1869.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 81 



the testimony of three historical works, whose authors widely differ in 

 character and opinions. 



These three works are the AJcbarn&mah by Abulfazl, Akbar's 

 Prime Minister, and especially its last volume, which is best known 

 under the name of Ain i Akoar'i ; secondly, the Muntakhab ul 

 Tawdrikh, by Abdul Qadir of Badaon, who held an office at Akbar's 

 court ; and thirdly, the Dabistdn ul Mazdhib, a work written about 

 sixty years after Akbar's death by an unknown Muhammadan writer 

 of strong Parsi tendencies. 



We may also add the valuable testimony of Portuguese Missionaries 

 whom Akbar called from Groa, as Rodolpho Aquaviva, Antonio de 

 Monserrato, and Francisco Enriques, &c, of whom the first is also 

 mentioned by Abulfazl under the name of Pddri Radalf — not Hadif, 

 as bad MSS. spell his name. 



From the abovementioned three works, we gather the following 

 leading facts regarding the Divine Faith, which name Akbar gave 

 his new religion. 



Akbar's secular and religious education had been entirely 

 neglected, owing to political circumstances. Being surrounded by 

 Hindu servants, when young, and married to Hindu princesses, when 

 scarcely of age, he came into close contact with Hindu forms of 

 worship, which were* openly practised in the harem of his father 

 and in his own. Thus a strong attachment to Hinduism grew up in 

 Akbar's heart. To judge from Badaoni's remarks, the influence of the 

 Hindu portion of 'Akbar's harem, which contained above 5000 

 women, was very great, and was no doubt the principal reason for 

 Akbar's apostacy from the Islam. 



Akbar's early wars, from 1556, when he was in his fourteenth 

 year, to 1574, did not allow him sufficient leisure to take up religious 

 questions, or to supply the deficiencies of his secular education. 

 But Akbar felt the want. A change, however, took place towards 

 the end of 1574, or 982 A. H., the eighteenth year of his reign, and 

 the thirty-first of his life. " No political opponent was left on the 

 field," and the years from 1574 to 1581, which Akbar spent at Fath- 

 pur Sikri, were comparatively peaceful. Immediately before 1575, 

 Akbar entertained, and openly expressed, doubts regarding the 

 correctness of several points of the Muhammadan religion. He also 



