Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/13

 AURANGZÍB

INTRODUCTION

The Heritage of Akbar

The greatest of Indian rulers, the Emperor Akbar, died in 1605. Third in the succession of his dynasty, he was first in his genius for government the true founder of the Indian Empire of the Great Moguls. He left a magnificent heritage to his descendants. His realm embraced all the provinces of Hindústán, and included Kábul on the west, Bengal on the east, Kashmír beside the Himálayas, and Khándésh in the Deccan. He had not merely conquered this vast dominion in forty years of warfare, but he had gone far towards welding it into an organic whole. He united under one firm government Hindús and Muhammadans, Shí'a and Sunnís, Rájputs and Afgháns, and all the numerous races and tribes of Hindústán, in spite of the centrifugal tendencies of castes and creeds. In dealing with the formidable difficulties presented by the government of a peculiarly heterogeneous empire, he stands absolutely supreme among oriental sovereigns, and may even