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AJAX. 



AKBAR, JALAL-UD-DIN MOHAMMED. 



71 



montory of Sigeum. He left a son named Eurysaces, who succeeded 

 Telamon on the throne of Salamis. One of the Attic tribes was 

 named after Ajax. Some of the moat illustrious Athenians, as Mil- 

 tiades, Cimon, and Alcibiades, traced their descent from him. He 

 was worshipped as the tutelary hero of Salamis, where there was a 

 temple to him with a statue ; and with all the ^Eacidie, or descendants 

 of YEacus, was honoured as a demi-god in Attica. The traditions 

 concerning him supplied not only themes to the poets, but subjects to 

 the painters and sculptors of antiquity. (Herod., viii. 64, 65.) 



AJAX, son of Oileus, a leader in the Trojan War, remarkable for 

 swiftness of foot, and skill in using the bow and javelin. He is called 

 the Lesser Ajax, and fills a less important part in the ' Iliad ' than his 

 namesake, though he is distinguished by his defence of the ships in 

 company with Ajax, son of Telamon. At the Back of Troy he offered 

 violence to Cassandra in the temple of Pallas. For this profanation, 

 the goddess, on his voyage home, raised a tempest, which wrecked his 

 vessel, with many others of the Grecian fleet. Ajax escaped to a rock, 

 and might have been preserved, had he not said he would escape in 

 spite of the gods. Neptune cleft the rock with his trident, and 

 tumbled him into the sea. (' Od.' iv. 502.) Virgil relates his death 

 differently. (' JEu.' i. 39.) Some authors say that the charge of 

 violating Cassandra was a fiction of Agamemnon's, who wished to 

 secure her for himself. 



AKBAR, JALAL-UD-DIN MOHAMMED, the greatest and wisest 

 of all the monarch.? who have swayed the sceptre of Hindustan. At 

 the early age of 13 he succeeded his father Humayun, Feb. 15, 1556. 

 About the time of Akbar's birth, his father Humayun, a mild and 

 lenient prince, was deprived of his kingdom through the restless 

 ambition of his brothers Kamran and Hindal. The dissensions thus 

 excited enabled Sher Khan, a Patan, or Afghan chief, to usurp the 

 government of India. Humayun, attended by a few faithful adherents, 

 became a wanderer and an exile. In his flight through the western 

 desert towards the banks of the Indus, he and his little baud experi- 

 enced a train of calamities almost unparalleled. The country through 

 which they fled being an entire desert of sand, they were in the 

 utmost distress for water. Some went mad, others fell down dead. 

 At length those that lived reached the town of Amerkote, where, on 

 Oct, 14, 1542, the wife of Humayun gave birth to a son, Akbar. 

 Humayun sought shelter in Persia, where he was hospitably received 

 by Shah Tahmasp. After twelve years' exile, he waa once more 

 restored to his throne at Delhi, but in less than a year died from the 

 effects of a fall down the palace stairs. When Akbar ascended the 

 throne the whole empire of India was in a very distracted state ; and 

 though he was possessed of unusual intelligence for his age, he was 

 incapable of administering the government. Sensible of his own 

 inexperience, he conferred on Bahrain Khan, a Turkoman noble who 

 had ever proved faithful to hia late father, a title and power equivalent 

 to that of regent or protector. Bahram for some time proved him- 

 self worthy of the young king's choice; but he was more of the 

 soldier than the statesman, and there were numerous complaints of 

 hia arbitrary if not cruel disposition, though these qualities were 

 essential for maintaining subordination in his army, which consisted 

 of licentious adventurers, and for quelling the rebellious chiefs who 

 abounded in every province of the empire. In the course of a few 

 years the energy of Bahram succeeded in restoring the country to 

 comparative tranquillity. Hitherto hia domination was submitted to 

 even by Akbar himself, because the general safety depended on his 

 exercise of it ; but now that tranquillity was restored, the pressure of 

 his rule became less tolerable. Akbar therefore, in 1558, made a 

 successful effort to deliver himself from the thraldom which he had 

 hitherto endured. He concerted a plan with those around him, and 

 took occasion, when on a hunting party, to make an unexpected 

 journey from Agra to Delhi on the plea of the sudden illness of his 

 mother. He was no sooner beyond the reach of hia minister's 

 influence than he issued a proclamation announcing that he had taken 

 the government into his own hands, and forbidding obedience to any 

 orders not issued under his own seal. The proud Bahram perceived, 

 when too late, that his authority was at an end. He endeavoured to 

 establish an independent principality in Malwa ; but, after two years 

 of unsuccessful rebellion, he came, in the utmost distress, to throw 

 himself at the feet of his sovereign. Akbar, mindful of his former 

 services, raised him with his own hands, and placed him in his former 

 station at the head of the nobles. He gave him hia choice of a high 

 military command in a distant province or an honoured station at 

 court. Bahram replied that the king's clemency and forgiveness were 

 a sufficient reward for his former services, and that he now wished to 

 turn his thoughts from this world to another. He therefore begged 

 that his majesty would afford him the means of performing the 

 pilgrimage to Mecca. The king assented, and ordered a proper retinue 

 to attend him, at the same time assiguiug him a pension of 50,000 

 rupees. 



The first objects of Akbar's attention were to establish his authority 

 over hia chiefs, and to recover the various portions of his empire that 

 had been lost during o many revolutions. When he ascended the 

 throne his territory was limited to the Panjab and the provinces of 

 Agra and Delhi In the fortieth year of his reign, according to Abu-1- 

 Fazl, the empire comprised fifteen fertile provinces, extending from the 

 Hiudu-Coosh to the borders of the Deccau, and from the Brahmaputra 



to Candahar. These provinces were not recovered without great 

 efforts and the sacrifice of many lives, yet we have no reason to attri- 

 bute this career of conquest to mere restless ambition on the part of 

 Akbar. The countries which he invaded had been formerly subject 

 to the throne of Delhi, and he would have incurred more censure than 

 praise among his contemporaries if he had not attempted to recover 

 them. To every province thus recovered a well-qualified subahdar, 

 or viceroy, was appointed, whose duty it was to administer justice and 

 give protection to all, without any regard to sect or creed. Thus his 

 conquests, when once concluded, were permanent, for good govern- 

 ment is the surest safeguard against rebellion. Of the vigilance with 

 which Akbar watched the proceedings of his viceroys, and the extreme 

 attention which he paid to the administration of his more remote pro- 

 vinces, we have ample proofs in his letters preserved by Abu-1-Fazl. 

 Unlike most eastern princes, his fame is founded on the wisdom of 

 his internal policy, not on the vain-glorious title of subduer of regions. 

 One of the most striking traits in his character as a Mohammedan 

 prince was the tolerant spirit which he displayed towards men of other 

 religions, and he felt great interest in all inquiries respecting the 

 religious belief and forms of worship prevalent among mankind. In 

 the summer of 1582 he wrote a letter to the " wise men among the 

 Franks," that is, the Portuguese ecclesiastics at Goa, requesting them 

 to send him a few of their more learned members, with whom he 

 might converse respecting the Christian religion. This curious docu- 

 ment is preserved in Abu-1-Fazl's collection, and was translated by 

 Fraser in hia 'History of Nadir Shah.' Fraser makes a mistake 

 however in saying that it was addressed to the king of Portugal. 

 Accordingly, on the 3rd of December following, three learned padres, 

 by name Aquaviva, Monserrate, and Euriques, departed on this im- 

 portant mission. Travelling by easy stages by way of Surat, Mandoo, 

 and Ougein, they reached Agra in about two months. They were 

 immediately admitted into the presence of Akbar, who gave them a 

 most gracious reception. The missionaries then solicited a public 

 controversy with the mullas, or doctors of the Mohammedan religion, 

 which was readily granted. Of this disputation the Christians and 

 Mohammedans give different accounts. Akbar, who is strongly sxis- 

 pected to have sought amusement as well as instruction from these 

 discussions, informed the padres that an eminent mulla had under- 

 taken to leap into a fiery furnace with a Koran in his hand, to prove 

 by this ordeal the superior excellence of his faith ; and he trusted that 

 they would do the same with the Bible. The worthy fathers, who had 

 during the discussion made some pretensions to supernatural powers, 

 were considerably embarrassed by this proposal, which however they 

 wisely declined. Abu-1-Fazl says that " the disputants having split on 

 the divinity of their respective scriptures, the Christian offered to walk 

 into a flaming furnace bearing the Bible, if the Mohammedan would 

 show a similar confidence in the protection of the Koran ; to which 

 the Moslems only answered by a torrent of abuse, which it required 

 the emperor's interference to stop. He reproved the mullas for their 

 intemperate language, and expressed his own opinion that God could 

 only be worshipped by following reason, and not yielding implicit faith 

 to any alleged revelation." The missionaries seeing that Akbar showed 

 BO little partiality to the Mussulman religion, naturally concluded that 

 they had made him a convert. At that time however his attention 

 waa distracted by disturbances in Cabul and Bengal, and hia visitors 

 returned under a safe conduct to Goa, which they reached in May, 

 1583., It appears that Akbar requested and received two other similar 

 missions in the course of his reign, which, after going through the same 

 round as their predecessors, returned without any further result. It 

 would appear also that at Akbar's request one of the missionaries, 

 Jeronymo Xavier, remained at Agra, for the purpose of translating 

 the Gospela into Persian. He was assisted in his task by Mulana 

 'Abd-ul-sitar-ben-Kasim of Lahore, and the work was completed in 

 1602. It is very much on the plan of our Diatessaron, and divided 

 into four books. The first book is entirely occupied with the history 

 and life of the Virgin Mary, and our Saviour's infancy. These puerile 

 legends have been long declared apocryphal even by the Church of 

 Rome, and it is difficult to conceive why the worthy padre should 

 have ventured to interweave them with the sublime truths of the 

 Gospel : yet this compilation, such as it is, has had considerable cir- 

 culation among the Moslems of India, who have naturally viewed it as 

 a standard authority in judging of the Christian religion, from the 

 circumstance of its being issued forth under the patronage of Akbar. 



Of the encouragement which general literature received under this 

 enlightened monarch there are numerous monuments extant. He 

 established schools throughout the country, at which Hindoo as well 

 as Moslem children were educated, each according to his circumstances 

 and particular views in life. He encouraged the translation of works 

 of science and literature from the Sanscrit into Persian, the language 

 of his court. In this he was ably seconded by the two brothers Faizi 

 and Abu-1-Fazl ; the former the most profound scholar and the latter 

 the most accomplished statesman then existing. Faizi was the first 

 Moslem who applied himself to the language and learning of the 

 Brahmins. Assisted by qualified persons, ho translated into Persian 

 two works on algebra, arithmetic, and geometry, tho ' Vija Ganitu ' 

 and ' Lilavati,' from the Sanscrit of Bhaskara Acharya, an author of 

 the 12th century of our era. Under Faizi's able superintendence were 

 also translated the Vcdas, or at least the more interesting portions of 



