Akbar : (1542-1605), exemplary grandson of Babur (an exemplary descendant of Taimur Lang & Chenghiz Khan), he was the 3rd Emperor of Mughal Hindusthan (1556-1605). The history of Hindusthan in 1526-56 is mainly the story of the Mughul-Afghān contest for supremacy. The previous Mughul (Mongol) inroads…only added, through the settlement of the ‘New Mussalmāns’, a new element that at times harassed the Turko-Afghan Sultans. But the invasion of Taimur, who occupied the Punjab, accelerated the fall of the decadent Sultanate of Delhi. One of his descendants, Babur, attempted a systematic conquest of Northern India & thus laid the foundation of a new Turkish dominion (the so-called Mughuls really belonged to a branch of the Turks named after Chaghātai, the second son of Chenghīz Khān, who came to possess Central Asia & Turkestan), which being lost in the time of his son & successor Humāyūn, in the face of an Afghān revival. Humāyūn died in January 1556 & the next month Akbar was formally proclaimed as his successor. ─ Soon after Akbar’s accession, Hīmū, an adept Hindu slave-general-minister of the Afghan king Ādil Shāh Sūr, occupied Agra & Delhi by defeating Tārdi Beg, the Mughul governor of Delhi. Hīmū met Akbar & his father’s old comrade & Moghul Regent Baihrām Khān at Pāṇīpat with a large army including 1,500 war elephants on 5 Nov., 1556, a battle 19th century historians dubbed as Pāṇīpat II. Hīmū was winning against both wings of the Mughul army when one of his eyes was pierced by a chance arrow & he lost consciousness. As his soldiers began to disperse in confusion, he was put to death, whether by Baihrām or Akbar is still a matter of debate among professional historians but either way the Moghul blood took centre-stage. Pāṇīpat II marked the beginning of the Mughul Empire in Hindusthan. Between 1558 & 1569 Gwālior, Ajmer, & Jaunpur were incorporated in it. For the next forty years, Akbar went on a spree of annexation after annexation until he dominated the whole of northern & central India. But Mewād, which under Rāṇā Saṇga (q.v.) had contested with Babur for the supremacy of northern India, & was been provided with excellent means of defence in its steep mountains & strong castles, then under Rāṇā Ratan Singh not only did not bow its head but sheltered Bāz Bahādur, the king of Mālwā, this was an offence Akbar could not digest. So in October 1567, he laid such an implacable siege around Chittodgadh that Rāṇā Udai Singh fled to the hills, & Akbar captured that greatest pride of Mewād. After annexing Ranthambhor & Kālinjar (c.100-odd km SW of Allahabad) in 1569, Akbar decided to subjugate Gujarat due its rich & flourishing ports & special commercial position (Humāyūn’s occupation of it had not lasted). In 1572 Akbar marched in person against Gujarat, defeated all opposition & pensioned off the puppet king…. But no sooner had he reached his H.Q. at Fatehpur Sikri than insurrection broke out in Gujarat. He hurried back to Ahmadābād, having traversed 600 miles in eleven days & thoroughly vanquished the insurgents in a battle near Ahmadābād in September 1573. Bengal was conquered in 1576, Orissa in 1592, Kabul in July 1585, Kashmir in 1586, Sind in 1590-91. Soon after he conquered Baluchistan in 1595, he received the eager surrender of Qandahār (Anglicised spelling of Moslemised spelling of Gāndhāra) by its Persian governor. That must have been when Akbar disinfected the age-old city of Purūshapūra by renaming it Peshāwar. Thus by 1595 Akbar made himself he undisputed master of the lands from Himālayās to the Narmadā, & from the Hindukūsh to the Brahmaputra. ─ He then decided to extend his paramountcy over South India, i.e. the Sultanate of Ahmadnagar, Bijāpur, Golkundā, & Khāndesh. Miān Bahādur Shāh, a ruler of Khāndesh (q.v.), refused to submit to Akbar…. Akbar marched to the south in July 1599. He soon captured Burhanpur, the capital of Khāndesh, & easily laid siege to the mighty fortress of Asīrgarh, than which “it was impossible to conceive a stronger fortress, or one more amply supplied with artillery, warlike stores & provisions”. The besieged garrison, though greatly weakened own to the outbreak of a terrible pestilence which swept off many of them, defended the fortress for six months, when Akbar hastened to achieve his end by subtle means. Unwilling to prolong the siege as his son Salim had rebelled against him, the emperor inveigled Miān Bahadur Shah into his camp to negotiate a treaty, on promise of personal safety, but detained him there & forced him to write a letter to the garrison with instructions to surrender the fort. The garrison, however, still held out. Akbar next seduced the Khāndesh officers by lavish distribution of money among them, & thus the gates of Asīrgarh “were opened by golden keys”. This was the last ‘conquest’ of Akbar. His son Shah Jahan almost, & his grandson Aurangzeb fully, completed his goal of subduing South India not forgetting to use his “golden keys”. By 1601, with his conquest of Khāndesh, Akbar the Great’s Empire extended from Kabul to Bengal & Himalayas to Narmadā. According to his secretary Abu-l-Fazl, Akbar divided his empire into 15 subās: Kabul, Lahore including Kashmir, Multan including Sindh, Delhi, Agra, Oudh, Prayāga, Ajmer, Ahmadābād, Mālwā, Bihar, Bengal, Khāndesh, Berar, & Ahmadnagar. Over each subā was a subadar or Nawab Nazim with a Diwan in charge of the finances. Todar Mal organised Akbar’s land survey & settlement system, & assessment of taxation on farmers at the rate of ⅓ of the produce paid in cash or kind to state officers. [Vide S. Bhattacharya; R.C. Majumdar et al’s Advanced History…] “Hindu rulers had,” writes L.S.S. O’Malley, editor of Modern India & the West: A Study of Interaction of Their Civilisations, “charged cultivators one-sixth of the produce as tax, Akbar raised it to one-third, & his grandson Shāh Jahan to one-half”. [K.R.S. Iyengar, Sri Aurobindo: A biography & a history, 1985] “In 1579, Akbar issued The Infallibility Decree authorising the Emperor to five the final decision on any question concerning the Muhammedan religion ‘for the glory of God & propagation of Islam’. It made the Mughul emperor the final arbiter on all theological questions of Muhammadanism & largely increased his authority. Last, but not the least, Akbar dreamt of creating an Indian nation out of the fighting Hindus & Muhammedans in India. Feeling that it was religion which, more than anything else tended to keep them apart…in 1581 he promulgated a new religion called the Dīn Ilāhi. Akbar believed in the principle of universal toleration…& left its acceptance to the inner feelings of man. As religion is more a matter of faith than of reason, his new religion made few converts & failed in its object. But the effort to promulgate it ‘assured to him for all time a pre-eminent place among the benefactors of humanity’.” [Vide S. Bhattacharya; R.C. Majumdar et al’s Advanced History…] Sri Aurobindo: “Even exceptional rulers, a Charlemagne, an Augustus, a Napoleon, a Chandragupta, Asoka or Akbar, can do no more than fix certain new institutions which the time needed, & help the emergence of its best or else its strongest tendencies in a critical era. When they attempt more, they fail. Akbar’s effort to create a new Dharma for the Indian nation by his enlightened reason was a brilliant futility. Asoka’s edicts remain graven upon pillar & rock, but the development of Indian religion & culture took its own line in other & far more complex directions determined by the soul of a great people. Only the rare individual Manu, Avatar or Prophet who comes on earth perhaps once in a millennium can speak truly of his divine right, for the secret of his force is not political but spiritual. For an ordinary political ruling man or a political institution to have made such a claim was one of the most amazing among the many follies of the human mind.” [SABCL vol. 15, p.435-36]
... them harm. In the reign of the famous Akbar, there lived at Agra a Jain saint named Banarasi Das. The Emperor summoned the saint to his palace and told him: "Ask of me what you will, and because of your holy life, your wish shall be satisfied." "Parabrahman has given me more than I could wish for," replied the saint. "But ask all the same," Akbar insisted. "Then, Sire, I would ask that... the very day on which the saint visited the Emperor was a fast-day. And therefore Akbar would only have his meal several hours after midnight. The palace cooks had prepared the dishes in the evening and had placed them in plates of gold and silver, until the time of fasting should be over. It was still dark when Akbar had them brought before him. Despite his haste to take some nourishment, he suddenly... with brown ants. In spite of all precautions, these ants had crept in and spoiled the Emperor's meal. Akbar had to send away the dishes, and this incident strongly impressed on his mind the useful advice he had received. For you will understand that Banarasi Das had not intended to warn Akbar merely against brown ants, but against anything in his diet that might not be good for the health of his ...
... impossible in that age. Akbar attempted it on the Mussulman side, but his religion Page 442 was an intellectual and political rather than a spiritual creation and had never any chance of assent from the strongly religious mind of the two communities. Nanak attempted it from the Hindu side, but his religion, universal in principle, became a sect in practice. Akbar attempted also to create... empire and there was not so long a distance of time between the extinction of the kingdom of Vijayanagara and the rise of the Mahrattas. The Rajputs maintained their independence until the time of Akbar and his successors and it was in the end partly with the aid of Rajput princes acting as their generals and ministers that the Moguls completed their sway over the east and the south. And this was again ...
... view would naturally be there. If it cannot find a place there the Hindus may as well be asked to give up their culture. The Hindus don't object to "Allah-ho-Akbar". Page 242 Disciple : If they call India "Allah-ho-Akbar" then Hindus would not object to it. Sri Aurobindo : It is not in the Hindu nature to object to such things. Why should not the Hindu worship his... Don't you think so? Sri Aurobindo : That is not the best thing. But if the Hindus organized themselves then it would make some rational Muslims think again and it would give men like Sir Akbar, who want to come to a compromise, a chance to intervene. Disciple : The Khilafat agitation was a great mistake; it only added to the fanaticism of the Muslims without giving them patriotism ...
... Hyderabad and through the intercession of Sir Akbar managed to obtain the release of two local Arya Samaj prisoners. The Nizam by his reserve power refused to release them as he feared that they, being local people, might start trouble again. Sir Akbar told him through his secretary that if he didn't release them the people would again start the agitation and Sir Akbar shouldn't be held responsible. The Nizam ...
... back and they are bitter. SRI AUROBINDO: That, of course. PURANI: Sir Akbar Hydari has got a full set of the Arya. SRI AUROBINDO: How? PURANI: It seems his own bookseller from whom he has bought many books had a set. As soon as he knew that Sir Akbar wanted it, he gave the whole set gratis. Naturally Sir Akbar was very pleased. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, having it gratis would be an added ...
... only after twenty-four years. But now, it's much more modest, it's a transitional experiment, and it's much more realizable — the other plan was... I nearly had the land: it was at the time of Sir Akbar (you remember?) of Hyderabad. They sent me photographs of Hyderabad State, and there, among those photos, I found my ideal place: an isolated hill (a rather large hill), below which a big river flowed... England to sail up the river, collect all the products and bring them back to us here - everything was very well seen to! Then they set that condition. I asked if it was possible to remove it, then Sir Akbar died and it was over, the whole thing fell through. Afterwards I was glad it hadn't worked out because, with Sri Aurobindo gone, I could no longer leave Pondicherry — I could leave Pondicherry only ...
... I thought twenty-four years. But now it is much more modest, it is a transitional attempt, and it is much more realisable. The other plan was... I almost had the land; it was in the time of Sir Akbar, you remember, from Hyderabad. They sent me some photographs of the State of Hyderabad and there, in those photographs, I found my ideal spot: an isolated hill, quite a big hill, and below it, a large... England to go up the river to fetch the products and bring them to us here. Everything was very well planned! Then they set this condition. I asked if it was not possible to have it removed; then Sir Akbar died and that was the end of it, the matter was dropped. Afterwards, I was glad that it was not done because, now that Sri Aurobindo has departed, I cannot leave Pondicherry. I could only leave Pondicherry ...
... twenty-four years. But now it is Page 257 much more modest, it is a transitional attempt, and it is much more realisable. The other plan was... I almost had the land; it was in the time of Sir Akbar, you remember, from Hyderabad. They sent me some photographs of the State of Hyderabad and there, in those photographs, I found my ideal spot: an isolated hill, quite a big hill, and below it, a large... England to go up the river to fetch the products and bring them to us here. Everything was very well planned! Then they set this condition. I asked if it was not possible to have it removed; then Sir Akbar died and that was the end of it, the matter was dropped. Afterwards, I was glad that it was not done because, now that Sri Aurobindo has departed, I cannot leave Pondicherry. I could only leave Pondicherry ...
... one can always tell old stories. I used to know Sir Akbar Hydari, who was Finance Minister and then Prime Minister of Hyderabad. Before his time, the Hyderabad finances were in the state of chaos I have just mentioned and the Government was always short of money. It was a rich area which ought not to have been in that position. Then came Sir Akbar. He became Finance Minister and from the very first ...
... religion and power of Islam. These two great efforts, the one started by Guru Nanak and the other started by Akbar, Page 53 reaffirmed the Indian tendency of synthesis and harmony. Once again, while this period was marked by political instability for several centuries until Akbar and some of his successors infused stability to a certain extent, it was clear that great leaders like Rana ...
... dismissed the idea of outright invasion as it could lead to a war against their erstwhile comrades in arms for which they were not ready. Two other plans were discussed. The first, outlined by Colonel Akbar Khan, a Sandhurst graduate, involved an uprising of the Kashmiri dissident Muslim population. This plan would entail months of preparation and visualised forty to fifty thousand Kashmiri dissidents... ammunition and some essential clothing items. Each Lashkar was also to be provided with a Major, a Captain and ten JCOs of the regular Pakistan Army. The entire force was to be commanded by Major General Akbar Khan, who was given the code name Tariq. All Lashkars were to meet at Abbottabad by October 18th. According to the plan, six Lashkars were to advance along the main road from Muzaffarabad to ...
... much to the war fund, so he must be treated as an ally, equal in status. SRI AUROBINDO: It is not the Nizam who is contributing but Sir Akbar who is forcing him to contribute. Otherwise the Government knows very well what the Nizam's views are. PURANI: Sir Akbar will be coming here now. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. NIRODBARAN: Nripen Sarcar is coming too. So they will meet. PURANI: It seems Sarcar ...
... SRI AUROBINDO: Baron speaks of it as being quite up to the mark. PURANI: Yes, they have rebuilt it very nicely. I don't know why Nazimuddin has taken the fancy to come. Perhaps he thinks, "If Sir Akbar can come, why not I, who am also a Sir?" (Laughter) NIRODBARAN: The supramental seems to be descending. SRI AUROBINDO: Who knows, Fazlul Huq may come one day. NIRODBARAN: Then the Descent... SRI AUROBINDO: Anilbaran is optimistic. NIRODBARAN: He can't forget her motherly caress. SRI AUROBINDO: That was because of politics. NIRODBARAN: Nazimuddin got interested through Sir Akbar perhaps. He may have met him when he went to Dacca. SRI AUROBINDO: No, Suren Ghose gave him The Life Divine . NIRODBARAN: Allah Bux has now turned to Sikandar Hyat Khan. SRI AUROBINDO: What ...
... them. Page 136 Once Emperor Akbar wanted to fool Birbal and so he asked him: 'Tell me Birbal, what is the difference between you and a donkey?' Hesitatingly Birbal replied: 'Your Majesty, the difference between a donkey and I is very little. A question of five hands. I am just five hands away from the throne!' Akbar was impressed by Birbal's quick-witted reply. ...
... to the dream in totally different circumstances. The ones we know of are the following. The first occasion had been before the Second World War. ‘I almost had the land. It was in the time of Sir Akbar, from Hyderabad.’ Akbar’s name may ring a bell with the reader, for he was the dewan (prime minister) of the Nizam who had been instrumental in the funding of Golconde. ‘They sent me some photographs... saying that they were giving it to the Ashram. But they laid down one condition … nothing could leave the State of Hyderabad … I asked if it was not possible to have [the condition] removed; then Sir Akbar died and that was the end of it.’ 43 The world of the Aurobindian movement could have looked very different indeed if Auroville had been located in the State of Hyderabad, now Andhra Pradesh, and ...
... letter. You can write to him: "It is absolutely out of the question for anyone connected with the Ashram to intervene in politics of any kind. He must not go to Sir Akbar Hydari (it would be quite useless in any case). If he went and Sir Akbar spoke to us of it we will be obliged to disavow his action as not sanctioned by us." You can send him our blessings. 3 June 1939 My dear child, I am ...
... begin only after twenty-four years. But now, it's much more modest, it's a transitional experiment, and it's much more realizable—the other plan was... I nearly had the land: it was at the time of Sir Akbar (you remember?) of Hyderabad. They sent me photographs of Hyderabad State, and there, among those photos, I found my ideal place: an isolated hill (a rather large hill), below which a big river flowed... England to sail up the river, collect all the products and bring them back to us here—everything was very well seen to! Then they set that condition. I asked if it was possible to remove it, then Sir Akbar died and it was over, the whole thing fell through. Afterwards I was glad it hadn't worked out because, with Sri Aurobindo gone, I could no longer leave Pondicherry—I could leave Pondicherry only with ...
... asked them to suspend it and is communicating with the Government to remove the ban. PURANI: Yes, it is he who was behind the trouble in Hyderabad. He stood against Sir Akbar Hydari. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. PURANI: Sir Akbar says that Hyderabad had no Hindu-Muslim trouble before. It has been brought in from outside. SRI AUROBINDO: That is true. Muslims from the North and the Arya Samaj brought ...
... Brahma himself is said to have performed a sacrifice here. Huen Tsang visited Prayag in 634 AD. It was under the Mogul Emperor Akbar that Prayag was renamed Illahabas, later to be changed to Allahabad. Overlooking the confluence is a massive, historic red stone fort built by Akbar. Like Haridwar, Varanasi is also a temple town of India. However, it is difficult to describe Varanasi. As ...
... culture and the religion and power of Islam. These two great efforts, the one started by Guru Nanak and the other started by Akbar, reaffirmed the Indian tendency of synthesis and harmony. Once again, while this period was marked by political instability for several centuries until Akbar and some of his successors infused stability .to a certain extent, it was clear that great leaders like Rana Pratap and ...
... Harsha's empire to the establishment of a Muslim kingdom in Delhi; (2) from 1200 to 1560 A.D., which extends from the establishment of the Muslim kingdom in .Delhi to the rise of the Moghul empire of Akbar; and-d (3) from 1560 A.D. to 1800 A.D., extending from the early Moghul empire to the establishment of the British supremacy in India. During this medieval period, there was a development... receiving Islam, and two great attempts were made to arrive at a new synthesis; one from the side of the Muslims, and the other from the side of the Hindus. The former was exemplified in the attempt of Akbar (1542-1605) to create a new religion called Din-i-Ilahi, and the latter was exemplified by the life and work of Guru Nanak (1469-1538). The work of Guru Nanak gave rise to the subsequent Sikh Khalsa ...
... as oppressed their Hindu subjects; and the Hindu rulers and ruling classes were no better. Generally speaking, India during the period of Muslim domination (except for brief oases like the reign of Akbar) was a desert of bleak unease and poverty of spirit. Guru Nanak's description of his own times (fifteenth to sixteenth century) may be said to fit the whole period almost: In this Kali age ... advantage of India; no violence, no clash at all, just peaceful penetration! The editor of the volume, L.S.S. O'Malley, pointed out that Hindu rulers had charged one-sixth of the produce as tax. Akbar raised it to one-third, and Shah Jehan to one-half. Predatory chieftains — Muslim, Maratha, Jat — had laid the country waste; the great ones ate up the little ones, and the king robbed one and all ...
... in the Ashram, he continued his Divine ministry pressing steadily towards the goal. After independence, the political mart in India heard only stimulated battle-cries, * When Sir Akbar Hydari suggested that 'Durga' in Bande Mataram might be changed, Sri Aurobindo said by 'Durga' only the country 'India' was meant, not a Hindu Goddess. (Mother India, March 1971, p. 89.) ... from worldly life to practice Yoga at the feet of his great Guru, Rishi Aurobindo... at Sri Aurobindo Ashram there is no distinction of caste or creed. I heard this from the lips of the late Sir Akbar Hydari who... used to go there every year as on a pilgrimage. 62 The Ashram had truly become a Yogic place of pilgrimage for all India, and for the entire world; and 15 August began to have ...
... setting up of the Press was largely made possible by Sir Akbar Hydari, the grandfather of my friend Bilkees, wife of Air Vice-Marshall I. H. Latif, retired Chief of the Indian Air Force. Along with the letterpress and other machinery from the Hyderabad Government Press, he sent its manager to teach the basics of running a printing press. Sir Akbar was the then Dewan of Hyderabad State, under whose stewardship ...
... the position of a second language,—but it is possible to challenge the advisability even of these changes. After all we live in the twentieth century and cannot revive the India of Chandragupta or Akbar; we must keep abreast with the march of truth and knowledge, fit ourselves for existence under actual circumstances, and our education must be therefore up to date in form and substance and modern in ...
... "unlicensed Mahomedan procession", greatly daring, took the air like Mr. Cursetji before them, apparently with the innocuous object of relieving their feelings and exercising their lungs shouting Allah-ho-Akbar. This explains a great deal; evidently the bands of hooligans ranging the streets and attacking people and "entering" houses were in reality "no such matter" except in vivid Hindu imaginations; they ...
... Indian conception of nationality, the Hindu view would naturally be there. If it cannot find a place there, the Hindus may as well be asked to give up their culture. The Hindus don't object to "Allah-ho-Akbar"____ Why should not the Hindu worship his god ? Otherwise, the Hindus must either accept Mohammedanism or the European culture or become atheists____ I told C. R. Das [in 1923] that this ...
... the position of a second language, — but it is possible to challenge the advisability even of these changes. After all we live in the twentieth century and cannot revive the India of Chandragupta or Akbar; we must keep abreast with the march of truth and knowledge, fit ourselves for existence under actual circumstances, and our education must be therefore up to date in form and substance and modern in ...
... disorganized than before the British occupation. In the anarchy that followed the decline of the Moghul, the struggle was between the peoples of various localities scrambling for the inheritance of Akbar and Shahjahan. This was not a vital and permanent element of disunion. But the present disorganisation is internal and therefore more likely to reach the vitals of the community. This disorganisation ...
... justify it by some mystical falsity about the divine right of kings or monarchy a peculiarly divine institution. Even exceptional rulers, a Charlemagne, an Augustus, a Napoleon, a Chandragupta, Asoka or Akbar, can do no more than fix certain new institutions which the time needed and help the emergence of its best or else its strongest tendencies in a critical era. When they attempt more, they fail. Akbar's ...
... of Delhi as it was during Emperor Akbar's time stand before your mind's eye? That is why, in speaking of the nation, we should recall the great achievements of our ancestors; then Shivaji, Asoka and Akbar at once become an integral part of our nationhood. So too the ancient Rishis. This is taken for granted. If we look at Japan, we see that the Japanese people never forget their ancestors who offered ...
... the Ashram to stay. He went back to New Delhi, gave a month’s notice and returned to the Ashram where he has lived since. Golconde and Harpagon The Nizam of Hyderabad through his Dewan, Sir Akbar Hyderi, had given a sum of money to the Mother as she, at one time, had spoken to him of wanting to build a residential building on some property the Ashram owned. Since the money for the building had ...
... snacks. She is a woman who, when there isn't any gossip, invents it! She tells all the dirt imaginable to all her visitors—a fact which was brought to my attention. I recall that a long time ago Sir Akbar from Hyderabad warned me, 'You know, she's the second Mother of the Ashram, be careful!' 'It's a good test,' I replied, 'people who don't immediately sense what it is aren't worthy of coming here!' ...
... Rama-nama or not, she answered that for full benefit of her help, he must stop the other thing. × Ali Hydari, son of Sir Akbar Hydari (Prime Minister of Hyderabad and a devotee of Sri Aurobindo), and his wife Alys were very devoted to the Mother and lived in the Ashram for several years. For more about them and the Ashram of ...
... secret of the storm nor has his soul ridden upon the whirlwind. For his particular work this was a real advantage. Valmiki has drawn for us both the divine and anarchic in extraordinary proportions; an Akbar or a Napoleon might find his spiritual kindred in Rama or Ravana, but with more ordinary beings such figures impress the sense of the sublime principally and do not dwell with them as daily acquaintances ...
... complete there for several centuries, but the south long preserved its freedom as it had of old against the earlier indigenous empires. The Rajputs too maintained their independence until the time of Akbar and his successors and it was in the end, partly with the aid of the Rajput princes acting as their generals and ministers that the Moguls completed their sway over the east and the south. And this ...
... immediately wholly Indian in mind, life and interest. It was in the early part of the 14th century when Sadr-Al-Din became the first king to be converted to Islam - that Kashmir became Islamic. Under Akbar, the whole of Kashmir came under the sway of the Moguls and during the reign of Aurangzeb, the Rajput Raja of Kishtwar was converted along with his subjects. Even today, it is possible to find aristocrats ...
... the history of the world we find men of action, great dynamic personalities to be mostly not spiritual but rather mundane in their character and outlook? Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Chandragupta, Akbar, even Shivaji, were not spiritual personalities; their actions were of the world and of worldly nature. And the force they wielded cannot be described as spiritual, and yet how effective it was, what ...
... Madras is supporting the fifty-percent demands by Muslims. SRI AUROBINDO: Who is he? PURANI: He is a crank, giving opinions when nobody wants them. NIRODBARAN: Oh, somebody was saying that Sir Akbar also demands fifty percent for Muslims. SRI AUROBINDO: That is for Hyderabad where the Muslims have had a monopoly till now. He can't suddenly bring it down to twenty or thirty percent, the same ...
... knowledge and experience in this field. She would not engage workers from outside; it must be run by the Ashram inmates. We had at that time made some connection with the Hyderabad Government through Sir Akbar Hydari who was instrumental in, procuring a donation from the Nizam's Government for Golconde, hence the name 3 . This connection opened the channel for an experienced officer of the Government to ...
... everybody knows If the disciple's name is disclosed, the Yogi will immediately be spotted. I wonder if he is hinting at you. SRI AUROBINDO: Me? But I have no eminent disciple! PURANI: What about Sir Akbar Hydari? SRI AUROBINDO: He is not exactly a disciple. SATYENDRA: Perhaps Brunton himself is a disciple eminent enough? PURANI: He also says that he is not after money. The proof he gives is ...
... two feet and three feet would go on, "Admirable, excellent!" SRI AUROBINDO (laughing) : And you were pleased in spite of yourself. (Laughter) CHAMPAKLAL: Now I don't believe what he says. Akbar Hydari told him, "Only the Mother shows my faults and mistakes; everybody else praises me." Anilbaran asked me, Was Hydari hinting to me?" (Laughter) SATYENDRA: Where did he learn this art? ...
... fact and innumerable instances of this kind has history provided for us. It is not a freak of nature that we find Socrates and Buddha and Confucious as contemporaries. Contemporaries also were India's Akbar, England's Elizabeth and Italy's Leo X. Also the year 1905 has been known as Annus Mirabilis, a year of seminal importance – the sowing of the seed of a new earth-life – significant for the whole human ...
... British Government has thanked the Nizam for his contribution. But the Nizam must be smarting and cursing within for the loss of his money. SRI AUROBINDO (laughing): They specially thanked Sir Akbar for it. NIRODBARAN: The rumour about the naval bases being ceded to America seems to be true, though it was rejected at first as baseless. PURANI: And the American Navy will patrol the Canadian ...
... himself, he would enjoy a calm repose. On a few occasions, we crowded round him like children, as he lay there, and began to show him two big volumes of Ajanta paintings, presented to him by Sir Akbar Hydari. The works of modern painters like Abanindranath, Nandalal and others, were also shown. Purani, Champaklal and Satyendra took interest in them and Sri Aurobindo freely gave his opinion but as ...
... Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol. 4 Index ADITI, 287 Agnl,189,221,280,327,371 Ahriman, 287 Akbar, 196 Algeria, 141 Amrita, 29 Arjuna, 206, 350 Aryama, 330 Ashram, the, 57, 118-9, 161, 269, 270, 390 Ashwapati, 237-41, 243, 246, 274 Asura, 250, 287, 368 Atris, 372 BEATRICE, 284 Beethoven, 273 ...
... tuned to the Divine, Madhav has been one of the principal, if unobtrusive, power-houses in the Ashram. Not all the sadhaks, however, have been permanent inmates of the Ashram. Some like Sir Akbar Hydari usually came only for the darshans. Others stayed for periods short or long and went away. There was S. Doraiswami Aiyar, a Nationalist and leading Madras advocate, who gave up his lucrative ...
... handling of the hexameter, 626ff Ahmed, Asanuddin, 259 Aiyar, S. Doraiswami, 530, 579, 706 Aiyar, V. Krishnaswami, 221 Aiyar, Nagaswami, 378 Aiyar, V. V. S., 266, 378, 391,405,525 Akbar, Emperor, 8, 11, 293 Ali, Muhammad, 527 Alt, Shaukat, 527 Alipur Case (Manicktolla Bomb Case), 310ff, 359. 367 Alipur Jail, 202, 307, 310, 330, 388, 444, 490,525 Ambedkar, B. R. ...
... 1938 Initiates construction of 'Golconde', a modern fifty-room dormitory for Ashram inmates, designed by an international team of architects, built mainly by sadhaks and funded largely by Sir Akbar Hyderi, the Prime Minister of Hyderabad and a devotee. - Jan-Feb Begins daily morning darshans from the north-facing balcony on rue St. Gilles: '...after establishing a conscious contact with ...
... least one modern residence for sadhaks with all reasonable amenities. In 1938, taking advantage of a handsome donation by the Government of the Nizam of Hyderabad on the initiative of the Diwan, Sir Akbar Hydari, who was one of Sri Aurobindo's ardent disciples, it now became possible for the Mother to plan the construction of a really good residence to be named Golconde. The Mother threw herself into ...
... men is not a record of saints and ecstatics alone, but includes also poets, sculptors, painters, scientists, polymaths, rulers, statesmen, conquerors, administrators. Asoka, Chanakya, Chandragupta, Akbar, Shivaji, Guru Govind Singh, these are in the golden roll-call as much as Gautama Buddha, Mahavira, Sankara, Ramanuja, Chaitanya, Nanak: All this mass of action was not accomplished by men ...
... great centripetal tendency which has pervaded the grandiose millenniums of her history, to complete the work which Srikrishna began, which Chandragupta and Asoka and the Gupta Kings continued, which Akbar almost brought to realisation, for which Shivaji was born and Bajirao fought and planned.... The day of the independent village or group of villages has gone and must not be revived; the nation demands ...
... proverbial 1. In fact, Sikhism, founded by Guru Nanak in the fifteenth century, was at first a peaceful sect derived from among the Hindus. But the cruel policies of the Muslim rulers after Akbar alienated them. The fifth Guru, Arjan, was executed on Emperor Jehangir's order because, out of pity, he had given shelter to Jehangir's fugitive son, Prince Khusro. Arjan's son, the sixth Guru, Hargovind ...
... Page 334 nor has his soul ridden upon the whirlwind. For his particular work this was a real advantage. Valmekie has drawn for us both the divine and anarchic in extraordinary proportions; an Akbar or a Napoleon might find his spiritual kindred in Rama or Ravana; but with more ordinary beings such figures impress the sense of the sublime principally and do not dwell with them as daily acquaintances ...
... great centripetal tendency which has pervaded the grandiose millenniums of her history, to complete the work which Srikrishna began, which Chandragupta and Asoka and the Gupta Kings continued, which Akbar almost brought to realisation, for which Shivaji was born and Bajirao fought and planned. The organization of our villages is an indispensable work to which we must immediately set our hands, but we ...
... applicant; it offered no promise of justice, but decided according to the will of the sovereign. The position of the Congress in that case is no better than that of the suitor at the justice seat of Akbar or Aurangzeb. To ask without strength, to aspire without effort, to submit if refused by the sovereign power, will be the limit of its duties. The negation of national life which this attitude implies ...
... tombs reach beyond death to the beauty and joy of Paradise. The buildings of Fatehpur-Sikri are not monuments of an effeminate luxurious decadence,—an absurd description for the mind of the time of Akbar,—but give form to a nobility, power and beauty which lay hold upon but do not wallow on the earth. There is not here indeed the vast spiritual content of the earlier Indian mind, but it is still an ...
... He told me that this building was designed by a great architect, Antonin Raymond, a friend of Pavitra's, whom he had met in Japan. It was a very fine design but money was a problem to build it. Sir Akbar Hydari, the Diwan of Hyderabad, had a great admiration for Sri Aurobindo and used to come here sometimes. Mother asked him to help get Her the money Page 87 to build Golconde and it was ...
... theatrical techniques to traditional Indian dance. He did several tours in Europe and America in the early 1930s with famous musicians, among them his younger brother Ravi Shankar, Allauddin Khan and Ali Akbar Khan along with Timirbaran. In 1939 he founded the Udayshankar Cultural Centre in Almora. Page 71 I will answer you about doubt and dance and Suhrawardy, but time lacks tonight. ...
... we find in Sri Chaitanya a profound and subtle synthesis. At the same time, the coming of Islam in India provided a ground for the emergence of new trends of synthesis, represented by Guru Nanak, Akbar, and a number of Sufi saints and philosophers. Even today, as we stand at the head of a new age, we have in India an imperative drive towards an unprecedented synthesis, in which both East and West ...
... an importance, through granting them gratuitous attention, that they certainly could not attain by themselves." 2 Page 158 A prince meeting a holy man, circa 1640 Akbar visits the shrine of Khajah Mu'inuddin Chishti at Ajmer. The Story of Hiravi At the time of King Mahmud the Conqueror of Ghazna there lived a young man by the name of Haidar Ali Jan ...
... He will persuade and convince people by peaceful means, I believe. SRI AUROBINDO: Will the Parsees come round by that? Human nature is non-violent till one gets power. EVENING PURANI: Sir Akbar asks if you could change "seven crores" into "thirty crores" in your translation of Bande Mataram ." SRI AUROBINDO: That has been done. PURANI: And if "Durga" could also be changed? SRI AUROBINDO: ...
... Aurangzeb who banned music among the Muslims. The Koran also forbids it. SRI AUROBINDO: The Koran also? PURANI: Yes, that is why other Muslim countries like Persia have no music. In India, after Akbar music dwindled among the Muslims; by Aurangzeb's order all court musicians were thrown out of employment. SRI AUROBINDO: What about painting? PURANI: Painting also. SRI AUROBINDO: Do they think ...
... Later it was through the gap left by the British army. PURANI: Udar says that there is much anti-British feeling outside. SRI AUROBINDO: Dara writes from Hyderabad that except for himself and Sir Akbar everybody is anti-British. NIRODBARAN: Why are the Muslims anti-British? SRI AUROBINDO: Why not? They don't want British Raj, they want Muslim Raj. I would not mind that if it were not for Hitler ...
... sweeping gale of maddening high-paced music, tearing us away with an Irresistible might from the ancient moorings of our unbearable night and agony. 115 Bismilla, Bismilla, Allah O Akbar, RaRamatullah In the name of God, in the name of God, O God the Great, 0 God the Merciful. The hero worshippers dance and slash and hew a straight path Through the demon hordes which deny ...
... my young friend and I started again from the same place. There were crowds and crowds, a lot of shouting and great pandemonium. On every lip were the cries of Bande Mataram and 'Allah Ho Akbar'. 202 One batch was arrested and there were louder shouts. We marched along quite a distance, near the police station, and near the river Ganges. Then we came to the sergeants' quarters - saw a big ...
... Sikandar has frankly admitted that the question is after all about the loaves and fishes of office and is no religious at all. NIRODBARAN: The Muslims don't really trust the Hindus, it seems. Even Sir Akbar said he couldn't trust Gandhi. SRI AUROBINDO: He doesn't trust Gandhi because of his way of life and philosophy. PURANI: It seems The Life Divine is finished now. SRI AUROBINDO: Not yet; ...
... variation. If it is democracy, then democracy only and no room for anything else. They can't be plastic. India is now trying to imitate the West. Parliamentary government is not suited to India. Sir Akbar Hydari wanted to try a new sort of government with an impartial authority at the head. In Hyderabad the Hindu majority complains that though the Mohamedans are in a minority they occupy most of the ...
... SRI AUROBINDO: But how will that redress their grievances? And will they call a meeting? PURANI: They will have to. SRI AUROBINDO: Then it will no longer be individual. Or they can go to Sir Akbar and sit in his bedroom and refuse to move till their demands are acceded to. (Laughter) PURANI: If they call a meeting, the police may try to break it up. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, and then some sort ...
... fails. India possesses a resounding roll of great Page 92 names who endeavoured to give her this solid political and economic unity; Bharata, Yudhishthira, Asoka, Chandragupta, Akbar, Shivaji have all contributed to the evergrowing unification of Indian polity. But still what they realised was not a stable and permanent thing, it was yet fluent and uncertain; it was only the hammerblow ...
... Index A. E. (George Russell), 45, 152,195,275 Adwaita, 139 Aesop, 97 Africa, 56, 101 Agastya, 281 Agni, 9, 247 Ajanta, 136, 179 Akbar, 93, 394 Alexander, 208, 394 Allies, the, 75, 88, 89 America, 56, 72, 81, 87, 89, 91, 103-4, 111, 119, 209 Amitabha, 273 Anarchism, 112 Anaxagoras, 326 ...
... (i) The coming of Islam, Tenets of Islam (ii) Succession of Sultans, Razia Begum VI (i) Babar's account of India (ii) Beginnings of Sikhism: Guru Nanak (iii) Akbar (iv) Abul Fazal, Faizi and Tansen (v) Jahangir, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb (vi) Great Saints: Narsi Mehta, Tulsidas, Meerabai, Surdas, Chaitanya, Tukaram (vii) Establishment ofKhalsa: ...
... receiving Islam, and, two great attempts were made to arrive at a new synthesis; one from the side of the Muslims, and the other from the side of the Hindus. The former was exemplified in the attempt of Akbar to create a new religion called Din-I-Ilahi, and the latter was exemplified by the life and work of Guru Nanak. The work of Guru Nanak later gave rise to the astonishingly original and novel Sikh ...
... Aditi, 63, 74 Agamas, 59 Agastya, 10 Age, Purano-tantric, 84 Age, Vedic, 50 Agni,6,7,8,9,13,64,65,66 Agnosticism, 61 Ahimsa, 33 Ajata Shatru, 18 Akbar, 84 Akshara, 22 Alexander, 84 Amritam, 12, 22 Angirasas, 13,14,15,63 Angirasas, legend of, 64 Animism, 2, 3, 57 Apala, 31 Aranyakas,66,87,89 Architecture ...
... develop integral personality. Deficiency in mental education mil always be felt as a handicap, particularly when there is a question of involving oneself in an action relating to large masses of people. Akbar the Great, for example, who was unlettered, filled his deficiency by cultivating the companionship of some. of the most learned and accomplished men of his time. And even Sri Ramakrishna, whose personality ...
... and innumerable instances of this kind has history provided for us. It is not a freak of nature that we find Socrates and Buddha and Confucious as contemporaries. Contemporaries also were India's Akbar, England's Elizabeth and Italy's Leo X. Also the year 1905 has been known as Annus Mirabilis, a year of seminal importance—the sowing of the seed of a new earth-life—significant for the whole human ...
... receiving Islam, and two great attempts were made to arrive at a new synthesis; one from the side of the Muslims, and the other from the side of the Hindus. The former was exemplified in the attempt of Akbar to create a new religion called Din-eIllahi, and the latter was exemplified by the life and work of Guru Nanak. The work of Gum Nanak gave rise to the subsequent Sikh Khalsa movement which was astonishingly ...
... when man's voluntary effort fails. India possesses a resounding roll of great names who endeavoured to give her this solid political and economic unity; Bharata, Yudhish-thira, Asoka, Chandragupta, Akbar, Shivaji have all contributed to the evergrowing unification of Indian polity. But still what they realised was not a stable and permanent thing, it was yet fluent and uncertain; it was only the hammerblow ...
... country, isolating it from other parts of the world, argues its separate national existence. Italy, which is isolated like India, achieved national independence within a space of thirty years. Shivaji, Akbar, Ashoka as well as the Rishis of old are amongst the component parts of the Indian nation. Let us learn from Japan how to awaken the national spirit among the people by a contemplation of the heroic ...
... extravagance, vanity and show," and ardently pleads for a higher quality - rather than a higher standard - of life. The prophet Muhammad, St. Francis, St. Banarasi Das who made a strong impression on Akbar, the poet Virgil, were living examples of simplicity and austerity. The advance of science and technology has in practice meant the galloping pace of consumerism, the proliferation of the expensive ...
... 409ff, 422ff, 441ff, 593 Hofman, Dr Albert 742 Hopkins, Gerard Manley 41, 71, 80, 354 Huta (Savita Hindocha) 587-8, 605, 652, 679, 684, 700-4, 712-3, 717, 721, 727, 754 Hydari, Sir Akbar 443 Page 901 L'Idée or Idea 29-30, 32ff, 44, 50ff, 64, 191, 298 L'Idée Nouvelle (New Idea Society) 101ff, 126, 128, 148, 150, 298 Imitation of Christ, The 639 India 46, 82 ...
... soon he will say that the pressure exerted by the Hindu fifty is too much for Muslims and will claim another twenty-five out of the fifty. SATYENDRA: How? SRI AUROBINDO: Why not? I think Sir Akbar's son is also standing in the way. He has some influence with the Viceroy. NIRODBARAN: Which son? The one who came here? SRI AUROBINDO: No. This one won't come here any more than he would think ...
... coast, on the Gulf of Khambat, between Bombay and Baroda. Here the early European traders, Portuguese, Dutch, English and French —they came in that order—had set up their factories soon after Emperor Akbar's death in 1605. The Moderate Party leaders from Bengal reached the town on Christmas Day. "It was roses, roses all the way—almost all the way during the forty-four hours in the train from Calcutta ...
... them witty, some merely ribald, some purely strokes of scholastic ingenuity; they differ little in character from the stock facetiae which are associated with the name of famous jesters & wits like Akbar's Rajah Birbal; in any case the ascription to Kalidasa is fanciful and arbitrary. Even the date of our chief classical poet is a subject for the unprofitable ingenuity of scholars; fixed yesterday in ...
... being that has to change first—a change which is not always visible outside. That has nothing to do with the development of the faculties which is another side of the personality. Sir Akbar's (the Dewan of the Nizam of Hyderabad) family. Page 301 Ali was the son, Alys was the daughter-in-law. Ali-Alys' children, Bilkis and Adil came later. Jatindra Prasad ...
... Hinduism, the Hindu and Muslim could become habituated to one another and overcome their religious differences in the consciousness of a common motherland and a common destiny (as had happened in Akbar's time), but the complicating factor was the presence of the alien, something "superimposed on the native-born population, without any roots in the soil". This Page 232 heavy and superior ...
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