[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) › 389.2.3 # The Book of Akbar 389.2.3 The Akbarnama (H. Beveridge), vols. I–II 389.2.3 - **Language:** English ### [389.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.389.2.3) ostensibly, he was prosecuting hunting and elephant-fights which the ignorant regard as a kind of neglect of the duties of sovereignty, but which the wise regard as the cream of practical skill. In those very amusements which led the superficial into this error there appeared certain actions which involuntarily brought such superficialists into the highway of devotion and made them travellers on the path of true knowledge. Among them is the following extraordinary occurrence. The story of this instructive affair, and of this opener of reason’s ear is as follows. The elephant Hawai was a mighty animal and reckoned among the special elephants. In choler, passionateness, fierceness and wickedness he was a match for the world. Strong and experienced drivers who had spent a long life in riding similar elephants mounted him with difficulty, so what could they do in the way of making him fight? That royal cavalier of bravery’s plain and tiger-hunter of audacity’s forest one day without hesitation mounted this elephant, in the very height of its ferocity, on the polo-ground which he had made for his pleasure outside of the fort of Agra, and executed wonderful manoeuvres. After that he pitted him against the elephant Ran Bagha which nearly approached him in his qualities. The loyal and the experienced who were present were in a state such as had never happened to them before. - [Previous: 389.2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.389.2.2) - [Next: 389.2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.389.2.4) - [Up: 389.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.389.2) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.389.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.mughal.akbar.akbarnama~en-beveridge.389.2.3) · Pramāṇa