Akbar Khan

“ We have heard from undoubted authority that Mahommed Akbar Khan said in the durbar, before he left Cabul to follow our troops in January, that it was his intention to go and kuttle kurra, or cut the throats of all our force; and, after that, let THEM beware,—meaning the chiefs. He seems to be now verifying his promise; and is, by all accounts, squeezing as much wealth as he can out of all those who are in his power ”

“ No one could save the empire but a born statesman. Akbar had already proved himself a born soldier. Had he been only a soldier he might still have held his own against Afghans and Usbegs from Peshawur to Allahabad. Had he been bloodthirsty and merciless, like Bairam Khan, he might have stamped out revolt and mutiny by massacre and terrorism. ”

“ At Jugdulluck, Akbar Khan effectually interfered, and the unfortunate British were allowed to occupy, without molestation, a ruined enclosure, where they lay down, worn out by fatigue, and helpless, in the snow. Out of this number only one man, Dr. Brydon, lived to reach Jellalabad; the rest, subsequent to the protection afforded them by Akbar Khan at Jugdulluck, were all slain, either by the Affghan troops, or by the inhabitants of the villages through which they passed in their flight. ”

“ He had one wife with him in Cabul when the insurrection broke out, and urged her to fly to Pughman for safety; the old chief told me, her reply was worth a lakh of rupees, "I will not leave you; if you fall, we die together; and if you are victorious, we will rejoice together!"
Some say that Mahommed Akbar Khan is now King, and Zeman Shah Khan his Wuzeer: others state that the latter refuses to give up his lately acquired power. ”

“ In justice to a dead man, it should be remembered that the only person supposed to know the object of the Envoy's going out on the 23d was Skinner; who is now in the city. Sultan Khan was, I believe, the name of the person who came in with him, with a letter from Akbar Khan, on the night of the 22d. In that letter, which was read by a friend of mine, Akbar proposed that he should be made wuzeer to Shah Shoojah; he was to receive thirty lakhs of rupees, down, and four lakhs per annum: our troops to remain eight months ”

“ They were only about six hundred strong, and the road was infested by thousands of the enemy. They had nothing on which to depend but the good faith of Akbar Khan and their own steadiness and courage. Happily the former did not fail them. Akbar Khan did not play the traitor. The rear-guard was molested by a party of Afghans, and the Sirdar himself, with a few followers, galloped into the midst of his hostile countrymen, and threatened to cut down all who dared to oppose the progress of the detachment. About ten o’clock the force reached cantonments in safety ”

“ Budeeabad, January 23, 1842. MS. Correspondence.] From Major Pottinger’s letters written about this time, his real opinion of the conduct of Akbar Khan can only be extracted by ascertaining the circumstances under which the different documents were prepared—some of them having been written at the request of the Sirdar himself. There are two letters of January 23, one of an official tendency, quoted above—the other of a more private and more genuine character, in which the writer says: “He” (Akbar Khan) “sent out the day before yesterday a Persian letter for me to send to you [450] in English ”

“ The Newab’s kindness is beyond description, and he professes, and I believe sincerely feels, great anxiety to secure the friendship of our government. He is most deeply distressed at the [424] treacherous conduct of the chiefs. We are quite ignorant of the intentions of government. Mohamed Akbar is continually writing for guns and ammunition; but not a man can be induced to march without pay, and every one is jealous of Akbar Khan’s rising power. ”

“ Sturt and I possess are the clothes on our backs in which we quitted Cabul.
Here I must divide the account. I shall go on with my own personal adventures; and afterwards, from the same date, follow up the fortunes of our unhappy army, from the journals of friends who, thank God! have lived through all their sufferings.
10th.—Mahommed Akbar Khan left us, to escort our troops. 500 deserters are said to have come in to him. It is reported that the thieves have nearly exterminated our force; and that four of Mahommed Akbar's sirdars are killed. Akbar {248} is expected back at night ”

“ But the tragedy of her face remained in his memory as he drove over the creaking, groaning bridge to Eshwara. The bazaar was full as ever with drifting humanity, busy in the details of every-day life. There was no hint anywhere of the past storm; not even in the palace. It lay, as ever, silent; its blank walls seeming to hold the sunlight back from some secret within,--from some veiled, hidden beauty. The door was closed, but old Akbar Khân came capering at his call, his back roached, in bowing, like a caterpillar's. ”

“ With the help of three such accomplished Knights of the Pen," added Akbar, with a smile, "our deeds may be sometimes remembered in this land when we are dead and gone."
"Ay, in other lands too, or I am much mistaken, sire," said the Khan-Khanan. "The fame of the gifted Abul Fazel is not confined to the land of Hind. I have not seen the sword of Akbar, wrote your Majesty's royal brother of Persia, but Abul Fazel's pen strikes fear in one's mind. The fame of that pen will survive when we are laid in our graves." ”

“ The Nabab Katlu Khan is ready to relinquish what be has possessed himself of in Bengal; let Akbar waive his claims to Orissa, and, withdrawing his troops, desist from any future warfare. He is not a whit the loser by this bargain; the Pathans indeed might, to a certain extent, be considered as losers. We are parting with that which we have made ourselves masters of by our own exertions, Akbar is only parting with what he could not make his own."
"Good and well" replied the Prince. "But why do you speak this to me? The man to make peace and war is Maharaja Man Singha ”

“ One of the ablest warriors and most generous of men in the service of Akbar was Mírzá Abdurráhím, son of his old Atálik or preceptor, Bairám Khán. For many years he exercised the office of Khán Khánán, literally 'lord of lords,' tantamount to commander-in-chief. But he was as learned as he was able in the field. He translated the memoirs of Bábar, well described by Abulfazl as 'a code of practical wisdom,' written in Turkish, into the Persian language then prevalent at the court of Akbar, to whom he presented the copy. ”

“ Akbar accompanied him. Crossing the Indus the 2nd of January, 1555, Humáyún made for Ráwal Pindí, then pushed on for Kálánaur, on the further side of the Ráví. There he divided his forces, sending his best general, Bairám Khán, into Jálandhar, whilst he marched on Lahore, and despatched thence his special favourite, Abul Má'alí, to occupy Dípálpur, then an important centre, commanding the country between the capital and Múltán.
Events developed themselves very rapidly. Bairám Khán defeated the generals of Sikandar Sháh at Machhíwára on the Sutlej, and then marched on the town of Sirhind. ”

“ When Akbar had grown to manhood and thrown off the tulelage of his Afghan guardian, Bairām Khan, he also took a keen interest in building, and left the impress of his versatile genius upon his palaces at Agra, the new capital which he built at Fatehpur-Sikri, and his tomb at Sikandra. His great fame and the wealth of his treasury must have attracted craftsmen from all the cities of Asia. ”

“ The wars of Akbar are only interesting so far as they bring out types of character. When the news reached the Punjab that Humayun was dead, other news arrived. Hemu had recovered Agra and Delhi; he was advancing with a large army into the Punjab. The Mogul force was very small. The Mogul officers were in a panic; they advised a retreat into Kabul. Akbar and Bairam Khan resolved on a battle. The Afghans were routed. The Hindu general was wounded in the eye and taken prisoner. Bairam Khan bade Akbar slay the Hindu, and win the title of "champion of the faith." ”

“ There is a talk of arming our men, if we can get muskets. Our valley is now almost hermetically sealed at both ends. Akbar is at Bégram in the Kohistan; the Meer Hadje and Zeman Shah Khan quiet at Cabul.
The Meer Akhor went off at night with his Juzailchees; taking with him sundry ashurpees which he had received from myself and others to change for us. This is particularly inconvenient; as we are about to purchase all the ottah procurable, in order to lay in a little commissariat of our own; and, if Akbar sends troops against us, hold out till our own people come to relieve us. ”

“ In the multitude of counsellors there is not always wisdom. When Akbar heard of the success of Hemu, he assembled his warrior-nobles and asked their advice. With one exception they all urged him to fall back on Kábul. That he could recover his mountain-capital they felt certain, and there he could remain until events should be propitious for a fresh invasion of India. Against this recommendation Bairám Khán raised his powerful voice. He urged a prompt march across the Sutlej, a junction with Tardí Beg in Sirhind, and an immediate attempt thence against Hemu. ”

“ On his way thither, however, he received a despatch from his lieutenant, urging him to advance with all speed. Directing the boatmen to continue their course with the young princes and the ladies to Jaunpur, Akbar at once turned back, reached the point where he had left his troops, and directing that they should march along the banks in sight of the boats, descended to Chausá, the place memorable, the reader may recollect, for the defeat of his father by Sher Khán. ”

“ Resolved, however, to rouse the Jálandhar Duáb, he pushed on for that well-known locality, only to encounter on its borders the army of the Governor of the Punjab, Atjah Khán. In the battle that followed Bairám was defeated, and fled to Tilwára on the Sutlej, thirty miles to the west of Ludhiána. Akbar, who had been on his track when his lieutenant encountered and defeated him, followed his late Atálik, and reduced him to such straits that Bairám threw himself on his mercy. ”

“ Then the wheel of fortune turned. Assisted by Bairam Khan, a very able general [xi] and a native of Badakshan, Humayun fought his way back into military possession of Lahore and Delhi, and died in 1556, leaving his inheritance, such as it was, to his young son.
At the time of his father’s death, Akbar was only in his fifteenth year. He was then in the Punjab, with Bairam Khan, putting down the last efforts of the Afghan faction. Bairam Khan became Regent, and remained in power until 1560, when the young King assumed the sovereignty. ”

“ Similarly with Prince Murád. As to his successor, Jahángír, he was, in most respects, the very opposite of his father. Towards the close of the reign he set an example which became a rule of the Mughal dynasty, that of trying to establish himself in the lifetime of his father, whose dearest friend, Abulfazl, he had caused to be assassinated. Nothing could exceed the exemplary patience and forbearance with which Akbar treated his unworthy son. Again, Akbar abhorred cruelty: he regarded the performance of his duty as equivalent to an act of worship to the Creator. ”

“ Kashmir was annexed in 1586,10 Sind in 1592, and in 1594 Kandahar was recovered from the Persians. In 1595 Akbar commenced a long war with the Muhammadan Kings of the Dakhin, ending in the acquisition of Berar. These wars, which were spread over nearly the whole of Akbar’s reign, need not further engage our attention. But in contemplating the reforms of this admirable prince, it must be borne in mind that their merit is enhanced by the fact that most of them were effected during troublous times, and at periods when there must have been great pressure on his finances. ”

“ These hardy warriors submitted without resistance to the Mughal Emperor. As soon as the efforts of Todar Mall and Mán Singh had opened the Khaibar Pass, Akbar appointed the latter, the nephew and heir to the Jaipur Rájá, to be Governor of Kábul, and sent him thither with a sufficient force, other troops being despatched to replace him in the Yusufzai country, and Pesháwar being strongly occupied. Akbar had himself returned to Lahore. Thence he directed a second expedition against Kashmír. ”

“ Some, such as the abolition of suttee and the legislation for widow remarriage which he enforced easily, nearly cost us India to establish.
But Akbar had the advantage of being a king indeed.
"There is but one God, and Akbar is his Viceroy."
Such was his first motto. If it made him a despot, his second one made him tolerant.
"There is good in all things. Let us adopt what is good, and discard the remainder." And this admixture of despotism and tolerance is the secret of Indian statesmanship. ”

“ It was by him, or under his eyes, that the Mahabharat was translated from Sanskrit into Persian. The tolerance and liberality of the Emperor Akbar towards all religions, and his attempt to establish a new creed, are generally ascribed to the influence of his enlightened minister, who paid it with his life: for Jehangir, Akbar’s fanatic son, hired assassins who murdered the excellent man, near Orcha, in the district of Narwar, on his return from the Dekan, during the life of Akbar, who, except his utmost indignation, had no punishment to inflict upon the heir-apparent of his empire. ”

“ But, as sovereign who had to reward great services rendered to the crown, Akbar required to dispose of large grants of land to men devoted to his service. Thus, he paid the Mansabdárs, or officers entrusted with high command, by temporary grants of land in lieu of a money allowance. He found that the most powerful of his immediate predecessors, the Sher Sháh who had expelled his father, Humáyún, had been more than lavish in his grants of land to his immediate followers, men mostly of Afghán descent. ”