Essay on Akbar

Akbar came from a line of distinguished warriors and rulers. Akbar's grandfather, Babar, was related to both Genghis Khan and Timur the Turkish conqueror. Babar defeated the Sultan of Delhi and took over much of northern India. His son, Humayun, ruled the empire until it was invaded by an Afghan named Sher Shah. Thus Akbar's childhood was filled with fighting and he was raised to be a warrior. By the time he was 13, his father had died and he was the successor to the Mughal throne. For a time he was advised by Bairam Khan, the man who helped his father regain certain territories lost to Sher Shah. With his help, Akbar successfully destroyed the Afghan threat and ushered in a period of peace and prosperity.

This destruction that Akbar brought as a Muslim ruler over his reluctant Hindu populace included the massacre of over 30,000 captive Hindus after taking the Chitod in 1568. Like the ancient Assyrians, Akbar was found of making a tower of severed heads as a reminder to his conquered subjects. As his heart was turned from Islam by his hundreds of non-muslim wives, he either became less violent or there was less violence available to him.

One of the great accomplishments Akbar made was the formation of a centralized bureaucracy and well-organized government. As the padshah ("ruler of the empire"), he appointed mansabars ("military governors") to be put in charge of provinces in his empire. These governors were responsible for their region and were severely punished and killed if they misused their power to hurt the peasants. Besides this, Akbar imposed a tax on land which applied to everyone equally. This was an important innovation because the wealthy landowners were usually not taxed before. Akbar also dropped the tax on non-Muslims and appointed several Hindus to high positions in his court. He married a Hindu princess in order to cement his relationships with the neighboring Hindu kingdoms. Akbar's kingdom was the only kingdom to allow Hindus to live under their own laws and form their own courts instead of having Muslim laws imposed on them. He believed that all religions should be tolerated and that the ruler should treat all beliefs equally. Because of Akbar's lenience towards non-Muslims, the Mughal Empire enjoyed a time of opulence and relative harmony.

Akbar's court consisted of scholars, poets, philosop