This book was produced from images scanned by the State Central Library, Hyderabad, and hosted by the Million Book Project at http://www.archive.org/ Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 14134-h.htm or 14134-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/1/3/14134/14134-h/14134-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/1/3/14134/14134-h.zip) AKBAR, EMPEROR OF INDIA A Picture of Life and Customs from the Sixteenth Century by DR. RICHARD VON GARBE Rector of the University of Tubingen Translated from the German by Lydia G. Robinson Reprinted From "The Monist" Of April, 1909 Chicago The Open Court Publishing Company 1909 [Illustration: AKBAR DIRECTING THE TYING-UP OF A WILD ELEPHANT. Tempera painting in the _bar Namah_ by Abu'l Fazl. Photographed from the original in the India Museum for _The Place of Animals in Human Thought_ by the Countess Evelyn Martinengo Cesaresco.] LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Akbar Directing the Tying-up of a Wild Elephant (Frontispiece) Akbar, Emperor of India Mausoleum of Akbar's Father, Humâyun View of Fathpur Akbar's Grave Mausoleum of Akbar at Sikandra The Chakra, the Indian Emblem of Empire AKBAR, EMPEROR OF INDIA.[A] The student of India who would at the same time be an historian, discovers to his sorrow that the land of his researches is lamentably poor in historical sources. And if within the realm of historical investigation, a more seductive charm lies for him in the analysis of great personalities than in ascertaining the course of historical development, then verily may he look about in vain for such personalities in the antiquity and middle ages of India. Not that the princely thrones were wanting in great men in ancient India, for we find abundant traces of them in Hindu folk-lore and poetry, but these sources do not extend to establishing the realistic element in details and furnishing life-like portraits of the men themselves. That the Hindu has ever been but little interested in historical matters is a generally recognized fact. Religious and philosophical speculations, dreams of other worlds, of previous and future existences, have claimed the attention of thoughtful minds to a much greater degree than has historical reality. [Footnote A: This essay is art enlarged form of an address delivered on the occasion of the birthday of King Wilhelm II of Württemberg, on February 25, 1909.] The misty myth-woven veil which hangs over persons and events of earlier times, vanishes at the beginning of the modern era which in India starts with the Mohammedan conquest, for henceforth the history of India is written by foreigners. Now we meet with men who take a decisive part in the fate of India, and they appear as sharply outlined, even though generally unpleasing, personalities.