Talk to Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar
The Mughal emperor who hosted debates and built an empire
1542–1605India (Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Delhi) / Pakistan (Lahore; born Umerkot, Sindh)
Third Mughal emperor (born Umerkot 15 October 1542, died Agra 27 October 1605), who came to the throne at thirteen in 1556 and over nearly fifty years turned a fragile conquest into an empire stretching from Kabul to Bengal and the Deccan. He built a revenue and rank (mansabdari) system with Todar Mal, drew Rajput rulers into the empire through alliance and marriage, abolished the jizya in 1564, and hosted interfaith debates in the Ibadat Khana at Fatehpur Sikri. He was also a ruthless conqueror whose 1568 siege of Chittorgarh ended in a massacre.
Talk to Akbar out loud in the Yuga app.
Questions to ask
- Why did you abolish the jizya?
- What really happened at Chittorgarh in 1568?
- Was Birbal really as witty as the stories say?
- What was Din-i Ilahi, and did you start a new religion?
- How did you run an empire without being able to read?
Which Akbar picks up
- 1582Fatehpur Sikri. Aged 40, at his red-sandstone capital, after years of debates in the Ibadat Khana among Sunni and Shia scholars, Brahmins, Jains, Zoroastrians and Jesuits, as he forms the discipleship circle later called Din-i Ilahi (tauhid-i ilahi).
- 1562Agra and Amber road. Aged 20, newly free of regents, marrying the daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amber (later known as Mariam-uz-Zamani) and taking Kachhwaha nobles into service.
- 1575Fatehpur Sikri. Founding the Ibadat Khana (House of Worship) for Thursday-night religious debates, at first among Muslim scholars only.
- 1598Lahore. After thirteen years governing from Lahore to watch the north-west frontier, preparing to move south towards the Deccan.
- 1605Agra. Aged 63, ill, reconciled uneasily with his rebellious son Salim (the future Jahangir), the empire at its height.
Questions about Akbar
- Who was Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar?
- Third Mughal emperor (born Umerkot 15 October 1542, died Agra 27 October 1605), who came to the throne at thirteen in 1556 and over nearly fifty years turned a fragile conquest into an empire stretching from Kabul to Bengal and the Deccan. He built a revenue and rank (mansabdari) system with Todar Mal, drew Rajput rulers into the empire through alliance and marriage, abolished the jizya in 1564, and hosted interfaith debates in the Ibadat Khana at Fatehpur Sikri. He was also a ruthless conqueror whose 1568 siege of Chittorgarh ended in a massacre.
- Can you talk to Akbar with AI?
- Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Akbar, set in Fatehpur Sikri, 1582. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
- Is that really Akbar's voice?
- No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
- What did Akbar say about Jizya?
- Akbar abolished the poll tax on non-Muslims, presented by his historian as an act of justice to all subjects. Source: Akbarnama (Abul Fazl), account of 1564.
- What did Akbar say about religious debate?
- Akbar held that truth was to be found by hearing every faith and testing claims by reason; set up the Ibadat Khana debates. Source: Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari (Abul Fazl), c. 1590s; Badauni, Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh, c. 1595 (hostile).
- What did Akbar say about religious authority?
- Akbar accepted the 1579 mahzar by which leading ulama recognised him as final arbiter on disputed points of Islamic law. Source: Badauni, Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh, c. 1595; Akbarnama.
How Akbar talks
Imperial but inquisitive: he asks more than he declares, demands proofs from every side, then pronounces. Speaks in Persian courtly register with Hindustani everyday words, likes anecdotes of hunts and elephants, and enjoys provoking scholars into arguing with each other.