HISTORY. Subject : History (For under graduate student)

History of India Page 1 of 13 HISTORY Subject : History (For under graduate student) Paper No. : Paper - III History of India Unit : Unit 2 Polity Topic No. & Title : Topic - 3 State and religion Lecture No. & Title : Lecture - 1 Akbar s religious ideas Akbar s Religious Ideas By all accounts Akbar has been considered as one of the most important rulers of medieval India. Yet the historians had debated over the religious measures and religious policies followed by Akbar. The different measures taken by Akbar to understand the complexity of the situation. There is a distinction between the personal belief of a ruler and the religion of a state. The question remains whether

History of India Page 2 of 13 Akbar has tried to impose his personal belief as the religion of the state on his subjects or not. There has been some kind of an upsurge in religious thinking in India by the Sufi saints and the Bhakti saints particularly from the middle of the 16 th century or even earlier. By this upsurge the common people had access to some of the saints and both the communities, the Hindus and the Muslims had come quite close together at least in some sections in India. In eastern India as well as in northern India we find these saints predominating over the common people; Nanak and others had sown the seeds of communal harmony. It is in this background that we see Akbar s attempt to find out a religious formula which will be acceptable to all. Turko-Mongal Theory of Religion Akbar was guided by the Turko-Mongal theory of religion. Chenghiz Khan did not give prominence to any particular religion. Timur Long was said to have followed Khan s example and there has been no evidence of religious persecution within his kingdom. Humayun has gone to Persia, some of his nobles were Shias yet there is no distinction made by Humayun between the Sunni and the Shia nobles.

History of India Page 3 of 13 In case of Akbar we see a different turn and policy which he had followed. Akbar, in the beginning, with the accession of power, since the fall of Bairam Khan in 1563, began to have his own rule and he was a person closely following the orthodox Islam. He did all his prayers; he used to clean the mosques by himself, he followed the two Ulema leaders Abdur Nabi and Abdullah Sultanpuri. Abdullah Sultanpuri was the senior-most. He was the Sheikh-ul-Islam under Sher Shah. He was also the Sheikh-ul-Islam under his son Islam Shah. But he was a fanatical person and executed a Madhavai saint during his reign of Islam Shah. When Bairam Shah came into power, Abdullah Sultanpuri did not have this kind of prestige and power. But after 1563, with Akbar coming into power, Abdullah Sultanpuri rose and became the Sheikh-ul-Islam once again. Abdur Nabi had become the Sadar-e-Sudoor of the Mughal Empire. Akbar closely followed their opinion. Relationship with the religious elite Akbar was willing to listen to the writings of very liberal Sufis like Roomi and Hafiz and he began to discuss the religious questions with the religious scholars. In the beginning they were all Muslims and he found that there are quite a lot of

History of India Page 4 of 13 differences between the Muslim leaders of religion. Therefore, gradually he came to the view that one should hear other religious leaders of other religion. But in 1563 he had alienated the Ulemas to a certain extent. In 1563, he abolished the pilgrimage tax on the Hindus; in 1564, he abolished the Jiziya tax, the tax on the Hindus. Abolition of the Jiziya Tax We have a farman of Akbar of 1579, by which he declares that Jiziya is abolished. There are two dates that are given, some of the scholar had taken the later dates, and some had taken the earlier one. The question may be resolved by saying that Akbar first ordered that Jiziya should be abolished but the Ulemas continued to impose this in the country side and in 1579, Akbar finally gave the farman which has been found of the abolition of the Jiziya. But it is one thing to abolish Jiziya and it is another thing to please the Ulemas, because the Ulemas, the orthodox Muslims leaders were very unhappy because according to the Shariat, what they interpret is that the Hindus or the Zimmis as they are called, they should pay the Jiziya. We would also see the same question raised during the reign of Aurangzeb.

History of India Page 5 of 13 Religious hall - Ibadatkhana After 1564, from 1570 onwards, Akbar began to discuss religious questions with the Muslim religious teachers and leaders in a particular hall called the Ibadatkhana. There has been some controversy as to where this Ibadatkhana was located. Now it has been found that it was not very far from the palace. It was near Anup Talab, and this meeting used to take place there on Thursday evening. This Ibadatkhana was a building where a Shiekh from Gujarat used to live. And there was a very big hall surrounding his bedroom where this discussion used to take place. From the very beginning there were disputes in the Ibadatkhana. E.g. one of the questions was how many marriages can a ruler do? And on this the Muslim leaders and law givers, all had different opinion. But gradually Akbar s religious belief and thoughts were changing. He was feeling that one should hear other religious leaders to find out whether there is a common platform of all religious beliefs or whether there are fundamental and serious differences. With the objective of searching the truth, Akbar opened the door of Ibadatkhana to the Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Zoroastrians and all others. The result was not what Akbar

History of India Page 6 of 13 expected. There were tremendous disputes, the non Muslims began to question the prophet hood, the Quran, the Haziz and the orthodox Ulemas were gradually losing ground and they were showing themselves far more orthodox and fanatic, which according to Akbar was not a very good thing for them. But in the Ibadatkhana discussions during this time there was always an attempt by the religious leaders of any community to show that his religion was the superior one. All the religious leaders did the same thing, so it is not the Ulemas or the Muslim religious leaders who should be taken as at fault. There were psychological ego problems of all the religious teachers. But gradually Akbar understood that this kind of disputes is doing nothing because the objective to search for a common platform was not coming out. Therefore he gradually disliked it and at one point of time it was stopped around 1580. Conflicts between Akbar and influential Ulemas One of the reasons of 1580 was that there were revolts in the Mughal Empire. In Bengal, Gujarat and other places, the mansabdars and the nobles began to rebel, particularly on the question of Daag, i.e. the marking of the horse. The Ulemas who were completely dissatisfied with Akbar began to join

History of India Page 7 of 13 them. The Kazi of Bengal gave a fatwa that it is a Jihad against Akbar. The Kazi of Jaunpur also gave a similar fatwa. In 1579, Akbar has asked Abdur Nabi and Abdullah Sultanpuri to go to Mecca and not to return without his permission. They had come back by 1580 after the revolt. Even Akbar s brother Mirza Hakim had come down to Lahore. So, there was a very critical situation at that time. It was during this time that Akbar had stopped the debates in the Ibadatkhana and also began to suppress the revolt with a very strong hand. Now Akbar began to show that there is truth in all religions to a certain extent and there should be a common platform. One may sight Akbar s ideas regarding the Hindus earlier. He not only abolished the Jiyiza or the pilgrimage tax but he also married the daughters of the Rajput prince e.g. he married the daughter of Raja Bihari Mal of Amber. (Contrary to all public opinion she is not Jodha Bai.) Her name is not known but she used to live at the palace, follow her own religion, used to do puja in her own apartment. Jodha Bai probably was the wife of Salim who married the daughter of Jodhpur prince. Akbar began to give mansabdars, mansabs to Rajputs and Rajput prince like Man Singh and others were getting very high positions. In other words, in

History of India Page 8 of 13 one way Akbar was trying to find out that there is some truth in all religions, which meant that Islam is not the only one. And the other is that he is taking the Hindu Rajput chiefs as mansabdars, as partners of Mughal administration. It is in this background that in 1579, some of the leading Ulemas signed a document and presented it to Akbar. This document is called the Mazhar. This document says that incase of disputes between the Ulemas, Akbar can give the final decision, provided it is not in conflict with the Quran and is good for the welfare of the people. This document has been called in question by many later historians. Pakistani historians stated that Akbar was unqualified to give any decision because he was practically illiterate and he does not know the law. Vincent smith, the well known historian who wrote on Akbar, Akbar the great Mughal, the book, said that Akbar wanted to be the Pope and the King at the same time. This was the infallible decree. Makhan Lal Roy Choudhury who wrote the book on The Din-i- Ilahi stated that Akbar wanted to be free from the Sunnis of Middle East and of western Asia and the Shias of Iran. Badauni, the contemporary to Akbar, said that Akbar was leaving Islam. With this controversy, one can see that what

History of India Page 9 of 13 the objective was. Akbar actually never utilized this document. There was a case of a Brahmin at Mathura, the Brahman was accused of vilifying the prophet. After the accusation came, Akbar constituted a committee of two Hindus, Birbal and Raja Todar Mal who found the Brahmin guilty. But the Ulemas are divided over the punishment to be given. One school said that he should be executed and the other school said that he should be given a very heavy punishment but not be executed. The matter came to Akbar, he left it to Abdur Nabi and he executed the Brahmin. That finally broke the link between the Ulemas and Akbar. Akbar at the same time began to look at the rent free or tax free land grants. This has been given by Abdur Nabi and it has been found that his wakil in renewing the grant was taking money. The other person Abdullah Sultanpuri did not pay the zakat, which all the Muslims should pay. He used to transfer his property to his wife before the payment and the wife returned the property to him after the payment. So, he escaped from paying at all. This kind of accusations began to continue and there is a bridge definite between. Now, with the mazhar in his hand, Akbar could deal with the Ulemas, because he could give the decision only in the cases of

History of India Page 10 of 13 disputes not otherwise. But Akbar went beyond that. He now tried to find out a common platform of all religions. Akbar s new religious ideas- Din-i-Ilahi Father Bertolli, a Jesuit father who never came to India, stated that Akbar had called an assembly in 1582, in which all the nobles and notables of the empire were invited. In this assembly he propounded his new religion which he called Dini-Ilahi. Actually Abul Fazal never used the word Din-i-Ilahi, he used to call it Touhi-di-Ilahi. Badauni had used both Din-i- Ilahi and Touhi-di-Ilahi. Now Din-i-Ilahi, in the first place is not a new religion. There is no book, there is no priest, and there is no ceremony. Only a ring is given to a chela. The earliest description of the Din-i- Ilahi, was during the time of Shah Jahan, a book was written by Mohsin Fani called Dabistan-i-Mahazib. In this book he had given the full description of the religion. Sulh-i-Kul: Peace for all According to sources there are four stages in the way towards becoming a member of Din-i-Ilahi: life, honor, property, and religion. Birbal is supposed to have sacrificed all these four.

History of India Page 11 of 13 Those who sacrifice all these four can be a member of the Din-i-Ilahi. Akbar was suppose to have asked Man Singh to be a member of the Din-i-Ilahi, but Man Singh refused to sacrifice his religion, saying that he knew only Hindu and Muslim religion and there is no other religion beside them and he can t give up his religion for anything. He can sacrifice his life, his property, his honor, but not his religion. Perhaps that ended the effort to become a member for Man Singh and that ended the effort of Akbar making member of Din-i-Ilahi. Din-i-Ilahi is also called the Sulh-i-kul. The meaning of Sulh-ikul is peace for all. That here in this religion in which Islam was not the dominant one, there would be peace for all religions. Naturally the orthodox Ulemas were very angry. They had lost their dominant position. The free land grant had been curtailed to a great extent. So, they had become very angry and now there was a lot of difference between Akbar and the Ulemas because the Ulemas were asking for a more dominant position in the society. Conclusion Even in such cases the question is that why did Akbar alienate the Ulemas, the orthodox section of the Muslims and why did he try to take members of the nobles to Din-i-Ilahi. Various

History of India Page 12 of 13 opinions had been given. Badauni, Jesuit missionaries like Father Mosserar, Father Bertolli and later on the historian Vincent Smith, they all stated that Akbar wanted to be the Pope and the Emperor at the same time. But there no evidence in the documents that Akbar wanted to be the Pope. He never utilized the mazhar to any extent, Din-i-Ilahi was never preached anywhere, within the Mughal Empire and after a certain time it seemed that the Din-i-Ilahi was more or less lost. Now the question is that why this effort, why did Akbar go to that extent to alienate the orthodox sections of the Muslims? One of the reasons now had been given and perhaps it is quite plausible and it is that Akbar s empire had expanded very much from 1575 onwards. And to run this administration Akbar would need a solid cadre of administrators who were loyal to the Mughal Empire and to Akbar. Therefore this Dil-i- Ilahi, trying to find a common platform is not only to attract the Hindus to the Mughal empire as partners of Mughal administration but also to create a new cadre with a new ideology. This ideology is a very simple one and is not a religious ideology but a secular ideology. This ideology is that a person would serve loyally both Akbar and the Mughal Empire.

History of India Page 13 of 13 How far had he succeeded to create this kind of cadre is a difficult question to ask. But one may see after some time, after the death of Akbar that his effort was not that much of success because the revolts began to occur almost within 60 years of death of Akbar. Yet, Akbar is remembered for his liberality, his generous attitude and for the social measures he had taken. One of the social measures of Akbar was he restricted the marriage of men and women to 15 and 13. Secondly, he made a rule that no women and children would be taken as prisoner from a rebel village, they should be left as they are. Then there are certain other measures that Akbar had taken, e.g. he tried to change the syllabus, put more secular topics into the syllabus instead of merely religious history. But the Ulemas were practically in revolt. They found their dominant position gone, they found their money supply restricted, therefore they began to cry Islam in Danger. It is in this background that Akbar died in 1605. But even if all his efforts were not successful, he had tremendous work in science and technology. Even if it not accepted, the fact remains that he remained one of the greatest rulers of Medieval India.