Was Akbar Great?

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Did Akbar give Hindus equal rights?

By Nidhi Bhasin

 

Medieval history of India records the best of the Mughals was "Akbar-

the-Great". He is especially praised for following secular principles

and has been credited in the annals of history for acting most

secularly and for treating the Hindus and Muslims as subjects. This

is nothing but a false twist that has been given to the facts of the

history. Modern Indians are kept in dark due to ancient historians

falsely recording the history to please the sovereigns and to further

help the cause of Islam.

 

Actually, he attempted to introduce a new religion called "Din-E-

Ilahi" (Faith of Divine). Some of his durbaris like Birbal, a Hindu,

duly accepted this new faith but there were others like Raja

Bhagwandas and Mansingh who refused to accept this new faith.

According to Din-E-Ilahi, there did not have to be any religious

ceremonies for religious purposes or no priest would spread or

promote any religious ritual. Akbar's Din-E-Ilahi ultimately perished

with his death.

 

Condemning his new religious gospel as an anti-Islamist folly, Muslim

fundamentalists like Badaumi (Islamic historian) called Akbar a

kafir.

 

The great monarch was less interested in removing the friction

between Hindus and Muslims but thought of introducing his own new

faith, of which he like Mohammed in Islam, wanted to be considered as

God's Prophet on earth—divinely blessed. Most people fail to see

through this game of Akbar-the-Great, who, while attempting to unite

Hindus and Muslims under his new religion wanted to become a Prophet

himself. Akbar himself was an illiterate and at a young age of 15 he

won the second battle of Panipat by slaughtering Hemu, considered to

be a kafir, and Akbar became a Ghazi for this. What more could Akbar

have aspired for after ruling over Hindustan for 56 years and being

known as Akbar-the-Great? It was no Indian national idealism that

prompted him towards any secularism. He never had any courage to

challenge the ulemas or the original Islamic doctrine of hating all

other religions except Islam.

 

While Indian history books and historians do not fail to uplift Akbar

by according to him unmerited virtues, Pakistani history books in use

in schools and colleges in Pakistan even today fail to accord him the

status of Akbar- the-Great.

 

Akbar had coined a new slogan of greeting among his new followers by

uttering words of admiration for his own religion and for himself as

a divinely created monarch on earth. The words were essential to be

uttered by the followers of Din-e-Ilahi while greeting each other and

announcing Allah-o-Akbar and Jallalahu. His own name was Jallaludin

Mohammed Akbar. While Indian history books and historians do not fail

to uplift Akbar by according to him unmerited virtues, history books

in use in schools and colleges in Pakistan even today fail to accord

him the status of Akbar-the-Great.

 

The readers can now see that what has been covered in the Indian

history books is far from reality yet Indian students are being

taught this myth.

 

(The author is doing research in History and can be contacted at 9/4,

Bradya Flats, Sorab Bharucha Road, Colaba, Mumbai-400 005.)