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OF THE EMPEROR AKBAR.
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of the planets and the sun, and of Brahma, Vishnu, Krishna, Mahámáyá, and others, who in the estimation of some were gods, and of others angels; but who, if they ever existed at all, were probably the children of men. These teachers influenced Akbar to form a favourable opinion of the Hindu code, and especially of the doctrine of the metempsychosis, traces of which, he maintained, conld be detected in every form of belief. This last assertion was echoed by the Emperor's flatterers, and many tracts were published in its vindication.
The mystical unitarianism of the Súfís was also at this period brought to the particular notice of the Emperor. Sheikh Mán of Panipat, who was considered as second to Sheikh Mahí ad din Ibn Arali alone, and who was the author of a commentary on the Lowáia', and other celebrated Súfí works, had amongst his chief disciples Sheikh Zechariah of Delhi, surnamed by many Táj ul Arafín. This teacher was succeeded by his son Táj ud Din, who at this time published a copious elucidation of the Nezhet al Ma’arij. The celebrity thus acquired introducing him to the knowledge of Akbar, he was summoned to the presence of the Emperor, and in many private interviews contributed to lead the monarch still farther into the paths of impiety and irreligion.
' A work on Sufyism, by Maulláná Jámi.
? The diadem of the wise, using the term wise to imply uu adept iu Súfi mysticism.
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