Read Book Online : http://www.archive.org/stream/akbaremperorind00garbgoog#page/n10/mode/2up

can't say abt the book as haven't read it yet...........but awesome photo, lost for words...........he really was handsome n the painter has done full justice:)

wow...am speechless....where can i get a copy as i consider this particular period of mughal history truly fascinating and of great historical significance,as it was akhbar who actually laid the foundations of one of the greatest empires of his time...!!!

Jalal-ud-din Mohammad Akbar....emperor of India....there are very few emperors whom historians accords the title of 'great'

Download pdf Book : http://ia331215.us.archive.org/3/items/akbaremperorofin00garb/akbaremperorofin00garb.pdf

Madhu Jain : Have just provided the link for the downloadable pdf version of the book. : )

@Digvijay Singh: Agreed re the title of Great. Only 2 emperors in India have been accorded the title of "....The Great", viz. Ashok The Great who ruled in circa 3rd cent. BCE & Akbar The Great who ruled during 1556/1605 CE, with his famous 'Decree of Infallibility' proclaimed at Fatehpur Sikri that was commissioned by him and built in the short span on 1569-72 CE and which was inhabited till 1586 CE.

Pulin: I looked into the naming of 'Fatehpur Sikri' as I promised. The source of my information is 'Storia de Mogor' by Niccolo Manucci (written around ~1690). The village of Sikri was chosen by Emperor Jalaluddin Akbar to be the capital of the Mughal empire in 1569 to honor the saint Sheikh Salim Chishti who originally lived in a cave near that village. The celebrated saint had blessed Akbar to have a son - Prince Salim - who succeeded him as the Emperor Jahangir. There Akbar built all those magnificient buildings and palaces in red stone that are still in existence today. The capital was originally named 'Fatehabad' by Akbar to celebrate his many victories. (The Buland Darwaza, on the other hand, was erected to celebrate his single major victory in the Deccan as a tablet inside the Gate states clearly.) After several (~ 15 years), Akbar was forced to move the capital to Agra (because of the scarcity of water and troublesome villagers in that area) and rebuilt the grand Fort and palaces at Agra and renamed it 'Akbarabad'. After the capital had been shifted, Fatehabad became largely deserted and its name also underwent a change to 'Fatehpur' Sikri. That is how it stands today. Even the name 'Akbarabad' did'nt last long and today it is the city of Agra - the home of Taj Mahal. Aaj hein khamosh woh dusht-e junoon parvar jahan ruqs mein Leila rahi, Leila ke diwanay rahay (... Iqbal) (I would leave it to an expert like Mr Digvijay Singh Kushwaha to translate these poetic lines from Urdu into English.)See More

Hi Asad, Many thanks for the above piece of research. My informationon the subject is as follows: The year 1569 when Akbar chose the village of Sikri to be his Capital. By the blessings of Salim Chishti, Akbar got 3 sons viz. Salim, Murad and Daniyal in the years 1569,70 & 71 respectively. Akbar decided to shift his Capital to Sikri after the birth of Salim. Hence the year 1569. Took 4 years to build the main complex of Sikri i.e. 1569-72 AD. My personal take on shifting the Capital is little different from the most popular view that it was to honour the saint. I believe that Akbar was engaged in subduing and capturing Rajputana at that time and hence he shifted his Capital to Sikri as it was in the underbelly of Rajputana from where he could swiftly mobilise his forces to make foray into Rajasthan. Once the land was brought under control, Akbar decided to abandon the new Capital and shifted back to Agra where he already had started the construction of Akbarabad or Agra Fort in 1565AD. If we accept that Akbar was intelligent, far-seeing and truly great, it is difficult to accept that he would shift his Capital for emotional reasons like honouring the saint, without checking the feasibility of water on the site. He must have aware of the scarcity of water in the region and hence he had constructed extensive water works behind Hathi Pole gate next to Carvan sarai at the back of the complex with artificaila wells to operate the persian wheels that would pump up the water 90' from the fields below to the complex atop the hill. For the 14 years he occupied Sikri, for availability of water he had constructed a retaining wall (dam, if you please) to created a lake. I find it difficult to believe that Akbar abandoned the Capital of Sikri because the retaining wall of the lake broke. Economics wise, it would have been far cheaper to build the wall again rather than abandon the entire Capital. He abandoned it in 1586 (after 14 years) to "quell a rebellion in Lahore" and then went on his vacation to Kashmir via Muree and then came back and settled down in Agra as he had no further need of Sikri. Akbar who conquered so many lands could not have decided to shift his capital due to some troublesome villagers and the wall of lake giving way. When you examine the complex it becomes clear that Akbar ordered it planned in such a way that every drop of rain water was harvested and saved (check out the slopes in Parchisi court, check out the slope in Jama Masjid and the wells underneath, check the front pillers of marble of Chishti's tomb which are like pipes to bring down the rain water from roof and deposit it under the floor of the mosque). He didn't have to rebuilt the Agra Fort as it was probably built already since its construction had started in 1565AD by Akbar himself. Agra Fort has always served the Great Mughals as their Fort Knox with the imperial treasury always there, no matter whether the emperor ruled from Agra or Lahore or Sikri. Afte having read a lot on Mughals and Sikri, above are the conclusions that I have reached.

You are mostly right, Pulin, but I can add the following comments. In fact it was after the operations in Rajputana that he took time off to build Fatehper Sikri. The most impressive thing I saw there was that the red stone floor of the entire Sikri complex is sitting on the most rugged, barren rocks and huge stone boulders. (I could observe that since they had removed some stone slabs for repair work during my last visit.) Agra Fort as it stands today is entirely the work of Akbar. There may have been the remains of some ancient fort but it was built entirely anew. Manucci refers to Agra as a village. However, I think Sikander Lodi had done some work there but probably around Sikandra. The move away from Sikri to Agra was mainly caused by constant attacks from neighboring villages (Manucci) and also water (as stated by Rushbrook-Williams), although a huge lake - several miles long - had been built to supply water. But the main reason given by Manucci is restless villagers; so there must have been some resistance to Mughal rule. Apparently towers of skulls of such rebellious villagers (100 skulls/ tower) were frequently seen on the Agra - Delhi road. That may explain why, during Aurangzeb's time and later, the Jats looted Akbar's mausoleum and burnt his bones. Keeping aside these grisly details (that would still please some), one must admire that during his lifetime, Akbar was able to undertake such magnificient construction projects like the construction of Humayun's tomb, the capital at Fatehpur Sikri, the Fort at Agra, and even his own mausoleum at Sikandra although he could not complete the last project. All this was done on top of large scale miltary operations in Rajputana, Deccan and the East, and regular intellectual discourses with his Nau-Ratans. It seems that he did so by assigning these projects to worthy and trusted lieutenants. He asked Gulbadan Begum to write Humayun-Nama, ex-Queen Hamida Begum to supervise Humayun's tomb construction, Raja Todar Mal to manage land distribution, Abul Fazal to write Ain-i-Akbari etc , but the names of those who supervised the building projects at Fatehpur Sikri and Agra are not known. Still he had time left for the 3000 women in his palace! The only ancident I do not like was his cruelty in dealing with Anarkali. It is probably a true story but historians are silent about it. When Kissinger asked Chairman Mao on his first visit to Beijing "How did you manage to change the course of world history so quickly?", the aging Chairman Mao smiled and replied " I have done nothing - just changed a few people around Beijing".

Hi Asad, further to your above comment, yes, the entire complex of Sikri is built on a boat shaped rocky sandstone outcrop 90' above the plains around it. That is why the main building material of Sikri is red sandstone as it was most easily available. Agra Fort as it stands today is not entirely Akbar's work. What is remaining of Akbar's construction are the outer walls and moats and 1 or max 2 old dilapidated building inside the fort, next to what is known as Jahangiri Mahal. Most of the building in the Agra Fort are added by Jahangir and Shahjahan. Agra Fort was built over the reigns of 3 Great Mughals, viz. Akbar to Shahjahan. Gotta go now. Add more later, today.

Prior to Agra Fort, there used to be a fort there called Badalgarh, which was demolished and Akbar started the construction of Agra Fort at the same site in 1565AD. As said above the construction went on over the reigns of 3 Great Mughals, till Shahjahan built the Delhi's Red Fort during 1638-48, when Shahjahan shifted his Capital to Delhi. As far as Manucci's account is concerned, he was born on 19APR1638 (33 years after Akbar died) and he did his writings in the Mughal courts from 1653 onwards i.e. in the reign of Shahjahan - Akbar's Grandson. So how much to believe Manucci, is what you need to decide, since he also must have had his compulsions in tailoring the accounts as per the wishes of the authorities, or what he was shown or was given to believe. For account of Akbar's reign I'd refer to (1) Akbarnama by Abul Fazal who would not write word agains Akbar and (2) on the other guy whose name slips me at this moment, who was staunchly against Akbar for his liberal views. Between the two we should be able to discover a balanced view. Re move from Sikri to Agra due to headstrong villagers around, I would find it terribly hard to believe. As mentioned in my earlier note on this page, the man who could subdue proud rajputs of chittore, the man who could conquer a bit of Deccan, Gujarat, and a lot more, that man had to abandon Sikri due to some restless villagers.......... and hide in Agra.......... No. I cannot accept that on Manucci's account which in any case was written a lot later. Re shortage of water at Sikri, I have already stated my views in my earlier note. I do not accept shortage of water also as reason for abandoning Sikri. Cheaper to build the lake again then to abandon a whole city which in its time was larger then the then London in terms of population. Jats of Bharatpur looting Akbar's tomb during Aurangzeb's time is because Aurangzeb was in Deccan fighting incessant endless wars with Marathas and Qutubshahi kings of Golconda etc. besides the fact the the man who could not accept music and ordered it buried deep so that no sound may emanate from it, could not really have given a hang for what happened to his liberal Great Grandfather's tomb in North. The moment weakness is spotted anywhere in the world, strongs pounce on it. Mughals did it to Jats, and jats did it to mughals. 3000 women in his harem is a fanciful figure. My understanding is that he had upwards of 350 women, and that included his aunts like Gulbadan, his mother like Hamida, other relatives etc. All 350 + were not his wives and concubines. He could only have 4 legally wedded wife through Nikha and countless through Duta marriage which essentially is a contract for one-night-stand and the in the morning the marriage is automatically considered as null and void. His cruelty towards Anarkali: Aren't we judging him by the present standards of morals, cruelty etc? I don't think he was anymore cruel than his contemporaries of that time. Kingship knows no Kinship. Being at the top one might have to take decisions that may or may not meet general approval. In any case, the very existence of Anarkali is suspect. There has been no definite proof of her existence. Cheers.

@Shekhar: :)) Thanks for the "like" on my comment above @Shubha Phanishayee: :)) Thanks for the 'like' on 2 of my comments.

http://ia331215.us.archive.org/3/items/akbaremperorofin00garb/akbaremperorofin00garb.pdf this link doesnt work !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!