Akbar The Great

Jalaludin Mohammad Akbar or Akbar The Great was the son of Nasiruddin Humayun. He was born on 15th October 1542 in the Rajput fortress of Umarkot, Sind. When he was born Humayun was in exile He was raised by his uncle Askari and his wife in Afghanistan. In his youth he learnt to hunt, run and fight but he never learnt to read and write, but was a well informed ruler with refined taste in every field. He ascended the throne on 14th February 1556, when his father Humayun died of an accident. At that time Akbar was barely 13 years old and in his initial days he was under the guidance of one of his father's minister Bairam Khan.

After ascending the throne he decided to destroy the power of Sikander Shah Suri, son of Sher Shah Suri, in Punjab, and left the city of Delhi under Tardi Beg Khan. He succeded in this and Sikander Shah withdrew from the territories, but in Delhi, sensing the opportunity, another Hindu ruler Hemu attacked Delhi and Tardi Beg Khan fled the city. Akbar met the forces of Hemu at the second battle of Panipat and defeated him. He was a very efficient ruler and tried to bring almost whole of the India under his rule. For this he adopted various strategies, at some places he used his military power while at other he used his administrative skills. He formed marital alliances with many Hindu states. After marriage he did not force his Hindu wives to convert to Islam instead encouraged them to practice their own religion. He respected all the religions of the world. According to him all the religions lead us to one God. His secular outlook resulted in the formation of a new religion called Din-e-Elahi, Faith of the Divine. He built a building called Ibadat Khana (house of worship), where he encouraged religious debate.

He had Nine Navaratnas or nine jewels at his court, this include: Abul Fazel, Faizi, Tansen, Birbal, Raja Todar Mal, Raja Man Singh, Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana, Fakir Aziao-Din and Mullah Do Piazza. The last years of his reign were not peaceful. His son Salim, later known as Emperor Jahangir, rebelled against him. He died in Agra, and was buried in Sikandra, where his magnificent mausoleum stands today.