Rise of Orthodoxy, Jesuit obituary, Ppl reaction on Akbar's death Pt3

Here is the third and final installment in the tri-part series of articles related to the death of Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1605 and the sudden and surprising accession of Prince Salim as the next Mughal Emperor.

The present article contains 4 sections.

The FIRST section analyzes an extract from the autobiography of a merchant who lived during the reign of Akbar. In his autobiography, the merchant described vividly the reactions of the common people upon hearing the news of the death of Akbar. This account, though personal, is of great historic value because it is contemporary in nature. It can be used to extrapolate the feelings of sadness and despair among the masses when Akbar died.


The SECOND section is an attempt to understand the reasons behind the swift accession of Salim to the throne and the failure of the most powerful nobles at the Mughal court - Mirza Aziz Koka and Raja Man Singh - in rallying support for Prince Khusrau.


The THIRD section is about the religious orthodoxy at the time, which was overjoyed by the death of Akbar and aimed at reviving orthodox Islam in Hindustan. This section also discusses the bigoted point of view of the orthodox ulema and clerics, which they were not able to put into practice while Akbar was ruling. This section serves as a mirror, and gives us an inkling of the strong orthodox sentiment which was resisted by the liberal Mughal Emperor Akbar. This section also listed those practices of Akbar, for which he was called a heretic and apostate.

It also lists the event of execution of priest of Mariam Uz Zamani on the charges of blasphemy. The post gives you an idea of how tough it was for him to resist orthodox sentiments SINGLE handedly.


The FOURTH section contains a laudatory obituary notice for Akbar, which was written by the Portuguese priests present at the Mughal capital. The same Portuguese letter which was included in the previous post is referred to in this section too.


This is followed by the Conclusion, which should not be missed, which contains the impact of death of Akbar in 1605, on the future of Hindustan. Death of Akbar led to a rise in the orthodox revivalist movements. Everything has been dealt with in this post.


This post also contains 14 FULL SIZE Mughal miniatures, including the ones taken from

- the Ramayana of Hamida Bano Begum, who was mother of Akbar ;
- the battle of Arjun from the Mahabharata of Akbar
- the portrait of Sri Krishna from the Harivamsa of Akbar
- the building of bridge to Lanka from the Ramayana of Akbar


Link : Contemporary account of reaction of people & Aftermath of Death of Akbar | Rise of Orthodox elements | Obituary of the Christian Priests | With 14 Full Size Mughal Miniature Paintings| Death of Mughal Emperor Akbar - Last Part of a 3 part series

Originally posted by: Kalgi22

Abhay

Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful piece of writing. Banarasidas, though he is businessmen, he very well described the people's tension and panic because of uncertainty of their future. Even I could feel it now.👏 And this is the first time I'm reading about Prince Salims rebellious acts against his father in depth. I could recall the ancient proverb here "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"

I really liked the miniature painting of Akbar in Rajput dress.

Thanks again.

Thanks for sharing your views, Kalgi!

What is also noticeable was the fact that people were not visibly sad on death of Jahangir as they were on the death of Akbar. Speaks a lot about the sentiment of the commoners about Akbar.

You got it right about Salim. Made friends with all the enemies of his father, but as i said in the post, i didn't know was it done knowingly or unknowingly!

I too liked Akbar in Rajput dress. In fact, once he had adorned Rajput dress in reality, as mentioned in some old blog post.

PS : Don't you think this Rajput dress on Akbar looks same as the one which was put on by Rajat Tokas when he visited Amer for Gangaur ka Mela for the first time, in disguise to get a glimpse of his Registaan ka Gulaab!

This is an impressive post. It is crammed with interesting details and I enjoyed reading it.

Originally posted by: Donjas

This is an impressive post. It is crammed with interesting details and I enjoyed reading it.

Some thoughts-

1 People were really worried at the death of Akbar. Uncertainty loomed. For Hindus it was particularly so. No Muslim ruler in the past, had gone so much out of the way to court them.

2 Jahangir is an interesting study. Evidence suggests that he was not religious. He was an opportunist. He had already alienated many who had supported Khusrau. He had no option but to seek the support of radicals. In addition, unlike his father, he held a grudge, he was not forgiving. The Sikhs suffered for this because they had supported Khusrau. In addition Jahangir was timid unlike his father who was almost reckless. He did not have the steel to openly oppose the radicals like his father did.

Still, it is interesting to note that by and large he continued to follow the same liberal policies as Akbar.

Thanks Donjas!
Nothing more can be added to this interesting comment.
All points are well composed.