The Institutes of Akbar 133.8

133.8

These accursed monks applied the description of cursed Satan, and of his qualities, to Muhammad, the best of all prophets—God’s blessings rest on him and his whole house !—a thing which even devils would not do. Bir Bar also impressed upon the emperor that the sun was the primary origin of every thing. The ripening of the grain on the fields, of fruits and vegetables, the illumination of the universe, and the lives of men, depended upon the Sun. Hence it was but proper to worship and reverence this luminary; and people in praying should face towards the place where he rises, instead of turning to the quarter where he sets. For similar reasons, said Bir Bar, should men pay regard to fire and water, stones, trees, and other forms of existence, even to cows and their dung, to the mark on the forehead and the Brahminical thread. Philosophers and learned men who had been at Court, but were in disgrace, made themselves busy in bringing proofs. They said, the sun was ‘the greatest light,’ the source of benefit for the whole world, the nourisher of kings, and the origin of royal power. This was also the cause why the Nauroz i Jalálí was observed, on which day, since His Majesty’s accession, a great feast was given. His Majesty also adopted different suits of clothes of seven different colours, each of which was worn on a particular day of the week in honor of the seven colours of the seven planets.