“The great Mughal emperor Akbar”, “The most tolerant and secular Mughal emperor Akbar”, “The greatest emperor of India!” ,”The father of India”. We have heard it all. That Mughal emperor Akbar was the greatest ever emperor is held beyond question by many Indians. This is established by Marxist historians and faithfully reproduced in school textbooks. It has become an unquestionable truth claim. If you ever question the official narrative of Akbar, you will be labelled as a communal and anti social person.
Fortunately or not, I do not look for any validation from the society. Nothing in my eyes is beyond reason and question. That includes the darling king of secularists, Akbar.
I read through Akbarnama to know about the real Akbar. This book was commissioned by Akbar himself and written by his Darbari court historian Abul Fazl in 1595-1596 CE.
In this book, there is a painting depicting Akbar’s second battle of Panipat in 1556 against the Hindu general Hemu. This painting depicts Akbar and his army making a tower of skulls from slain heads of Hindu enemies whom the contemporary Mughal chronicles refer to as “Hindu Kafirs”. This is surprising because we know that there were Muslim soldiers in Hemu’s army. Still, Mughal chronicles saw this battle as Jihad of righteous Muslim king Akbar against his Kafir Hindu rival Hemu. And they describe the tower of Skulls made by Akbar and his army from slain Kafir heads (which would only mean that Akbar spared Muslim soldiers of his rival Hemu)
Further, the Mughal Chronicles describe how Akbar, on the advise of Bairam Khan, himself beheaded Hemu in the battle to earn the title of Ghazi (killer of infidels). Surprised? This is the real face of Akbar. This painting from Akbarnama is the depiction of Akbar and his army making tower out of beheaded skulls of Hemu and his Hindu army.
You will find this all in the contemporary Mughal Chronicles.Painting source: Akbarnama.Information Source: The Mughul Empire : RC Majumdar (The History and Culture of the Indian People: Volume VII)
-TrueIndology