Mughal Empire Mughal Empire india

The major trade gateway and departure harbour of pilgrim ships to Mecca, the Kingdom of Gujarat on the west was a strategic point to conquer for Akbar. He captured Gujarat at the end of 1573.

He extended his territories by taking Kandahar, Sind, Pakistan, Bengal to Deccan in the south and even the reputed Kashmir in 1586.

Akbar preferred to keep peace with Rajputs or other Hindus by marrying women of the dynasties. He made his first marriage with the daughter of raja of Amber (Jaipur) in 1562 when he was nineteen. It was known that he had over three hundred wives although it was forbidden to have more than four wives except in one verse allowing a kind of second marriage without any number which was sanctioned by a Shia advisor replacing his Sunni chief advisor. The daughters of Akbar were not allowed to marry with any ruler in order to prevent probable threats. He also positioned senior Rajputs into his service.

The Sufi mystic namely Shaikh Salim Chishti informed Akbar that he could have three sons. When Akbar’s first wife the daughter of raja of Amber was pregnant, he sent her to Sheikh’s small town of Skirl, twenty three miles west of Agra. Salim, lately to be known as Jahangir, the emperor was born in August 1569. Murad and Daniyal were born at Sikri and at another Christi shrine from other mothers. Akbar changed the capital from Agra to the new built city Fatehpur Sikri (the city of victory) to celebrate this good fortune and to emphasise the success at Gujarat.

As being a true humanist, he showed great respect to other religions and he stopped the visiting taxes to Hindu’s holy site of Mathura and all other pilgrim taxes within the Empire’s borders in 1563. The regulations in administration and land cultivated the empire. He also made reformation in weight and measurement system, also, introduced square shaped silver rupee as the Empire’s new currency written “Allah Akbar” meaning God is Great or ironically God is Akbar….rather than using only his name. He held the Empire’s supreme power, therefore, his words and decisions were not disputable if they are not against Koran. Ibadat Khana “the house of worship” was built with Akbar’s order and was functioning as the questioning point where the theologians of varied faiths performed with real curiosity and eagerness.

Akbar’s religious tolerance and intellectual curiosity were among his initial ideas of governance and were the keys to the devotion of the conquered lands Akbar examined the principles of Hinduism and Buddhism based on the law karma and Confucius. He tried to understand the aims of Zoroastrians in Persia, Jains with the belief of causing no harms to living things which consequently supported vegetarianism. He also admired the idea of Sikhism which identified God beyond religion. The matter was to find and walk through God’s way no matter what the difference was between human beings. He met with Jewish traders and Christian Europeans with the hope of imposing their religion