The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c15.96

v4.c15.96

This act of aggression was entirely unprovoked and there was not the shadow of a pretext for it except Akbar's own frankly expressed view of a king's duties, "A monarch should be ever intent on conquest, otherwise his neighbours rise in arms against him." There is nothing surprising in the discovery that an eastern monarch of the sixteenth century was a mere annexationist requiring no excuse for attacking his neighbours beyond a desire to acquire their possessions, but Akbar has been so extravagantly lauded, not only by his own secretary but also by some modern writers, that it is necessary to remember that in this respect at least he was no better than other eastern rulers of his age.