A Reassessment of the Real Akbar,the Third Moghul Emperor

Akbar was the third Mughal emperor to rule from Delhi. Generally he is credited as being a benevolent ruler who ruled over his Hindu subjects with compassion. But like Ripley’s believe it or not the real facts about the reign of Akbar can be startling. An examination of these facts will show that we have to revise our opinion of Akbar and maybe the title ‘the great’ dropped as his suffix.

The Killings by AkbarAkbar’s reign started after the third battle of Panipat fought on 05 November 1556. In this battle he faced the Hindu king Samrat Hemu along with his General Bairam Khan. Hemu was a formidable warrior and he had inculcated an element of fear in the minds of the Moslems, who had earlier defeated 22 times.

However a lucky accident saved the Mughal force from defeat, when an stray arrow hit Hemu in the eye and he was rendered unconscious. Hemu slumped on his war elephant and this demoralized the Hindu army disintegrated. The Moguls could thus by an act of providence win the battle.

Hemu was carried before Akbar in an unconscious state. Akbar without a thought severed the head of the unconscious Hemu with one blow. Some historians claim that Akbar did not sever the head and it was done by others. May or may not be true , but the subsequent victory celebrations are hard to explain. Hemu’s head was mounted on a pole and carried to Kabul while his body was sent to Delhi and exposed to the residents of the city. In addition Akbar and his General Bairam Khan ordered that the all the prisoners be beheaded and their heads made part of a victory pillar.

Peter Mundy an Englishman who travelled about 75 years later vouchsafed for these towers of Hindu Skulls as he saw them still being built during the reign of Jahangir and Shah Jahan.

The Massacre of the Rajputs

Akbar attacked the fortress of Chittor. He wished to subdue the fortress as its ruler was the only Rajput chief who never accepted Akbar as his lord and master. There is nothing wrong with this, but the aftermath of the battle has raised disturbing points. The siege of Chittor began in 1567 and after 4 months a chance musket shot killed the the Rajput Chief Jai mal. The Rajputs lost heart and their women committed ritual suicide by burning called ‘Jauhar’ to avoid falling into the hands of the Moslems. Later, the victorious Mughal army entered the fort of Chittor. At the time there were 40,000 Hindu peasants and artisans residing on the fort besides the Rajput army. It is on record that Akbar ordered 30,000 of the captured Hindu peasants who had supported the Rajputs to be done to death. The result was a mass slaughter the like of which has never been seen in the annals of Indian history. Even the Ala-ud-din Khilji who had captured the fort in 1303 CE never did anything like this.

Akbar’s ReignAs per some historians Akbar abolished the Jizzia. But the fact is that the Jizzia was abolished on paper but in practice it remained. In fact when Badyuni approached Akbar with a desire that he wished to wage a holy war against the Hindus and dye his beard and moustaches in their blood, Akbar was delighted and filled Badayuni’s hands with 50 gold coins.

Akbar was every inch a true Musalman and died as one. Through out his reign temples were razed to the ground and the slaughtered cows were strewn on their premises. An example is his rage after the battle of Nagarkot.

Fr Monserrate who travelled extensively and wrote a book Journey to the Court of Akbar 1580 writes ‘the religious zeal of the Musalmans has destroyed all the idol temples which used to be numerous. In place of the Hindu temples, countless tombs and little shrines of wicked and worthless Musalmans have been created.” Perhaps the time has come for a reassessment of Akbar the Great to one ‘not so great’