Came across a website today enjoyed reading so sharing it here maybe some members already read it.
AN INTERVIEW WITH JALALUDDIN MUHAMMAD AKBAR
It was one fine evening, the sun had just gone down and I was in Sikandra. Sikandra, the burial place of the Mughal Emperor Jallauddin Muhammad Akbar. I was with my guide Zafar Khan who had been with me for three long hours explaining me in details about Akbar and the entire Sikandra complex. Zafar had ordinary looks, not quite tall as me, his grey hair and the wrinkles on the throat gave the impression of a man in early sixties. The only thing which is attractive about Zafar is his skill of narration; I think he had mastered this art over the years serving as guide to numerous tourists. His eyes lit up when he introduced me to something of great historical value, and this man is very meticulous in arranging the facts. He speaks softly, the depth in his voice combined with his narrative skill inadvertently rouses the curiosity of the audience. After spending good time with him, and about to leave I couldn't help ask him a question. I was near the main gate when I had just lighted my Navy Cut brand cigarette and after a long puff I looked at him and asked, "Zafar Bhai, what if Akbar had a chance to see all this in the present time, I wonder what would be his reaction!"
South Gate of Sikandra
Zafar's eyes as usual lit up, and with a mystical smile on his lips he said, "Well if you really wish that can be arranged!"
I laughed, but Zafar looked serious. "No, I am not joking Sir, I am serious, if you really wish I can personally take you to him, after a brief pause he added, "Only if you wish".
I did not know what to say, however I said that which anyone would say, "How; he will rise from up the tomb like a ghost?"
"No, no" Zafar shook his head like a pendulum, "I don't understand why an educated man like you fail to understand simple things." He then looked back towards the South Gate and he pointed his index fingers towards it, "tell me what you see?"
"Oh come on Zafar now this is too much, I am not an ignorant fool," I revolted. But that wouldn't dim Zafar's enthusiasm he repeated the question, "Just tell me what you see."
"It's the Gate, the South Gate. It has four tall minarets, on the top of it are beautiful chattris.."
"Yes that is fine, so how can you see the Gate if it is almost 350 years old?
I was feeling like marching out of the place. "Gates are not living things Zafar, it does not die"
"Death is not the end, Saab. Anything which is created has no end, be it living or non-living. You can see the Gate because your eyes want to see it that way. If you come with me you will see that I am saying the truth."
Oh man, I had goosebumps when he uttered those words, he was slow, but chewed every word like a cow. I never heard such nonsense before, it was fixed like a statue until I threw the cigarette in desperation. Why I am even spending time with this man? I took out three hundred Rupees from my purse, thumped it into his hand, and walked off.
"You think I am mad, no? You will know when you will die." I heard him saying from behind and then I stopped. I walked straight onto him and said,"Look Zafar I am not mad, and I don't like to waste time discussing rubbish."
He raised his hand and waved it before me trying to convince, "Look Saab there are two kinds of things in the World, the visible and the invisible, you are educated man you must understand this," he deliberately used this phrase to hurt my ego, but that didn't matter much, he continued, "not always you can trust your eyes, there are many things beyond it."
"So you mean I can have a word with Akbar"
"Oh yes, you can talk with him as I am talking with you." He then looked at his watch, "it is 6.29 Saab you must not waste a second, we have to catch him at 6.30."
"Look I am not paying for the auto, or is he nearby?"
"He is in there near his mausoleum."
"How shall we go, the gates are closed, the security men are winding up?"
There was a jerk in my hand, Zafar carried me away, and we leapt over the fence, raced over the lawn. Things went past me so speedily you know, the bushes, the green grass beneath everything appeared like as if viewed from an express train. And Zafar for sure if he was not a guide he would have been the nearest competitor to Ussain Bolt. I screamed, "Hello, why are we running so fast?"
"To reach the escape velocity Saab, we are going to the World of invisible!"
In few seconds we rammed into the door of the South Gate which was closed, and loo we reached the other side of it. The other side was hazy; it was like seeing through a frosted glass. There was smoke all around me winding up like giant white snakes. We stopped near the mausoleum which housed the Mughal Emperor, and I looked at my watch. Goodness where is my watch, where is my hand, above all where is my body! There was a voice from my right, "you have just entered the world of the invisible, and you will not see yourself." It was Zafar, and I wondered if I would be able to return to the normal World.
"Why is everything hazy Zafar, I don't see things clearly."
"You are not seeing with your eyes, you are using your brain that's why!" And then he added, "look ahead do you see that man approaching?"
Yes, there was a man in all different shade, approaching us; walking through a cloud of fog. It was smoky all over, but when he was quite close, at a distance of two feet I could make out he had an average height, strong well built man. He stood there with his hands clasped at the back. Zafar was quick to pay his respect, "Jahanpanah", he uttered.
I was not sure in which language the conversation would progress. Zafar suggested it would be in Turkish since obviously the Emperor did not know English or Hindi, and he will be the interpreter.
Since I could not see my hands, stretching my hand for handshake would be preposterous. I rather said, "Hello Sir I am Sumit and I am greatly honoured to meet you."
"I am pleased to meet you too." This was the best translation Zafar could provide.
Me: "Ah, I wanted to ask you some questions, are you very busy now?"
HM J.M AKBAR: "No, on the contrary I have enough time, you may put forward your questions."
Me:"I am very eager to know what do you think about present time, and how this is different from your time, the time when you were ruling the richest Empire on Earth?"
HM J.M AKBAR: Very different, I have to say, I guess we were slow on everything. Things have changed remarkably.
Me: Let's start from the beginning when you were just fourteen years old, and already marching into the battle of Panipat against Hemu; what were you thing about, did you fancy any chances in your favour?
Akbar as a boy
HM J.M AKBAR: Well, the odds were great; I mean I had to totally depend on Khan-i-khanan (Bairam Khan). However I think we had some great generals and commanders, who were very experienced and disciplined. There were Mud. Qsim Khn of Nshpr, usain Qul Khn, Shh Qul Maram, and L'alKhn Badakhsh, and above all Bairam Khan, on the other side think Hemu's army was one man show. Yes they had Ramya and Bhagwan Das but by and large it was Hemchandra who was most dangerous. I would have been lucky if he was under my flag, you don't get to see such brilliant soldier every day.
Me: And you refused to execute him, when he was brought as a prisoner to you.
HM J.M AKBAR: Well, you see when he was brought to me; he was as good as dead. He was in chains, heavily injured, and had lost an eye what glory is there to murder a man in such dismal state. It was not because of the fact that I was young, and tender, no, I would never raise my sword against anyone in that situation. Many times I have defied the royal protocol and went into direct action. When I was fighting in Chittor we had stormed into fort, and we were fighting all over the place, there was one valiant Rajput man who challenged me to a duel. I responded, and fought him, there was no turning back.
Me: What happened to that man?
HM J.M AKBAR: He was killed. In fact the battle of Chittor is perhaps my greatest victory.
Me: Is that how you see victory? I mean there were thousands dead on both sides, numerous women who had sacrificed their lives by plunging into Jauhar, hundreds of families destroyed. What is your take on this?
Akbar shoots Jaimal at the siege of Chitor
HM J.M AKBAR: No I do not see victory that way. But you must understand that time. When I said just a few while ago, "things have changed remarkably" it was not merely figure of speech. Hindustan was never an easy ground to hold, and above all an Empire needs to be consolidated. Yes it was an imperialistic ambition, and it was nothing different from what is still very relevant in your time, present time as you might say. War is not picnic or festival, people die, people get killed, my army also had heavy casualties, and in fact hundreds of my men were dying every day. It will be wrong to separate me from my predecessors or to forget the background I came from. At the end of the day I was an Emperor not a social reformer.
Me: That was a political answer but ...
HM J.M AKBAR: No allow me to finish. The victory at Panipat ensured my entrance to the heart of India. However the political challenges were immense, my first job as an Emperor was to consolidate the Empire, to rid it off against any upcoming conspiracy or danger. To achieve this on many occasions I had to rely on pre-emptive war. And war is a completely different stage, you don't go there to enjoy, you have to win it not only for the sake of the Empire, but for the people who are with you. You will not understand this until you have gone to war yourself. You need to motivate your army constantly, on occasions you have to ride ahead in the face of danger.
Me: Well, even though I am not fully convinced about the inhuman consequences of waging war, however I have to agree that History sees you in different light. That is because of your extraordinary view of different religions something which was remarkable in your time when there was no concept such as "secularism".
HM J.M AKBAR: You see a person has many different identities, I also had many. I was an Emperor, a Muslim, a soldier, a father and so on. People called me Jil-i-Ilahi" which means shadow of God, that is quite flattering but to me it had another meaning. God bestows the blessings of his gracious providence upon all his creatures without distinction and so should I. Moreover in Hindustan five out six people were Hindus, if I govern by orthodox motives I have to cast them all to death. I am not a plunderer, I am not an invader, I was born here, and therefore I cannot even think of this brutality. Moreover most of the Hindus, who lived in the city of Agra were practising useful crafts or science, and serving as elite officers in my Government.
Me: So it was both in spiritual and political line that you wanted to rule your subjects.
HM J.M AKBAR: Well I never thought this way. I think and still believe that there is element of truth in every religion. We had this religious meeting every Thursday in my palace at Fatehpur Sikri where religious leaders from all different sects would arrive and discuss religion.
Me: Yes I was about to ask you that, good that you came up with it.
HM J.M AKBAR: I see, so they would talk about religion, you know, often engage in debate. I don't know whether it benefitted them but it helped me a lot. I could see the common things, and the differences too, but I didn't worry too much about the. For me it never was to find the true religion, I could be comfortable with my own and explore others.
Me: It is said that you always drank the water of the Ganges and paid respects to Jesus and Mary.
HM J.M AKBAR: Right I liked the water of the Ganges, wherever I would go in expedition or in tour a train of camels would fetch water from the Ganges exclusively for me.
Me: That is quite lavish!
HM J.M AKBAR: It had to be I was an Emperor (laughs). And coming back to the point of equality, yes I was quite tolerant if you compare me with my predecessors. I think it is best to see a man in the time he was in. Tolerance' was not merely my political motive, I could not be so without having that tolerance' inside me. This happened because I had all kinds of people around me, I mean my mother was a Persian, my tutor Abdul Latif he was quite liberal. I had both Hindu and Christian wives, some of the most talented officials under me were Hindus. So you see I actually dealt with people who were from different backgrounds.
Me: Quite interesting, so they were all part of your Empire and your most loyal subjects.
Raja Man Singh
HM J.M AKBAR: Yes very much so. I relied on talent, I would like to mention Man Singh here, and do you know that he was the only Hindu who was the governor of Afghanistan. Take into consideration that Afghanistan was such a fierce place, and an entirely Muslim country. Initially when I started though I had meet fierce opposition for placing Hindus as my officers, I had to fight with the fundamentalists too. But I had to separate the state from religion.
Me: Do you think that the Empire that you created could be best run by following your policy?
HM J.M AKBAR: Well I am not that far sighted neither I pretend to be so confident. But, what I can tell you is- in a diverse Empire the best way to rule is through cooperation of all. You can't be orthodox you are almost a father to the Nation, and a father must care for all the children equally. Another most important matter is to use the talent from all different races and use them efficiently.
Me: Very right, however there was one man whom you would have always cherished to have at your side.
HM J.M AKBAR: Oh, Rana Pratap! No, No, he was composed of totally different material. You can bend steel but not him. Probably the only person I would think twice before going for a duel! (After a brief pause) But as you know some wings are too strong to chain, I think we may discuss some other things.
Rana Pratap by Ravi Verma
Me: Well yes, my last question to you. Since you were the most powerful Emperor of your time what was going through your mind when the end was near.
HM J.M AKBAR: It was very hard to leave everything what I made. However when I knew I would die, I was more concerned about my son Salim, I fondly and always called him Baba'. I was worried if he could carry this huge task ahead. As time kept slipping away from my hand, I was grateful to all those who made the Empire as it was, and as it shall be seen by the posterity to come. However time is the greatest decider, time is what everything is about.
I could see the great man slowly fading away, with him the mystical fog clearing up, gradually the colours appearing like stars just after dusk. One World was closing its door and the other opening up.
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