Mughal Administration c12.s4.8

c12.s4.8

In addition to the *kurnish* and the *taslim* which all persons presented at Court had to make to the sovereign, the disciples of Akbar had to perform the *sijdah* or prostration by bowing down the forehead to the ground. This is an exercise performed at the Muslim prayer, and therefore the orthodox regarded it as a ceremony exclusively due to God. Akbar yielded to the public discontent and very prudently restricted the prostration to the hall of private audience. Its popular name was *zamin-bos* or kissing the ground before the throne. This abject mode of showing respect prevailed in ancient Persia as well as the Hindu States. Religious leaders are entitled to it, as we see daily around us. Abul Fazl justifies it by saying that “They look upon a prostration before his Majesty as a prostration before God ; for royalty is an emblem of the power of God.” (i. 159).