[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Mughals (1526–1857)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal) › [Akbar (1556–1605)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar) › [Akbarnāma](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama) › [The Akbarnama (H. Beveridge), vols. I–II](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge) › 290.3 # The Book of Akbar 290.3 The Akbarnama (H. Beveridge), vols. I–II 290.3 - **Language:** English ### [290.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.290.3) Now that the time of thanksgiving has arrived and that I wish to record my impressions—so that I may both give thanks and that a lamp of vision may be put in the path of the walkers in darkness, I am unaffectedly disturbed by the fact that I am in service and that there is a commercial nexus. Would that I had no outward acquaintance (with Akbar), and that I were not in the list of visible servants! so that the outwardly-seeing but inwardly-blind (might not reckon this individual among the crowd of flatterers), and that men might, through my apparent exclusion be led to the goal and attain felicity. Good God! panegyrics have been written of old about ascetics who had not a tithe of the tenth part of the excellencies of this Khedive of the Age, nay, many of them had naught but external semblance, and yet, because there was no reciprocity in the matter, men void of insight imagine that these are not flatteries but are representations of the truth! But now, at this day, when the story of the Leader (peshwā) of mankind, whether spiritual or temporal, is about to be told, I who have tracked the spirit of the age must bear on my heart's shoulder the burden of men's ill-understanding! But forasmuch as my first thought was to pay in some small measure my debt of gratitude, I am not saddened by this man-troubling burden (bdr-i-mardamdzdr). And wherefore should I be? And now rejoicing in my good intention I pass on as a swift nocturnal linkman! - [Previous: 290.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.290.2) - [Next: 290.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.290.4) - [Up: 290](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.290) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.290.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.290.3) · Pramāṇa