The history of India shows many invasions made in India by western people who came and conquered the land and started severe torture on the people. Many invaders have come to India as it was a rich and wealthy land in that period. Their atrocities have caused the local population to revolt against them around 1857 or so. But many great kings have also done good for the Indian people in the last few hundred years. Among them King Akbar was one.
Akbar the Great, as he is commonly called, was a third generation Mughal emperor. He reigned from AD 1542-1605. C. he was the grandson of Babur, who was the founder of this dynasty. Humayun was the father of Akbar. He ascended the throne at the age of 13 after the death of his father. Akbar’s army faced larger forces of the Hindu king Hemu with the help of Bairam Khan. He defeated Hemu and captured Delhi on October 6, 1556. He occupied most of northern India initially after the second battle of Panipat. Akbar has defeated Sher shah Suri, responsible for his father living in exile in Persia. But Akbar grew up in a Rewa village called Mukundpur. He extended his empire east into what is now Afghanistan. There he was raised by his uncle Askar. He learned to fight and hunt but did not learn to read or write. Later, after two decades of fair rule by him, he has even included most of central India in his kingdom as well. He was known for his good works and his righteousness. He was very interested in painting and literature. He had his palace painted with murals while doing many works in Sanskrit to Persian language.
Akbar had tremendous religious faith. Of course, he was born a Muslim, raised a Muslim, and died a Muslim. But he respects other religions and often organizes religious debates and spiritual discussions with Hindus and other religions. He founded a religious cult called Din-I-llahi.
Akbar’s first major conquest was Malwa in 1562. The Mughal army also conquered the land of Gonds by initiating Asaf Khan who was the then Mughal Governor of Allahabad. Asaf khan fought with Rani Durgavati, the queen of Gonds. After conquering Malwa, he brought under his control the land which is now distributed between Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bengal. The greatest victory of his in this campaign was the annexation of Chittor in 1568. Chittor was ruled by Maharana Uday Singh. He left the state posting two warriors to safeguard Chittor. Mughals demolished the entire fort and killed around 30000 men when they tried to hold out against the Mughal conquest. In memory of two warriors, Jaimal and Patta, who protected Chittor Akbar, they erected their stone statues in front of Agra Fort. Two Rajput clans from Chittor opposed him. They were Sisodiyas and Hadas. Maharana Pratap of Rajput dynasty still opposed Akbar even after Akbar took the kingship from Rajputs. In 1572 Akbar captured Ahmedabad, which is a land with fertile soils and highly developed handicrafts. Akbar dealt very meticulously with the tax system, military organization and political government which made him a successful emperor.
He had his story and life depicted in books called AkbarNama and Ain-I-Akbari by Abul Fazal. He had friendly relations with Hindus, Christians and Muslims. Akbar has always been one of the great kings of India.