The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c16.111

v4.c16.111

In the same year Akbar conceived a vast and characteristically extravagant design of conquest which came to nought. His intention was first to subdue the independent kingdoms of the Deccan, then to wrest the province of Kābul from his brother, Muhammad Hakīm, to extend his authority over Badakhshān, still vexed by the disputes between Sulaimān and Shāh Rukh, and then to recover from ‘Abdullah II the Shaibānid, Transoxiana, the early home of his race. With a view to prosecuting the first part of his scheme he proposed to build at Allahābād, at the confluence of the Ganges and the Jumna, a site hallowed by Hindu legend, a great fortified city, which should serve the double purpose of securing the road to Bengal, hitherto so disturbed, and of forming an advanced post for the invasion of the Deccan by the little known eastern route through Gondwāna. He reached Allahābād in November, 1583, designated the site of his city and of four forts, only one of which was completed, and yet remains, and in February, 1584, on learning of his officers’ temporary successes against the rebels in Bengal, returned to Fathpur Sīkrī.