The Institutes of Akbar 135.7
The Áín i Akbari (Blochmann, Jarrett) 135.7
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135.7.1
Nos. 4 to 6 are taken from the Ain; the others are mentioned in the above extracts from Badaoni. The literary element is well represented in the list. The above extracts from Badaoni possess a peculiar value, because they show the rise and progress of Akbar’s views, from the first doubt of the correctness of the Islam to its total rejection, and the gradual establishment of a new Faith combining the principal features of Hinduism and the Fireworship of the Parsis. This value does not attach to the scattered remarks in the Ain, nor to the longer article in the Dabistan. As the author of the latter work has used Badaoni, it will only be necessary to collect the few remarks which are new. The following two miracles are connected with Akbar’s birth. [Dabistan, p. 390.] “Khwajah Mas’úd, son of Khwajah Mahmúd, son of Khwajah Murshid-ulhaq, who was a gifted Çáhib i hál,” said to the writer of this book, “My father related, he had heard from great saints, that the Lord of the faith and the world ‘reveals himself.’ I did not know, whether that august personage had appeared or would appear, till, at last, one night I saw that event, and when I awoke, I suddenly arrived at that place, where the blessed Lord was born, namely on a Sunday of the month of Rajab of the year 949, the lord Jaláluddin Akbar, the august son of Humáyún Pádisháh and Hamídah Bánú Begum.” The second miracle has been related above, on p. 163, note 3.
135.7.2
These two miracles make up the first of the four chapters, into which the author of the Dabistán has divided his article on the “Divine Faith.” The second chapter contains religious dialogues, and extracts from Badaoni, which are rather conjecturally rendered in Shea’s Translation. The third chapter contains remarks on the worship of the sun and stars, chiefly with reference to the sun-worship of the Tatars. The last chapter contains extracts from the third and fifth books of the Ain. P. 410. ‘His Majesty also sent money to Írán, to bring to India a wise Zoroastrian of the name of Ardsher.’ P. 412. Abulfazl wrote, as a counterpart to his commentary on the Ayatul-kursí (p. 169), a preface to the translation of the Mahabharat (vide p. 105) of two juz. P. 413. ‘When Sultan Khwajah, who belonged to the members of the Divine Faith, was near his death, he said that he hoped, His Majesty would not have him buried like a mad man. He was therefore buried in a grave with a peculiar lamp, and a grate was laid over it, so that the greater luminary, whose light cleanses from all sins, might shine upon him. * * * Should a Hindu woman fall in love with a Muhammadan, and be converted to the Islam, she would be taken away by force and handed over to her family; but so should also a Musalmán woman, who had fallen in love with a Hindu, be prevented from joining Hinduism.”
135.7.3
P. 414. “I heard from Mullá Tarson of Badakhshan, who was a Hanafi by sect, that once during the year 1058, he had gone on a pilgrimage to Sikandrah, the burial place of Akbar. ‘One of my companions,’ he said, ‘declined to enter the pure mausoleum, and even abused the Representative of God [Akbar]. My other companions said, “If Akbar possesses hidden knowledge, that man will certainly come to grief.” Soon after a piece of a broken stone fell down, and crushed his toe.’ P. 481. “In Multán, I saw Sháh Salámullah, who has renounced the world, and is a muwahhid (Unitarian). He is very rigid in discipline, and avoids the society of men. He said, he had often been in company with Jaláluddín, Akbar, and had heard him frequently say, ‘‘Had I formerly possessed the knowledge, which I now have, I would never have chosen a wife for myself; for upon old women I look as mothers, on women of my age as sisters, and on girls as daughters.” A friend of mine said, he had heard Nawáb Abul Hasan, called Lashkar Khán of Mashhad, report the same as having been said by Akbar.
135.7.4
Salámullah also said that God’s Representative (Akbar) had often wept and said, ‘‘O that my body were larger than all bodies together, so that the people of the world could feed on it without hurting other living animals.” A sign of the sagacity of this king is this, that he employed in his service people of all classes, Jews, Persians, Túránís, &c., because one class of people, if employed to the exclusion of others, would cause rebellions, as in the case of the Uzbaks and Qizilbáshes (Persians), who used to dethrone their kings. Hence Sháh Abbás, son of Sultán Khudábandah i Safawí, imitated the practice of Akbar, and favoured the Gurjís (Georgians). Akbar paid likewise no regard to hereditary power, or genealogy and fame, but favoured those whom he thought to excel in knowledge and manners.” The passages in the Áín which refer to Akbar’s religious views are the following:—p. III; 11; 48; 49; 54; 57; 58, l. 4 from below; Áín 26, p. 61; p. 90, notes 3 and 4, the Sanscrit names being very likely those which were alluded to by Badáoní, vide above p. 180, l. 18; p. 91, note 3; p. 103, note 3; 104, 105, 106; p. 108 l. 22, because the “making of likenesses” is as much forbidden by the Islám, as it was interdicted by the Mosaic law; Áín 72, p. 158; 159; Áín 77, p. 162; Áín 81, p. 216. In the Second Book, Áíns 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25; in the IIIrd book, end of Áín 1 (Táríkh Iláhí); Áíns 2, 5, 9, 10; and lastly, the greater part of the fifth book.
135.7.5
It will be observed that the remarks on Akbar’s religious views do not extend beyond the year 1596, when the greater part of the Áín had been completed. Badaoni’s history ends with A. H. 1004, or A. D. 1595; but his remarks on Akbar’s religion become more and more sparing towards the end, and as subsequent historians, even Jahangir in his ‘Memoirs,’ are almost entirely silent on the religious ideas of the emperor, we have no means of following them up after 1596. Akbar, in all probability, continued worshipping the sun, and retained all other peculiarities of his monotheistic Parsi-Hinduism, dying as he had lived. The story related in that edition of Jahangir’s Memoirs which has been translated by Major Price, that Akbar died as a good Musalman, and ‘repented’ on his death-bed, is most untrustworthy, as every other particular of that narrative.
135.7.6
With Akbar’s death, the Divine Faith died out. Akbar, solely relying on his influence and example, had established no priesthood, and had appointed no proper person for propagating his faith. If we except the influence which his spirit of toleration exerted, the masses had remained passive. Most of the members, mentioned on p. 209, had died before Akbar; such as were still alive, as Sharif of Amul took again to sophistry, and tried to create sensations under Jahángír. As Jahángír did not trouble himself about any religion, Akbar’s spirit of toleration soon changed to indifference, and gradually died out; when a reaction in favour of bigotry set in under Aurangzeb. But people still talked of the Divine Faith in 1643 or 1648, when the author of the Dabistán collected his notes on Akbar’s religion.