Does Akbar deserve the title ‘Great’ Essay Example

were Hindus and excellent warriors. Akbar was very clever. He devised a cunning (not so cunning) plan. He would offer peace and friendship to those Rajputs who would accept him as their leader and he would make war on whoever who refused. This was quite great.

Akbar wanted to be seen as a good ruler of all Indians. Although he was a Muslim, he respected all religions. Akbar was not prejudiced in religion. He liked to see the best in each religion. Akbar liked the Hindus' kindness to animals, the religious art of the Christians and the simplicity of Islam. He wanted to stop violence between different religions which was so common then. In 1563 he stopped the special tax, which Hindus had to pay every time they went on a pilgrimage to one of their holy places. The next year he ordered that no one could be forced to pay extra taxes because of their religion.

Many of the good jobs in the army were given to Hindus, especially Rajputs. Akbar did not care what religion a person was, as long as they were honest and hardworking. Another thing he did was to marry a Hindu as his chief wife. As we can see Akbar respected all religions and to portray that, he even married a Hindu. This is a really great thing. Most rulers would give preference to those of the same religion as him and treat people of different religions, very unfairly. Akbar did not do that. This shows, how great he was. Akbar wanted the Mughal Empire to grow.

He was always at war to conquer many lands. If he were always at war

with outsiders, this would stop war breaking in his empire. This shows how cunning Akbar was. The main danger to Akbar was religious wars. If war began between different religions, then the empire would fall apart so Akbar got different religions in India to talk to one another, so they can see that they have several things in common. He built a special building called the Hall of Worship. To this place he invited the best speakers and thinkers from the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. This also portrays to us that he was great.

As religious problems went on within the country, in 1582 Akbar decided to end all problems by starting his own religion. It was called the Divine Faith. People would worship one God whose representative on earth was Akbar himself. He issued coins bearing the Arabic words Allahu Akbar. These words are a Muslim prayer and mean 'God is greatest'. But they can also be translated 'God is Akbar' because the word Akbar means greatest. Introducing a new religion was a good idea but issuing coins bearing the word 'God is Akbar' is very wrong. He is now going over the top. In my opinion he would definitely not be considered as great.

The religion was not a success anyway. It shocked many Muslims and Hindus. Everyone ignored it except for Akbar and his friends. This proves that what Akbar did was wrong. I think Akbar had a very good army. If he didn't, how would he be able to win so much land from the Rajputs? The main reason for being able to conquer so many lands was because he had a very

good army, who fought very well with the opposing army. On the other hand, Akbar should also be praised for being a really good general. Akbar is the one who trained them and brought them to the level they are in now.