Sultan Muhammad Akbar
Encyclopedia
Muhammad Akbar was the fourth son of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb
. He led a rebellion against his father and fled the Deccan after the failure of that venture. He later went into exile to Persia, where he died. He was the father of Nikusiyar
, who was mughal emperor for a few brief months in 1719.
At the age of 15, Akbar was wed to a granddaughter of his paternal uncle, Dara Shikoh
, who had been killed at Aurangzeb's behest. Salima begum was the daughter of Sulaiman Shikoh, eldest son of Dara Shikoh. Later, Akbar also married a daughter of an Assam
ese nobleman. He was the father of two sons and two daughters, including Nikusiyar
, who briefly became mughal emperor in 1719.
Like other Mughal princes, Muhammad Akbar administered various provinces and fought minor campaigns under the guidance of experienced officers. His first independent command was during Aurangzeb’s war of the Jodhpur
succession.
, who was Maharaja of Jodhpur
, was also a high-ranking Mughal officer. He died at his post on the Khyber Pass
on 10 December 1678. He died without leaving male issue, but two of his wives were pregnant at the time of his death. The succession was thus unclear. When the news of the death reached Aurangzeb, he immediately dispatched a large army (9 January 1679) to occupy the state of Jodhpur. One of the division of this army was commanded by Akbar.
Aurangzeb occupied Jodhpur ostensibly to secure the succession for any male infant born to Jaswant's pregnant widows. He declared that such rightful heir would be invested with his patrimony upon coming of age. However, relations between Jaswant and Aurangzeb had not been very happy, and it was feared that Aurangzeb, a notorious bigot, would annex the state for good on this pretext. Indeed, incumbent officers in Jodhpur state were replaced by mughal officers. Many temples in Jodhpur were broken and the idols were carried to Delhi, where they were placed at the entrance of the Jama Masjid so that they could be trampled underfoot and defiled by the Muslims. After thus effectively annexing the largest Hindu state in northern India, Aurangzeb reimposed the jaziya tax on the non-Muslim population (2 April 1679), almost a century after it had been abolished by his tolerant ancestor Akbar I. All this made the emperor extremely unpopular among the Rajputs.
One of Jaswant's pregnant wives was duly delivered of a son, who was named Ajit Singh. Officers loyal to Jaswant brought his family back to Jodhpur and rallied the clan to the standards of the infant. The Rajputs of Jodhpur (Rathore
clan) forged an alliance with the neighboring Rajput state of Mewar
(Sisodia
clan). Maharana Raj Singh of Mewar withdrew his army to the western portion of his kingdom, marked by the rugged Aravalli hills and secured by numerous hill-forts. From this position, the smaller but faster Rajput cavalry units could surprise the Mughal outposts in the plains, loot their supply trains, and bypass their camps to ravage neighbouring Mughal provinces.
In the second half of 1680, after several months of such setbacks, Aurangzeb decided on an all-out offensive. Nicolao Manucci, an Italian gunner in the Mughal army, says: "for this campaign, Aurangzeb put in pledge the whole of his kingdom." Three separate armies, under Aurangzeb's sons Akbar, Azam
and Muazzam
, penetrated the Aravalli hills from different directions. However, their artillery lost its effectiveness while being dragged around the rugged hills and both Azam and Muazzam were defeated by the Rajputs and beaten back.
As the commander of a Mughal division, Akbar had a force of 12,000 cavalry with supporting infantry and artillery. To this, the Maharana of Mewar added 6,000 Rajput cavalry, being half his own army. As this combined army crossed Jodhpur state, numerous war-bands of Rathores joined up and increased its strength to 25,000 cavalry. Meanwhile, various Mughal divisions deployed around the Aravalli hills had been racing to come to Aurangzeb’s aid. Aurangzeb however resorted to threats and treachery: he sent a letter to Tahawwur Khan promising to pardon him but also threatening to have his family publicly dishonored by camp ruffians if he refused to submit. The Mughal noble secretly came over to meet his master but was killed in a scuffle at the entrance to Aurangzeb’s tent.
The crafty Mughal Emperor then wrote a false letter to Akbar and arranged it such that the letter was intercepted by the Rajputs. In this letter, Aurangzeb congratulated his son for finally bringing the Rajput guerillas out in the open where they could be crushed by father and son together. The Rajput commanders suspected this letter to be false but took it to Akbar’s camp for an explanation. Here they discovered that Tahawwur Khan had disappeared. Suspecting the worst, the Rajputs departed in the middle of the night. The next morning, Akbar woke to find his chief adviser and his allies gone and his own soldiers deserting by the hour to Aurangzeb. The would-be emperor escaped the prospect of war with his father by hastily departing the camp with a few close followers. He caught up with the Rajputs commanders and mutual explanations followed.
king Sambhaji
, seeking support for the project of placing him on the throne of Delhi. For fully five years, Akbar stayed with Sambhaji, hoping that the latter would lend him men and money to strike and seize the Mughal throne for himself. But at that time, Sambhaji was engaged in uncovering the conspiracy against him. After which, he was engrossed in wars against Siddhis of Janjira, Chikka Dev Rai of Mysore, Portuguese of Goa and Aurangzeb. In September 1686, Sambhaji sent Akbar to Persia.
In Persia, Akbar was said to pray daily for the speedy death of his father, which alone would give him another chance to wrest the Mughal throne for himself. On hearing of this, Aurangzeb is said to have remarked, "Let us see who dies first. He or I!" As it turned out, Akbar died in 1704, three years before his father’s demise. He died at the town of Mashhad
in Persia.
Two of Akbar's children were brought up by the Rajputs, until as a result of peace negotiations, they were handed over to the old emperor. Akbar's daughter Safiyat-un-nissa was sent to her grandfather in 1696 and his son Buland Akhtar was returned in 1698. The latter, when presented in court, shocked his grandfather and nobles by speaking fluently in the Rajasthani language.
Aurangzeb
Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir , more commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir , was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly...
. He led a rebellion against his father and fled the Deccan after the failure of that venture. He later went into exile to Persia, where he died. He was the father of Nikusiyar
Nikusiyar
Neku Siyar, or Nikusiyar Mohammed, was a claimaint to the throne of India. He had been in prison from 1681 to 1719 and initiated a war to seize the throne in 1719. He was son of rebel Muhammad Akbar, son of Aurangzeb and was brought up in a harem in Agra...
, who was mughal emperor for a few brief months in 1719.
Early life
Muhammad Akbar was born at Aurangabad in the Deccan to Dilras Banu Begam, Aurangzeb's first wife. Dilras Banu was the daughter of Mirza Shahnawaz Khan, a minister at the mughal court who hailed from the Safawi dynasty of Persia. She died when Akbar was only one month old. For this reason, Akbar was brought up with special care and affection by his father.At the age of 15, Akbar was wed to a granddaughter of his paternal uncle, Dara Shikoh
Dara Shikoh
His Highness, The Imperial Prince Dara Shikoh was the eldest son and the heir apparent of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. His name دارا شكوه in Persian means "Darius the Magnificent"...
, who had been killed at Aurangzeb's behest. Salima begum was the daughter of Sulaiman Shikoh, eldest son of Dara Shikoh. Later, Akbar also married a daughter of an Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
ese nobleman. He was the father of two sons and two daughters, including Nikusiyar
Nikusiyar
Neku Siyar, or Nikusiyar Mohammed, was a claimaint to the throne of India. He had been in prison from 1681 to 1719 and initiated a war to seize the throne in 1719. He was son of rebel Muhammad Akbar, son of Aurangzeb and was brought up in a harem in Agra...
, who briefly became mughal emperor in 1719.
Like other Mughal princes, Muhammad Akbar administered various provinces and fought minor campaigns under the guidance of experienced officers. His first independent command was during Aurangzeb’s war of the Jodhpur
Jodhpur
Jodhpur , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located west from the state capital, Jaipur and from the city of Ajmer. It was formerly the seat of a princely state of the same name, the capital of the kingdom known as Marwar...
succession.
The Rajput War
Jaswant SinghMaharaja Jaswant Singh
Maharaja Jaswant Singh was a ruler of Marwar in the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan. He was a Rajput belonging to the Rathore clan. His father was Maharaja Guj Singh.-History:...
, who was Maharaja of Jodhpur
Jodhpur
Jodhpur , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located west from the state capital, Jaipur and from the city of Ajmer. It was formerly the seat of a princely state of the same name, the capital of the kingdom known as Marwar...
, was also a high-ranking Mughal officer. He died at his post on the Khyber Pass
Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass, is a mountain pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.The Pass was an integral part of the ancient Silk Road. It is mentioned in the Bible as the "Pesh Habor," and it is one of the oldest known passes in the world....
on 10 December 1678. He died without leaving male issue, but two of his wives were pregnant at the time of his death. The succession was thus unclear. When the news of the death reached Aurangzeb, he immediately dispatched a large army (9 January 1679) to occupy the state of Jodhpur. One of the division of this army was commanded by Akbar.
Aurangzeb occupied Jodhpur ostensibly to secure the succession for any male infant born to Jaswant's pregnant widows. He declared that such rightful heir would be invested with his patrimony upon coming of age. However, relations between Jaswant and Aurangzeb had not been very happy, and it was feared that Aurangzeb, a notorious bigot, would annex the state for good on this pretext. Indeed, incumbent officers in Jodhpur state were replaced by mughal officers. Many temples in Jodhpur were broken and the idols were carried to Delhi, where they were placed at the entrance of the Jama Masjid so that they could be trampled underfoot and defiled by the Muslims. After thus effectively annexing the largest Hindu state in northern India, Aurangzeb reimposed the jaziya tax on the non-Muslim population (2 April 1679), almost a century after it had been abolished by his tolerant ancestor Akbar I. All this made the emperor extremely unpopular among the Rajputs.
One of Jaswant's pregnant wives was duly delivered of a son, who was named Ajit Singh. Officers loyal to Jaswant brought his family back to Jodhpur and rallied the clan to the standards of the infant. The Rajputs of Jodhpur (Rathore
Rathore
The Rathore is a Suryavanshi Rajput clan same caste as Lohana. Their Kuldevi is Nagnechiya Mata and "Karani Mata". Rathores are originally from Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh. Rathores are historically considered the samurais of India...
clan) forged an alliance with the neighboring Rajput state of Mewar
Mewar
Mewar is a region of south-central Rajasthan state in western India. It includes the present-day districts of Pratapgarh, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Dungarpur, Banswara and some of the part of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The region was for centuries a Rajput kingdom that later...
(Sisodia
Sisodia
The Sisodia are Chattari Rajputs of the Suryavanshi lineage who ruled the kingdom of Mewar in Rajasthan. Prior to Rana Hamir the clan was known as Gehlot or Guhilot. In 1303 CE Alla-ud-din Khilji attacked Chittor...
clan). Maharana Raj Singh of Mewar withdrew his army to the western portion of his kingdom, marked by the rugged Aravalli hills and secured by numerous hill-forts. From this position, the smaller but faster Rajput cavalry units could surprise the Mughal outposts in the plains, loot their supply trains, and bypass their camps to ravage neighbouring Mughal provinces.
In the second half of 1680, after several months of such setbacks, Aurangzeb decided on an all-out offensive. Nicolao Manucci, an Italian gunner in the Mughal army, says: "for this campaign, Aurangzeb put in pledge the whole of his kingdom." Three separate armies, under Aurangzeb's sons Akbar, Azam
Azam Shah
Mirza Muhammad Azam Shah was Emperor of the Mughal Empire and a son of Emperor Aurangzeb and Dilrus Bano Begum. He was a brother of Zeb-un-Nissa, Bahadur Shah I, and Sultan Muhammad Akbar. Like his brothers, Azam Shah married a daughter of Sultan Dara Shikoh.He served as the Governor of Berar...
and Muazzam
Bahadur Shah I
Bahadur Shah was a Mughal Emperor, who ruled India from 1707 to 1712. His original name was Qutb ud-Din Muhammad Mu'azzam later titled as Shah Alam by his father. He took the throne name Bahadur Shah in 1707. His name Bahādur means "brave" & "hero" in Turko-Mongol languages...
, penetrated the Aravalli hills from different directions. However, their artillery lost its effectiveness while being dragged around the rugged hills and both Azam and Muazzam were defeated by the Rajputs and beaten back.
Akbar’s rebellion
Akbar and his general Tahawwur Khan had been instructed to try and bribe the Rajput nobles to the Mughal side, but in these attempts, they themselves were ensnared by the Rajputs. The Rajputs incited Akbar to rebel against his father and offered all support. They pointed out to him that Aurangzeb’s attempt to annex the Rajput states was disturbing the stability of India. They also reminded him that the open bigotry displayed by Aurangzeb in reimposing jaziya and demolishing temples was contrary to the wise policies of his ancestors. Prince Akbar lent a willing ear to the Rajputs and promised to restore the policies of the illustrious Akbar. On 1 January 1681, Akbar declared himself Emperor, issued a manifesto deposing his father, and marched towards Ajmer to fight him.As the commander of a Mughal division, Akbar had a force of 12,000 cavalry with supporting infantry and artillery. To this, the Maharana of Mewar added 6,000 Rajput cavalry, being half his own army. As this combined army crossed Jodhpur state, numerous war-bands of Rathores joined up and increased its strength to 25,000 cavalry. Meanwhile, various Mughal divisions deployed around the Aravalli hills had been racing to come to Aurangzeb’s aid. Aurangzeb however resorted to threats and treachery: he sent a letter to Tahawwur Khan promising to pardon him but also threatening to have his family publicly dishonored by camp ruffians if he refused to submit. The Mughal noble secretly came over to meet his master but was killed in a scuffle at the entrance to Aurangzeb’s tent.
The crafty Mughal Emperor then wrote a false letter to Akbar and arranged it such that the letter was intercepted by the Rajputs. In this letter, Aurangzeb congratulated his son for finally bringing the Rajput guerillas out in the open where they could be crushed by father and son together. The Rajput commanders suspected this letter to be false but took it to Akbar’s camp for an explanation. Here they discovered that Tahawwur Khan had disappeared. Suspecting the worst, the Rajputs departed in the middle of the night. The next morning, Akbar woke to find his chief adviser and his allies gone and his own soldiers deserting by the hour to Aurangzeb. The would-be emperor escaped the prospect of war with his father by hastily departing the camp with a few close followers. He caught up with the Rajputs commanders and mutual explanations followed.
Aftermath
Seeing that Akbar had attempted no treachery and that he could be useful, the Rathore leader Durgadas took Akbar to the court of the MarathaMaratha
The Maratha are an Indian caste, predominantly in the state of Maharashtra. The term Marāthā has three related usages: within the Marathi speaking region it describes the dominant Maratha caste; outside Maharashtra it can refer to the entire regional population of Marathi-speaking people;...
king Sambhaji
Sambhaji
Sambhaji Raje Bhosle was the eldest son and successor to Emporer Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha empire.- Early life :...
, seeking support for the project of placing him on the throne of Delhi. For fully five years, Akbar stayed with Sambhaji, hoping that the latter would lend him men and money to strike and seize the Mughal throne for himself. But at that time, Sambhaji was engaged in uncovering the conspiracy against him. After which, he was engrossed in wars against Siddhis of Janjira, Chikka Dev Rai of Mysore, Portuguese of Goa and Aurangzeb. In September 1686, Sambhaji sent Akbar to Persia.
In Persia, Akbar was said to pray daily for the speedy death of his father, which alone would give him another chance to wrest the Mughal throne for himself. On hearing of this, Aurangzeb is said to have remarked, "Let us see who dies first. He or I!" As it turned out, Akbar died in 1704, three years before his father’s demise. He died at the town of Mashhad
Mashhad
Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...
in Persia.
Two of Akbar's children were brought up by the Rajputs, until as a result of peace negotiations, they were handed over to the old emperor. Akbar's daughter Safiyat-un-nissa was sent to her grandfather in 1696 and his son Buland Akhtar was returned in 1698. The latter, when presented in court, shocked his grandfather and nobles by speaking fluently in the Rajasthani language.
Legacy
In the words of Jadunath Sarkar:- "The rebellion of Prince Akbar, though it was fostered by the Rajputs and originated, grew to fullness, and expired in Northern India, changed the history of the Deccan and hastened the fate of the Mughal Empire as well. His flight to Shambhuji raised a danger to the throne of Delhi which could be met only by Aurangzib’s personal appearance in the south.
- But for this alliance, the Emperor would have left Bijapur and Golconda to be occasionally threatened and fleeced by his generals, while the Maratha king would have been tolerated as a necessary evil and even as a thorn in the side of Bijapur.
- But Akbar’s flight to the Deccan forced a complete change on the imperial policy in that quarter. The first task of Aurangzeb now was to crush the power of Shambhuji and render Akbar impotent for mischief. For this he patched up a peace with the Maharana (June 1681) and left for the Deccan to direct the operations of his army."