At a glance
Era 9- Dates
- 1542-1605 CE; ruled 1556-1605 CE
- Who
- Mughal emperor who built the empire's government and ruled for half a century
- Era
- The Safavids & the Mughals
ProfileAkbar
Akbar became emperor at thirteen, in 1556, and ruled for almost fifty years. He expanded the empire across northern India, from Kabul to Bengal and Gujarat.
He bound the Rajput chiefs to the empire by alliance and marriage and made them generals and governors. He organised his officers in ranks, the mansabdari system, and with his minister Todar Mal set fair land taxes based on surveys. He ended the tax on Hindu pilgrims and the jizya. He could not read, but he had books read to him daily and gathered scholars and artists at his court.
In his later years he held debates among the learned of many religions, claimed final authority on religious questions, and encouraged a circle around himself that many Muslim scholars saw as a departure from Islam. The Naqshbandi scholar Ahmad Sirhindi was among those who opposed it. Akbar died in 1605.
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SourcesSources for this profile
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