topics: |  history | india | mughal | biography

Jalal ad-Din Akbar (1542–1605) was the third ruler of the Mughal dynasty of India. In some important respects, however, he can be regarded as the first. His grandfather, Zahir ad-Din Babur (1483–1530), had invaded the country in 1526 from Kabul, and during the four years that were left to him made the first conquests here. In much of northwestern and northern India power was then in the hands of an immigrant Afghan (“Pathan”) clan called the Lodis. Having seized the throne in 1451, these were the last of a long sequence of Muslim kings ruling from Delhi since the beginning of the thirteenth century – the Sultans of Delhi. Babur defeated the Indo-Afghan ruler Ibrahim Lodi (1517–1526) but hardly left a permanent mark in the country. He considered India “a country of few charms,” and made his conquests almost by default, after his triple failure to hold Samarqand against more powerful Uzbek rivals. By the time he invaded India, Babur had started to think of Kabul as his home base.At his own request, he was taken back to Kabul after his death in Agra in 1530, to be interred in a modest, uncovered grave in the garden on the western slopes of a mountain that became known as “Babur’s Garden.”

Babur’s son and successor Nasir ad-Din Humayun (1508–1556) – Akbar’s father –
was forced out of India in 1540 by a short-lived resurgence of Indo-Afghan
power under the formidable Sher Shah – not of the Lodi but of the rival Sur
clan. Returning to India fifteen years later with an army provided by the
Safawid emperor of Persia, Humayun died a year later after a fall in his
library.

Most writers on the subject have for these reasons regarded Akbar, succeeding
Humayun in 1556, as the real founder of the Mughal empire. For instance, the
Venetian physician Niccolao Manucci,who spent the second half of the
seventeenth century in the “Mogor” (as Mughal India was then called in
Portuguese), wrote about Akbar: “There is no doubt that this king was the
first who brought Hindustan into subjection, and was the most successful in
war” (Manucci, I, 147).

The dynasty of the Indian Mughals was considered primarily Turkish-Timurid in
the sixteenth century, since female parentage was insufficient to make it
truly Mongol-Chingisid in Central Asia.  But because in India there were no
claimants to true Chingisid credentials, the name Mughals, which is simply
Persian for “Mongols,” began to be applied to them fairly soon, and this is
how they became known to posterity, even though Babur would not have referred
to himself as such and rather would have called himself a Turk and a Timurid.

Opposition from Brothers

Humayun arrived at his first meeting with Shah Tahmasp of Persia and was
asked what had led to his defeat by the Afghans, his blunt answer was: “The
opposition of my brothers” (MT, I, 569).
[MT: Ranking, G. S. A. (transl.), Muntakhabu-t-Tawarikh by Abdul-Qadiri
ibn-i-Muluk Shah al-Badaoni, 3 vols (Delhi, 1990); Ahmad Ali, M. (ed.),
Muntakhab at-Tawarikh, 3 vols (Calcutta, 1864–1869).]
Akbar, however, faced this problem only to a minor degree. He merely had one
half-brother, Mirza Muhammad Hakim, who, being nine years younger,was too
young to be a rival when Akbar came to the throne...  [he was eventually]
fitted out with the princely domain of Kabul... Having had a late start, he
died young in 1585,and only made history as “the forgotten prince.”

Among the Great Mughals (1526–1707) only Akbar’s son Jahangir (1605–1628) was
blessed with an equal lack of politically dangerous brothers. In Jahangir’s
case it was because his two brothers and rivals for the throne died in their
early thirties from the effects of alcoholism, when Akbar was still on the
throne.

--blurb
The greatest of the Mughal emperors, Jalal ad-Din Akbar was a formidable
military tactician and popular demagogue. Ascending to the throne at the age
of thirteen, he ruled for half a century. During his rule he expanded the
Mughal empire and left behind a legacy to rival his infamous ancestors
Chingis Khan and Timur. Renowned for his attempts to integrate the diverse
religious heritage of India, he was a true polymath who, although illiterate,
was active in a number of intellectual pursuits." "In this fascinating
biography, Andre Wink provides glimpses into Akbar's personality and life,
and analyses both his role in the history of the Indo-Muslim world and his
legacy as an institution builder. Contrasting his reign with those of his
nomadic ancestors, this lucid study is an essential read for anyone
interested in the history of India and South Asia.