AKBAR THE GREAT MUGHAL (HB) Hardcover – 10 April 2020

A really well written and comprehensive review of one of the greatest Indian emperors and the supreme monarch of his time. The modernity of his thought parallels the ottomans and indicates that on its glory days, islam was a lot more accomodating of other cultures and more 'merit oriented' than previously thought! A real good read

A very nice, researched work by Ira Mukhoty. A must read if you want to explore the life of Akbar the great.

Mention, the Mughal Emperor- Akbar and you instantly think of the Akbar- Birbal stories which have regaled children and adults like for a long time. If you are inclined towards movies, you will probably think of Mughal-e-Azam the classic movie piece or the most recent adaptation- Jodha Akbar. Based on your exposure to any such dominant historical personalities through the different fictional mediums, you probably build up a view of the person which may or may not match the real person as is known from the non-fiction historical accounts.This book by Ira Mukhoty now provides such a non-fiction fascinating window into Akbar- the most celebrated of the Mughal Emperor. As the author mentions in the Preface, while the Mughal Empire is itself widely covered in various publications, probably it is more difficult to find an end-to-end biography of Akbar. In recent years, I believe there has been a pick-up in the interest in providing the different accounts/views of the Mughal Empire, and the author is probably well-placed to provide this assessment given her previous 2 books especially the ‘Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire’, which itself is a fascinating topic, and some of the references do peek out in this book as well.The book is comprehensively exhaustive covering all facets of Akbar’s life and is divided into 6 sections, each covering a logical section of his life and times. Again, the book explores Akbar’s personality in great detail, and the people who played an important role through his life. Right through the book, we get to know Akbar in microscopic detail including the different aspects of his life as a Muslim ruler, Timurid Prince, Hindustani ruler and a Social reformer among others.The book also reserves a special interest in the art and cultural aspects of Akbar’s empire, and the compilation of ‘Hamzanama’- an extremely large artistic compilation of 1400 paintings.Akbar’s patronage of different religions and thought practices is well-known and the book provides a fascinating insight into Akbar’s willingness to engage with these different religious personas throughout his years. The book also provides a surprising explanation of ‘Din-I-Illahi’ being more of a mistranslation and the original phrase meaning to be regulations for those privileged to be His Majesty’ disciples and hence not being the foundation of a proposed new religious sect, which always was my understanding.The book also covers the special esteem in which Akbar held his female relatives and the fact that during his reign, the matriarchy played a crucial and binding role in various instances. It is also good to know of the Royal women’ hajj in 1575 which lasted for 7 years, certainly indicative of the powerful nature of the Mughal harem and Akbar himself.The book is well-annotated with an extensive reference list, and through the book you often see the author quoting ‘Abu’l-Fazl’ and ‘Abd al- Qadir Badauni’, which provide 2 divergent views on the the Emperor and the activities occurring around him. The author also provides a list of characters, limited family tree and high-level timeline along list of illustrations which is quite helpful to the readers, as it is not easy to follow the myriad list of people who were a part of the Emperor’s reign.The author provides a largely balanced view of the Emperor and doesn’t play up either the image of him being the good ‘Muslim’ or critique him out of hand. What emerges out of the book is a complex and dominant personality with great self-belief and physical courage, and the ability to learn & adapt to emerging situations, binding the various people together while still retaining a very centralized mode of command and control, and with an infinite curiosity which manifested itself in various forms of engagement including art, culture, architecture and religion.The book is very much recommended, and anyone interested in Mughal Empire would definitely find it worthwhile to explore one of the most fascinating Emperor the world has seen

Ira Mukhoty has done a fantastic job of a serious update on on the life of Akbar. But she has done it in a way that is easy for even the laymen to understand. Her tackling the theme is like any accomplished expert, but the language and style is that of a storyteller. This book would go a long way in popularising history amongst the masses!A must read for all: even experts in these troubled times!

The media could not be loaded. Good book quality is excellent paper and font good i have collections of all mughals and sultanate rulers books.

Best book, great praises to the author. Although there are dozens of books on the empire there are surprisingly very few full-length accounts of its most remarkable emperor, the last major study having been published over two decades ago. In this book this outstanding sovereign finally gets is due and the reader gets the full measure of his extraordinary life.

Being an avid follower of Akbar and his reign, this book really intrigued me. The minute details from clothing to what might have been in and around the room and using words like 'padshah'. The author has really done an exceptional work here.The scene where she describes the whole setup of qumargha, and the seige of Chittor plus Ranthambore clearly depicts the detailed research and efforts the author has made for this book. This is by far the best account of Akbars' life, from birth to his death, and this comes from a person who has completed all the volumes of Akbarnama. The addition of images of paintings adds to the already amazing piece of history.The most noteworthy thing is that the book is not related to just glorification of Akbar as an emperor, but it actually states several flaws and misgivings as well, unlike Akbarnama which is a clear praise for him.If someone really wants to read about the greatest Mughal of all time, this is the book for him/her. Just go for it without a second thought.The only reason I am giving it a 4 star is that this account provided a lesser introduction of Akbar with his wives. Although it describes the Harem very elaborately, but individual relationships between Akbar and his wives is not described in it. But i can understand the reason behind it, the lack of proper accounts relating to it.The quality of paper and book binding is really good too. Really easy to read language and author has given a thought in explaining difficult Urdu and Persian words.Amazon's delivery was prompt and safely wrapped around in bubble wrap.

I don't think there is a better book to read about Akbar's life than this one. The author talks about different aspects of social, cultural and personal developments Akbar underwent to grow up into a mighty emperor. The book doesn't cherry-pick just the virtues of Akbar but also his faults and the circumstances of the unstable times. From the start to the end the book feels like story of a man destined to greatness but had to face innumerable hurdles to reach the pedestal.