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Akbar showed no mercy to rulers who opposed him, and it required great courage to resist him. But once his authority was acknowledged, Akbar was just and generous to Hindus and Muslims alike. However, his acceptance of Hindus as allies, military commanders, governors, and administrators caused resentment among his Muslim courtiers. Akbar ended the taxes that Hindus had to pay when going on pilgrimage. He also abolished the payments they had to make if they did not do military service. This was important because many Hindus were barred by their caste (class) from bearing arms, and still had to pay. In this way, Akbar gradually won the cooperation of the Hindus, both rulers and people. Akbar did not allow his district governors to hold office for long periods because he did not want them to become too powerful. He himself appointed all important regional officers. They owed their posts to him and had to answer to him. As a result, he was able to set up a chain of informers throughout the kingdom. Officials spied on their colleagues and reported any misdeeds or suspicious behaviour back to the emperor. The revenue minister at court appointed regional revenue officials, and they furnished him with weekly reports. Army commanders were given money with which to pay their soldiers. To stop them cheating by dismissing some of their men and keeping the money for themselves, Akbar kept detailed records of every man's name and description. Even the horses were branded. Akbar also introduced a new and fairer system of taxation based on carefully estimated tables of crop yields. Tax collectors had their own district tables and used them to work out how much grain the farmers should contribute. This contribution was then converted into its cash value, district by district, because food prices varied in different parts of the empire. Injustices continued to occur, but Akbar tried to be as fair as possible throughout his growing empire. In 1573, he won Gujarat, with its busy ports and overseas trade. And in 1576, he finally seized control of Bengal. He captured Kashmir in 1586, Sind in 1591, and Qandahar in 1595. He died in Agra in 1605. concluded |
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