[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) › 364 # The Book of Akbar 364: FIRMĀN OF JALĀLU-D-DĪN U-AD-DANIYĀ AKBAR PĀDSHĀH GHĀZĪ. The Akbarnama (H. Beveridge), vols. I–II 364 - **Language:** English ### [364](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.364) Be it known to the Khān-Khānān that whereas he has been nourished and cherished by this sublime family and his duties of good service to this Court have been ascertained, and as H.M. the king Jannat-Āshyānī (Humāyūn)—May God be bountiful to him! on account of the good qualities and sincerity which appeared in him, bestowed favours on him, and confided to him the great office of being our guardian (atālīq), and whereas, after that king had departed from the defiles of this world to the wide spaces of the eternal world, he (Bairām) with loyalty and sincerity bound upon his waist the girdle of devotion and discharged the offices of prime minister (vakīl), we, observing his alacrity in that service, and his seemingly good dispositions, left to him the bridle of loosening and knotting to the utmost extent conceivable. Accordingly, whatever he wished, good or bad, was carried out, and thus in these five years some improper acts of his came to light which disgusted everyone, such as his patronage of Shaikh Gadāī so that he made him Sadr, and in spite of the office's requiring consummate ability and knowledge, he, on account of his own private companionship and intimacy, chose him from among all the men who were fit for it by capacity and lineage. And in addition to making him Sadr and allowing him to endorse decrees with his seal, he exempted him from the ceremony of homage (taslīm), and in spite of his utter ignorance and want of capacity, he gave him precedence in the paradisaical assemblies over all the Saiyids of noble rank and all the distinguished ‘Ulama, to whom we paid reverence on account of their rank and qualities. He thus showed in the clearest manner his contempt for the purest and holiest family, (that of Muhammad) in spite of his boasting of his love and affection for that lineage. He gave his protegé, who was rejected and despised by everyone precedence over those who were divinely nurtured, and feeling no shame or reverence before the holy spirits of all our ancestors, he advanced him to such a rank that he appeared before us on horseback and took us by the hand! To his own menial servants, whose conditions and qualities were well-known, he gave the titles of Sultan and Khan, and presented them with flags, kettle-drums, rich fief, and productive territories, whilst he with total want of considerations made the Khans, the princes, the officers, and the trusted servants of H.M. Jahanbani Jinnat Ashiyani, whose rank, claims and qualifications are known to everyone, to be in want of even dry bread. Nay, he aimed at the life and honour of all of them, and he took no thought for old servants and domestics, who had served for years in hopes (of reward) and had become entitled to kindness and favour, and did not provide them with even the smallest offices which might have been a means of livelihood to them. As for those who in hunts and expeditions had done service and had undergone thousands of labours and troubles, he every now and then fabricated lies against them and thirsted for their blood. He committed various immoderate and disproportioned acts. If his own servants committed a hundred faults, such as murder, theft, highway robbery, plundering, &c., and these were brought to his notice, he from partiality and hypocrisy took no notice of them; whereas if a small thing were done by the Court-servants, or were slanderously alleged against them, he had no hesitation in imprisoning them or in putting them to death, or in plundering them. He also practised various kinds of oppression and insults for purposes - [Previous: 363](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.363) - [Next: 365.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.365.1) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.364](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.364) · Pramāṇa