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The story that we're going to concentrate on is going to involve a name that is going to be familiar to anyone from India and Pakistan, acutely familiar, because we are brought up on childhood stories of the court of Akbar. Akbar the Great. And particularly, I was brought up with stories of Akbar and his wise man, Birbal. And I'll share some of those with you because they are like Aesop's fables. But Akbar's life itself is a little bit like a fairy tale.
I should say. True or not true? It really, really is. And I have to say this is one of my all-time favourite moments in history because Akbar is not only an improbable story in itself. It also sort of defies every stereotype that we have of medieval Muslim rulers. This is the man that is the epitome of pluralism and tolerance and open-mindedness.
in a part of the world and representing a religion which is not usually thought of as either. I mean, he's unusual among Mughal leaders, it should be said. Oh, I mean, unique. Yeah, he's extraordinary. I mean, I think sometimes the criticism of things like the jizzy attacks which was brought in are true and evident. And the lack of tolerance, you know, among some of the later mogul rulers absolutely were a thing. But this is a man who bucks that trend. Anyway, look, let's give you dates.
to this and just give you a tiny little insight of why I think this sort of almost reads like a fairy tale story if it wasn't true. and you sort of presented it to a fiction editor, they'd go, oh God, is it a children's story? Because it does seem so fantastical. So we're talking about the date 1542. And to be specific, the 15th of October, 1542. Do you remember the last time we spoke about the Mughals? We were talking about Humayu, who had fallen to his death from the steppes.
of his library and had left a note for his little son, Akbar, saying, you know what, I'm feeling poorly, but don't worry about me. He was more worried about Akbar being sad about the fact that he'd fallen and sort of almost promising, I'll be back. I don't want you to worry, but this terrible thing has happened. hit my head. Anyway, he had reason to worry because Himayu dies as a result of this. Akbar, who was born in 1542, just remember Himayu was a fugitive at this time.
and his 15-year-old wife, the love that he finds in the middle of the desert when he's sort of wandering around the deserts of sin. in Umar Accord. They are like beggars. They're eating horses because they have nothing. Boiled in the helmets of their last bodyguards. Lovely detail. What a fabulous detail that is. But this prince is born. The prince who is...
of nothing and of nowhere. He's been driven from his home in Delhi. The family is fleeing westward through the wastes of Rajasthan, trying to get to Persia. trying to get somewhere where at least they can eat and be safe. And yet this child... This child of the desert born into nothing, born into fear and fleeing, will be one of the greatest emperors the world has ever known. So just pick up the story there about that. Yeah, what's strange is that his horoscope.
when he's born is incredibly optimistic. And they log this at the time. Everything's gone. Everything is lost. But the Brahmins who cast his horoscope in the desert say it's suspicious in every detail. And rightly so, because it turns out this is the man who will build the largest empire in India. before the British.
And this is known, I mean, today you began your introduction, Nita, very rightly saying that everyone in India and Pakistan will know this, but not many people outside India and Pakistan will. But what's interesting is that as long ago as Milton's England, Akbar was a name to conjure with. And in Paradise Lost, Milton has God reveal.
to adam the wonders of god's creation where does he take him if you're doing it today you probably go to you know manhattan or shanghai or whatever the big buzzy places of the moment and milton has god take adam to Mughal Lahore. and Mughal Agra during the period of Akbar. And this is because the Mughals at this point rule 100 million subjects, five times the number ruled by the Ottomans, and many times that ruled by the Safavids and Isfahan, who they're two big...
And to a man of Milton's generation, this was literally no understatement. Lahore dwarfed any city in the West. A city is second to none in Asia or in Europe, thought another European who happened to get there, who was a Portuguese priest called Father António. Antonio Montserrat, who we hear a lot of on this episode. He says, with regards to either size or population or wealth, it's crowded with merchants who foregather there from across Asia. There is no...
art or craft useful to human life which is not practiced there. The citadel alone has a circumference of three miles. And let's talk about the citadel. So the citadel from where Akbar will rule this immense kingdom and these millions and millions of people. is in Lahore Ford, which you can still visit today. It is just an exceptionally impressive building. And it's not just India and Pakistan, these great swathes of land, most of India, most of Pakistan, and much of Afghanistan.
And Bangladesh. Because let's not forget, Afghanistan is a fairly recently realized phenomenon. But this was a sort of a contiguous, which is very hard back in the day. Because we talked about in some of the other episodes how sort of different... clans, tribal leaders, they have their different tranches of land and often fight with each other, even families fight with each other. But this is kind of a unification of an idea. of India that happens under Akbar. And this is the period that
the word mogul enters the English language as a synonym for luxury and might. So when the Daily Mail talks about someone being a Hollywood mogul or Trump being this real estate mogul or whatever it is. That is a reference to the impression that the Mughals made at this time on the English, and it enters the English language in this way. But what is so fascinating is that history is full of...
rulers who are powerful and conquer and do terrible massacres and so on. But what's extraordinary about Akbar is he's one of those extraordinary rulers who conciliate. performed some pretty nasty massacres in his teens. He then hands over his army to his enemies, the Rajputs. And in the second half of this episode, when we get there, we'll meet this extraordinary figure of his friend, Rajah Man Singh, who is brought up in the court with Akbar and who goes on to become his main general.
It's an extraordinary story. Don't leave it. I would never, would I ever let the car out of the bag? No, you are. You're hopping around in your chair like a man who's about to burst forth. But look, there's a lot to say about Akbar. He's a really fascinating character. So we're going to do a couple, three, I think.
maybe episodes on Akbar. So if you want to listen to all of our episodes on Akbar and you don't want to wait, you know you can join our club. I should say this because it's a lovely place to be with some brilliant people. You get all sorts of things if you join the club. You don't have to wait. And lots of people.
have been joining our club with the Babble episodes. It's very nice to see. It is very gratifying, but it's also nice for you because, you know, look, you can listen to sort of mini-series together, say, oh, well, it would be a mini-series. You get early access. You get ad-free listening and you get our weekly news. letter, which is a fabulous resource. Things that we talk about, follow-ups, recommendations of books.
places to go and see it's a really neat piece of supportive writing so just if you want to join our club head to empirepoduk.com that's empirepoduk.com anywho okay look let's talk about dates and things i think it's nice to anchor this in the world as well. So the reign of Agba coincides with the reign of Elizabeth I.
the Virgin Queen and King Philip II of Spain. It gives you an idea of context of the world where we are. I want to go back to something that you said, which I was just so fascinated with. I just want to know what the support of evidence of this is that Akbar was not likely to be this man who's associated with wisdom and art.
Because he was dyslexic. So tell me how we know that he's dyslexic. Well, we know it from the beginning because when you remember Humayun was in exile in Persia and then he takes Kabul and he meets. for the first time in two years, his little son, Akbar. And there's a great sort of fanfare as Akbar begins his education. And Akbar does not progress in his education. His father is incredibly bookish. Do you remember Humayun had his library camels that were always running off with his books?
Although his father never was impressed by his writing. Babur was a horrible dad who just said, your writing is terrible. So Babur was unimpressed by Humayun's writing and Humayun was unimpressed by Akbar's...
lack of ability to read well yeah and what they first do of course is they sack the teacher and they think it's his fault then they sack a second teacher and then they realize that actually this guy just can't do it and he prefers hunting and shooting and all that sort of stuff but strangely Despite that, or maybe not strangely, but maybe as a token, he has this extraordinary memory. And he becomes one of the towering figures of his age. And despite his literacy, he's known in all the...
Chronicles and all the memoirs of the time as incredibly intelligent, with this extraordinary gift for memory, but also this reputation. And this, I think, is important to remember. Unlike Babur, who used to sort of, you know,
get down with his troops and go, you know, in one of those parties, he says, how half of them are taking opium and the other half are drinking. And like Humayun, who's always sort of, you know, going off and studying his horoscope with all his mates and all that. Oh, yeah, so the horoscope. tent, which I think is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. But yes, hanging out with people. With his twister carpet, his horoscope twister carpet. But Akbar is quite imperious, incredibly disciplined.
An extraordinary capacity for hard work. He doesn't eat much. He is remarkable for not drinking at a time when rulers drink a lot. He doesn't even sleep much because he's out working. And he enforces his discipline in his court, which as a result sounds rather less fun than the court of Umayyad and Babur. And while he marries, for diplomatic reasons, 300 wives, which sounds like sort of debauchery incarnate, he actually talks a great deal about sexual restraint.
And to this Portuguese Jesuit, Father Montserrat. Sorry, I'll find that. A little ripe, if you don't mind me saying. No, no, no. He tells Father Montserrat that he has a hatred of debauchery and adultery, and he's very luxurious to his main wife. And the others he regards merely as diplomatic. They're treaties. Necessities. Yeah, they're treaties. Treaty wives. Okay. Poor women. Anyway.
Yeah, poor women, not great for them. There are some insights into young Akbar as well, sort of after the death of Himayu where he's launched into this position. It's a very young, I mean, how old is he? Just remind us when Himayu dies, he's still...
12 or 13, that sort of thing. It's a teenager about that. But he is the strictness. I think there are some examples which are really interesting. So, you know, as you say, Barbara caroused with his troops and got drunken high with them, you know, and watched them. enjoyed all their partying, but Akbar doesn't. He has this sort of formal and distance relationship and he wants respect. He wants to build a hierarchy. And there is a story about one of his Mongol nobles.
salutes him from horseback. He doesn't get off his horse and salutes him. Akbar, to serve as an example for others, has him arrested because that is not respectful and that is not the hierarchy. He gets discipline. in the troops. Ten or 12 years later, so assume this is when he's in his 20s or 30s, there's another Mongol noble who arrives drunk in his court and he has him removed from the court, tied to a horse's tail.
just to humiliate him because you do not turn up drunk if you are a courtier and if you are in the presence of the emperor and then has him imprisoned. Immediately and very graphically, he says, this is a different reign. I am not my father and I'm definitely not my grandfather and you will get into line.
And what we see at this period is the Mughal court changed from a place where Humayun or Babur are down there with their nobles having a nice time carousing to what the Mughal court remains right up until the end, which… is incredibly hierarchical with all these different layers of hierarchy. And also it's a place where a lot of hard work goes on. And the Jesuits are very strapped by this.
Akbar's preoccupation, writes one Jesuit, Father Francis Enriquez, he says, are many and very weighty, since almost everything must be rooted through him, which is a lot. And this is done with great calmness and tranquility.
And without any sign of disquiet, he was very hardworking and to this end is never idle. And then there's this other guy, Nicola Minucci, who's one of my favorite characters, who's this sort of... italian con artist who turns up tending to be a doctor and and writes this fabulous memoir and he's rude about almost everyone except akba is someone he really admires he says there is no doubt that this king
was the first who brought Hindustan into subjection and was the most successful in war. If any of the Mughal kings inherited the valour and judgment of Timur, it was, without contradiction, Akbar. So look, just again, I looked it up while you were talking, he was 13 when he became the emperor and actually the death of his father was withheld from everyone until Akbar could be in the right position to be crowned as emperor or anointed as emperor.
Emperors were not crowned in those days. That's a very Western thing. But he's already married. So, you know, he's 13. This is just the accelerated lives of people back then. Because at the age of nine, he marries. Now, this is extraordinary. So, Hindle, the treacherous, shitty brother. of Hamayu, who just lets him down at every turn. Kendall was the slightly less treacherous of all the shitty brothers.
Yeah, but pretty shitty. They're the only kind of crappy one rather than outright charlatan. They're all awful. So he marries his daughter. So he marries his cousin at the age of nine, which was a common practice to marry at that age. So he's got a wife. He's got a title, but he's also got a real mess in front of him because in 1556, the Mughals lose Delhi and that is a major loss for them, a large army, 300 elephants.
And, you know, he loses that. He loses it again. He loses it to this character called Hemu. Yeah, tell us about Hemu. Tell us who he is. Hemu is, I think, a Hindu who is a general in Shersha's army. Shesh, I remember we called him the Lion King, the descendant of the Afghan kings of Bihar and Bengal. And Hemu pops up.
as soon as Humayun dies. And despite him not having any royal heritage himself, he invades Delhi in October 1556 with a large army, 300 elephants. And it's all looking pretty shaky. Just like his father went through, Humayun losing. Exactly. Territory hand over fist. And the person who comes to the rescue is this character, Bairam Khan, who was very important during the reign of Atbar, very loyal. And he's the father of another key figure that we'll come across later called Khanikanant.
And Bayram Khan is the first sort of general to stand by Akbar. There is another battle of Panipat, which nearly goes wrong. Remember that it was at Panipat that... Babur defeats the Lodis, this fated battleground continues to be the place where the fate of India is decided. And just as the battle is looking quite bleak for the Mughals, Hemu is hit in the eye.
by an arrow like Harold Godwinson. Harold Godwinson, very Battle of Hastings. And actually, you know, it's significant because the numbers are not in their favour, even with Byron by his side, and utmost forces are enormously outnumbered. So was this man... not hit in the eye by an arrow, they could have and probably would have been wiped out. And that would have been the end of the Ackbar story. The whole mogul story. We'd never have heard them again. Yep.
But instead, Hemu is knocked unconscious by this terrible arrow in the eye. And Akbar, aged now of only 14, reaches the unconscious Hemu, decapitates him personally. And the head gets sent off to Kabul, the body to Delhi to warn other pretenders on the throne. This is one of... Two occasions when Akbar behaves very gruesomely and builds, I think, a tower of skulls on the battlefield, like the Mongol forebear. Can I just say, which is appalling? Because I've seen some people sort of...
pop up on various social media going, you know, hang on, how are you not criticising this? No, no, it's horrific. It is absolutely horrific. You know, mountain of skulls. nobody is saying this is part of the glorious bits of his story. And there's going to be one other occasion when Akbar also behaves in an incredibly violent and bloodthirsty manner. And we'll come to that quite soon. But having...
got his throne thanks to the generalship of Bairam Khan. Quite soon, Bairam Khan is sent off to Mecca in 1560. So, you know, quite early on, Akbar doesn't want the old guard around. And initially, he leans on the two brothers of his wetness, who's this woman called Maham Anga. And his wet nurse has these sons, which the most important is Adam Khan. And so as a balance against Bairam, he initially lands on Adam Khan.
Bayram Khan is sent off to Mecca. There's a rebellion, but he's defeated. And then two years later, Adam Khan overplays his hand and assassinates. Akbar's minister in court. And this is the moment of crisis. Akbar is now 16. It's the second one of his associates who's become over mighty. This guy who he's brought up with, Adam Kahn,
has killed someone in court and he has to make a decision. What does he do? He orders Adam, who he's known since he was a child, who is one of the closest associates in court, to be thrown. Who is this boob twin? You know, if it's a wet nurse, it's a boob twin. And we've talked about this before, you know, sort of wet nurses who will look after and feed their own children when they're pregnant. And also if they're producing milk, they will be given another child, a royal child to feed.
And he is, on Akbar's orders, thrown out of a first fall window. And they then look down and see this poor guy twitching. And Akbar allegedly personally goes down, puts him over his shoulder, pulls him up the stairs and throws him out a second time. And that's it. And that Adam Khan's tomb. is just next to my house in Delhi. And I pass it many days. What does it look like? Well, it's very big and grand. It's like the old Lodi royal tombs, which are in the Lodi gardens, but bigger.
Who would have made that? I mean, would that have been Akbar himself? That is Akbar himself. I mean, these guys were his wet nurse brothers. Yeah. So he throws them off a balcony twice, but then feels bad about it. He throws one of them off the balcony and the other brother also ends up having a tomb built for himself. And these two gorgeous tombs, which lie either side of the Raleigh bus station today. to my house, are beautiful places. Adam Khan's tomb is called the Gulbulia, the maze.
Ah, that's like a labyrinth. It's the name for a labyrinth, yeah. And it's a place associated with gins and lots of folklore. It's a beautiful tomb. It's an absolutely wonderful place. And then there's the other brother who's just over the other side of the Kutubanar. And so Akbar recognizing, in a sense, his responsibility to these two.
does build them both big tombs, but he is not going to let any sympathy or any over show of kindness, the thing that he recognized, finished his father over and over again forgiving his enemies. And Atba's going to have none of it. So he starts off right at the beginning doing exactly what his father did not do. He shows he will not forgive disloyalty, that disloyalty and treachery will result in death or exile.
And so first Bayram Khan is sent off, then Adam Khan is thrown out. Mahamanga, the wet nurse, dies of sadness. And this results in Akbar at the age now of whatever he is, 16 or 17.
very much in control showing that he is someone however young he is he's not to be messed with and it's at this point that we see this very very important decision that he takes to find allies with the most improbable people of all, the Rajputs, who've traditionally been the enemies of his family, who fought Babur when he came to power.
After the break, we will hear the story of Man Singh, which is a story which completely changes not only Akbar's own life, but will alter forever the nature of Mughal rule. This is a paid advertisement from... Better help. It's that time of year in the northern hemisphere when things begin to get cool and wintry. The night's drawing in, the fires are being built. Meanwhile, at my home in Delhi, it's actually rather nice at the moment, with warm days and balmy evenings.
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Welcome back. So just before the break, we were talking about how Akbar is trying really very hard, or whether he's trying or not, he is, defining what it is to be an emperor and it is in exact opposition to what his father was, which was sort of this... rather forgiving dope who kept taking back the most treacherous snakes who were around him and it resulted in him being reduced.
to begging in a desert for allies and cooking horses in helmets. One thing we didn't mention, part of this redefinition, and it's partly strategic. because it is a more secure place and it's partly because he is a different type of emperor. But he moves the court from Delhi to Agra. Now, for most of you, Agra will be synonymous.
with the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal doesn't exist at this time. The Taj Mahal will be created by someone who comes later. But it is a very big deal to move a court. I mean, some people have tried it or we talked about the Tughluks trying to move their courts were disastrous.
consequences. It's a big deal. It's a big gamble, but it pays off, doesn't it, William? Because apart from your redefining, I am not like the ones who came before me, you're building something new and strong and in your own image, in a way. Correct. And it's at this point, too, that we get this extraordinary alliance formed between Akbar's moguls, based now in Agra, and in a sense, their next big power. who are the Rajput clan, Raja Barmal, who lives in Amer, which is just under...
Amber Fort, which is now on the outskirts of Jaipur. Jaipur, again, like the Taj Mahal, is something that comes later. Yeah. We ought to actually explain who the Rajputs were, first of all. So the Rajputs, historically, enemies of the Mughals, a very proud Hindu martial people. They pride themselves on being great fighters. They also have great swathes of land. They also have a great deal of pride in being Rajput. It's a really defined regal.
thing to be, to be a Rajput. The Rajputs have also defined themselves on fighting. with the Mughals. So, to have any kind of allegiance between these two houses is an extraordinary thing. And let's talk about Mansingh a little bit more. I mean, you say Amr is where he is. Also describe what it would have been like then because Amar Ford, there are great forts and these places in the desert, if you've ever done
any kind of traveling to India and you're not from India. The Golden Triangle, this is part of the Golden Triangle that you'll be taken on to see these huge soaring edifices. on great high ground, which look down into ravines, strategically very, very protected, but also imposing architecture that shows this is great might here. So strategically important, but also as propaganda, very, very important. This is the flex of strength that the Rajputs project.
Tell us about Man Singh. I mean, who was he? What was he like? Tell me who he was. So what's important to realise is that Man Singh, when he's born, is not one of the great nobles of India. Today, when you go to Amerford, it is... as you say, one of the main tourist sites of India, because it's absolutely enormous. But that fort that we all go and visit on elephants, and it's one of the classic things tourists do, and it's one of the classic views of India, that fort was one.
and built with the loot that Man Singh gathers as Akbar's general. And if you go down the slopes, I can tell the story very clearly because I was actually at a wedding in Jaipur this weekend. And in preparation for this pod, I went wandering around Amir with my son, Sam, who's become obsessed with this story too. And that's just...
put a substack up all about all the temples built under the Mughals by particularly this family. Oh, look at your proud dad. I'm proud dad. Travels of Sam White, substack. Oh, sweet. Drop it, drop it, help my boy. Anyway, Sam actually... me. He was my tour guide this weekend. And we went round all the temples, of which there are 360 in Amir, underneath the fort. The important point that he showed me on this trip...
was that it was a very minor Rajput house. They were effectively squires rather than great Maharajas. at this point. And their original palace, where Man Singh was brought up, is still there. Today, it's actually a temple. It's been converted into a temple where the coronations, the Abhisheka ceremony of the new Maharajas, still goes on.
but it's quite modest. It's like, you know, I mean, it's a big, lovely courtyard house that you and I'd be very happy to live in, but it's not, you know, Amerford, which is one of the great, amazing palaces of the world. And there's three generations of rulers who make this transition into Mughal service. And the first... It's Mansing's father, isn't it? Well, I think it's actually a grandfather is the first one.
So the grandfather and the father, who are the princes of this Kachawa dynasty, join Mughal service. And they very quickly rise in the ranks. And their success... and the freedom with which they are allowed to operate.
swings the balance. All the other Rajputs are watching to see how it goes. And one after another, they join the Mughals and come over to this increasingly powerful juggernaut. And the one family that doesn't is the family family that will become the Maharanas of Udepur in later generations, the Sisodias of Chittor, and a division. takes place in the heart of Rajasthan between those clans, such as initially the Kachawas of Amer and then the family that will become the Maharajas of Jodhpur.
join Mughal service, and for a long time the Susodias stand out against it and refuse to bow in front of the foreign arrivals. Yeah, so this is really, really important because… there has always been this feeling that the Mughals are the enemy of the Rajputs. So for Rajputs to enter imperial service and for Rajputs to rise in the ranks, because there's also a supposition that the Mughals only promote their own, that they look upon the Hindus as
that they don't treat them as equals. And yet you see these Rajput families who have come under the Mughal umbrella rising to very dizzying heights. So the grandfather, the father, and then of course you have Mansing himself. So he enters imperial. service. He enters the military at the age of 12. Again, the age of 12. He's sent off to grow up in the court with Akbar as Akbar's effectively sort of protege.
Yes, to have that position near the feet of the emperor is a massive, massive deal. And he rises through the ranks and he becomes a military general in no time at all. And he will go on to become the highest ranking military general in the Mughal Army. army by 1605. So this is a Hindu rising in a Muslim court, which completely must be befuddling to the Rajputs to say, hang on a minute, we've always been fighting these people. They've always treated us.
like the enemy? And how is it that you've got people like Mansing able to build these grand edifices and houses and suddenly have retinues and servants? They're doing all right under the moguls. They're doing better than all right. They even go as far as marrying Man Singh's sister to Akbar. And in 1562, the woman who will become known as Maria Muzumani, who later becomes the mother of Jahangir, the next emperor.
from the same family, marries Akbar and moves to Agra with her brother. So you've got these Rajputs with increasing number now, arriving, doing diplomatic marriages with Akbar. And almost immediately you see land grants being given by Akbar to Hindu temples near Agra in the land of Krishna, the land of Braj. The first one is the father. of Man Singh, who's called Bhagwan Das, who builds this extraordinary Mughal-style sati temple in Vrindavan.
And in 1598, Akbar orders four Brahmins to determine the grants given to the different temples in Braj. Very quickly, you have this burst of temple building. Hindu temple building. And also no presence of the Jizya tax, which is, you know, a tax that often sort of Mughal leaders
impose on the local populace. If you're not a Muslim, you pay a tax for doing your own thing in your own temples. You can go and be a Hindu if you like, but you will be punished for it from your pocket. And that is not the case. Yeah, it's not just that. It's also no pilgrimage taxes, a whole range of different... things that irritate the Hindus are banned. So you can't kill peacocks. You can't kill cows.
These are now all protected animals for the benefit of the Hindus to create this cohesion within this, what historians sometimes call a Mughal Rajput state. Well, I was going to say, scholars are arguing that it's not right to call it the Mughal state at this point. is the Mughal Rajput state because the Rajputs, the Hindus, are so high up.
that you can't just say it's a Mughal state anymore because Rajputs are controlling things. He trusts them to control things and they trust him to have this allegiance and fly against everything that they've ever been taught. So, more temples are built under Akbar than at any time since the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate of the 13th century. And they're bigger than anything that North Indians had built.
at that point. And it's Man Singh himself who builds the largest of all, which is the Govinda Devi temple, which is the size of a cathedral. It's a wonderful looking building in Vrindavan. built very much in the kind of imperial Mughal style of Atbar's reign, which we'll hear more about later, with this mix of sort of, you know, Central Asian Mughal architecture and local Hindu architecture of this region and of Gujarat.
But it's enormous. It's an enormous, cracking great temple. I mean, it's so huge and imposing. Just to give you an idea, I mean, it looks like a fort. It looks like one of those great Rajput forts. It's soaring up. Redstone, that redstone that's very… Correct. distinctive in Rajasthan. It's got great pillars, this huge gateway to come in. It's unlike any of the temples I think that have ever come before it.
In North India, correct. I think you have to go back to the 10th century to a king called Raja Burj, who builds this extraordinary temple outside Bhopal. It's the largest since then. In other words, for 500 years, there's been nothing.
like this built in north india so it's a major turning point in north indian architecture and the thing which i always love the story i love which indicates The ambiguous but incredibly important position that Man Singh has at court is when, a little later, he's appointed as the governor in Bengal and Bihar.
renovates this fort called Rotas, doubles the size. It's another whopping great fort, like the one he'll build in Amer. And he puts up on the doorway two inscriptions. The first inscription is in... And it goes on and on about Akbar. He's called all his official titles, Sultan, Jalaluddin, Mohammed Akbar, Badshah, Ghazi. And there's a tiny little reference at the end of this Persian inscription to Man Singh.
And then there's a second inscription in Sanskrit, which Martin clearly thinks the Mughals can't read. Especially not Akbar, who really can't read. What does it say? Does it flip the bias a little bit? It flips the bias completely. In this one. It's all about him. And he says in Sanskrit that he is Sri Maharaj Adiraj, Maharaja, King of Kings, Overlord, the big swinging guy, you know, all this. And also Akbar was here a bit. No, Akbar doesn't mention.
Not at all. Nothing at all. See, that's properly gutsy. Just hope they don't translate it. And the same thing is true of slightly later in his reign when he takes over great chunks of Bengal. He officially names the place that he turns into his capital city there, where he governs from, Akbar Nagar. But no one calls it that in reality. What do they call it in real life? After him, they call it Rajmahal.
which is what it's called to this day. So look, we've been concentrating on Man saying we should get back to Akbar because he's growing, he's building allegiances, he's reforming what it looks like to rule in a largely Hindu population. by getting it to be a partnership. But things are going to go awry in about 1564 because there is an assassination attempt.
on Akbar. An arrow is shot. It pierces his right shoulder. He's coming back from a visit to a shrine, a Sufi shrine, a dharga. Nizamuddin, yeah. Nizamuddin near Delhi, a very famous dharga. Akbar orders the assassin to be arrested and it turns out to be a slave of a noble in Akbar's court. Again, he's getting people that he trusts around him, but they're not all to be trusted. Put it that way, because it is still a very dangerous...
dangerous business to be an emperor at this time. Tell us about 1568. This is another very significant time, the siege of Chittor. First of all, where is Chittor and why is it significant? So Chittor is, again, one of the great scientists. of India. If you do do your kind of golden triangle tour of India, you'll almost certainly visit Udepur, and it is the old capital of the Maharanas of Udepur. And it's a place associated partly because of
What happens with Akbar? It's associated with Rajput chivalry, because the clan that lived there, the Sasodias refused to bow the knee. to Akbar. The family that will become the Maharajas of Jaipur, the family of Mansingh have gone over. The Rattors who will become the... Maharajas of Jodhpur have gone over, but the Sasoniyas, who will become the Maharanas of Udepur, refuse to do so. So there is this terrible, terrible siege of Chittor. And the defenders...
enact the practice of Johar. Do you want to talk about that, this tradition of the mass killing of women and girls to avoid capture and savement and the men ride out in saffron and go to their death? I think you're sort of telling... the story perfectly well but yes it's a miserable pattern which is repeated at the time of partition where families would rather have their women
killed their daughters, their mothers, their sisters, rather than fall into the hands of the enemy, lest they should be raped and dishonored, which was deemed to be a fate worse than death even. So, it is the mass slaughter.
just the mass slaughter of the women that you love. Just imagine that, blood running through. And women, again, like at the time of Partition, there are horrific stories of women volunteering to have their throats cut by their fathers because they bought... into this, that if you are taken, you will be raped, and that is the greatest dishonor.
of all. Apart from anything else with some Hindu families, they believe it takes you out of caste and therefore you will not be allowed into their cycle of reincarnation. It's an existential threat. But it is awful. Just imagine that. Imagine that. And 30,000 fought defenders end up being killed by Akwa's forces. We don't have the number for the girls. As usual, we don't have the numbers for the girls. I mean, do we? We don't know how many women and girls were killed.
In addition to those who take their own lives in the Johar, the Akbar orders all the defenders to be killed. And this is something that, again, sort of clouds his life. It's awful. Because they were right. He wasn't going to show mercy. He wasn't going to treat them decently. So as appalling as this sort of act of self-mutilation is for families. They had a point because Akbar is not showing any mercy. He's nothing like this ruler whose image now is one of tolerance.
We all hold hands together and wisdom. He's just, he's a shit. I mean, it's awful. It's horrific. Does he regret it? Does he ever write about it? Or does anyone say he regrets what he did at this time? So what we do see is that he never does it again. There are many other occasions when he faces resistance and he'll never again order a massacre like he does this. And this seems to be a turning point.
earlier period in Indian history. And again, there are those who dispute this, but with the Emperor Ashoka, it's always said to be this great... massacres and enslavement when he conquers Orissa that changes his heart and turns him in towards non-violence. Into Buddhism. And Buddhism. That's sometimes disputed, but that's certainly the version that Ashoka puts out publicly.
The same is true with Akbar. After the massacre at Chittor, we never see him again behave with this gruesome slaughter. And as we'll see in future episodes, he becomes a very different man after this. Okay. So, I mean, this is coming to a point after this Bruce and Moscow. It doesn't make the waters still for him because even after this...
There are still rebellions against Akbar, particularly to the east in Bihar and in Bengal and in Kabul. There are uprisings against Akbar's rule, people who are not happy to be part of this massive state. And it is Man Singh. mancing of this self-advertising who puts these things down. There is also a brother. We haven't talked about Hakim.
At all. So Hakim, well, tell us about him first of all. What's the age difference? Do you know what the age difference is between Akbar and Hakim? Hakim is Akbar's brother. I don't know the age difference, but Hakim, I think, is up in Kabul, isn't he? And he revolts. in 1580. Yes. He tries to steal his brother's throne. That's what he wants. He sees all of this and he wants it. There is this tradition of fratricide in the Mughal dynasty, which we talked about before.
How does Akbar take it? And what does he do to Hakim for doing this in Kabul? So Hakim is defeated, driven into Central Asia, and he allegedly dies of alcohol poisoning when he's on the run from Akbar's troops. But again... Akbar has learned the lesson from his father, Humayun, and he does not forgive the sons. The sons are expelled from India and are told they are not welcome. So that, for this generation... ends all competition from brothers and half brothers.
Akbar is blessed in that he doesn't have a whole load of competing brothers like Humayun did, nor has he vowed to his father that he won't. He's not stymied by not killing the treacherous snakes who rise against him. He just deals with them. And when he defeats Hakim and sort of Hakim withdraws to lick his wounds and his sons are expelled and dies at the bottom of a bottle, what Akbar does at this time is, I think, pretty amazing. He puts his sister.
in charge. He's got rid of his treacherous brother, but he trusts his sister, Bakhtunisa Begum. And he says, right, you know what? This is a strategic province. I trust you. You must be wise and you are trustworthy. So you will be the governor of Kabul. And it is, I mean, Kabul, we've talked about how important Kabul is to the Mughals. It's not just a strategic importance. It's also a spiritual. into rebellion up to now. It's always going wrong. You know, it's very...
difficult to stay in control, but he trusts it to a woman to do that. I just thought I wanted to bang that drum for a little bit. Anyway, okay, so he has annexed Kabul from his treacherous snake of a brother, put his sister in charge. But actually, to hold on to the Northwest, it does make you vulnerable because you're always having to send troops to quell. As modern history tells us, you don't go into Afghanistan and take something and sleep.
at night with both eyes closed because it isn't that kind of place. That's right. And so for the final stage of his reign, he rules from Lahore. And from that base, he keeps a very firm hand on Afghanistan. He conquers Kashmir, which is currently being ruled by a Shia king, and he annexes sin. So these are all major conquests.
We look at them as small campaigns. But we're rapidly seeing this Mughal empire spread in all directions. And he's captured Rajasthan and Sindh and Gujarat. So, I mean, just shorthand. The entire Indo-Gangetic plane is basically in his control, the north, the east.
what is now eastern Pakistan, southern Nepal, and most of Bangladesh, plus Kashmir, plus Afghanistan. So this new style of, I suppose people must have thought initially, was kind of uptight Akbar, who takes a man who doesn't salute him. a horse and has him flogged and arrested. This is paying off because he's got order and discipline where his forebears did not. They made some tragic decisions. drunk and high, but this is not him. It is beginning to pay off.
So, do a little teaser for where we're going next week because we're going to have to end it here. I'll tell you one thing I am going to do because it's about the same sort of time that Birbal, if you are Indian or Pakistani, you'll know the stories about Birbal, but they become... a thing at this time in sort of around about 1580. And so I can't wait to tell you about that at the beginning of the next episode, the great Aesop fables of the East that we have throughout Barbeable. But the two...
Other stories we're going to tell next time are the way that Akbar cements these new conquests all across North India, all the way from Bengal to Gujarat, all the way from... Kashmir and Afghanistan down to the Deccan. We're going to find the way that he manages to stabilize this into a empire that will last for 300 years. And there are two main... One is to establish an incredibly sleek and well-run administration. But the second is to operate a religious policy.
that means that the Hindus will never regard him as an outsider and will look on him as one of their own. And if you want to hear episode two and you can't wait, I don't blame you, it's very exciting and we can't hold ourselves back, sign up to Empire... to get early access, ad-free listening, and you get our brilliant weekly newsletter, which is a
thing of beauty, just head to empirepoduk.com. That's empirepoduk.com. Till the next time we meet. It's goodbye from me, Anita Arnon. And goodbye from me, William Durham.