Princes with sympathetic qualities were not entirely lacking in the seven centuries of Mohammedan dominion in India, and they shine forth as points of light from the gloomy horror of this time, but they fade out completely before the luminous picture of the man who governed India for half a century (1556-1605) and by a wise, gentle and just reign brought about a season of prosperity such as the land had never experienced in the millenniums of its history. This man, whose memory even to-day is revered by the Hindus, was a descendant of Baber, Abul Fath Jelâleddin Muhammed, known by the surname Akbar "the Great," which was conferred upon the child even when he was named, and completely supplanted the name that properly belonged to him. And truly he justified the epithet, for great, fabulously great, was Akbar as man, general, statesman and ruler,--all in all a prince who deserves to be known by every one whose heart is moved by the spectacle of true human greatness.[3] [Footnote 3: From the literature on Emperor Akbar the following works deserve special mention: J. Talboys Wheeler, _The History of India from the Earliest Ages._ Vol. IV, Pt. I, "Mussulman Rule," London, 1876 (judges Akbar very unfairly in many places, but declares at the bottom of page 135, "The reign of Akbar is one of the most important in the history of India; it is one of the most important in the history of the world"); Mountstuart Elphinstone, _History of India, the Hindu and Mahometan Periods_, with notes and additions by E.B. Cowell, 9th ed., London, 1905; G.B. Malleson, _Akbar and the Rise of the Mughal Empire_, Oxford, 1890 (in W.W. Hunter's _Rulers of India_); A. Müller, _Der Islam im Morgen-und Abendland_, Vol. II, Berlin, 1887; but especially Count F.A. von Noer, _Kaiser Akbar, ein Versuch über die Geschichte Indiens im sechzehnten Jahrhundert_, Vol. I, Leyden, 1880; Vol. II, revised from the author's manuscript by Dr. Gustav von Buchwald, Leyden, 1885. In the preface to this work the original sources are listed and described; compare also M. Elphinstone, pp. 536, 537, note 45.]