Akbar Part 26

[62] The story of Nala and Damayanti is a beautiful episode in the "Mahabharata," which was translated into Persian by Faizi, and into English by Dean Milman. Nala, King of Nishadha, had been chosen by the lovely Princess Damayanti for her husband, but the vindictive demon Kali was the enemy of Nala, and was determined to effect his ruin. He perverted the king's mind by urging him to play at dice with his brother Pushkara. Nala lost his kingdom and all he had, but refused to play for his wife; and the royal pair wandered away dest.i.tute from the palace. Nala, still instigated by the demon, deserted his weary, sleeping wife, and left her exposed in the forest. She at length found a hospitable refuge. Nala engaged himself as a charioteer, and was eventually restored to his faithful wife. Freed from the power of Kali, and fortified with a preternatural amount of skill in gaming, he finally won back his kingdom.

Our author, in writing the story of Siddha and Iravati, evidently had in his mind the cla.s.sic tale of Nala and Damayanti.

[63] A brother of King Vikramaditya. He wrote a Sanscrit poem called "Bhatti Kavya," relating the adventures of Rama, in twenty-two cantos.--See Colebrooke's "Miscellaneous Essays," ii. 115.

[64] History of the reign of Akbar.

[65] The Sankhya system of philosophy was founded by Kapila. Its aim was rest, or exemption from transmigration, to be attained by looking steadily at the whole united universe, and recognising that man, and all which is created, is transitory, but that beyond the transitory is the eternal. The doctrine of Kapila is taught in six Sutras or lectures. His main position is that absolute prevention of all three sorts of pain is the highest purpose of the soul. The three sorts of pain are evil proceeding from self, from eternal beings, and from divine causes. Deliverance from these evils is attainable by knowledge of the twenty-five true principles of existence.

The Vedanta philosophy is intended to give the end and ultimate aim of the Vedas.

[66] A military t.i.tle and rank, regulated by the supposed number of horse the holder of the t.i.tle could, if required, bring into the field, varying from ten to ten thousand.

[67] Humayun succeeded his father Baber in 1530. He was driven out of India by the talented Afghan chief Shir Shah, and his son Akbar was born in Sind during the flight. Humayun pa.s.sed fifteen years in exile in Persia. He recovered Delhi and Agra after the death of Shir Shah, and died six months afterwards in 1556. Akbar then ascended the throne.

[68] Akbar was the grandson of Baber, who was born in 1482, and died 1530. Baber was the great-grandson of Timur.

[69] Mulla Abdul Kadir Muluk Shah of Badaun was born at that place in 1540. He studied music, astronomy, and history, and owing to his beautiful voice he was appointed Court Imam for Wednesdays. He was introduced early in life to Akbar, and was employed to translate Arabic and Sanskrit works into Persian. He was a fanatical Muhammadan and looked upon Abu-l Fazl as a heretic, though he served under him. But all references to the minister, in the works of Badauni, are couched in bitter and sarcastic terms. He wrote a work called "Tarikh-i-Badauni,"

which is a history from the time of the Ghaznevides to 1595, the fortieth year of Akbar's reign. The prevalent tone, in writing of Akbar his benefactor, is one of censure and disparagement. El Badauni also translated the "Ramayana," part of the "Mahabharata,"

and a history of Kashmir into Persian. He died in 1615.

[70] Fathpur Sikri was the favourite residence of Akbar from 1570 to the end of his reign. The chief glory of the place is its mosque. Fathpur Sikri is 12 miles from Agra.

[71] Akbar's system is fully described by Abu-l Fazl in the "A'in-i-Akbari." The lands were divided into four cla.s.ses with different revenue to be paid by each, namely:--

1. Pulaj, cultivated every harvest and never fallow.

2. Paranti, lying fallow at intervals.

3. Checher, fallow for four years together.

4. Bunjar, not cultivated for five years and upwards.

The lands of the two first of these cla.s.ses were divided into best, middling, and bad. The produce of a bigah of each sort was added together, and a third of that was considered to be the average produce. One third of this average was the share of the State, as settled by Akbar's a.s.sessment. Remissions were made on the two last cla.s.ses of land. The Government demand might be paid either in money or kind. The settlement was made for ten years.

In Akbar's reign the land revenue yielded 16,582,440, and the revenue from all sources was 32,000,000. Akbar also remitted many vexatious imposts, including the poll tax on unbelievers, the tax on pilgrims, ferry dues, and taxes on cattle, trees, trade licenses, and market dues on many articles.

[72] See note further on.

[73] Allahu Akbar, jalla jalaluhu: was the inscription on one side of Akbar's rupee, and on the other the date.

[74] Jayadeva wrote the "Gita-Govinda," a pastoral drama, in about the twelfth century of our era. It relates to the early life of Krishna, as Govinda the cowherd, and sings the loves of Krishna with Radha and other of the cowherd damsels. But a mystical interpretation has been put upon it. There are some translations in the "Asiatic Researches,"

by Sir W. Jones. Mr. Griffith has translated a few stanzas into English. He says, "the exquisite melody of the verse can only be appreciated by those who can enjoy the original." A translation of the "Gita-Govinda" of Jayadeva was also published by Mr. Edwin Arnold in 1875.

[75] Jasminum undulatum.

[76] From Griffith's "Specimens of old Indian Poetry," p. 98.

[77] From Edwin Arnold's translation of the "Gita-Govinda," p. 24.

[78] Edwin Arnold's translation of the "Gita-Govinda," p. 28.

[79] Amru-l Kais, was an Arabian poet and King of Kindah, living shortly before the era of Muhammad. He was the author of one of the seven Mullakats, or poems, which were inscribed in letters of gold, and suspended in the temple of Mecca. Poc.o.c.k and Casiri give an account of the Arabian poets before Muhammad, and the seven poems of the Caaba were published in English by Sir William Jones.

[80] An Arabian poet who lived after Amru-l Kais.--See "Casiri,"

i. pp. 71, 72. Casiri calls him Tarpha.

[81] Akbar received a Portuguese emba.s.sy in 1578 from Goa, at the head of which was Antonio Cabral. He afterwards wrote to Goa, requesting that Jesuits might be sent to him with Christian books. Rudolf Aquaviva, a man of good family, who was afterwards murdered at Salsette, Antonio Monserrat, and Enriques (as interpreter) were selected for this mission, and despatched to Agra. They were most honourably received by Akbar, and great hopes of his conversion were conceived. But there was no practical result. Some years afterwards, in 1590, Akbar again applied for instructors, and in 1591 three brethren came to Lah.o.r.e. But after a while, seeing no hope of good, they returned to Goa.

[82] Kalidasa is the most popular poet of India. His "Sakuntala"

has been translated into English by Professor Monier Williams. His best known lyrical poems are the "Cloud Messenger" and the "Seasons." Portions of the latter have been translated into English by Mr. Griffith.

[83] Yoga (concentration) is the name of the second division of the Sankhya system of Hindu philosophy. It was first taught by Patanjali. He a.s.serted that the soul was Iswara (G.o.d), and that man's liberation is to be obtained by concentrating his attention on Iswara. Yoga is, therefore, the union of man's mind with the Supreme Soul. When a man is perfect in profound meditations or "steadyings of the mind," he gains a knowledge of the past and future, he has the power of shrinking into the form of the minutest atom, and gains mastery over Nature's laws.

[84] Professor Wilson records instances of a Brahman sitting in the air wholly unsupported for twelve minutes, and another for forty minutes.--"Wilson's Works," i. p. 209.

[85] These Englishmen were John Newbery and Ralph Fitch, merchants, William Leedes, a jeweller, and James Story, a painter. They came to India by way of Aleppo and Ormuz, and were sent prisoners to Goa by the Portuguese Governor of Ormuz. At Goa they fell in with a priest named Thomas Stevens, who was an Englishman, a native of Wiltshire, and who afterwards wrote an account of his voyage. They also met the Dutch traveller Linschoten. This was in January 1584. Stevens interceded for them, and "stood them in much stead." In September 1585 they reached Agra, and also visited Fathpur Sikri. Thence Newbery set out on his return journey through Persia. Fitch went to Bengal, whence he visited Pegu and Malacca, and eventually took ship for Cochin and Ormuz, in 1589. Leedes took service under Akbar, who gave him a house and suitable allowances. Newbery had a letter from Queen Elizabeth to "Zelabdim Echebar."--See "Hakluyt," ii. pp. 375 to 399, 2nd ed.

[86] Pieter van der Broeche was the President of the Dutch factory at Surat. He had an intimate knowledge of the commerce and exchanges of the East, and of Akbar's revenue system; and was also a man of great learning. He supplied much valuable information to De Laet, which appears in the work ent.i.tled, "De Imperio Magni Mongolis, sive India vera. Joannes de Laet. Lugduni Batavorum. 1631." Indian events are brought down to 1628 in this work.

[87] The Vedanta is the second great division of the Mimansa school of Hindu philosophy. The name is from the Sanscrit Veda and anta (end), meaning that it gives the end or ultimate aim of the Vedas, which is a knowledge of Brahma or the Supreme Spirit; and of the relations in which man's soul stands towards the Universal Soul.

[88] Moses ben Maimon, or Maimonides, one of the most celebrated of the Jewish Rabbis, was born at Cordova in 1133. He studied philosophy and medicine under Averroes. He retired to Egypt, where he died at the age of seventy. His chief work is the "Moreh Nevochim" ("Teacher of the Perplexed") in which he explains difficult pa.s.sages, types, and allegories in the Old Testament. He wrote several other treatises on the Jewish law, and founded a college at Alexandria for his countrymen.

[89] Amir (corruptly Emir) is a Muhammadan n.o.bleman of high rank. Umara (corruptly Omrah) is the n.o.bility of a Muhammadan court collectively.

[90] The "Atharva Veda," in the opinion of Professor Wilson, is of later date than the "Rig," "Yajar," and "Sama" Vedas. It contains many forms of imprecation for destruction of enemies, prayers for averting calamities, and hymns to the G.o.ds.

[91] Raja Todar Mal, the celebrated financier and administrator, was a Khatri and native of Lah.o.r.e. His father died when he was a child, leaving him no provision, and he entered life as a writer. He was employed by the talented Afghan ruler Shir Shah, who drove out Humayun, Akbar's father, and afterwards under Akbar himself. His revenue settlement of Gujrat was highly approved by the Emperor; and he was similarly employed in other provinces of India. Abu-l Fazl says of him, in the "Akbar-nama,"--"For honesty, rect.i.tude, manliness, knowledge of business, and administrative ability, he was without a rival in Hindustan." Todar Mal died at Lah.o.r.e on November 10th, 1589.

[92] See Blochmann's "Ain-i-Akbari," i., p. 266, for an account of the ceremony of weighing the Emperor.

[93] The Charak-puja. It is the swinging festival held on the sun entering Aries. As a religious observance it is confined to Bengal; but the swinging is practised in other parts of India as a feat of dexterity, for obtaining money. The swinger is suspended by hooks pa.s.sed through the skin above each blade-bone, and connected by ropes with one end of a lever traversing an upright post with a circular motion. Charak means a wheel.

[94] "Gulbadan" means rose-body. The Emperor had an aunt of that name, own sister of his uncle Askari, who married Khizr Khan, Governor of the Punjab. She made a pilgrimage to Mecca.

[95] See note at p. 62.

[96] A G.o.ddess, the wife of Siva, named Kali, from her black complexion. The same as Durga.

[97] "The unity of G.o.d." The divine monotheism of Akbar.

[98] Tobacco was introduced in the reign of Akbar. Before that time it was no uncommon thing for a Muhammadan prince to die of delirium tremens.

[99] The founder of the Yoga philosophy.

[100] Uitgebreidheid (D.); Ausbreitung (German).

[101] Rig-Veda.

[102] "Rig-Veda," x. 129.--H. S. Colebrooke. See also Max Muller, "Hist. Anc. Sansk. Lit.," p. 560.