The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c15.40

v4.c15.40

It was chiefly to Bairam Khān, ably supported by Khān Zamān, that Akbar owed his throne. It was inevitable that a young man of Akbar’s force of character should emerge from a state of tutelage, but he would have done well to wait, for he was not yet fit to assume sole charge of his empire and remained for four years more under the pernicious influence of the harem party. The means by which he escaped from Bairam’s influence was probably the best which he could have adopted, but the insults and ungenerous treatment which drove the protector into rebellion would be a blot upon his memory were it not certain that they originated with Bairam’s bitterest enemies in the harem party.