Earliest Known Farman of Akbar | Issued at the age of 16

I am sharing a Farman which was given by 16 year old Mughal Emperor Akbar in favor of a sermon reader, to his officials, directing them to make peaceful settlement of a property dispute. This is probably the earliest known farman given by Akbar.

Originally posted by: cute.manasi

thanx for sharing , abhay dear...😳

Originally posted by: RadhikaS0

Abhay

First of all, thanks to you for bringing this earliest known farman of Akbar to light. Thanks also to Prof. Abu Bakr and his wife, who kindly shared it with the National Archives and to Prof. Jafri for the translation.

The intrinsic value of the farman is immeasurable.

Bairam Khan was well aware of the fact that the people recognized Akbar as their emperor and that he enjoyed power only in the name of Akbar. So he was content, i guess, in calling the shots from behind the scenes, while Akbar strutted in the public gaze. Akbar, on his part, may have started feeling that it was unwise to vest too much power in the hands of BK and tried to take as much administrative control as possible through farmans and other means. At 16, he was nearing maturity, starting to feel stifled by the authoritative BK, and looking for ways to assert his authority, aided by the devious Maham Anga. This may explain why the farman bore Akbar's name and not that of BK.

Of course, BK could have issued the farman as the Khan-i-Khanan / Vakil, but for some reasons, BK preferred to showcase Akbar while he controlled the strings from the background like a puppeteer.

The administration would not start taking shape till the 1580s - Akbar was still involved in empire building. Also, at the time the farman was issued, the qazis held considerable power in resolving disputes and Akbar himself believed in exercising Islamic laws to settle such cases. This would continue till Akbar divested the qazis of their supreme authority and became the Absolute arbiter in all cases. This may be the reason why the farman has few seals as compared to later farmans.

Originally posted by: history_geek

Interesting and detailed views regarding this farman.
All things well said Radhika.

BK's fall was also due to clout of Maham in the matters pertaining to Akbar. She had a parallel power center.

Just want to add. Reason for few seals can also be that - there was no hierarchy established, in the administration. Less number of officials at every level would mean less seals from provincial officials.

Originally posted by: RadhikaS0

Bindu

Good point about the name :)