Name - Medini Sriram

Date - 6th November 2016

Subject - History of India V

Topic - Akbar’s Religious Policy

Roll Number - 142065

 Akbar’s Religious Policies

In around 1541, after being defeated in battle at Chausa and Kannauj,

Mughal emperor Humayun retreated from Bikaner and was offered
shelter by the raja of Amarkot. Here, at Amarkot, in 1542, one of the
greatest Mughal rulers, Akbar, was born. Akbar succeeded his father
Humayun at the age of 13 and under the guidance of his tutor Bairam
Khan, expanded and reconsolidated the Mughal domains in India.
During the 15 century, many rulers in the country made an attempt to
th

promote greater understanding between the Hindus and the Muslims.

They did so by giving patronage to local languages and literature,
having secular and religious literature in Sanskrit translated into
Persian, and adopting a more liberal policy of religious tolerance. In
some instances, Hindus were even given important jobs in the army
and in services at the court. These attempts of secular and religious
tolerance are seen through the works of popular saints such as Kabir,
Chaitanya and Nanak, who emphasized the essential unity of Islam and
Hinduism in different parts of the country, and laid stress upon religious
practices that were based on love and devotion, rather than those
which were based on rituals and the literal interpretations of books of
devotion.
This appeared to create an atmosphere of liberal sentiment where
views could grow in an educated manner, and where religious narrow-
mindedness began to be looked down upon. It was during the
emergence of this atmosphere that Akbar was born and brought up.
After ascending the thrown, one of the first actions taken by Akbar was
to abolish jizyah or the poll tax which all non-Muslims were required to
pay in a Muslim state. The removal of this tax was more an act of
symbolism because the tax was not a heavy amount, rather it was
disliked because it made a big distinction between subjects, and
sometimes was used by the ulama to humiliate non-Muslims.
Furthermore, jizyah was often considered to be a symbol of Muslim
domination and superiority. Similarly, in places such as Prayag and
Banaras, he abolished pilgrim taxes. The forced conversion of prisoners
of war to Islam was also abolished during Akbar’s reign. Inculcating
such liberal principles into his kingdom created the essential foundation
of an empire based on equal rights to all citizens, irrespective of their
religious beliefs. These new liberal principles were further strengthened
by the addition of Hindus, especially those who were associated to the
Rajput rajas, to the nobility. Many of these relations occurred by
entering into matrimonial relations with Akbar.
The union of Muslim and Hindu rulers through marriages between the
Muslim rulers and the daughters of Hindu monarchs was not an
unusual practice, but most of these marriages had not created any
stable personal relations between the concerned families, rather, the
girls generally never came back home after marriage and were lost to
their families, such as Maldeo, the powerful ruler of Jodhpur who had
his daughter married the Sultan Mahmud of Gujarat, and his other
daughter to the Sur ruler. Akbar, however, did not follow these
established policies and instead gave complete religious freedom to his
Hindu wives, and honoured their parents and relations by giving them
place in the nobility.
This policy of Akbar’s towards the Rajputs was combined with a much
broader policy of religious toleration and proved mutually beneficial to
both parties. Akbar succeeded in cementing his alliance with the Rajput
rulers through his policy of inducting them into Mughal service and
treating them on par with the Mughal grandees, and through his
courteous behavior to former opponents. In doing so, Akbar
established an empire which Rajput rajas did not consider harmful as
they were allowed a large measure of autonomy to cater to their best
interests. This Mughal alliance with the Rajputs, established through
Akbar’s Rajput policy, was continued by his successors Jahangir and
Shah Jahan. It proved beneficial to the Mughal state as well as securing
them with the services of the bravest warriors in India, which played an
prominent factor in the consolidation and expansion of the empire.
Though there is some controversy amongst historians as to whether the
famous ‘Jodha Bai’ was Akbar’s wife or daughter in law, her wedding
proves to be prime example of Akbar’s willingness to be open to
Hinduism. In order to strengthen his position with the Mughal rulers,
Udai Singh is said to have married his daughter Jagat Gosain or as she is
popularly known Jodha Bai, to Akbar’s eldest son, Salim. Unlike the dola
form of earlier marriages, the Mughal groom went to the raja’s house
in a barat that is traditional of Hindu weddings. Many other Hindu
practices were followed as well during the proceedings.
Another example of Akbar’s compassionate policies towards Hindu
rulers is seen through his personal relations with the rulers of Bikaner
and Bundi. When the son in law of Rai Singh Bikaner died in 1593,
Akbar personally went to the raja’s house and consoled him, along with
dissuading his daughter from performing sati, an act through which a
woman would to throw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre so as to
not live without him.
The attitude Akbar held towards his Hindu subjects was closely linked
with his views of how a sovereign should behave. Abdul Fazl, Akbar’s
biographer, explained that this attitude was some amalgamation of
Timurid, Persian and Indian ideas of sovereignty. He felt that the office
of a true ruler was responsible and depended on ‘divine illumination’ so
that no one could stand between God and a true ruler. He elaborated
on this by distinguishing a true ruler through paternal love towards his
subjects without distinction of sect or creed, rather through a large
heart so that the wishes of his subjects are attended to by prayer and
devotion to God, the real ruler. Along with this Akbar believed that it
was the duty of the ruler to maintain equilibrium in society by not
allowing people of one rank or profession to interfere with the duties or
obligations of another. He believed that all these constituted, along
with not allowing a sectarian strife to rise, to create a policy to provide
peace to all.
In the beginning of his life, Akbar followed the practices of an orthodox
Muslim, but by the time he reached adulthood he began to be
influenced by the mysticism that was being preached throughout the
country. It is told that he spent whole nights and days in thoughts of
God and in prayer and contemplation. Turning away from the narrow
path of orthodoxy, he gathered a band of talented people with liberal
ideas at the court. Akbar built a hall called Ibadat Khana or the Hall of
Prayer at his new capital of Fatehpur Sikri in 1575, and selected
theologians, mystics, and those of his courtiers who were known for
their scholarship and intellectual attainments. It was here that Akbar
discussed religious and spiritual topics with them trying to find out the
principles of true religion. Initially these proceedings were confined to
Muslims, but after the mullahs displayed narrow-minded pride and
conceit in their learning, Akbar opened the Ibadat Khana to people of
all religion, from Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Jains, to even
atheists. This broadened the discussions and debates on which all
Muslims generally agreed on.
This act of Akbar’s horrified the theologians and rumours of all kinds
began to circulate about Akbar’s desire to forsake Islam. Rebellion
broke out in the east in 1580 and a number of fatwas were given by the
qazis that declared Akbar to be heretic. The qazis received drastic
punishment and Akbar suppressed the rebellion. Following this he also
issued a declaration, known as mahzarnama which asserted that if
there were conflicting views among those who were fit to interpret the
Quran, then he was entitled to choose any one of the said
interpretations which would benefit the nation and be in the interest of
good order, as he being a just and wise king ranked higher in the eyes
of God.
However, the debates of the Ibadat Khana led to great bitterness rather
than a better understanding between different religions, as the
representatives of each religion denounced the others in order to prove
that theirs was truly superior to the others. Finally in 1582 Akbar had to
discontinue the debates in the Ibadat Khana. He did not however give
up on his quest for true understanding of religious practices.
He invited Purushottam and Devi to illustrate to him the doctrines of
Hinduism, and Maharji Rana to explain the doctrines of Zoroastrianism.
In order to better understand Christian doctrines, he sent an emissary
to Goa and requested them to send two learned missionaries to his
court. Akbar listened to the learned works of various religions and
made contact with their spiritual leaders, and gradually through
meeting with the Sufi saints and yogis, he was convinced of the fact
that while there might be differences of sect and creed, at the core all
religions had a number of good points and that behind all the
multiplicity of name and forms, there was only one God, but also these
valuable points were often forgotten in the heat of a controversy.
Akbar felt that if the good points of various religions were all
emphasized the atmosphere of harmony and amity would prevail which
would be good for the country.
Abd al-Qadir Bada’uni asserts that as a result of this education, Akbar
turned away from Islam and set up a new religion, called tauhid-i-Ilahi,
that was a compounded form of Hinduism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism
and many others. Modern historians however do not accept this view
and believe it to be highly exaggerated as there is little evidence to
prove that Akbar ever even intended to promulgate a new religion.
In actuality however, tauhid-i-Ilahi was a Sufistic type of order where
those who were willing to join, and of whom the emperor approved,
were allowed to become members. According to Bada’uni, those who
were selected were to promise sacrifice of property, life, honour and
religion, and they were called murids. In enrolling such murids, Akbar
had a political purpose as well. What he wanted was a group of nobles
who were personally loyal to him and who would support him in his
concept of a state based on equal tolerance and respect to all sections
of society, irrespective of the religious beliefs they had. Bada’uni
apparently neither sympathized with or supported such a state but
ascribes this move of Akbar’s to being a way to create unworthy
flatterers who would suggest to him that he was the insdan-i-kamil or
the “Perfect Man” of the age. The tauhid-i-Ilhai died along with Akbar,
but the practice of enrolling murids did continue for some time under
the rule of Jahangir. Akbar’s attempt of tying the nobles to the emperor
by personal bonds, however, succeeded and many nobles continued to
pride themselves as being the murids of the emperor.
There were other ways as well through which Akbar tried to emphasize
and inculcate the concept of peace and harmony among different
religions. He set up a big translation department, for example, to
translate works of Sanskrit and Arabic into Persian. There were also a
number of social and educational reforms which Akbar introduced
during his reign. He stopped the act of sati almost entirely, except for
when the woman, of her own free will, chose and persistently desired
it. Women of a younger age who hadn’t even shared a bed with their
husbands were not allowed to be burnt at all. The remarriage of
widows was also legalized, and the marriageable age was raised by him
to 14 for girls and 16 for boys. He was also against the sale of spirits,
and of anyone having more than one wife unless the first wife was
barren. The arts which promoted secular attitudes also were given
more patronage. The education system at the time was also revised by
Akbar where he desired more emphasis on moral education,
mathematics and on secular subjects such as agriculture, geometry,
astronomy, rules of government, logic and history.
Though he lived in an age of superstition which restricted the success of
his vast social reforms and policies, Akbar’s policies of secular tolerance
and religious freedom were fundamental to the spread of ideas of
peace, unity and tolerance in times to come.
 Bibliography

History of Medieval India

By Satish Chandra