Why Akbar was a staunch believer in sulh-e-kul or complete harmony among all faiths in his empire

Akbar’s policy of sulh-e-kul (complete harmony) was not merely a talking point. The Emperor took active steps to ensure that the various groups of his diverse empire know each other better. Abul Fazl mentions in the preface of the Razm Nama, the Persian translation of the Mahabharata, that this was undertaken to enable the learned men amongst Hindus and Muslims to know about each other. He commissioned Persian translations of the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, Yog Vasisht, Harivansa Purana, Sinhasan Battisi and Atharva Veda in order to help build bridges between the faiths.

Akbar took a personal interest in translation and was very sensitive to the need for faithful translation. Faced with a paucity of scholars who were proficient in both Sanskrit and Persian, he found an innovative way around it. He worked at night to understand the meaning of the text of the Mahabharata with the help of Devi Mishra, Madhusudan Mishra, Rudra Bhattacharya and Sheikh Bhawan, and then explained it to Naqib Khan, Sultan Haji Thanesari, Mullah Sheri and Mullah Abdul Qadir Badayuni so that they could compile the translation.

Now it transpired that in Mullah Abdul Qadir Badayuni’s translation, a saint says before death, “It is right that a man should step out of the limits of ignorance and negligence, and should first of all become acquainted with the peerless Creator, and should pursue the path of knowledge; and not be satisfied with mere knowledge without practice, for that yields no fruit, but should choose the path of virtue, and as far as in him lies, withdraw his hand from evil actions, and should know for a certainty that every action will be inquired into.”

His Majesty felt that instead of translating the Mahabharata into Persian, Mullah Badayuni had interpolated some issues regarding the Day of Judgment.

“Useless, greedy fellow,” the Emperor said in anger.

Mullah Abdul Qadir explained,

“The people of India speak of reward and punishment of good and bad actions. Their beliefs are as follows: when a person dies, the scribe, who writes the chronicle of the deeds of mankind throughout the course of their lives, takes it before the angel, who is the Seizer of Souls, and is called the King of Justice. After he has examined into their good and bad actions, and has seen which has the preponderance, he says, ‘This person has his choice.’ Then he asks him, ‘Shall I first for thy good actions take thee to paradise, that thou mayest there enjoy to the full delights in proportion to thy good actions, and after that send thee to Hell to expiate thy sins; or vice versa?’ When that period comes to an end, then he gives orders that the person should return to the Earth, and entering a form suitable to his actions should pass a certain period. And so on ad infinitum, until the time when he attains absolute release, and is freed from coming into and leaving the world.”

The entire court was all ears to what Mullah Abdul Qadir Badayuni was saying. He said, “I am a translator. Nothing more. Whatever the sages of India had represented therein, I had translated without alteration, but that if I had written it myself, I should have been to blame, and should have acted wrongly.”

To further disseminate the Mahabharata, Akbar asked his nobles to have their own copies made of its Persian translation.

Themes from Christian tradition figured prominently in the paintings made in the royal atelier. At Akbar’s behest a book on Jesus Christ called Mirat al-quds – The Mirror of Holiness – was written by Father Jerome Xavier in Persian. Father Xavier wrote in the preamble:

“I have related this story because when the Emperor, in whom the world finds refuge, heard of miraculous stories of Lord Jesus, he desired to hear them as they were. As a seeker of truth and lover of knowledge, His Majesty asked this most humble self, Father Jeronimo Xavier, who has had the privilege to present himself at the royal threshold, to commit to Persian all that is there in our books about the sayings and actions of Jesus. Believing that I have done this for forty years and have been learning Persian for seven to eight years, I thought I could render this service. I wholeheartedly devoted myself to this work. Ignoring basic necessities of life and without rest, I got down to fulfilling the command of zil-i-Ilahi – the shadow of God – because anything less than this will not suffice to carry out the royal command, especially in matters the hiding of which from people would be unjust and conveying an act of worship. As the Angel Raphael said to Prophet Tobias, ‘It is good to keep the secrets of the kings but laudable to clearly tell to all the secrets of God, which would please all.’ If I took a long time in writing and copying this book, it really was because, many a time, I would give it a shape and think that the book is complete but when I would match the Persian with Latin books, I would be disheartened and find the work incomplete. With great effort, with the blessings of the Lord and good fortune of His Majesty, the Shadow of God, I finally succeeded and felt satisfied, and had the courage to place it before the true ones. May it be the will of Lord Jesus that His Majesty and others who listen to it feel happy with it.

“I can say that of all works that have been translated into Persian in His Majesty’s time, this one is notable. I would not know whether something of this nature has been done before this. Those who knew Persian were ignorant of Latin, or those who knew Latin were ignorant of Persian. And mother earth did not give birth to an Emperor of lofty fortune as His Majesty, who would know and patronize knowledge so much.”

Akbar was faced with the reality of a society that was diverse and had fault lines. He wanted these diverse traditions not to be at odds with each other. By commissioning translations and paintings the Emperor tried to build bridges across traditions and generate respect for texts of faiths beyond one’s own. For a person who was not himself comfortable reading or writing, this was a remarkable trait.

There is an inescapable need for synthesis that renders all individuals, cooperating together, comparable to the organs of one individual.

— ‘Akhlaq-i-Nasiri’, a book about etiquette and way of life that Akbar liked and recommended.

Excerpted with permission from Akbar The Great CEO: The Emperor’s 30 Rules of Leadership, Shazi Zaman, Speaking Tiger Books.