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Jaina Priests at the Court of Akbar*
by Mohanlal Dalchand Desai
Of all the emperors that wieleded their sway over India, Akbar deserves our deepest respect and keenest notice for the catholicity of his attitude towards religions, other than his own. A Muslim by birth, Akbar's mind was great enough and broad enough not to look upon Islam as the only religion that would dispel all the darkness obstructing the spiritual progress of mankind. He wanted to find out a common ground on which all faiths would agree. It was one of his ambitions to found a faith acceptable to all human beings. Once he said:
“Although I am the Master of so vast a kingdom and all the appliances of Government are to my hand, yet, since true greatness consists in doing the will of God, my mind is not at ease in this diversity of sects and creeds; and apart from this outward pomp of circumstance, with what satisfaction in my despondency, can I undertake the sway of empire? I await the coming of some discreet man of principle, who will solve my spiritual difficulties." (“'The Sayings of His Majesty” Aine Akbari, Vol. II, p. 336)
Maxmuller calls Akbar the first student of comparative religion. Fired with the zeal to provide a common faith for all, he first studied and discussed the doctrines of Islam with the help of Ulemās. Next, he gathered around him a select group of persons who had drunk deep at the fountains of other faiths - Hinduism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity and other faiths.' Reason rather than anything else was his guiding star in his quest of truth,
This article was first published in the Journal of the Gujarat Research Society, Vol. IV, No.-1, published by the School of Economics and Sociology, University of Bombay, 1942
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