Akbar-New Delhi

Abu’l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (15 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great, and also as Akbar I (Persian pronunciation: [akbar]), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expand and consolidate Mughal domains in the Indian subcontinent.

Akbar gradually enlarged the Mughal Empire to include much of the Indian subcontinent through Mughal military, political, cultural, and economic dominance. To unify the vast Mughal state, Akbar established a centralised system of administration and adopted a policy of conciliating conquered rulers through marriage and diplomacy. To preserve peace and order in a religiously and culturally diverse empire, he adopted policies that won him the support of his non-Muslim subjects, including abolishing the sectarian tax and appointing them to high civil and military posts.

Under Akbar, Mughal India developed a strong and stable economy, which tripled in size and wealth, leading to commercial expansion and greater patronage of an Indo-Persian culture. Akbar’s courts at Delhi, Agra, and Fatehpur Sikri attracted holy men of many faiths, poets, architects, and artisans, and become known as centres of the arts, letters, and learning. Timurid and Perso-Islamic culture began to merge and blend with indigenous Indian elements into a distinct style of Mughal arts, including painting and architecture. 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 elements of Zoroastrianism and Christianity.

Akbar was succeeded as emperor by his son, Prince Salim, later known as Jahangir.

Early years
After Mughal Emperor Humayun was defeated at Chausa (1539) and Kannauj (1540) by the forces of Sher Shah Suri, Humayun fled westward to modern-day Sindh. There, he met and married the 14-year-old Hamida Banu Begum, daughter of Shaikh Ali Akbar Jami, a Persian teacher of Humayun’s younger brother Hindal Mirza. Jalal ud-din Muhammad Akbar was born to them the next year on 25 October 1542 (the fifth day of Rajab, 949 AH) at the Rajput Fortress of Amarkot in Rajputana (in modern-day Sindh), where his parents had been given refuge by the local Hindu ruler Rana Prasad.

During the extended period of Humayun’s exile, Akbar was brought up in Kabul by his paternal uncles, Kamran Mirza and Askari Mirza, and aunts, in particular, Kamran Mirza’s wife. He spent his youth learning to hunt, run, and fight, and although he never learned to read or write, when he retired in the evening, he would have someone read to him. On 20 November 1551, Humayun’s youngest brother, Hindal Mirza, died in a battle against Kamran Mirza’s forces. Upon hearing the news of his brother’s death, Humayun was overwhelmed with grief.

About the time of nine-year-old Akbar’s first appointment as governor of Ghazni, he married Hindal’s daughter, Ruqaiya Sultan Begum, his first wife. Humayun gave Akbar command of Hindal’s troops and conferred on the imperial couple all of Hindal’s wealth. Akbar’s marriage to Ruqaiya was solemnised in Jalandhar, Punjab, when they were both 14 years old.

Following 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. A few months later, Humayun died. Akbar’s guardian, Bairam Khan, concealed his death to prepare for Akbar’s succession. Akbar succeeded Humayun on 14 February 1556, while in the midst of a war against Sikandar Shah to reclaim the Mughal throne. In Kalanaur, Punjab, the 14-year-old Akbar was enthroned by Bairam Khan on a newly constructed platform (which still stands) and was proclaimed Shahanshah (Persian for “King of Kings”). Bairam Khan ruled on his behalf until he came of age.