Background
Muhammad Akbar was born on October 15, 1542
in Sindh, Pakistan.
Muhammad Akbar was born on October 15, 1542
in Sindh, Pakistan.
In 1555 his father, Emperor Humayan, who had been deprived of his throne by usurpation, recaptured Delhi, which became the seat of a literary and artistic renascence. But Humayan died in 1556, and Akbar, at the age of 14, became emperor. Four years later he ousted his regent, Bairam Khan, and set out to reconquer his inherited realm, including Rajputana, Gujarat, Bengal, and Kashmir. It took the greater part of his long reign to subject the unruly princes of northern India and to make peace secure by the inauguration of wise and generous reforms. He dealt severely with tyranny and extortion on the part of military and civil officers. In 1582 he promulgated a mystic, unitarian creed which he called the Divine Faith. He encouraged the building of both Muslim and Hindu schools and became a patron of artists and writers while still indulging, even in mature years, a special fondness for athletic feats. He built a new capital city at Fatehpur-Sikri. The end of his life was disturbed by court intrigues and the subversive plans and actions of his son, Prince Selim. Akbar died in 1605, and his son succeeded to the throne on October 24 of that year as Emperor Jahangir.
Although of Islamic faith, Akbar showed a receptive interest in all religious beliefs, including Christianity, as presented to him by Father Claudio Aquaviva and other Jesuits.
