Day of Empire_ How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance--And Why They Fall - Amy Chua [101]
Akbar was fascinated by comparative theology. In 1575 he constructed an immense hall to house debates on religion. Participants eventually included Muslim clerics, Hindu saints, Jain monks, Parsi priests, and even Jesuit missionaries from the Portuguese colony of Goa. In the tolerant atmosphere of the time, Sikhism, a syncretic religion combining elements of Hinduism and Islam, emerged in the region of Punjab. Folk culture also saw a merging of customs, ceremonies, and myths. The Bhakti and Sufi movements within Hinduism and Islam, respectively, each combined beliefs from both religions and called for the unity of God. (Even today, Hindus make pilgrimages to Muslim shrines at Ajmer and Fatehpur Sikri, while Muslims often pray to local Hindu deities, such as Sitlamata, the goddess of smallpox.) Indeed, in the Hindu songs and poetry of the period, Akbar, although Muslim, was often compared to the Hindu god Rama—the same Rama, ironically, in whose name Hindu nationalists tore down the mosque at Ayodhya in 1992.
Akbar believed in sharing his religious enlightenment with his fellow rulers. In a letter he dictated in 1582 to Philip II of Spain, he said:
As most men are fettered by bonds of tradition, and by imitating the ways followed by their fathers, ancestors, relatives and acquaintances, everyone continues, without investigating the arguments and reasons, to follow the religion in which he was born and educated, thus excluding himself from the possibility of ascertaining the truth, which is the noblest aim of the human intellect. Therefore we associate at convenient seasons with learned men of all religions, thus deriving profit from their exquisite discourses and exalted aspirations.21
There is no record of a reply from King Philip, who, as we have seen, was busy extinguishing Protestant heresy and overseeing the “Council of Blood” in Holland.
To a surprising extent, Akbar did not favor Muslims. In war, he crushed resisting factions with the same brutality whether they subscribed to Hinduism or Islam. He attacked corruption among the Muslim clergy and initiated sweeping reforms equalizing land privileges for holy men of all persuasions. Along with Muslim festivals, he celebrated Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Defying orthodox Islamic law, he granted non-Muslims permission to repair their temples and to build new places of worship. He also decreed that Hindus who had been forced to convert to Islam could reconvert without being subject to the death penalty. Most dramatically, in 1579 Akbar abolished the jiziya, a mandatory tax levied exclusively on non-Muslims.
Akbar reigned for fifty years (1556-1605) and is known to this day as the Mughal Empire's most successful ruler. Many of his chief advisors were Persian, and the philosophy, painting, and literature of the period all reflect his deep appreciation of Persian culture. His greatest failure was his attempt to create a new “order of faith” called Din-i-Ilahi, supposedly incorporating elements of Islam, Hinduism, and Zoroastrianism. Akbar's objective, it seems, was not to displace existing creeds but rather to establish “a sort of universalist religion, literally religion of God rather than of Muhammad, Christ or Krishna” but demanding “unquestioning loyalty to the person of Akbar” himself. Din-i-Ilahi found few takers in the empire, or even within the emperor's own family. Its establishment outraged orthodox Muslim leaders, who regarded it as heresy and attempted a revolt. The imperial champion of universal tolerance crushed this revolt