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Updated: June 4, 2025
The first was the dissensions of the generals sent from different parts of India to co-operate independently in the conquest, dissensions which necessitated, first, the despatch thither from Agra of the Emperor's confidant, Abulfazl, and afterwards, the journey thither of Akbar himself; secondly, the death, from excessive drinking, of the Emperor's son, Prince Murád, at Jálna; thirdly, the murder of Abulfazl, on his return to Agra, at the instigation of Prince Salím, the eldest surviving son of Akbar and his heir apparent.
Some time afterwards, a complete copy of the same work turned up, and on comparison it was found that in many places there were indeed different words, and in a few passages new proofs even had been adduced: but on the whole the restored portion presented so many points of extraordinary coincidence, that his friends were not a little astonished at the thoroughness with which Abulfazl had worked himself into the style and mode of thinking of a difficult author.
He had compelled the surrender of Ahmadnagar and Asírgarh, when, nominating Prince Dányál to be governor in Khándesh and Berár, and Abulfazl to complete the conquest of the territories dependent upon Ahmadnagar, he marched in the spring of 1601 towards Agra. The circumstances which required the presence of Akbar at Agra were of a very painful character.
Early then, in the ninth year of his reign, and in the twenty-third of his life, three years, be it borne in mind, before he had come under the influence of either of the two illustrious brothers, Faizí and Abulfazl, he, prompted by his own sense of the eternal fitness of things, issued an edict abolishing the jizyá. Thenceforth all were equal in matters of faith before the one Eternal.
He delighted in the old tunes of Khwárizm, and, according to Abulfazl, himself composed more than two hundred of these, 'which are the delight of young and old. The same authority states that 'his Majesty had such a knowledge of the science of music as trained musicians do not possess. Every day the court was treated to an abundance of music, the sounds of which have in all times been especially agreeable to Eastern monarchs.
Before even he had recognised the broad charity of the teachings of Abulfazl he had come to the conclusion that before founding a system of government it would be necessary to wage war against the bigoted professors who formed a power in his own empire.
At last, one memorable Thursday evening, Abulfazl brought matters to a crisis. Foreseeing the opposition it would evoke, he proposed as a subject for discussion that a king should be regarded not only as the temporal, but as the spiritual guide of his subjects. This doctrine struck at the fundamental principle of Islám, according to which the Kurán stands above every human ordinance.
I propose now to relate how the broad principles natural to Akbar and confirmed by his association with Faizí and Abulfazl, affected the system of administration introduced by the reforming sovereign. In a previous page of this chapter I have quoted an expression of his own, to the effect that he had, at one time of his reign, forced Bráhmans to embrace Muhammadanism.
But the friendship which, in the manner already described, had grown between his elder brother, Faizí, and the Emperor, prepared the way for the intimacy which Akbar longed for, and when, in the beginning of 1574, Abulfazl was presented as the brother of Faizí, Akbar accorded to him a reception so favourable that he was induced to reconsider his resolve to lead a life 'of proud retirement. He was then only twenty-three, but he had exhausted the sources of knowledge available in his own country.
But if Shaikh Faizí stood high in the favour of Akbar, his brother, Shaikh Abulfazl, the author of the Ain-í-Akbarí, stood still higher. Abulfazl was born near Agra the 14th January, 1551. He too, equally with his brother, profited from the broad and comprehensive teaching of the father.
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