Suman Gupta – Mumbai Uncensored, 1st March 2022
All around the internet or major books or everywhere we read about the greatness of Akbar, how he has been bestowed with titles and awarded by a majority for being one of the greatest of all time. But little do we know about the reality that has been barred and subsided by the exaggerated historiography of Akbar.
The nature of his rule, his war tactics and his values stand questionable when we read the history of Akbar in-depth without being blinded or influenced by stories rather than sticking to the actual facts.
Here we are going to read about the actions that Akbar took which completely dismiss the idea of greatness rather it sheds light on the cruel and vindictive nature of the same.
Battle of Panipat 1556:
The early years of Akbar’s rule were marked with extreme violence and were driven by the ideology of imperialism and influenced by the religion Islam. Around these years numerous events show the cruel and tyrannical nature of rule that was prevalent in India.
In 1556, after the death of Humayun, the Mughal empire faced a surprising war by Hemu who won the war as the Mughal representative fled the scene and proclaimed himself as the new ruler of Delhi. After this, to retrieve Delhi back Bairam Khan the then Godfather of Akbar along with the latter rounded up his army and led to a war popularly known as the Battle of Panipat in 1556. Akbar won the battle and captured Hemu. Later Hemu was slain in front of his troops mercilessly.
Akbar then ordered his troops to chase each soldier of his opponent and behead them, bringing back the skulls as trophies. After the gory incident, Akbar dispatched the head of the slain Raja to Humayun’s harem in Kabul; and paraded the torso in Delhi as a sign of victory. After returning to Delhi, Akbar ordered his soldiers to build a tower of skulls belonging to Hemu’s soldiers in the centre of the Mughal capital- giving him the title of Ghazi (slayer of non-believers).
Battle of Chittod
The battle of Chittod brought about some tragic results for the Rajputs. Akbar waged war against the Rajput army on Jai Mal’s refusal to give her daughter to Akbar. Akbar then defeated the army and led to a heavy and vicious massacre. All the women who did not want to get captured by Mughals and become sex slaves performed Johar. It is famously known as ‘Shaak Johar’. Fight till death ensued, and every soldier who took part in the battle got martyred. The fort of Chitor was home to 30,000 Hindu peasants who got massacred on the orders of the Mughal Emperor.
The Lustful nature:
Akbar’s lust for women was not hidden from anyone. He even though practising Islam was allowed to keep 4 wives but he managed to have more than 5000 women in the harem where the women were just merely living for his pleasure. Many women were brought by force, bought or captured and sent to the harem for the lusting pleasure of Akbar.
An excerpt from Ain-i-Akbari says, “…His majesty has established a wine shop near the palace. The prostitutes of the realm collected at the shop could scarcely be counter, so large was their number. The dancing girls used to be taken home by the courtiers. If any well-known courtier wanted to have a virgin they should first have His Majesty’s permission. In the same way, boys prostituted themselves, and drunkenness and ignorance soon lead to bloodshed. His Majesty himself called some of the prostitutes and asked them who had deprived them of their virginity?”
Din-i-Ilahi:
Akbar has been lauded all around for his religious tolerance and secular policy. It reached the pinnacle when he formed Din-i-Ilahi where he decided to bring Islam and Hinduism together with essence and space for other religions like Christianity etc. This religious policy put Akbar at the supreme head above the entire population and made him superior to everyone. This religious policy was sought to bring about religious tolerance within the state but on the contrary, this policy could never be implemented on a full scale. Rather it was dismissed by a majority of people and was never followed in practice. Akbar got all the appreciation for a policy that was never fully administered or practised by the general public.
The character of Akbar’s Administration:
The Mughal administration under Akbar acquired an efficiency that rendered it brilliant in the Indo-Islamic history of India, but it was not national in the sense that it was mostly foreign in personnel. The Turks, Mongols, Uzbegs, Persians, Arabs and the Afghans with a small percentage of Indian Muslims and Hindus comprised the administrative personnel under Akbar.
Most of the foreigners had of course settled in the country for one or two generations and many of them accompanied Babur or Humayun and were related to the royal family. According to Blochmann, 70 percent of the high officers of the State had been occupied by them.
What do we conclude?
All the above-mentioned points establish the reality of the greatness of Akbar. No matter what measures were taken to change the notions of people, there’s no way one can justify the reckless killing of innocent people, outraging the modesty of women, biases towards particular religion and the warmongering attitude that Akbar possessed. It is maybe the time when we should start reading and looking for factual truths rather than being blinded by the exaggerated stories fed to us over time.
