Akbar-The great Mughal Emperor

The upbringing  of Akbar by Rajput ladies of “kachhwahas (rulers of Amer) made him  a liberal man with religious tolerance. He was interested to know about the different philosophical  interested to view of the complex society of India. Akbar was taught the policy of ”Sulh-I-Kul” or universal brotherhood by Abdul latif. He established the Ibadat khana and opened it for all religion for more discussions, through this he came to know about that all the religion were sacred and preached the policy of harmony and peace. With the concept of ”Sulh-I-Kul” he gave his own code of conduct “Tauhid-I-Ilahi” which focused on tolerance, non- violence, respect towards every religion, elders, women, teachers, this led to the emergence of a new religion “Din-i-ilahi” which was introduced by the Akbar.

Struggle between the approaches of colonialism and nationalism to understand the ancient India.

         Some scholars considered the “Tauhid-I-Ilahi” was similar to the concept of “Dhamma” promoted by the great Ashoka. For example, on the request of rajputs he banned the religious conversions in 1562. He abolished the pilgrimage tax in 1563 and also abolished the jajiya in 1564. He issued a document known as “Mahzar” and declared himself as the “ultimate arbitrator” in any religious disputes. Abul fazl ( a court poet of Akbar) in his works “Akbar-nama”, he mentioned that Akbar as a “Farr-I-Izadi” meaning the light of god on earth. Thus the religious policy of Akbar made him as a great ruler and helped him to control the large heterogeneous sections which succeed him to establish a large empire.