Page:Akbar and the Rise of the Mughal Empire.djvu/144

Rh upon Ahmadnagar, he marched in the spring of 1601 towards Agra.

The circumstances which required the presence of Akbar at Agra were of a very painful character. Prince Salím had from his earliest youth caused him the greatest anxiety. Nor had the anxiety been lessened as the boy approached manhood. Salím, better known to posterity as the Emperor Jahágir, was naturally cruel, and he appeared incapable of placing the smallest restraint on his passions. He hated Abulfazl, really because he was jealous of his influence with his father; avowedly because he regarded him as the leading spirit who had caused Akbar to diverge from the narrow doctrines of the bigoted Muhammadans. Akbar had hoped for a moment that the despatch of Abulfazl to Southern India would appease the resentment of his son, and when he decided to proceed thither himself he had nominated Salím as his successor, and had confided to him, with the title of Viceroy of Ajmere, the task of finishing the war with the Ráná of Mewár, which had broken out again. He had further studied his partialities by despatching the renowned Mán Singh, his relation by marriage, to assist him.

The two princes were already on their march towards Mewár when information reached them that a rebellion had broken out in Bengal, of which province Mán Singh was Viceroy. Mán Singh was therefore compelled to march at once to repress the outbreak. Left without a counsellor, and commanding a con-