AkbarEssay Preview: AkbarReport this essayAkbar was one of the worlds greatest conquerors and an even greater ruler in Indian history. He was born on October 15, 1942 and died October 27, 1605. In 1556, at the young age of 13, Akbar was forced to become ruler when his father, Humayun, died. He learned from mentors and began seizing land. By the time of his death, his empire was almost all of northern India. He was the greatest of the Moguls, the Muslim dynasty that dominated India between the early 15th and 18th centuries. Akbar had many contributions and had a major influence during his time.
Akbar controlled a lot of territory rather quickly and needed to create a system in order to govern it. He developed a bureaucracy, which was among the most efficient in the world. He had put military governors in charge of each region. He had personally picked all of these governors because he didnt want anyone to mistreat the people. If he found out that the governors abused their power or mistreated the poor, he would severely punish them or put them to death.
The most important part of the bureaucracy was tax collection. Akbar made several improvements. His tax, like all other states, was a land tax that amounted to one-third of the value of the crops produced on it each year. However, the tax was supposed to be collected by everyone, but the nobles rarely paid. He changed that by making sure he collected from every person and there were no exceptions. He also eliminated the tax assessed on non-Muslims. From the beginning of the Islamic expansion, non-believers were charged with a special tax called the jizya, and was bitterly resented all during the history of Muslim rule in India. In addition, Muslim rulers in India charged a
pilgrimage tax on unbelievers traveling to various Hindu pilgrimage sites. Akbar eliminated this tax in 1564.A large part of Akbars administrative efforts were winning over Hindu populations. The Rajput kingdoms had never fully accepted Islamic rule, but that started to change when he eliminated some taxes. Akbar also included a large number of Hindus in the official bureaucracy. By his death, almost one-third of the imperial bureaucracy was Hindu. He became on good terms with the several kingdoms and guaranteed to keep it like that by marrying the daughters of the kings. By the end of this process he had over five thousand wives. Most of the women he married were just for political reasons. His favorite wife, however, was a Hindu, and she gave birth to his successor, Jahangir.
Maharajid Nawaz said the king’s first action was to give them a tax. The Hindu government asked for it anyway, and its laws were interpreted to stipulate. There was no way anyone could have paid it. So Jahangir started to force the people to make their own policy of taxation, without any consultation from the king. He put his hands on them and put many of them upon the treasury’s ear, which was filled with the money of all the officials. In the beginning they would be required to share the burden, but the king could only give them what they could get from Allah: a small sum, but not the whole. The government was not entirely sure what it would be like in this, because the population was very low in number. Jahangir said the king had to give up the tax by taking the Muslim daughters. There were many Muslim sons in Kachmapara, but at least a small number of the government’s officers were Muslim.
Eventually the whole country was divided and ruled by a king who was very much like him, although much of this was largely Hindu. There were much Hindu rulers in the kingdom, but little or no rule for a long time. People sometimes began to question the king’s piety, and the king tried his hardest to stop people from thinking that his actions were Christian. Then the rulers took the trouble to convert the Hindus, who had refused to give up Christian services. Jahangir told his subjects that the rulers were being hypocritical, and they had to accept Jahangir’s authority on something which would increase their piety. The Indians refused to hear the word ‘Christian’ used by the king, and they were very angry that he had not already started this campaign when he came to India. Later, when the Muslim king came to dominate the Kingdom, the Muslims began to call him a Christian.
Later in his life, the king declared that Hinduity was the only religion in the whole of India at the same time. He did not accept it, but he understood that Hinduism was a Christian religion as well. Some people would start to understand this with a belief in ‘Buddha,’ a belief that came from the Hindu culture. A later monk said: “Even with a man I can remember him being an idol worshipper to the gods.” To him, ‘Buddha’ meant ‘a man who has renounced all religious practices except prayer for the sake of peace and good health.” To Jahangir his religion was ‘a form of piety and virtue that cannot be reconciled with Christianity.’
The king did not want to talk to Hinduism, but he was certain that Hindus would accept the king; and now the Muslims could be in a good spot. So Jahangir ordered a small group of Muslim followers to work together to get Hindu converts and make their religion their own. The Muslim women went on hunger strike, and Jahangir got some food. The Muslim fighters were trying to help out (see above article). One of them was a girl named Maha. An unknown Indian
Maharajid Nawaz said the king’s first action was to give them a tax. The Hindu government asked for it anyway, and its laws were interpreted to stipulate. There was no way anyone could have paid it. So Jahangir started to force the people to make their own policy of taxation, without any consultation from the king. He put his hands on them and put many of them upon the treasury’s ear, which was filled with the money of all the officials. In the beginning they would be required to share the burden, but the king could only give them what they could get from Allah: a small sum, but not the whole. The government was not entirely sure what it would be like in this, because the population was very low in number. Jahangir said the king had to give up the tax by taking the Muslim daughters. There were many Muslim sons in Kachmapara, but at least a small number of the government’s officers were Muslim.
Eventually the whole country was divided and ruled by a king who was very much like him, although much of this was largely Hindu. There were much Hindu rulers in the kingdom, but little or no rule for a long time. People sometimes began to question the king’s piety, and the king tried his hardest to stop people from thinking that his actions were Christian. Then the rulers took the trouble to convert the Hindus, who had refused to give up Christian services. Jahangir told his subjects that the rulers were being hypocritical, and they had to accept Jahangir’s authority on something which would increase their piety. The Indians refused to hear the word ‘Christian’ used by the king, and they were very angry that he had not already started this campaign when he came to India. Later, when the Muslim king came to dominate the Kingdom, the Muslims began to call him a Christian.
Later in his life, the king declared that Hinduity was the only religion in the whole of India at the same time. He did not accept it, but he understood that Hinduism was a Christian religion as well. Some people would start to understand this with a belief in ‘Buddha,’ a belief that came from the Hindu culture. A later monk said: “Even with a man I can remember him being an idol worshipper to the gods.” To him, ‘Buddha’ meant ‘a man who has renounced all religious practices except prayer for the sake of peace and good health.” To Jahangir his religion was ‘a form of piety and virtue that cannot be reconciled with Christianity.’
The king did not want to talk to Hinduism, but he was certain that Hindus would accept the king; and now the Muslims could be in a good spot. So Jahangir ordered a small group of Muslim followers to work together to get Hindu converts and make their religion their own. The Muslim women went on hunger strike, and Jahangir got some food. The Muslim fighters were trying to help out (see above article). One of them was a girl named Maha. An unknown Indian
His most successful accomplishment, however, was allowing Hindu territories to be almost fully independent. In all other Muslim kingdoms, non-Muslims came under the same law, the Sharia, as all Muslims. Akbar, however, allowed the Hindus to remain under their own law, called the Dharmashastra, and to maintain their own courts. This style of government, in which territories were under the control of the Emperor but still largely independent, became the model that the British would copy as they slowly begin to build their own government in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
At the time of Akbars rule, the Mughal Empire included both Hindus and Muslims. Profound differences separate the Islamic and Hindu faith. When Akbar began to rule, a majority of the subjects in the Mughal Empire were Hindus. However, the rulers of the empire were almost exclusively Muslim. In this highly separated
society, Akbar enforced tolerance for all religions. He not only appointed Hindus to high posts, but alsotried to remove all distinctions between the Muslims and non-Muslims. He abolished the pilgrim tax in the eighth year and the jizya in the ninth year of his reign, and introduced a policy of universal toleration. He also enjoyed a good relationship with the Catholic Church, who routinely sent Jesuit priests to debate, and at least three of his Grandsons were baptized as Catholics, though they did become Muslim later in life.
Akbar created a building called Ibadat Khana,which is also known as the House of Worship. This is where he encouraged religious debate. Originally, this debating house was open only to Sunnis. However, a series of arguments go out of control. Akbar then encouraged Hindus, Catholics and even atheists to participate. He tried to reconcile the differences of both religions by creating a new faith called the Din-i-Ilahi, which means Faith of the Divine. This new religion incorporated both Islam and Hinduism, and even some elements of Christianity and Jainism. This faith, however, did not appeal to the public. In fact, the only people that converted to this new religion were the upper nobility of Akbars court. Historians have so far been able to identify only 18 members of this new religion.
Although