Akbar 1556 1605 and his views. Rise of the Mughal Empire

Akbar was only thirteen years old when his father Humayun died. In the beginning, he was helped by his teacher Bairam Khan. Bayram Khan defeated Hema in the second battle of Panipat in 1556. Khemu was a minister of Adil Shah of Bengal, another descendant of Sher Shah and tried to retake Delhi and Agra. Bayram Khan also captured Ajmer, Gwalior, Daunpur and other seas for Akbar

Independent rule

Bairam Khan soon became a tyrant and proud. Akbar wanted to get rid of him. Defeated and forgiven after a short rebellion, Bairam Khan went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, but was stabbed to death on the way. Maham Anaga - Akbar's stepmother and her son Adham Khan also tried to rule Akbar. Adham Khan killed the vizier Akbar and, therefore, Akbar destroyed him by throwing him from the parapet. From that moment Akbar began to rule himself.

conquests

Akbar conquered territories from north to south to the Deccan and from west to east.

Baz Bahadur and Rupmati

Each of these conquests has a separate history. In Malwa, Baz Bahadur and his beautiful queen Rupmati loved each other deeply. They sang songs and recited poems to each other in the hills of the city of Mandu. Baz Bahadur did not think about strengthening his army and was defeated by the Mughals under the leadership of Adham Khan. Adham Khan captured Rupmati, who committed suicide. Later, Baz Bahadur became a mansabdar (official) at Akbar's court.

Rani Durgavati

In Gondwana, Princess Durgavati ruled on behalf of her youngest son. She was an insane shooter with a gun and a bow and arrows. She was beautiful and rich. Captured by the Mughals, she stabbed herself to death. Countless riches, jewelry, gold and silver were taken out of its capital.

Chittor

In Mewar, despite the fact that the capital Chittor was captured by the Mughals after a six-month siege, the Rajput ruler Rana Udai Singh and his son Rana Pratap Singh continued to fight against.

In honor of Jamal and Patt, two brave warriors who died defending Chittor, Akbar erected monuments to them in Agra.

Chand Bibi

The city of Ahmadnagar in the Deccan was protected by Queen Chand Bibi. She made an agreement with the Mughals, but was killed by her own courtiers.

great king

Akbar also had to put down many rebellions. Despite the war, he completed and continued Sher Shah's administrative reforms. Akbar ruled in all spheres in the same way. He appointed Rajputs to high posts. Bhagwan Das, Todar Mal and Birbal were among the prominent Rajputs in Akbar's court. He gave the local Rajputs some freedom without losing control over them.

He abolished the jizya tax. He participated in discussions with saints and priests of all religions and founded a new religion - Din-i-Ilahi, which contains all the best of all religions. Centralized control of ports and roads helped trade and commerce. His dominions were well organized and properly administered.

He certainly was a great king. He died in 1605.

Jahangir (1605-1627)

Salim was the eldest son of Akbar. He disappointed Akbar by raising a rebellion against him, but by 1605 they had faced off. Salim succeeded to the throne under the name Nur-ud-din Muhammad Jahangir of the Fallen Ghazis.

Khusrau

Jahangir's son Khusrau rebelled against him. He was defeated, blinded and imprisoned. The Sikh guru Arjun Das was killed because he was friends with Khusrau.

Mewar

Amar Singh, a descendant of Ran Pratap of Mewar, was finally defeated. But Jahangir treated Amar Singh with honors and returned Chittor to him. The war between the Mughals and Mewar ended after 100 years.

Nur Jahan

Jahangir married the beautiful Nur Jahan. Prior to that, she was married to Sher Afghan, governor of Burdwan in Bengal. Jahangir fell in love with her when he saw her in the market. Some historians argue that Nur Jahan and her relatives were the real power behind the throne, especially when his health deteriorated in 1622. Jahangir died in 1627. They say he drank too much.

Shah Jahan

Prince Khurram subjugated his brother Shahriyar and ascended the throne in 1628. He began to rule under the name of Shah Jahan.

Jalal ud-din Muhammad Akbar

Akbar - the emperor (great mogul) of Hindustan, from the last Mohammedan (Mongolian) Baberid dynasty, which reigned from 1526, was actually called Jel-al-eddin Mohammed, was born on October 14. 1542 in Amarkot, in the Indus Valley, and was the son of Emperor Humayun. Having barely reached the age of 13, he inherited the throne of his father (February 15, 1556), ruling at first under the tutelage of his vizier, the Turkmen Beram-Khan. Soon, however, A. himself took the reins of government with an iron hand, subdued the rebels, to whom his own brother Gakim belonged (1579) and, in long wars, extended his power to the entire northern Hindustan, including Kashmir, Guzerat and the lands of the Indus. At the same time, he directed all his efforts to strengthening internal power, organizing the administration of extended possessions, and really brought them to such a flourishing state that there had never been, either before or after. His first task was to reconcile and force the heterogeneous elements of the population to merge together, for which he treated Hindus and Mohammedans with equal benevolence, and even allowed the Persians and Christians to freely practice their religions. In addition, he marked himself as a promoter of agriculture and trade, which he began even with Europeans, and as a friend of the sciences and arts. The history of his reign, as well as the results of all the research undertaken at his instigation, was collected and described by his famous vizier and friend Abul-Fasl (d. 1602) in "Akbarnameh", the third part of which, under the title "Ayini-Akbari", was translated by Glyadvin from Persian into English (3 volumes, Calcutta, 1783 - 1786; London 1800). A. died 1605; near the village of Sikandra, not far from Agra, which he made his residence, a magnificent tomb monument was erected to him. He was succeeded by his son Sedim, with the nickname Dzhigangir. Wed Neumann "Geschichte des engl. Reichsin Asien" (2 volumes, Leipzig, 1857); F. Noer, "Kaiser A". (Leiden, 1881).

F. Brockhaus, I.A. Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary.

Akbar Jalal-ad-din (1542-1605) - ruler of the Mughal Empire in India from 1556. He consolidated the power of the Mughal dynasty and expanded the borders of the state through conquests so that they covered the territory from Balkh in the North to the Godavari River in the South (including Kashmir and present-day Afghanistan) and from the sea in the West to the sea in the East. By dynastic marriages, Akbar strengthened ties with the Rajput principalities, the Rajput cavalry became the basis of Akbar's army. In the fight against the separatism of large feudal lords, he carried out a number of measures that limited the autocracy of large dzhagirdars, made an attempt in 1574 to eliminate the system of dzhagirs and, instead of distributing land to large military leaders, pay them salaries from the treasury, and entrust the collection of tax from all lands to state officials. This policy of Akbar aroused the resistance of Muslim feudal lords - jagirdars. In an effort to reach agreement between his subjects in the religious sphere, Akbar, unlike previous Muslim rulers, began to nominate Hindus to important government posts. Akbar introduced a new religion, "din-i ilahi" ("divine faith"), which was an eclectic mixture of beliefs and rituals, drawn mainly from Islam, Hinduism, Parsism and Jainism. Akbar was recognized as the head of the new religion, uniting secular and religious power in his person. The followers of this faith enjoyed the favor of Akbar, and after his death they became a small religious sect. Akbar was an outstanding statesman, an inquisitive (albeit illiterate) man with a brilliant memory, a brave, capable military leader.

K. A. Antonova. Moscow.

Soviet historical encyclopedia. In 16 volumes. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1973-1982. Volume 1. AALTONEN - AYANS. 1961.

Literature: Antonova K. A., Essays on societies. relations and politics. the system of Mughal India in the times of Akbar (1556-1605), M., 1952; Smith, V.A., Akbar, the Great Mogul, Oxf., 1917.

Akbar Jalal ud-din Muhammad Akbar (11/15/1542–11/25/1605) - the third emperor of the Mughal dynasty (since 1556), the son of Emperor Humayun and Hamida Banu Begam, daughter of the first of the Afghan khans. Born during wanderings in Sindh of his dethroned father, he spent the first years of his life with his uncle. In historiography, starting from the memoirs of his son Jahangir, a tradition has developed to consider A. D., despite his phenomenal memory and generally recognized high intelligence, to be illiterate: some researchers doubt this version, believing that either Jahangir deliberately slandered his father, or meant his lack of classical education and inability for calligraphy; others suggest Akbar dyslexia, others believe that the version of A.'s "illiteracy" arose in accordance with his folklore image of the king - a saint and a sage who comprehends the truth not from books, but through a mystical way.

Akbar's reforms

A.D. carried out a number of reforms designed to create a strong centralized state: he divided the empire into provinces headed by governors, to whom the administrative-tax and judicial apparatus was subordinate, introduced a system of measures and weights that was uniform for the entire empire, as well as a calendar based on the latest achievements astronomy, including Ulugbek's tables. Despite the protests of the Muslim courtiers, A. D. appointed as his sofa (Minister of Finance) the Hindu merchant Todar Mal, on whose initiative the land cadastre and the conversion of the natural land tax into monetary form were carried out, which contributed to the development of commodity-money relations in the empire. A.D. established a “table of ranks”, according to which each feudal lord, holder of a military fief (jagir), was assigned a certain military rank (mansab), indicated by numbers - from 20 to 10 thousand (rank of blood princes and first emirs) - formally these figures indicated the number of horsemen that this feudal lord had to support with funds from his fief and bring into the imperial army under his command. In reality, the title that was assigned to the feudal lord (zat) was less than the corresponding number of soldiers (savar). A. D. unified and streamlined the circulation of money in the country, creating a whole network of mints. Patronizing trade and crafts, he abolished a number of duties from merchants and artisans.

Religious policy

A.D. was best known for his religious policy, which imprinted him in the historical memory of the Indians as a wise and just sovereign. AD carried out a series of measures designed to convince his Hindu subjects that the Mughal power was no longer foreign or infidel. Contrary to all the provisions of Islamic law, he abolished the jiziya tax on non-Muslims. For the first time in the history of the entire medieval world, A.D. refused to divide religions into “true” and “false”, and subjects and people in general into “true believers” and “infidels”. The goal of state policy was not declared to be the benefit of Muslims, but "peace for all." AD declared complete freedom of religion and forbade forced conversion to any religion; At the court, Hindu and Muslim holidays began to be celebrated on an equal footing. In the "House of Prayer" he founded, a kind of discussion club, in the presence of the emperor, scientists and clergymen of various religions discussed the problems of being and faith. These disputes, often degenerating into quarrels and fights, forever turned A. D., according to Abul Fazl, away from formal religion with its dogmatism and scholasticism, inclined him to the society of "enlightened philosophers." Participating in disputes, "enlightened philosophers" defended rationalism, a critical attitude to religious dogmas and free thinking. One of the interesting experiments of A.D. and the “enlightened philosophers” was the so-called “din-i illahi” (“divine faith”) - an attempt to create a doctrine that unites all the Indian religions known at that time. The followers of the "divine faith" constituted an elite community, whose members pledged to believe in a single god-absolute and renounce the "dogmatic faith of the fathers", resist religious fanaticism, study the natural sciences, history and philosophy as opposed to theology and religious dogma, treat followers with respect of all religions, avoid polygamy and child marriage. A. D. patronized the arts, especially miniature painting: inviting masters from Iran and local artists, Hindus and Muslims, he laid the foundation for the school of Mughal book miniatures. At the court, A. D. established the "Chamber of Translations", in which the literary, philosophical and scientific works of the Hindus were translated into the Persian language understandable to all educated Muslims.

The reforms of A. D. and his religious policy could not but be perceived with hostility by the highest Muslim clergy and large Muslim feudal lords, who openly accused the emperor of apostasy from Islam, staged conspiracies and uprisings, restored Jahangir’s beloved son-heir against A. D. and provoked the murder of his faithful companion Abu-l Fazl Allami, which, according to contemporaries, hastened the death of A. In the state ideology of modern India, A.D. is one of the national heroes; folk memory keeps many legends and anecdotes about him, which are still popular today.

E. Yu. Vanina.

Russian historical encyclopedia. T. 1. M., 2015, p. 209-210.

Literature:

Alaev L. B. Medieval India. St. Petersburg, Aletheya, 2003; Antonova K. A. Essays on social relations and the political system of Mughal India in the time of Akbar (1556–1605). M.: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1952; Vanina E. Yu. Ideas and societies in India in the 16th–18th centuries. Moscow: Eastern Literature, 1993; Abu l Fazl Allami. Ain-i Akbari. Vols. I (tr. by H. Blochmann), II & III (tr. by H. S. Jarrett). Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, reprint, 1977–1978; Abu l Fazl Allami. Akbar Nama. Tr. by H. Beveridge. Vol. I–III. Delhi: Ess Publications, 1979; Akbar and the Jesuits: an Account of the Jesuit missions to the Court of Akbar. Tr. by Pierre du Jarric. London: Curzon Press, 1996; Akbar and His India. Ed. by Irfan Habib. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997, 1997; Badauni Abd al-Qadir. Muntakhab ut-tawarikh. Vol. I–II. Tr. by G.S.A. Ranking. Vol. III. Tr. by W. Haig. Calcutta: Bibliotheca Indica, 1898–1900; Eraly A. Emperors of the Peacock Throne. The Saga of the Great Mughals. London: Penguin Books, 1997; Mukhia H. The Mughals of India. Malden US - Oxford UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2004; Richards John F. The Mughal Empire. The New Cambridge History of India. Delhi: Foundation Books, Cambridge University Press, 2000; Streusand D.S. The Formation of the Mughal Empire. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989.

MYSTERIOUS PADISHAH. AKBAR THE GREAT.

Akbar the Great - "King Solomon of India in his great wisdom"

"Akbar, Emperor of unquenchable light, powerful unifier and reformer of India. You are a Sadhu, a holy hermit, a Himalayan rishi in spirit, but above all, You are the Lion of the Moghuls in the purple toga of the rulers. into the veil of maya, and the secret thirst for the spiritual liberation of people." R. Rudzitis.

What was Akbar like, a descendant of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, the grandson of the founder of the Mughal dynasty, Babur, who ruled for 49 years? Here is his portrait, left by the Portuguese Jesuits invited to the court:
His posture and appearance eloquently testify to royal dignity, so that anyone understands at first glance that he is in front of a real sovereign ... His forehead is high and open, his eyes are so bright and radiant that they resemble a sea sparkling in the sun. The face, always calm, clear and open, is full of dignity, and in moments of anger - a frightening grandeur. The complexion was light, but with a slight swarthy tint. When he was calm and thoughtful, he had nobility and great dignity. In anger he was majestic"

Akbar the Great - "King Solomon of India in his great wisdom" was born on October 14, 1542 in Amarkot at a time when his father Humayun was on a campaign, trying to win back what was his by right: the lands of India, the legacy of the first of the Great Mughals - Babur Timur. Humayun's army suffered defeat after defeat, and he himself was on the verge of despair when a messenger brought the joyful news of the birth of an heir. The only value that was then at hand with a happy father were a few grains of musk. This incense was ordered to be distributed in honor of the holiday to those around. Humayun still lost the battle for the Indian Sultanate, and little Akbar had to spend his childhood in Persia, until by the will of fate (and in his opinion, by the will of the Almighty) he ascended the Indian throne and completed the work of his father.

Akbar's childhood was accompanied by unusual signs that foreshadowed his great future. They say that, while still an infant, he spoke to his nurse, comforting her in difficult times; that at the age of three, he lifted and threw over his shoulder a five-year-old boy ... Many amazing things are also told about Akbar’s mature age: how he predicted the birth of a son from a desperate mother, how he healed the sick with a single word and tamed animals with a touch. Learning that somewhere they were going to perform a cruel rite of sati, the ruler of a huge state jumped on a horse and raced to personally prevent cruelty and save the lives of women.

Akbar was not only a philosopher, but also a practitioner: it is difficult to name a craft or an art that he did not know. The Jesuits noted with amazement the breadth of the emperor's interests: "He could be seen immersed in state affairs or giving audiences to his subjects, and the next moment you could find him shearing camels, hewing stones, or busy carving wood, or forging iron - and all this he He did it with great diligence, as if it were his special calling.

At the time of his youth, an unusual event happened to him. According to legend, a messenger from the Higher World appeared to him, who determined his mission and fate, saying: “You see Me for the first and last time, as if I had not happened. You will build the Kingdom and the future Temple in it. And as the Lord you will pass the field life, carrying in the spirit the Temple of the future.
Truly, you have been on the path with the Lord for a long time. You need to finish the heel of the earth. And you will not hear My voice, and you will not see My Light, and you will keep your readiness to follow the Divine path.
But when the hour comes to open the next Gate, then your wife, given by the Lord, will hear My knock and say: "He is at the gate." You will see Me only when you cross the line. But when the wife enters the last path, she will see you in My image.
You, then, be the earthly king and landowner."

He was a passionate hunter (once he killed a wounded tigress hand-to-hand), a lover of sports (his personal invention - night polo, which was played with a burning ball) and a true master in the art of circling horses and camels (once he tamed an enraged elephant that had just killed his driver) , loved to hunt, ride elephants, was interested in military affairs. He had an extraordinary memory - he remembered the nicknames of all his war elephants, and there were several thousand of them in his army. Soon, however, Akbar himself took the reins of government with an iron fist.

In 1556, Akbar, in order to expand the borders of the empire, led his 10,000-strong Mughal army against the 50,000-strong army of Hemu, equipped with cannons and war elephants, and despite the significant numerical advantage of the enemy, Akbar's army won (largely due to the excellent training of archers). Hemu's army was defeated, and the commander himself was seriously wounded.
He was taken to the young ruler - he was supposed to inflict a mortal blow. But, no matter how the Indian Akbar was hated, the young man flatly refused to kill him.

So he proved himself not only a successful commander and a valiant warrior, but also generous towards the vanquished, as well as a wise politician who tried, where possible, to avoid bloodshed, achieving results through peace negotiations, alliances and dynastic marriages.
The campaigns brought him a stunning success: the power that he managed to bring together became the largest in the medieval world. Covering the Punjab, Afghanistan, Kashmir, it occupied most of the Hindustan peninsula. Although Akbar said that "the ruler must always strive for conquest, otherwise his neighbors will raise weapons against him." Campaigns of conquest were not an end in themselves for him, but rather a cruel necessity, a means of creating a monolithic and powerful state. Historians note that in campaigns Akbar showed a minimum of violence and a maximum of mercy ...

To create an empire, Akbar understood that an alliance was needed with the original inhabitants of India, and first of all with the Rajputs, who are considered the “sons of the rajas”, or “the sons of kings”.
Akbar treated them not as a conquered hostile population, but as his loyal subjects. He did not follow the religious policy of his predecessors, who treated the Hindus as second class people, subjected them to persecution, destroyed Hindu temples and imposed exorbitant taxes on them, which they alone were obliged to pay. In 1563-64, Akbar abolished this tax. Many of his chief officials and court ministers were Hindus.

Akbar abolished the Muslim lunar calendar and applied the local solar calendar, he forbade Muslims to kill and eat sacred Hindu cows, abolished the death penalty for apostasy and financed the maintenance of a wide variety of religious institutions, regardless of their direction. He put justice and human dignity in the foreground, relegating certain religious prescriptions to the background. This was reflected, in particular, in the fact that he fought against slavery, adopted by some groups of Muslims, and adherents of the higher Hindu castes were forbidden to burn widows after the death of their husbands.

In 1562, Akbar married the Indian princess Jodh-bay, whom, contrary to common custom, he allowed to keep her
religion - Hinduism, and which became for the lord not only a beloved wife, but also a friend and like-minded person, and the political union grew into a union of two loving hearts for life.

In 1562, he issued a decree forbidding the conversion of captives into slaves, and around the same year, for the first time, gave Hindus the opportunity to make a career at court and hold public office. With these reforms, he won the support of the Indian nobility and later, relying on their military power and using it as a counterweight to the Muslim courtiers, to a large extent strengthened his position.

On May 16, 1562, his half-brother Adham Khan attempted to assassinate Akbar, and this event had a significant impact on the formation of his personality: from a carefree young man, he turned into a purposeful, strong-willed husband. Interestingly, the year 1562 became decisive not only for the formation of Akbar's personality, but also for his worldview, which was caused by a deep spiritual crisis. He felt that his life had so far been aimless and vain, since all his activities did not benefit him or those around him. He came to the conclusion that the only path leading to spiritual liberation is the path of selfless service and help to all people, regardless of their gender, position, race and religion. It was this philosophy and understanding that became the foundation for his subsequent life and work.

In 1574, having completed the main territorial formation of the state, Akbar began to carry out internal reforms, like a wise builder who, having erected walls and a roof, calmly equips a house from the inside. The aim of the reforms was to create a powerful centralized state on the basis of fair and equal treatment of all peoples inhabiting it.

The wealth of the Great Moghuls began to be legendary. It was then that the idea of India as a fairy-tale country took root. The peasants, who knew their duties, gathered several harvests a year, the merchants received a good profit from the trade in spices and products of famous Indian masters. And India was famous in the world then, as, indeed, now, for its deposits of gold and precious stones.
The constancy and consistency of the reforms carried out by Akbar led to the implementation of a unique cultural synthesis of Hinduism and Islam, which allowed the empire founded by Akbar to exist for more than a century and a half.

Never slipping into fanaticism, Akbar was a truly religious man, striving all his life to reveal and comprehend the hidden truth.
"The worldview system developed by Akbar united the best laws of all beliefs - Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism - becoming a state ideology. The Sufi doctrine that all religions are different, equally acceptable ways of serving God, was the basis for an attempt to choose from the most reasonable traits of all faiths. The same idea is conveyed by the Buddhist ruler of ancient India, King Ashoka: "... not the humiliation of other beliefs, not the unreasonable depreciation of others, but it is necessary to pay respect to all beliefs for everything that is worthy of reverence in them. "Great Akbar with the wise Jod -bay, creating the temple of the One Religion, thought about the same great containment ... ”(N. Roerich.)

In order to properly understand the essence of Islam and other religions, in 1575 Akbar built a "Prayer House" for religious discussions, which in itself was an unheard of innovation. It was a most beautiful building with a majestic dome, designed specifically for debates on theological topics, in which Akbar himself took an active part.

Akbar is trying to establish a new mystical creed in the country, which he called din-i illahi (“Divine Faith”), developed together with Abu al-Fazil, combining the most moral ideas from different creeds: Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, Sufism (which had an impact on his great influence) and partly Christianity. However, Akbar did not force anyone to follow either a new or any other religion, relying on the mind and free will of a person.

This artificially constructed religion, which was more like an order of initiates or a brotherhood, found followers mainly among the people, while Akbar counted on attracting precisely the courtiers. Abu-l Fazl writes about crowds of followers, about "thousands of thousands of people of every kind."
Akbar saw his main task in reconciliation of the various peoples inhabiting his expanded empire. He made no attempt to impose the new doctrine by force.

During the reign of Akbar, Christian churches, Jewish synagogues and Muslim mosques were built in his lands - and he visited them all," wrote the Indian philosopher and musician Hazrat Inayat Khan.

Akbar was a bold innovator and therefore had many enemies, primarily from among the orthodox Muslims. "The great Emperor Akbar always said that enemies are the shadow of a person and that a person is measured by the number of enemies. At the same time, thinking about his enemies, he added: my shadow is very long."

In the reign of Akbar, whose policy was distinguished by wisdom and tolerance, the foundations of a national culture were laid. The mutual influence of the Hindu and Muslim traditions did not interfere with the preservation of their individual traits.
In general, during the reign of Akbar, as well as other padishahs from the Mughal dynasty, art and science, supported by the state, were at the highest stage of prosperity. Thanks to this, even today we can enjoy, in particular, the majestic architectural monuments built during the time of the Great Moghuls, and the luxuriously published books of that era, decorated with extraordinary quality miniatures of the Mughal school of painting, combining the best achievements of the Persian-Tajik and Indian miniatures.
Akbar became famous as a fine connoisseur and connoisseur of literature. By his order, many Indian writings were translated into Persian, and Muslim texts into Sanskrit. In total, during his reign, more than 40 thousand books were translated, a rich library was collected, numbering more than 24 thousand volumes. He created a cultural environment around himself: famous poets and artists lived at his court, he sheltered Tansen, the translator of the great ancient poem "Ramayana" into the modern Indian language and the legendary singer, who was later revered as the sacred patron of all singers. His closest associate, vizier Abu-l-Fazil, was a versatile educated man who spoke many languages and left notes about Akbar's reign. According to Abu-l Fazl, several thousand poets were in the service of the ruler, and about 700 of the most famous writers are mentioned and is cited in historical chronicles of the time.

Akbar was a great patron of painting, having inherited the wealth of Timurid palace culture and palace art. Through Jesuit priests, he also learned European art, especially painting. Book illustrators have long flocked to the courts of his predecessors. Their works were studied and developed by the artists of Akbar's court, collected mainly from traditional Indian art centers. The portrait genre was especially popular; Akbar himself posed for artists with pleasure and ordered portraits of all the courtiers for his collection. In order for people to better understand other religions, Akbar ordered Indian epics such as Ramayana, Mahabharata, Hari-vansha to be translated into Farsi and illustrated, since the emperor adhered to the belief that "they contain the Truth." Akbar patronized historians, and during his reign the fundamental historical work Akbar Noma (Book of Akbar) was written.

Another hobby of Akbar was music. It is known that he was its connoisseur and connoisseur and he himself played the nakkara - Indian timpani - excellently. Outstanding musicians of different nationalities gathered at the court: Indians, Persians, Turanians .. Schools for ordinary people were established in villages and cities, where they were taught to read, write and count. The number of higher educational institutions for Muslims and Hindus increased, in the program of which Akbar was new subjects were introduced: medicine, history, arithmetic, geometry, economics of housekeeping, as well as the science of morality and behavior in society. In the new capital, Agra, Delhi, he personally founded educational institutions.

Akbar was a great man. Tireless and inquisitive, he slept only a few hours a day, did not shy away from any work - he spent hours analyzing the reports of officials, followed the work of his assistants, and instead of resting he forged iron in the forge, hewed stones, was engaged in wood carving and could cut a camel faster than any shepherd .

October 25, 1605 Akbar - a commander, God-seeker and peacemaker - dies at the age of 63, having been at the head of state for almost 50 years ...
Akbar leaves a rich legacy. After his death, the Mughal Empire occupies two-thirds of the peninsula and is considered one

1.2 Rise of Mughal India under Akbar. Akbar (1556 - 1605)

During almost half a century of Akbar's reign in North India, the power of the Mughals was again strengthened. Akbar made his capital Agra on the Jumna River.

The reign of padishah Akbar (1556-1605) was the "golden age" of the Mughal empire. Having strengthened his power in the north, including the Punjab, Akbar enlisted the support of a significant part of the Rajput warriors (he became related to some Rajput leaders, including the Rajpug princesses in his harem) and soon took possession of almost the entire Rajputana. Then Gondwana, Gujarat, Bengal, Kashmir, Orissa were added to the empire. Almost all of northern India was under the rule of Akbar, who proved himself a skilled ruler.

Akbar was the grandson of Babur who won the long war for dominance over India; he wanted to calm the strife-torn country and sought the support of the holy sheikh revered by the people. He wanted to establish "universal peace", "solh-i kull", - peace between Muslims and Hindus, rich and poor, warriors and peasants. Akbar ordered to erect around the cell of the old sheikh the magnificent "City of Victory", Fathpur, and on the site of the cell itself - a "Prayer House", where priests of different religions gathered to create a new "divine faith" - "din-i ilahi". The new faith was supposed to unite Muslims and Hindus, winners and vanquished under the divine authority of the padishah, whom some called the new prophet, while others called the incarnation of Buddha. The Rajputs, who until then had fought fiercely against the Muslims, recognized this authority and sent their warriors to the army of the padishah; in the vast expanses from the mouth of the Ganges to the spurs of the Hindu Kush, peace was finally established / Antonova, 1973, p. 96/.

Akbar understood that the Hindus would faithfully serve him only when he respected their religious customs. Therefore, in 1563, he abolished the tax on Hindu pilgrims, and a year later he abolished the jiziya. These taxes were apparently restored under the influence of the Muslim jagirdars, but again abolished in the early 80s of the 16th century.

The resistance of orthodox Muslim dignitaries to the new religious course made Akbar doubt the correctness of the tenets of orthodox Islam. In 1575, a prayer house was built in Fathpur Sikri (specially for discussing religious issues). Furious disputes during the discussions led to the fact that Akbar began to move further and further away from Muslim orthodoxy. Akbar's adviser and friend, including in religious politics, was Abu-l Fazl. His father, Sheikh Mubarak, was persecuted for Mahdism, and Abu-l Fazl had to wander with his father in exile in his early youth. Abul Fazl himself professed a very tolerant form of Sufism and opposed the official clergy, believing that all roads lead to God and that there is something true in every religion. Abu-l Fazl awakened in Akbar an interest both in non-Muslim religions and in various "heretical" teachings, which at that time were the banner of the people's anti-feudal opposition.

Akbar, showing a sincere interest in various religions, began to get acquainted with the beliefs of the Hindus, Parsis, Jains and Christians. At his request, three Jesuit missions were sent to him from Goa; the leader of one of them, Montserrate, left valuable notes for historians. At his court, Akbar began to introduce the customs of the Hindus and Parsis.

This caused in 1580 a widespread and dangerous uprising for Akbar, led by sheikhs, who issued a fatwa (religious injunction) about his overthrow as a "heretic". The centers of the uprising were Bengal and Punjab, where the discontented feudal lords nominated the governor of Akbar in Kabul, the youngest son of Humayun from another wife, as a candidate for the throne. Akbar managed to suppress this rebellion with difficulty. Returning to Agra as a victor, Akbar began to plant a new religion at court, which he called "din-i-ilahi" (divine faith), in which reasonable, in his opinion, elements of the main religions of India, while absurd, in in his eyes, the rites of both Hinduism and partly Islam were ridiculed. At the same time, Akbar was exalted as a "fair ruler" in the spirit of the Mahdists.

Continuing the reforms begun by Sher Shah, Akbar carried out a number of new ones that laid a solid foundation for governing the country. All lands were declared public. The general land cadastre was completed and the amount of tax collection from each of the districts was clearly defined: according to some sources, the total tax collection at the end of the 16th century. reached 166 million rupees. A significant part of the lands was given on the basis of conditional non-hereditary official possession to military leaders-jagirdars. Jagirs, which differed from iqt mainly in their size, were large land holdings that brought their owners huge incomes of hundreds of thousands of rupees. With this money, the jagirdars, of whom there were about two thousand under Akbar, were obliged to maintain detachments of soldiers in an amount corresponding to the rank of the commander and the size of the jagir, from 100 to 5 thousand horsemen. Some of the principalities that obeyed Akbar also acquired the status of a jagir, and in general, among the jagirdars of Akbar, there were no more than 20% Hindu Hindus, mainly due to the Rajput warriors / ibid., p. 112/.

The system of jagirs, which opened up considerable opportunities for abuse (even Sher Shah tried to force the jagirdars to brand horses with their names and regularly conduct reviews of troops in order to prevent the practice of randomly hiring the first people and horses that came across only for ostentatious checks), did not like Akbar. Like Sher Shah, he even tried to destroy it, replacing it with money from the treasury. However, this attempt caused revolts, and the padishah was forced to abandon the reform. On the other hand, he strictly ensured that the jagirdar did not have any administrative, let alone financial and tax power in his possession.

In addition to the jagirs, there were also possessions of vassal princes-zamindars, who paid tribute to the treasury and independently disposed of all other income. The princes were, as before, the hereditary owners of their principalities, and even more so, the subjects of centralized redistribution in their domains. In principle, in each of the principalities, as if in miniature, the same scheme was reproduced as in the empire as a whole: part of the land belonged personally to the prince, the income from it went to his treasury, while the rest of the lands and income from them were given as official soldiers and officials. Over time, lands of the zamindari category began to be considered private property and were sometimes divided into small plots (like an Islamic mulk) / Ashrafyan, 1977, p. 65/.

In the Mughal Empire, there were two forms of state ownership of land - khalisa and jagir.

All the conquered territory went to the fund of state lands, called khalisa. From this fund, the ruler distributed jagirs, as well as awards to various clergymen and theologians. Such fluidity of the khalis does not allow us to calculate its dimensions. Khalisa was purely state property.

Jagir is a conditional award. The person who received it was obliged to "win a detachment of troops corresponding to the size of the jagir, of which the main backbone of the ruler's army consisted. The land given to the jagir continued to be considered state property. The size, method and form of collection of land tax were determined, not by the jagirdar itself, but were prescribed by the state; jagir daras were usually not inherited and after the death of the owner went to the treasury, one property could be taken away from the jagirdar and given to him in return another, and in another part of the country.Under Akbar, such movements were quite frequent to combat separatism, so the jagirdar owned one and the other land on average no more than ten years.

Usually a jagir was a large estate, sometimes covering several tens of thousands of hectares. The Jagirdars under Akbar valued their rights very much; when in the late 70s - early 80s of the XVI century. Akbar tried to eliminate the jagir system and move on to paying salaries from the treasury, jagirdars / Ashrafyan, 1969, p. 70/.

Akbar was a noble warrior who sincerely wished to do good to people - but the real ruler of the state was not he, but the wise and all-seeing first minister, Sheikh Abu-l Fazl. Abu-l Fazl was a follower of Abdullah, who sought to establish justice and order by the power of power - as he was understood by Muslim ulema jurists. He stopped the robberies of the conquered population, imposed fair taxes and abolished the "jizya" - the tax that the "infidels" used to pay as a sign of their obedience to the Muslims. Emirs of hundreds and thousands were allocated "jagirs" - districts, part of the taxes from which went to the maintenance of their detachments. The emirs did not have the right to raise these taxes and were required to regularly appear with their soldiers for review; horses, weapons, training were checked from their soldiers - and if something was wrong, then the jagir could be taken away.

In 1574, Akbar, seeking to streamline relations within the feudal class, introduced a hierarchy of positions (mansabs), distributing jagirs to military leaders according to their rank (za-tu). However, the jagirdars found ways to get around the regulations and spent less than the amount set by the authorities on the upkeep of the detachments. I had to legalize it and introduce a new gradation (savar). Zat remained the rank, and the savar showed how many horsemen the commander had to actually support (for example, a thousand-man could contain a thousand, five hundred, and even four hundred horsemen). The size of the jagir began to depend on the zat and the savar. As a result, awards increased and the fund of state lands - khalisa - began to decline.

Indian peasants have long lived in communities, they jointly uprooted the rainforest, built ponds, dug irrigation canals and wells. At first, the upturned virgin lands were redistributed among the community members, and then the fields were assigned to families; large allotments relied on the headman and the community scribe, who collected taxes and took money to the city government. The peasants did not live well: their dwellings were round clay huts without windows; a wooden post in the middle of the hut supported the thatched roof; there was no furniture - only a chest in which earthenware and copper utensils were stored. A hole was dug in the earthen floor for rice water, it fermented and turned into strong vodka; there was plenty of rice, there was still plenty of land; after long wars, finally, the time of peace came and the peasant could plow his field in peace; he could even save a few coins and buy his wife a pair of bracelets: according to custom, Indian women wore precious bracelets on their arms and legs; looking at them, one might think that they are very prosperous - but these bracelets passed from mother to daughter contained all the wealth of the family / Alaev, 1971, p. 70/.

The peasants did not hear anything about the new "divine faith", which came up with padish Akbar, and worshiped the old gods - Buddha, Shiva, Vishnu. In the cities, many ancient temples were preserved, the walls of which were decorated with thousands of statues; during the conquest, the Muslims destroyed some temples and turned others into mosques - however, the conquerors made up only a small part of the population and there were few mosques.

The city of Muslims was Delhi - a huge military camp, where the king's army returned during the rainy season and where the palaces of the emirs stood interspersed with thatched houses of ordinary warriors. These warriors were the descendants of the conquerors - Afghans, Turks and Mongols, and the ruling dynasty was Mongolian: Babur and Akbar descended from Tamerlane - therefore the padishahs were called the Great Mughals. The language of the capital was Persian, and the Muslim nobility were brought up in Persian culture; poets imitated the great Ferdowsi, and statesmen - Shahanshah Abbas the Great.

Back in 1569, Akbar gave the order to build a new city in Sikri, about 20 km from Agra, where Babur defeated Rana Sanga. By order of the padishah, Akbar's courtiers built palaces-pavilions in a deserted place for several years. A beautiful city of red sandstone arose, which became the capital of Akbar and was named Fathpur Sikri (i.e. Sikri - the city of victory). On the site of the cell of Sheikh Salim Chish-tp, who predicted the birth of a son to Akbar, a building was built. Much later it was made of white marble, and it became the prototype of subsequent white marble palaces and mausoleums of the Moghuls. When the city grew, it turned out that there was not enough water in it. Therefore, in the 80s, Akbar's court left Fathpur Sikri, which is not inhabited at the present time. Being a valuable architectural monument, it serves as a place of pilgrimage for tourists / Ashrafyan, 1983, p. 211/.

Artisans, united in castes, depended on the feudal authorities, who appointed the head of the caste and a broker (dalala), who sold handicrafts in the market. Artisans who worked in state workshops were even more dependent, where equipment was made for the army, as well as products for the ruler, which he could distribute to his entourage.

The system of advance payments and purchase of goods was the most common form of enslavement of an artisan by a merchant. The merchants gave money to the craftsman in advance for food or for the purchase of raw materials, and the craftsman was obliged to give his product to this particular merchant and at a cheaper price. On the western coast of India, the main types of crafts and trade were subject to a tax that was farmed out.

At the same time, Akbar sought to suppress such sectarian movements that were directly directed against the power of the Mughals. So, with all his might, he attacked the Muslim sect of the Roshanites, whose adherents were a number of Afghan tribes, primarily the Yusufzai. The founder of the Roshanite movement was Bayazid Ansari (1524-1585), who opposed both the feudalizing Afghan nobility and the oppression of the Mughal Empire. Akbar in 1585-1600 sent a number of punitive expeditions against the Roshanites, who captured the mountain passes between India and Kabul, but suffered several heavy defeats. Finally, he managed to suppress the actions of the Afghan Roshanites, but after the death of Akbar, they rebelled again.

In the 80s, Akbar again began to pursue a policy of conquest, but now it was only about expanding the boundaries of a firmly established empire. In 1586, taking advantage of the turmoil and struggle of various pretenders to the throne, Akbar sent troops to Kashmir and captured it. However, to keep this mountainous country in subjection, an army had to be sent again. In 1589, Akbar annexed Kashmir to his possessions, setting a tax in kind (wool and saffron) for it. The cool climate and the beauty of the Kashmir lakes won the heart of the ruler, and Kashmir became his favorite place for summer holidays.

In 1590, Akbar sent his pupil Abdur-Rahim, the son of Bairam Khan, to conquer Thatta (Sind). The former ruler of Thatta became one of Akbar's courtiers. In 1592, Orissa was captured and annexed to the Bengal region, and in 1595 Balochistan was conquered and Kandahar was taken from Persia. At the same time, the Mughal armies began to invade the Deccan. From 1583, they began to besiege Ahmadnagar, the capital of the principality of the same name, the weakest of the decan sultanates, until the ruler of Ahmadnagar in 1599 recognized himself as a vassal of the Moghuls. Most of its territory, including Doulatabad, was incorporated into the Mughal Empire. After that, the Mughal troops under the command of Akbar himself besieged Asirgarh for two years, the strongest fortress of the independent Khandesh principality that had separated from Ahmadnagar earlier. In January 1601 the fortress surrendered. In these wars, the weakness of the Mughal army was manifested - the result of a decline in the morale of the military leaders. They, accustomed to luxury, carried with them a huge convoy of personal property, which hampered the maneuverability of the army, and thought more about feasts than about feats of arms /Antonova, 1973, p. 129/.

No matter how hard Akbar tried to establish his "divine faith", the Muslim nobility stood their ground, and after the death of the padishah, Islam again became the religion of the court. In 1605 Akbar died. Salim, his son, ascended the throne under the name Jahangir. In the last years of Akbar's life, Salim rebelled against his father and settled in Allahabad. Agra remained the capital of Salem.

Political discussions have not led to concrete steps. However, World War II convinced European countries that they could not live without each other. Conclusion Having considered the economic and political aspects of the history of Europe at the end of the Middle Ages and the era of the Modern Age, we can draw the following conclusions: Europe of the Modern Age and the peoples inhabiting it were formed on the basis of the Middle Ages and the processes

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And at the same time, the Russian government gave the British an official assurance that "it considers Afghanistan outside the sphere of Russian influence." Having secured themselves from Russia, the British launched an offensive against Afghanistan. A new wave of British aggression in the 1870s and 1880s was associated with the development of British capitalism into a monopoly stage. At the same time, the British tried to use the war ...

The following literature was used in the control work: the works of the classics of Marxism-Leninism, a textbook on the History of Asia and Africa in modern times, the New History of India, as well as other literature on this topic. English conquest In the middle of the XVIII century. of all Europeans, the French and English East India Companies had the strongest positions in India. A series of wars of conquest that...

Akbar the Great

“The people of India will not mix with many glorious names the name of Akbar, the collector, the creator of a happy people's life. The people do not forget and will not ascribe to any diminishing motives the broad thoughts of the great unifier of India. In Hindu temples there are images of Akbar, despite the fact that he was a Muslim. Radiance is depicted around the head of the emperor, which is not always the difference between a simple ruler. For India, Akbar is not just a ruler, but the consciousness of the people is well aware that he was the spokesman for the soul of the people. Just like many, sacred in memory, names, he collected and fought not at all for personal insatiability, but creating a new page in great history.
Nicholas Roerich

Emperor of India Jalal-ad-Din Muhammad Akbar, popularly calledAkbar the Great descendant of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, grandson of the founder of the Mughal dynasty, Babur.

The Portuguese Jesuits, invited to the court, describe Akbar’s appearance as follows: “His posture and appearance eloquently testify to royal dignity, so that anyone understands at first sight that he is in front of a real ruler ...

The forehead is high and open, the eyes are so bright and radiant that they resemble a sea sparkling in the sun. The face, always calm, clear and open, is full of dignity, and in moments of anger - awesome grandeur.

The complexion was light, but with a slight swarthy tint. When he was calm and thoughtful, he had nobility and great dignity. In anger he was majestic."

Akbar was of average height, athletic build. Passionately loved sports and was known as a fearless and valiant hunter.

Translated from Arabic, Akbar means “Great”, and his life is the best evidence of this. “By actions and movements, he was not like the people of this world, and the greatness of God was manifested in him,” wrote his heir Jahangir.

Akbar the Great was born on October 14, 1542. As a child, Akbar was accompanied by unusual signs that foreshadowed his great future.

While still a baby, he spoke to his nurse, comforting her in difficult times. At the age of three, he picked up and threw over his shoulder a five-year-old boy.

At the age of 13, he inherited the throne of his father after his tragic death in 1556.

The empire at that time, torn apart by wars and rebellions, was in a state of chaos. To eliminate the turmoil, confusion and disorder caused by the struggle for power, between the sons of Babur, on February 14, 1556, Akbar, urgently, the highest dignitaries and military leaders, was proclaimed Shahinshah, which meant from Persian "King of Kings".

The commander was appointed the guardian of the minor monarch Bairam Khan.

Four years later, Bairam Khan, due to court intrigues, was removed from government and removed from the court. Akbar began to rule independently. By this time he was 18 years old.

He was a young man with extraordinary abilities. He was an avid hunter. There is a case when he hand-to-hand killed a wounded tigress. Loved sports. He was a true master in the art of riding horses and camels. He loved to ride elephants. One day Akbar tamed an enraged elephant that had just killed its driver. Akbar was interested in military affairs. He had an extraordinary memory - he remembered the nicknames of all his war elephants, of which there were several thousand in his army.

Akbar proved to be a successful commander and a valiant warrior. He was generous to the defeated, as well as a wise politician who tried to avoid bloodshed where possible, achieving results through peace negotiations, alliances and dynastic marriages.

Campaigns of conquest were not an end in themselves for Akbar, but rather a cruel necessity, means of creating a monolithic and powerful state. The power that was brought together became the largest in the medieval world. Covering the Punjab, Afghanistan, Kashmir, it occupied most of the Hindustan peninsula. When conquering neighbors, Akbar showed a minimum of violence and a maximum of mercy.

To create an empire, Akbar understood that an alliance was needed with the original inhabitants of India, and first of all with the Rajputs, who are considered the “sons of the rajas”, or “the sons of kings”. Instead of military action against them, he preferred to conduct friendly negotiations. And in 1562 Akbar married an Indian princess jodh bai .

Akbar, contrary to common custom, allowed her to keep her religion - Hinduism. Jodh-bay became for the lord not only a beloved wife, but a friend and like-minded person. Thus, the political union grew into a union of two loving hearts for life.

Despite all the efforts of the teachers, he never mastered the Arabic script, day and night he forced himself to read books and greedily asked those around him about everything that interested him. But, even being very busy, he always found a fraction of his time for daily reflection and concentration.

His secret ill-wisher, the historian Badauni, reports: “For many days in a row in the mornings one could see how he, immersed in prayer or sad reflection ... He sat near the palace (in Fatehpur Sikri) in a deserted place, bowing his head to his chest and absorbing grace morning hours."

Akbar was not only a philosopher, but also a practitioner: it is difficult to name a craft or an art that he did not know. The Jesuits noted with amazement the breadth of the emperor’s interests: “He could be seen immersed in state affairs or giving audiences to his subjects, and the next moment you could find him shearing camels, hewing stones, or busy carving wood, or forging iron - and all this he did it with great diligence, as if it were his special calling.”

He came to the conclusion that the only path leading to spiritual liberation is the path of selfless service and help to all people, regardless of their gender, position, race and religion. It was this philosophy and understanding that became the foundation for his subsequent life and work.

In 1574, having completed mainly the territorial formation of the state, Akbar began to carry out internal reforms. The aim of the reforms was to create a powerful centralized state on the basis of fair and equal treatment of all peoples inhabiting it.

First of all, he strengthened control over the army, carried out a new administrative division of the state, and established a unified system of taxation. The tax reform was based on the strictest accounting, which did not allow officials to hide and plunder a significant part of the fees. At the same time, it was provided for the non-collection of taxes in case of crop failure and famine, the issuance of loans in money and grain.

A unified system of weights and measures was introduced throughout the empire, as well as a unified solar calendar based on the data of Ulug-Bek's tables.

The padishah paid great attention to the development of trade, which he started even with Europeans. In an effort to expand the dominance of the Mughal Empire in India and win over the Hindu society, Akbar actively attracted Hindu rajas to important positions in the state and the army.

As a ruler, he was distinguished by great wisdom. Akbar often forgave rebellious vassals, and in most cases this was to his advantage, for it turned them into faithful servants of his master.

“Akbar, called the great one, treated his enemies very carefully. Favorite adviser kept a list of enemies. Akbar often asked if any worthy name appeared on the list. “When I see a worthy person, I will send greetings to a friend in disguise.” And Akbar also said: “Happy, because he could apply the sacred Teaching in life, he could give contentment to the people and was shaded by great enemies.” (Agni Yoga, 270)

He stopped distributing land to his commanders and soldiers, and began to pay salaries. In the cities, he organized the courts and the police, which kept order.

The constancy and consistency of the reforms carried out by Akbar led to the implementation of a unique cultural synthesis of Hinduism and Islam, which allowed the empire founded by Akbar to exist for more than a century and a half.

Akbar the Great - united not only the peoples of Hindustan, but was able to try on many different religions in one state. Akbar believed in the unity of the source of all religions.

Being a Muslim himself, he became interested in different religions, collecting the best that can be found in other religions, he did all this with his inherent talent and spirit of research, contrary to all the principles of Islam.

The conviction gradually grew in his heart that there are prudent people in all religions. Thus, if true knowledge can be found everywhere, then why should the truth be the property of only one of the religions?

In order to properly understand the essence of Islam and other religions, in 1575, Emperor Akbar built a “Prayer House” for religious discussions, which in itself was an unheard of innovation. It was a most beautiful building with a majestic dome, designed specifically for debates on spiritual topics, in which Akbar himself took an active part.

“The worldview system developed by Akbar united the best laws of all beliefs - Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism - becoming the state ideology ... The Sufi teaching that all religions are different, equally acceptable ways of serving God, was the basis for an attempt to choose from of all faiths, the most reasonable features ... Honoring all beliefs for everything that is worthy in them, the Great Akbar with his wise wife Jodbai created the temple of the One Religion. Nicholas Roerich

Canceled the Muslim lunar calendar and applied the local - solar,

– he forbade Muslims to kill and eat the sacred Hindu cows,

- abolished the death penalty for apostasy

- financed the maintenance of a variety of religious institutions, regardless of their directions.

He put justice and human dignity in the foreground, relegating certain religious prescriptions to the background. This was reflected, in particular, in the fact that he fought against slavery, adopted by some groups of Muslims, and adherents of the higher Hindu castes were forbidden to burn widows after the death of their husbands.

Akbar is trying to establish a new mystical creed in the country, which he called din-i illahi - "Divine Faith". It combined the most moral ideas from different creeds: Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, Sufism and partly Christianity.

It is noteworthy that the adherents of din-i illahi exchanged greetings: “ Allahu Akbar!”, which simultaneously meant “Akbar and God!” and “Great is the Lord!”, each time they meet, reminding each other of the Highest.

Akbar did not force anyone to follow any religion, relying on the mind and free will of man. Tolerance was his hallmark. Akbar saw the main task in the reconciliation of the various peoples inhabiting his empire. He made no attempt to impose the new doctrine by force.

As already mentioned, one of the main principles of the policy of the Great Emperor was the principle of religious tolerance - solh-i-cool, "peace for all". He wrote: “It should be noted that the grace of the Lord marks all religions, and every effort must be made to reach the ever-blooming gardens of the world for all.”

“During the reign of Akbar, Christian churches, Jewish synagogues and Muslim mosques were built in his lands - and he visited them all,” wrote the Indian philosopher and musician Hazrat Inayat Khan.

In the reign of Akbar, whose policy was distinguished by wisdom and tolerance, the foundations of a nationwide culture were laid, in which the mutual influence of the Hindu and Muslim traditions did not interfere with the preservation of their individual features. In general, during the reign of Akbar, art and science, supported by the state, were at the highest stage of prosperity.

Construction and architecture enjoyed special attention of the ruler. Thanks to this, even today one can enjoy the majestic architectural monuments built during the time of the Great Moghuls, and the luxuriously published books of that era, decorated with extraordinary quality miniatures of the Mughal school of painting, which combined the best achievements of the Persian-Tajik and Indian miniatures.

Akbar became famous as a fine connoisseur and connoisseur of literature. By his order, many Indian writings were translated into Persian, and Muslim texts into Sanskrit. In total, during his reign, more than 40 thousand books were translated, a rich library was collected, numbering more than 24 thousand volumes.

He created a cultural environment around himself: famous poets and artists lived at his court, he sheltered Tansen, the translator of the great ancient poem "Ramayana" into the modern Indian language and the legendary singer, who was later revered as the sacred patron of all singers.

His closest associate, vizier Abu-l-Fazil, was a versatile educated person who spoke many languages and left notes about Akbar's reign. According to Abul-Fazil, several thousand poets were in the service of the ruler, and about 700 of the most famous writers are mentioned and quoted in the historical chronicles of that time.

The far-sighted and wise ruler paid great attention to the education of his subjects. Schools were established in villages and cities for the common people, where they were taught to read, write and count. The number of higher educational institutions for Muslims and Hindus increased, in the curriculum of which Akbar introduced new subjects: medicine, history, arithmetic, geometry, household economics, as well as the science of morality and behavior in society. In the new capital, Agra, he personally founded educational institutions.

Akbar was a great patron of painting, having inherited the wealth of Timurid palace culture and palace art. Through Jesuit priests, he also learned European art, especially painting.

His vizier and historiographer Abu-l-Fazil wrote: “The works of all artists are brought to His Majesty every week. The overall finish, the combination of colors and the freedom of expression in these miniatures is incomparable.” Akbar said, "that artists have very special ways of understanding the divine."

The portrait genre was especially popular; Akbar himself posed for artists with pleasure and ordered portraits of all the courtiers for his collection. Akbar daily looked through the works of the artists of his studio, rewarding the best "according to their merits." The last two decades of the 16th century marked by the rise of the Akbar school of painting, which illustrated a large number of manuscripts.

In order for people to better understand other religions, Akbar ordered Indian epics such as Ramayana, Mahabharata, Hari-vansha to be translated into Farsi and illustrated, since the emperor adhered to the belief that "they contain the Truth." Akbar patronized historians, and during his reign the fundamental historical work Akbar Noma (Book of Akbar) was written.

Despite his great wealth and power, and the splendor and splendor that surrounded him, Akbar remained a man of simple habits: he ate little and abstained from eating meat for at least six months of the year. He did not like meat, he called meat dishes tasteless. The only reason he did not give up meat completely was the fear that "many of those who wished to follow his example might become discouraged as a result." However, in his domain, for six months of the year, the slaughter of livestock was forbidden, as an obscene spectacle.

His beloved wife Jodh-bay took part in all the affairs and creative undertakings of Akbar. Their love was a symbol of mutual respect and state concerns. Jodh-bai gave the wisest advice to Akbar, and Akbar was very proud of the great queen.

Akbara was excellent at recognizing people. He selected capable and gifted assistants. History has preserved the names and deeds, the most famous of them - the Muslim Abu-l-Fazil, the Hindu sage Birbal, the singer Tansen, the commander Man Singh.

Akbar the Great, died October 25, 1605 at the age of 63. He stayed at the head of state for almost 50 years.

After his death, the Mughal Empire occupies two-thirds of the peninsula and is considered one of the most powerful states on Earth. Beloved wife of Jodh Bai, after the death of Akbar, continued the progressive undertakings of her husband.

Until now, Akbar remains for the Indians a symbol of mercy, justice and nobility.

The huge empire, thanks to the constant care of its ruler, reached such a flourishing under Akbar, which was neither before nor after him. He rightfully remained for centuries under the name of Akbar the Great - the wise ruler and unifier of peoples, whose ideas of the unity of the source of all religions survived the centuries.