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I am often wondering about this Jalal why suddenly he acts very rudely and suddenly falls to any level even degrading himself in front of Jodha.
But for this behaviour of his sometimes over confidence and arrogance and sometimes begging and falling to a level no human will fall has its treaces in his childhood.
Human behaviour and life is shaped based on our experiences in childhood. If anyone reads psychology especially of criminal, waywards, voilent people etc one thing we can conclude is no child no baby is born voilent, criminal etc. Here even chemical changes in brain and body play an very important role in how a human behaves.
Lets take care of Akbar, he was taken hostage as a baby not even one year old along with his 3 or 4 year old baby sister Bakshi. In movie and serial and many books Akbar is potrayed as having a very close bond with Bakshi. There is hardly any mention of his other sister who was a sister of Hakim and wife of Abul mali.
Family plays a very crucial role in the life of a child especially a very small child who is new in this world. All babies learn by observing mother, father, siblings, grandparents the most. And who was with Akbar in these formative years his uncles Kamran/Askari and Maham anga. Kamran and Askari were baying for own brothers blood and betrayed Humayun by joining hands with Sher Shah Suri. Even a hard hearted criminal would have felt sorry for Humayun and given him some help especially own brothers. But Kamran and Askari despite Humayun pardoning them umpteenth time for treachery and betrayal had only one iam to kill him and take the throne themselves. Then came Maham yes she took care of Akbar saved his life on Kabul fort but somewhere down the line as soon as Akbar became emperor she had decided that it was time to extract pound of flesh for her services. Twice Maham anga's men tried to kill Akbar. The very child whom she saved from fort was now her prey her target. Adhma khan whom Akbar considered as a brother(can you imagine how great it is for an emperor to consider a servant son as brother, in 21st century this never happens and in 16th century it was a rarity. I have never heard of any king giving so much respect and importance to a daima and her son)
Further more Akbar never had his parents till he was 9-10 years old as they were targetted by Sher shah suri. It is but natural for a child when his parents are not avilable to grow more emotionally close to Maham his daima and Bairam Khan his gaurdian. Bairam Khan was a cruel, arrogant and impatient man whoever did not do as per his wish etc were instantly punished. Maham was a maniuplative lady nice on face stabbing on back. Under their both guidance Akbar turned out better than what he must really have been.
Now we come to marriage. Akbar's parents was more of a forced one with generation gap. Humayun in his 30s married a 13 year old Hamida most probably against her wishes as she preferrred Hindal who was 17. Bairam Khan was almost a bachelor till his 40s. Maham was a widow. Sharifuddin married Bakshi only to become next emperor and so did Abbul Mali. So Akbar rarely saw a happy married couple in his family and close circle. Add to that his fist 2 marriages to first cousins and next two also to his distant relatives daughters again just formalities to protect those girls till Jodha arrived as his 5th wife. Even marriage to Jodha a political step not a step out of true love. It is said Akbar did not like his wives names mentioned much in akbarnama for them to remain anonmous.
In such circumstances Akbar looked like someone who was most emotionally attached to Ruqaiah as a childhood friend(if you know someone all life from birth tough to be rude, to say no to them), Salima(elder to him by 4 years and a widow his khan baba's wife) both of whom he did not have a child with although Ruqaiah's baby died after birth. Jodha was from a different religion, custom, language and i am sure Akbar took time to know her. Add to that his children dying one after another tiill age of 28.
So Akbar was insecure about wives/girls and in such circumsance Jodha goes to meet an unknown man at dead night alone without telling anyone and that man comes to his harem in disguise and was in her room at midnight and she refuses to answer who he is he obivously assume he and she have a relationship and hence she is quiet. Hence he reacts like a wounded lion dangerous and unforgiving.
But when he comes to know his fault again he run behind for forgiveness forgetting all his ego, self respect, status etc. Real akbar also behaved like that but only with Salim. Despite his rebellion he was patient, kind, forgiving. Real Akbar behaved same way again to Bairam Khan after rebellion because for Akbar somewhere BK was still the father he never had all life, Adham Khan after killing him a tomb because Akbar still had gratitude to Maham anga for saving him in kabul fort, Shaifuddin because he was Bakshi's husband and Akbar loved Bakshi because they had shared their hostage days together and had a very close bond with her, son-in-law because he loved his daughter Shakru-nissa very much all forgiven many times for trying to murder and rebellion.
So the same Akbar has left his ego etc and running after Jodha because she is his true love and Salim chisti told him she will give him waaris. And she does not accept apology and goes away to amer. Now Jalal confidence is at lowest and that is when Abul Mali strikes. From the looks of the fight scene Jalal is not really interested in defending himself he simply lies on the ground not moving or trying to save himself. Its 20 years Akbar has been struggling almost everyday to ensure he lives against odds first as an hostage away from parents, then as a vagabond roaming around being hounded by his father enemies, then as a boy emperor whose blood everyone is baying for and targetted by relatives. But that time Akbar had will power and confidence to survive not any longer because the person he had started believing was his true soulmate his future child's mother had rejected him. That is why Abul Mali could defeat him so easily. You know an human being can be defeated only by his mind nothing else can defeat him no amount of torture(like nazi concentration camp) no amount of punishment, misbehaviours, attacks etc can defeat any human if his mind is strong. Only the mind of a man defeats him nothing else. Here Akbar's mind is already defeated upset so when Abul Mali attacks its easy for him to kill Akbar.
Akbar himself was a contradiction he was extremely emotional about family, friends but voilent on war field. He did not hold on to grudges except for Maharana Pratap. He had lust after women yet loved daughters, mother, daima so much. He loved salim to death and could do anything for him but sent him to battles at very young age instead of protecting him. If you see only Khusrau, Salim went to war field before 10 years no other mughal princes. Akbar easily forgave his family members but never forgave enemies easily. So he himself has no consistency.
Compare that character to a jehangir, shah jahan who had consistent character graphs of how they may behave under certain circumstances. That was because they had a secure childhood spoiled and pampered by their parents and grandparents without much worries of this world.
Jehangir's bad habits like drinking and love affairs can agian be seen by the fact that he saw battle, blood and gore as a young child and away from his family for long periods in company of friends. Jehangir's character can be compared to children who stay in hostel for long and return home as adults all their chracters are formed by their friends and circumstrances in hostel. Another charcater of his that he would get extreme attached to one person at any given time again can be seen in this view first he was extremely attached to Akbar as a kid, then to Jodha his wife as teenager and adult, then to Khurram his son in middle age, and finally Nur Jahan in his last 10-15 years. His character of letting go the person he loved most for another(for whatever reason) again an hostel child's character, his sense of extreme justice(discipline and justice is what is taught most in an hostel kind of environment). For Jehangir his hostel was the battle fields he went to as a child with tutors, nanny's, boy companions in tow.
Shah jahan's orthodox behaviour can be seen in two ways one he had an upbringing by Ruqaiah second he had to differentiate from his father Jehangir/brother Khusrau who were liberal minded to be considered eligible for throne. Shah Jahan had a detached childhood Ruqaiah was possessive so i doubt she allowed Jehangir his dad, Jodha his mom or Khursau and Parvez his siblings to be close to him. So Shah Jahan as such grew up detatched add to that who was his nurse maid in childhood Nur Jahan as she was attendant of Ruqaiah. So Shah jahan grew up detatched from his own family in gudance of grandparents Akbar and Ruqaiah. That is why you can see that how easily he could kill all his male siblings to get to throne. They were never his family his brothers, cousins, nephews or uncles only current and future competitors.
Aurangzeb character can also be analyzed similarly by his childhood circumstances it had a consistent pattern manipulative behaviour and extreme voilent and rigid views survival agianst any odds to his childhood and teenage days.
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