Akbar worshipping sun, Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore

Compiled by London Swaminathan

Date: 10 June 2017

Time uploaded in London- 7-15 am

Post No. 3988

Pictures are taken from various sources such as Face book, Wikipedia and newspapers; thanks.

contact: swami_48@yahoo.com

There are two interesting stories about the Moghul emperor Akbar (1556-1605) and there is a true anecdote as well.

1.Akbar’s previous birth

2.Akbar and a Hindu ghost

3.Akbar and Surya Namaskar

In the Agra Fort there is an image of a man named Mukunda. He was a celebrated saint who decided to end his life by throwing himself in the river Jamuna, which flows by the fort. The reason for his decision was that he accidentally swallowed the hair of a cow by drinking milk without straining it. Though he punished himself by committing suicide, that was not thought a sufficient punishment. So, he was condemned to be born as a Mohammedan in his next birth, but in view of his sanctity, the harshness of the sentence was partially mitigated and he was born again as Emperor Akbar.

Akbar and the Hindu Ghost!

Hindu villagers attribute diseases like cholera and small pox to village goddesses. But there is a strange story about a historical personage. Hardaur Lala, son of Bir Sinha Deva (Veera Simha Deva), the miscreant Raja of Orcha in Bundelkhand, who at the instigation of Jahangir, assassinated the accomplished Abul Fazl, the literature of the court of Akbar. His brother, Jahjhar, succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, and after sometime, suspecting Hardaur of undue intimacy with his wife, he compelled her to poison her lover, with all his companions, at a feast in 1627 CE.

After this tragedy, the Princess Kanjavati, sister of Jahjhar, was about to be married. When the mother issued wedding invitations, Raja Jhajar mockingly suggested that one invitation should be sent to Hardaur.

Thereupon she in despair went to the tomb of Hardaur and lamented his wretched end. To her surprise Hardaur from below the earth answered her and promised to attend the wedding.

The ghost kept his promise and attended the marriage ceremony. Subsequently he went to the bedside of emperor Akbar at midnight and asked him to erect platforms in his name. If the king did so there would not be any damage by storm or drought in any part of the country. Akbar also did so. Since then the ghost of Hardaur was worshipped in every village in Northern India. But one unsolved problem in this story is a chronological error. Akbar died in 1605. Hardaur was murdered in 1627. (So it may not be Akbar, may be his son)

Akbar and Surya Namaskaram

“Emperor Akbar endeavoured to introduce a special form of Sun Worship into his dominions. He ordered his subjects to adore the sun four times a day; morning, noon, evening and midnight.  His Majesty had one thousand and one Sanskrit names of the Sun collected and read them daily, devoutly turning to the sun. He then caught hold of his both ears by their upper parts and turning himself quickly round used to strike the lower ends with his fists. He ordered his band to play at midnight and was weighed against gold at his solar anniversary (birth day)  — from Blockman’s translation of Ain-i-Akbari.

The Ain-i-Akbari or the “Constitution of Akbar”, is a 16th-century, detailed document recording the administration of emperor Akbar’s empire, written by his vizier, Abu’l-Fazl ibn Mubarak.

All the three stories are summarised from ‘The Gods of India’ by Rev E Osborn Martin, London, year 1914.

–subam–