. Subsequently, when new provinces and districts had been acquired, they were increased to six. After the death of Akbar these were all placed under one head, called the Subahdar, the precursor of {194} the Nizam. With him, but subordinate to him, was associated an administrative financial officer called the Diwan, or Chancellor.

Akbar was a very magnificent sovereign. Though simple in his habits, he recognised, as the greatest of British Viceroys recognised after him, that show is a main element in the governing of an Eastern people. It is necessary to strike the eye, to let the subjects see the very majesty of power, the 'pomp and circumstance' attending the being whose nod indicates authority, who is to them the personified concentration on earth of the attributes of the Almighty. This is no mere idea. The very expressions used by the natives of India at the present day show how this thought runs through their imaginations. To them the man in authority, the supreme wielder of power, sits in the place of God. His _fiat_ means to them weal or woe, happiness or misery. On days of ceremony, then, they expect that this all-powerful being shall display the ensigns of royalty, shall surround himself with the pomp and glitter which betoken state. Akbar thoroughly understood this and acted accordingly.

We are not left to the descriptions of the author of the Ain to realise the imposing grandeur of his ceremonies. The native historians speak of his five thousand elephants, his twelve thousand riding-horses, his camp-equipage containing splendid tents, comprising halls for public receptions, apartments for feasting, galleries for exercise, chambers for retirement, all of splendid material and rich and varied {195} colours. They describe the Emperor himself on the days of special ceremonial seated in a rich tent, the awnings of which were thrown open, in the centre of carpeting of the softest material, covering at least two acres of ground, receiving the homage of his nobles. These occupied tents inferior only in degree to that of the sovereign. Then ensued, in the sight of the people, the ceremony of weighing the sovereign against various articles, to be distributed to those who needed them. According to the number of years the sovereign had lived there was given away an equal number of sheep, goats, and fowls to the breeders of those animals. A number of the smaller animals were likewise set at liberty. The Emperor himself distributed with his own hand almonds and fruits of the lighter sort among his courtiers.

On the great day of the festival Akbar seated himself on his throne, sparkling with diamonds, and surrounded by his chiefest nobles, all magnificently attired. Then there passed before him, in review, the elephants with their head and breast-plates adorned with rubies and other stones, the horses splendidly caparisoned, the rhinoceroses, the lions, the tigers, the panthers, the hunting-leopards, the hounds, the hawks, the procession concluding with the splendidly attired cavalry. This is no fancy picture. The like of it was witnessed by Hawkins, by Roe, and by Terry, in the time of the son and successor of Akbar, and those eminent travellers have painted in gorgeous colours the magnificence of the spectacle.

{196} These scenes were witnessed only on days of high ceremony. At ordinary times Akbar was the simple, unaffected, earnest man, ever striving after truth, such as the work he accomplished gives evidence of. That work was the consolidation of an empire, torn by Muhammadan conquerors for more than four centuries, and at the end of that period still unsettled, still unconsolidated. During those four centuries the principles of the Kuran, read in a bigoted and unnatural sense by the Afghan conquerors, had been distorted to rob and plunder the Hindu population. The most enlightened of his earlier predecessors, Sultan Firuz Shah, described by an English writer as possessing 'a humane and generous spirit,' confesses how he persecuted those who had not accepted the faith of Islam. Those principles of persecution for conscience sake, in full swing at the time of the accession of Akbar, Akbar himself abolished.

Akbar's great idea was the union of all India under one head. A union of beliefs he recognised at a very early stage as impossible. The union therefore must be a union of interests. To accomplish such a union it was necessary, first, to conquer; secondly, to respect all consciences and all methods of worshipping the Almighty. To carry out this plan he availed himself to a modified extent only of the Muhammadan ritual. Instead of the formula under which so many persecutions had been organised, 'there is but one God, and Muhammad is his Prophet,' he adopted the revised version: 'there is but one God, and Akbar is his {197} vicegerent on earth.' The prophet, he argued, came to preach the oneness, the unity, of God to an idolatrous people. To that people Muhammad was the messenger to proclaim the good tidings. But the precepts that messenger had laid down and had embodied in the Kuran had been interpreted to teach the propagation of the doctrine of the oneness of God by the sword.

The consequences of acting upon that mis-reading, as Akbar considered it, had been failure, at least in India. To that failure he had before him the witness of upwards of four centuries. He had but just entered his twenty-first year when he recognised that government carried on on such a principle must inevitably alienate. His object, I cannot too often repeat, was to bring together, to conciliate, to cement, to introduce a principle which should produce a community of interests among all his subjects. The germ of that principle he found in the alteration of the Musalman profession of faith above stated. The writings of Muhammad, misinterpreted and misapplied, could only produce disunion. He, then, for his age and for his reign, would take the place of the Prophet. He would be the interpreter of the generous and merciful decrees of the one All-powerful.

The dominant religion should not be, as long as he was its interpreter, the religion of the sword. It should carry, on the contrary, a healing influence throughout India; should wipe away reminiscences of persecution, and proclaiming liberty of conscience, should practise the most perfect toleration. When this change had been generally recognised Akbar would then appeal {198} to the princes and peoples of India to acknowledge the suzerainty of the one prince who would protect and yet not persecute. He would appeal to them to aid in the regeneration he was preparing, not in his individual interest, but in the interests of the millions who, for four centuries, had been harassed by invasions, by civil wars, by persecutions following both.

Akbar did not appeal to an unreflecting or an obstinate people. With one exception, that of Chitor (now known as Udaipur), the Rajput princes and people of the most influential part of India came into his scheme. The most powerful amongst them, Jaipur and Jodhpur, helped him with the counsels of the men who, Hindus, were his most trusted captains, and with their splendid soldiers. The principal opposition he encountered was from the bigots of his own court, and from the descendants of the Afghan invaders settled in Bengal, in Orissa, and in Western India. For the sake of his beneficent scheme it was necessary to bring these into the fold. He tried at first to induce them to accept their authority from him. They accepted it only, on the first occasion, to seize an opportunity to rebel. There was then no choice but conquest. So he conquered. Toleration, good and equal laws, justice for all, invariably followed.

Thus it was that he, first of the Muhammadan invaders of India, welded together the conquered provinces, and made them, to the extent to which he conquered, for a portion of Southern India remained unsubdued, one united Empire. These are his titles {199} to the admiration of posterity. We, who have watched his work, and have penetrated his motives, recognise the purity of his intentions. He did not wish, as the bigots of his Court declared that he wished, to have himself obeyed and worshipped as a God. No: he declared himself to be the interpreter of the religion of which the Prophet had been the messenger in the sense of teaching its higher truths, the truths of beneficence, of toleration, of equal justice irrespective of the belief of the conscience. His code was the grandest of codes for a ruler, for the founder of an empire.

'There is good in every creed; let us adopt what is good, and discard the remainder.' Such was his motto. He recognised this feature in the mild and benevolent working of Hinduism, in the care for the family inculcated by it, in the absence of the spirit of proselytism. He recognised it in the simple creed of the followers of Zoroaster. He recognised it in Christianity. There was good in all. He believed, likewise, that there was good in all men. Hence his great forbearance, his unwillingness to punish so long as there was hope of reform, his love of pardoning. 'Go and sin no more' was a precept that constituted the very essence of his conduct.

Such was Akbar, the founder of the Mughal dynasty. Such were the principles which enabled him to found it. They were principles which, if adhered to, would have maintained it. They were the principles by accepting which his Western successors maintain it at the present day.

{200} In the foregoing pages I have spoken of Akbar and his achievements as though I were comparing him with the princes of our own day. Handicapped though he is by the two centuries which have since elapsed, Akbar can bear that comparison. Certainly, though his European contemporaries were the most eminent of their respective countries, though, whilst he was settling India, Queen Elizabeth ruled England, and Henry IV reigned in France, he need not shrink from comparison even with these. His reputation is built upon deeds which lived after him. No one can suppose that his successor, Jahangir, had he followed Humayun, could have conciliated and welded together the divided territories he would have inherited or conquered. His passionate and bigoted character would have rendered the task impossible. But the foundations dug by Akbar were so deep that his son, although so unlike him, was able to maintain the empire which the principles of his father had welded together. When we reflect what he did, the age in which he did it, the method he introduced to accomplish it, we are bound to recognise in Akbar one of those illustrious men whom Providence sends, in the hour of a nation's trouble, to reconduct it into those paths of peace and toleration which alone can assure the happiness of millions.

{201}

INDEX

ABUL MA'ALI, favourite of Humayun, is sent to occupy Dipalpur, 62:
rebellion, and death of, 97.

ABULFAZL, becomes the friend of Akbar, 151:
character, studies, and influence of, 152-3, 170:
murder of, 139.

AGRA, the building of the fort of, 99.

AGRICULTURE, measures taken by Akbar to benefit those addicted to,
121.

AKBAR, birth of, 52:
is abandoned at Shal, 53:
is taken to Kandahar, and tended by his aunt, 54:
is removed to Kabul, 54, 55:
where his father rejoins him, 55:
perils of, at Kabul, 55-9:
joins his father in the invasion of India, and is present at the
battle of Sirhind, 62:
is sent by his father to the Punjab, 63:
is there proclaimed Emperor, 63:
choice of courses before, 65:
turns to contest the empire with Hemu, 66:
moves on Panipat, 68:
wins the battle of Panipat, 70:
refuses to slay the captured Hemu, 71:
the problem he had to solve in India, 78-80:
personal appearance of, 81:
character and predispositions of, 82-4:
secures the Punjab, 84, 85:
feels the preponderating influence of Bairam, 85-7:
assumes the administration and exiles Bairam to Mekka, 88:
suppresses the rebellion of Bairam, 89:
personal rule of, begins, 91:
the aims of, 92, 93:
begins to carry out his plan of bringing all India into his system,
93:
design of, of welding together, 94:
deals with the Gakkhars, 96, 97:
reception of, in Mandu, 98:
deals with the revolt of the Uzbek nobles, 100:
conquers Behar, 101, 102:
suppresses rebellions in the Punjab and Kabul, 102:
besieges Chitor, 105:
founds Fatehpur-Sikri, 106:
after securing Rajputana, marches on Gujarat, 108:
incidents of the conquest of Gujarat by, 109-13:
extent of the authority of, 115:
reverses the principle of making war support war, 116:
orders the invasion of Bengal, 118:
and invades it himself, 118:
captures Patna, 119:
returns to Delhi, 120:
and Fatehpur-Sikri, 121:
takes measures to benefit the agriculturists, 121:
completes conquest of Bengal, 122:
builds the Ibadat-khana at Fatehpur-Sikri, 123:
abolishes inland tolls and the _jizya_, 126:
proceeds to Kabul, 127:
reasons of, for matrimonial alliances with Rajput families, 129-31:
proceedings of, in the Punjab, 131-6:
revisits Kabul, 134:
proceeds to the Deccan, but returns to repress the rebellion of
Prince Salim, 136-8:
family of, 141:
illness of, 142:
dying words of, 144:
character of, 144, 145:
disposition, principles, and training of, 146:
influence of Faizi over, 151:
influence of Abulfazl over, 153-5:
creed promulgated by, 157:
uses made by, of his power, 159:
religious code of, 160:
culls from many religions, 161:
his own conception of his position, 163:
discourages Sati, 164:
discourages professors, but encourages men of real learning, 166:
his affection for Faizi and Abulfazl, 170:
how the principles of, affected his administration, 171:
making difference of religion no distinction, 172:
abolishing the tax on pilgrimages, 172:
the _jizya_, 174:
how they affected his dealings with the Hindus, 175:
attachment of, to his relatives, 177:
likings and peculiarities of, 179:
fondness for field sports of, 179:
daily habits of, 180:
reasons of, for marriage with Rajput princesses, 181-4:
wives of, 184:
revenue system of, 185:
rewards granted by, to the deserving, 189:
wise caution displayed by, in disturbing ancient customs, 191:
army of, 192:
divisions of the empire of, 192:
magnificence of, 194:
a true seeker after truth, 197:
character of the people he appealed to, 198:
comparison of, with his European contemporaries, 200.

ALI KULI KHAN-I-SHAIBANI, brilliantly captures Hemu's artillery, 68.

ARGUMENT, the, of the work, 5.

ATTOCK, on the Indus, built by Akbar, 127-31.

BABAR, family from which, was descended, 12:
age of, at time of father's death, 13:
loses Ferghana, 14:
surprises Samarkand, 15:
is defeated by the Uzbeks, 15:
and flees to the deserts, 16:
crosses the Oxus, and conquers Kabul, 18:
impressions on the mind of, by first glance at the Punjab, 18:
resolves to conquer Kandahar, 19:
visits Herat, 19:
terrible march of, from Herat to Kabul, 20:
marches for Kandahar, 21:
defeats his enemy and takes it, 22:
vicissitudes of the fortunes of, against the Uzbeks, 23:
is proclaimed ruler of Sind, 24:
first, second, and third invasions of India by, 31:
fourth invasion of India by, 32:
fifth invasion of India by, 33:
reaches Panipat, 33:
fights and wins the battle of Panipat, 34:
the position of, in India, 35:
difficulties of, with his army, 37:
generous and noble nature of, 39:
methods of, to conquer the country, 39:
defeats Sanga Rana, 41:
conquers large portions of Central India and of Oudh, 42:
invades Behar, 43:
health of, declines, 45:
devotion of, to Humayun, 46:
dies, 46:
character of, 47, 48:
last words of, 48.

BAIRAM KHAN, the best general of Humayun, invades Jalandhar, 62:
defeats the generals of Sikandar Shah on the Sutlej, and marches to
Sirhind, 62:
is joined by Humayun and Akbar, and helps to defeat Sikandar Shah,
62:
goes with Akbar to the Punjab as his Atalik, 63:
murders Tardi Beg, 67, 68:
urges Akbar to slay the captured Hemu, 70, 71:
virtually rules the new conquest, 85:
is exiled to Mekka by order of Akbar, 88:
rebels, is defeated, and assassinated, 89, 90.

BENGAL, king of, in the time of Akbar, 117:
is invaded by Akbar, 118:
submits to Akbar, 122:
Man Singh appointed Governor of, 133.

BHAGWAN DAS, of Jaipur, Raja, connection of, with Akbar, 111:
gallantry of, 111:
is governor of the Punjab, 128:
death of, 134.

BIRBAL, Raja, is killed by the Yusufzais, 131, and note.

DANYAL, Prince, the one failing of, causes death of, 141, 142.

DAUD KHAN, king of Bengal, _vide_ BENGAL.

DECCAN, the, campaigns in, and partial conquest of, 136.

FAIZI, Shaikh, story of, 150:
how he influenced the actions of Akbar, 151, 170.

FATEHPUR-SIKRI, founded by Akbar, 106, 107:
discussions in the Ibadat-khana at, 123:
memorable scenes at, 156, 157, 161.

FERGHANA, kingdom of, 13, 14.

GAKKHARS, the, are subdued by Akbar, 96, 97.

GUJARAT, story of the conquest of, by Akbar, 108-15.

HEMU, rise to power of, 61:
wins two victories and threatens Delhi, 62, 63:
defeats Tardi Beg and occupies Delhi, 66:
moves towards Panipat, 68:
is attacked, and defeated by Akbar, 70:
is slain, 71.

HERAT, position of, in the time of Babar, 17:
route between, and Kabul, 20:
is conquered by the Uzbeks, 21.

HUMAYUN, eldest son of Babar and father of Akbar, assists his father
in the conquest of India, 40:
is sent for at the time of his father's illness, 45:
sickness, and recovery of, 46:
succeeds Babar, 50:
character of, 50:
after a reign of eight years is driven from India by Sher Shah, 50,
51:
spends two and a half years in Sind, 51:
wooes, wins, and marries Hamida Begam, 52, 53:
flight of, to Amarkot, 52:
action of, on learning of the birth of Akbar, 53:
sets out for Kandahar, 53:
is forced to abandon Akbar at Shal, 53:
conquers Kandahar and Kabul, 55:
vicissitudes of fortune between, and Kamran, at Kabul, 55-9:
resolves to recover India, 59:
invades India, 61:
defeats Sikandar Shah at Sirhind, 62:
death of, 63, 64.

INDIA, sketch of history of, before the Mughal invasion, 26:
character of the rule of dynasties prior to that of the Mughal, 27,
30;
Babar's position in, after Panipat, 35:
internal condition of, at the time, 36:
position of, at the time of the death of Babar, 48:
general condition of, in the middle of the 16th century, 72-80.

KABUL, kingdom of, in the time of Babar, 17:
Akbar is removed to, 54, 55:
vicissitudes of fortune between Humayun and Kamran at, 55-9:
Akbar appeases troubles at, 102:
Akbar restores order at, 127.

KAMRAN, Mirza, vicissitudes of fortune in contest of with Humayun,
54-9:
finally succumbs, 59.

KANDAHAR, important position of, recognised by Babar, 19:
taken by Babar, 22:
is captured by the Uzbeks, 23:
is secured by Babar, 31:
Akbar is taken to, 53, 54:
is conquered by Humayun, 55.

KASHMIR, conquest of, by Akbar, 131-5.

KHUSRU, Prince, chances of, to succeed Akbar, 141-3.

LEARNED MEN, who flourished in the time of Akbar, notice of some of
the, 166-9.

LIBRARY, the, of Akbar, 169.

MAN SINGH, of Jaipur, gallantry of, in Gujarat, 111:
appointed Governor of Kabul, 132:
on the remonstrance of the Kabulis is transferred to Bengal, 133:
conduct of, during Akbar's illness, 143.

MEWAR, Rana of, refuses to come into Akbar's system, 124:
is defeated at Huldighat, 125:
still fights for his own hand, 140.

MURAD, Prince, son of Akbar, death of, 136.

ORCHHA, the Raja of, is prompted by Prince Salim to murder Abulfazl,
139, and note.

ORISSA, conquest of, by Akbar, 118-22.

PANIPAT, the first battle of, 33, 34:
second battle of, 68-71.

PATNA, taken by Akbar, 119.

PUNJAB, the, Babar's first impressions of, 18:
renews his acquaintance with, 32:
again, 33:
Akbar enters, and pursues his enemy into the Siwaliks, 63-6:
sojourn of Akbar in, 131-6.

RAJPUTANA, matrimonial alliances of Akbar with the royal families of,
128, 181:
dealings with the several princes of, 91-143.

SALIM, Prince (afterwards the Emperor Jahangir), character of, 137:
rebels, 138:
causes the murder of Abulfazl, 139:
vicious conduct of, 140-42:
apparent repentance of, 144:
is girt with his dying father's sword, 144.

SAMARKAND, city of, surprised by Babar, 15:
taken by the Uzbeks, 15:
is reconquered by, and captured from, Babar, 23.

SANGA, Rana, position of, in Rajputana, 40:
is defeated by Babar, 41.

SHAIBANI KHAN, _vide_ UZBEKS.

SHER KHAN, afterwards Sher Shah, revolts from Babar, 43:
drives Humayun from India, 50, 51:
reign of, 60:
defects of rule of, and predecessors of, 73-8.

SIKANDAR SHAH, claims the rule over Muhammadan India, 61:
is defeated by Humayun at Sirhind, and flees to the Siwaliks, 62:
again shows signs of life, 63:
retreats into Mankot, 65:
pursued by Akbar, surrenders on terms, 84, 85.

SIND, Babar is proclaimed ruler of, 24:
completion of the conquest of, under Akbar, 134, 135.

TARDI BEG, prudent conduct of, on the death of Humayun, 64:
is defeated by Hemu, 66:
joins Akbar at Sirhind, 67:
where he is murdered by Bairam, 68.

TODAR MALL, Raja, is sent by Akbar to repair the defeat of his troops
by the Yusufzais, 132:
death of, 134:
influence of, with Akbar, 192.

UMERSHAIKH, father of Babar, 13.

UZBEKS, the, defeat Babar before Samarkand 15:
conquer Herat, 21:
take Kandahar, 23:
contests of, with Babar, 23:
the, nobles, revolt against Akbar, 100:
are forgiven, 101.

YUSUFZAIS, the, repulse the troops of Akbar, 131:
are defeated by Todar Mall, 132.

THE END.

Works by Colonel Malleson.

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN MUTINY, 1857-58.

IN SIX VOLS., 6_s_. EACH. London: W. H. Allen & Co., 13 Waterloo Place.

'Colonel Malleson wields his pen with so much skill that while giving a realistic account of all important operations, passing over no really noteworthy act of heroism, and acutely criticizing everything which demands criticism, he abstains from overlaying his narrative with details which would have increased the bulk of the book beyond all reason.'--_Athenaeum_.

'A brilliant narrative, in which a great number of threads of history are taken up and combined with singular skill. We have never read a volume in which this merit is more conspicuously displayed; and a history which, in unskilful hands, might have become confused to the last degree is made remarkably clear and intelligible.'--_Spectator_.

THE DECISIVE BATTLES OF INDIA, FROM 1746 TO 1849, INCLUSIVE.

NEW EDITION, 7_s_. 6_d_. London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1888.

'We know of no book so well calculated as is the one we are noticing for giving the student a clear and comprehensive knowledge of the successive steps taken in conquering for ourselves the Empire of Hindustan. It is not simply the story of so many decisive battles. The causes which led to each one are set forth, and the connection between each successive war is clearly shewn. The author has consulted as far as possible original documents, or the writings, published and unpublished, of contemporaries; and to judge by the list he has given, the labour of composing this excellent work must have been considerable.'--_Saturday Review_.

HISTORY OF THE FRENCH IN INDIA.

London: Longmans, 1868.

'Colonel Malleson has produced a volume alike attractive to the general reader, and valuable for its new matter to the special student.'--_Edinburgh Review_.

LIFE OF LORD CLIVE.

Price 20_s_. London: Allen & Co., 1885.

'It would not be possible to find in any other work a more faithful or vivid word-picture of the work accomplished by this great soldier and statesman, or of the manner in which he performed it.'--_Scotsman_.

THE BATTLE-FIELDS OF GERMANY.

London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1884.

'A thoroughly good book.'--_The Guardian_.

End of Project Gutenberg's Rulers of India: Akbar, by George Bruce Malleson