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BHANUCANDRA CARITRA
he was ever victorious. He was the father of three" valiant sons, S'ekhuji, Pahadi, and Danaśāha by name. His army consisted of 27 hundred thousand cavalry, 12000 horses being reserved for his personal use in the royal stables which also contained 14000 elephants, and one hundred thousand elephants." He by his own valour, defeated hist opponents and annexed Gujarat, the beauty of which was heavenly, to the Mogul empire. (In 1572 A. D., he made his triumphant entry into Ahmedabad, the then capital of Gujarat). Learned men from all the parts of the world flocked at his Court.
Saikh Abu-l Fazl is dealt with in verses 66 to 77. He was endowed with eight" qualities of intellect. Loyalty to the emperor, purity of conduct and freedom from malice were some of his many qualities which endeared him to the Emperor who treated him as
22 S'ekhuji-the eldest son of Akbar, described as Prince Royal by Abul Fazl. He was called Salim, because he was born (on 31-8-1569 A. D. at Fatehpur Sikri) in the house of Shaikh Salim Chishti. Akbar used to call him Shaikhu Baba. He sncceded Akbar as Emperor Jahangir and died on 28-11-1627 A. D.
Pahadi or Pahari-Akbar's second son named Sultan Murad born in 1570 A. D. He was nicknamed Pahari (Bad. II, 378) as his birth occurred in the hill country of Fatehpur. When he was sent to conquer the Deccan, he had taken to excessive drinking through associating with unworthy persons, so that he died in his 30th year near Jalnapur in Berar. Danas'äh or Daniyal-Akbar's third son born in September 1572 A. D. was named Shah Daniyal as his birth took place at Ajmer in the house of one of the attendants of the Shrine of Chishti whose name was Shaikh Daniyal. After death of Murad he was sent to conquer Deccan and was successful; he too died from excessive drinking in the 33rd year of his age.
23 The strength of Akbar's army: Blochman states:-"We have not sufficient data to form an exact estimate of the strength of Akbar's army. We can, however, guess it as 25000 men (troopers, musketeers and artillery). Imperial stables contained 12000 horses hence about 12000 standing cavalry. The rest were matchlock-bearers and artillery. Abul Fazl states that there were 12000 match-lock bearers" (Aine Akbari Vol. I, pp. 245-6). We find in Noer I p. 286:-"Abul Fazl gives the effective strength of 44 lacs of men. The standing army-the troops in pay-were, according to Badaoni, 25000, and in the latter years of Akbar's reign, they consisted of some 12000 troopers and 13000 artillery and match-lock men-the banduqchis."
24 Abul Fazl was the learned unorthodox theologian who had shown extraordinary precocity and had spent a studious youth. He succeeded, in 1574 A. D., by means of a Koranic commentary, in attracting the attention of the Emperor. He occupied an informal position as Secretary of State and Private Secretary, which secured him, in practice greater power than if he had been Vakil or Vizier. His brilliant official success was due partly to his exceptional intellectual gifts and partly to his adroitness as a courtier. He was the author of Akbarnama and Aini-Akbari (or "Institutes of Akbar"). The former is the leading authority for the narrative of events in Akbar's reign and the latter is, in short, a descriptive and statistical survey of the empire, combined with a detailed account of the Court and of the administrative system. He met his death in 1602 (12-8-1602) by a murderous attack at the instance of Prince Salim in the fifty second year of his age". (Vincent Smith's "Akbar, the Great Mogul"). "Aini Akbari" was completed in 1005 H. i. e. 1596-7 A. D.
25 The eight qualities of intellect are: (1) desiring to hear (2) f (3) listening (4) understanding (5) ter reflecting (6) by the exercise of the reasoning faculty (7) धारणा fixing in mind and (8) properly putting into practice. Vide Vis'eṣāvas'yaka Sūtra verses 561 to 564.
inquiring again removing doubts सम्यक्करण - सम्यगनुष्ठान