The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c16.166

v4.c16.166

Salīm had done nothing in Mewār beyond compelling the Rānā to take to the hills, and his father’s unconcealed displeasure and obvious preference for Dāniyāl and the influential Abu-’l-Fazl’s bitter hostility fanned his smouldering disaffection into rebellion. He first proposed to march into the Punjab and raise the standard of revolt there, but his brother-in-law, Mān Singh, whose influence was great in Bengal, where he could count on the support of the now successful rebels in any movement directed against Akbar, persuaded him to select that province as the scene of his activities, and on 23 July he crossed the Jumna in the neighbourhood of Āgra on his way to Bengal. His grandmother, Akbar’s aged mother, hastened after him to implore him to make his peace with his father, but he avoided her and travelled by boat to Allāhābād, where he obtained possession of the treasure from Bihār, amounting to over three millions of rupees. Akbar feigned not to believe that Salīm was in open disobedience, and wrote to him warning him against the sin of rebellion. Salīm replied evasively, but persisted in his disobedience and appointed his own officials in the provinces of Allāhābād, Bihār and Oudh, ousting those appointed by his father. His success was largely due to his being the avowed enemy of Abu-’l-Fazl, who had encouraged the emperor in his religious innovations.