Akbar the Great
Abu-ul-Fath Jalal-ud-Din Muhammad Akbar, greatest of Mogul emperors, born in 1542 at Umarkot, Sind. An embodiment of the Ascended Master El Morya.
Akbar succeeded to the throne of his father in 1556 at age 13 and within a few years embarked on a career of conquest. By the end of his fifty-year rule in 1605, the small territory he had inherited was an empire that extended from the Hindu Kush to the Godavari River and from Bengal to Gujarat (present-day Bangladesh and most of Nepal, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan). Through Akbar’s military genius and vigorous leadership, the Mogul empire became one of the most powerful in the world. He implemented numerous administrative reforms that strengthened the governmental structure, abolished extortion, and centralized the financial system. Although he could neither read nor write, Akbar ably conversed with scholars and religious men and sponsored a renaissance in art and literature.
The emperor was born a Muslim but respected Hindu religion and culture and offered Hindus and Muslims alike the highest posts in his government. He took an active interest in all religious beliefs and in 1575 built the Ibadat Khana (“hall of worship”) where learned men of all faiths met to discuss theology. In 1582 Akbar founded a monotheistic, unitarian religion called Din-i-Ilahi (“Divine Faith”) with himself as its spiritual leader. In an attempt to resolve the discord among the many religious factions in his empire, and recognizing the limitations of each, he proposed that “we ought, therefore, to bring them all into one, but in such fashion that they should be both ‘one’ and ‘all’, with the great advantage of not losing what is good in any one religion, while gaining whatever is better in another.” He did not, however, demand that his countrymen espouse his beliefs, and Akbar’s new religion had few adherents outside his court. His last years were troubled by intrigues and the rebellious conduct of his son Prince Salim, who became emperor upon Akbar's death in 1605.
See also
For more information
Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Lords of the Seven Rays