Akbar - Birbal Ki Nok Jhok

One must have heard the name of Emperor Akbar and Raja Birbal, the most wise and witty, one of the 'nine gems' of the royal court of Akbar.

According to the historical records, Akbar was the seventh generation of Amir Taimurlang, who was the Turk Emperor of Central Asia. Akbar was the son of Humayun and Hameeda Bann, (Mariam Makani) (1508-1556). According to our learned historians, the real date of birth of Akbar is considered 4 rajab 949 hijaree or 15th October, 1542 and the day was Sunday. Before the birth of Akbar, Humayun had a dream on 10th July, 1540, Friday, in Lahore. The dream proves that he was not an ordinary personality but a great soul. Though the footnote of the book carry the mention of the dream, here we are mentioning the dream in our own words By God's grace, you (Humayun) are going to be blessed with a son, whose greatness will be manifested strikingly from his forehead."

Emperor Akbar (1542-1605) is considered the real founder of the Mughal Empire in India. He was a king who removed every type of distinction of religion cast and creed. He ruled the country for fifty years with the vast appreciation and support of the people. Infect, he was the first Muslim ruler who kept the state politics over the religion and conciliated Hinduism.

God is Great. He ordered the, "karoris and jagirdars of Mathura, Sahare, Mangotah and Oc... Parganahs, and no obstruction should be made to the grazing of the cattle of the people..."

Akbar brought political integration in the great part of India. He was one who judged the Indian condition rightly. He brought Rajputs with him by friendly persuasion. He encouraged natural outlook both politics as well as in culture. He was indeed a great statesman and patron of arts.

Although he had many qualities, but there was a big fault in him and that was his excessive fondness of women. He ignored the primacy of dignity and genuineness of a king and involved himself in his fondness. As a result to this vice, he had to face an attempt on his life by Kutalak Faulad on 12 January, 1564. This attack injured him badly but his life was saved.

Apart from these, he had a strange ability to gather genius personalities of their fields in his royal court. This collection of personalities of Akbar is being known as nine gems. His nine gems were-1. Sheikh Mubarak (1505-1592), 2. Sheikh Faizi (1547-1595), 3. Abul Fazal (1551-1602), 4. Mulla Abdul Qadir Badayuni (1540-1596), 5. Raja Birbal (1528-1586), 6. Raja Todermal, 7. Abdurrahim khankhana (1556-1627), 8. Maharaja Man Singh (1550-1614) and 9. Tansen (1532-1589).

It will be appropriate to add some lines to describe the death of Akbar before ending Akbar's portion of the note and to begin with Birbal. During his last days of life. Akbar had gone very weak. He could hardly breathe or speak. On 15th October, 1605 (Thursday), he took his last breathe. It is said that Salim had given him poison. Akbar too had suspect on him but there was no solid proof that could establish his suspicion. When he died he was of 63. He ruled for 49 years, 8 months and 3 days.

As it was not enough to his ill fated death, his Maqbarah was robbed and rampaged by jats in 1691. A.D., when Aurangzeb was fighting a war against the Marathas in south. Not only this, his bones were exhumed and put on fire. To a great fun, people go to Sikandara to see the tomb of Akbar where nothing is remained related to Akbar.

Birbal, one of the nine gems of Akbar, was more like a friend than a courtier to him. He was born in an educated Brahmabhatt family in Kalpi, Jalaun district in 1528 A.D. Roopdhar, his grandfather, was a learned scholar of Sanskrit. The name of his father was Ganga Das and mother's was Anabha Devi. The real name of Birbal was Mahesh Das. He achieved the rank of a fully developed poet at his premature age. Due to these qualities, he commanded his presence in the court of the king of Bhatha (Reewan). Ramchandra Baghel. After that, he joined Bhagwant Das, the king of Aamer; Here he was introduced to king Akbar by Bhagwant Das. According to the historical records, Akbar installed him into the royal service around the fear 1562. Akbar was very much impressed with his loyality, wit, humour and intelligence. In 1572 A.D. Akbar gave him the title, “Veervar” and the Jagir of Nagarkoth.

The title 'Veervar' later changed into Birbal'. A learned historians explained that according to the rules of Sanskrit philology, when two 'R' sounds occur in close proximity, the latter 'R' is being pronounced as 'L'