The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c3.4

v4.c3.4

Akbar, succeeding as a boy to a much smaller area than his grandfather had held, left at his death an empire extending from Qandahār to the Bay of Bengal and from the Hindu Kush to the Deccan; and apart from mere territorial acquisition he had realised as none of his predecessors had done that successful government is bound up with consent by the governed as well as with domination by the ruler. His methods of administration remained the ideal throughout the Mughul period, though neglected or distorted, and some of them still survive. Political success too often feeds egotism, and in Akbar’s case illiteracy withheld restraint so that his religious speculations bred derision.