Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/470

Rh 434 A J U A K B two-thirds being Hindus, and the remainder Mahometans. The city trade chiefly consists of salt and opium. The former is imported in large quantities from the Sanibar lake and Rdmsur. Oilinaking is also a profitable branch of trade. Cotton cloths are manufactured to some extent, for the dyeing of which the city has attained a high repu tation. A municipal income of about 2000 a-year is derived from octroi duties levied on articles consumed in the town. Out of this the police and conservancy arrange ments are paid, the balance being spent on roads and in the support of charitable institutions. The Ajmir college, affiliated to the Calcutta university, had 320 pupils in 1867. The college buildings being inadequate to this number of pupils, the foundation-stone of a new structure was laid on the 17th February 1868. The agent to the governor-general for Rajputana resides at Ajmir, which is also the headquarters of the commissioner of the Ajmir and Mairwara division. It is likewise a station of a Scotch Presbyterian mission. The chief object of interest is the dargd, or tomb of a famous Mahometan saint named Mayud-ud-din. It is situated at the foot of the Taragarh mountain, and consists of a block of white marble buildings, without much pretension to architectural beauty. To this place the emperor Akbar, with his empress, performed a pilgrimage on foot from Agra, in accordance with the terms of a vow he had made when praying for a son. The large pillars erected at intervals of two miles the whole way, to mark the daily halting-place of the imperial pilgrim, are still extant. An ancient Jain temple, now converted into a Mahometan mosque, is situated on the lower slope of the Taragarh hill. With the exception of that part used as a mosque, nearly the whole of the ancient temple has fallen into ruins, but the relics are not excelled in beauty of architecture and sculpture by any remains of Hindu art. Forty columns sup port the roof, but no two are alike, and great fertility of invention is manifested in the execution of the ornaments. The summit of Taragarh mountain, overhanging Ajmir, is crowned by a fort, the lofty thick battlements of which run along its brow and enclose the table-land. The walls are 2 miles in circumference, and the fort can only be approached by steep and very roughly-paved planes, com manded by the fort and the outworks, and by the hill to tho west. On coming into the hands of the English, the fort was dismantled by oi der of Lord William Bentinck, and is now converted into a sanitarium for the troops at Nasirabad. Ajmir was founded about the year 145 A.D. by Aji, a Chohan, who established the dynasty which continued to rule the country (with many vicissi tudes of fortune) while the repeated waves of Mahometan invasion swept over India, until it eventually became an appanage of the crown of Dehli in 1193. Its internal government, however, was handed over to its ancient rulers upon the payment of a heavy tribute to the conquerors. It then remained feudatory to Dehli till 1365, when it was captured by the ruler of Mewar. In 1509 the place became a source of contention between the chiefs of Mewar and Marwar, and was ultimately conquered in 1532 by the latter prince, who in his turn in 1559 had to give way before the emperor Akbar. It continued in the hands of the Mughuls, with occasional revolts, till 1770, when it was ceded to the Marhattas, from which time up to 1818 the unhappy district was the scene of a continual struggle, being seized at different times by the Mewar and Marwar rajas, from whom it was as often retaken by the Marhattas. In 1818 the latter ceded it to the British in return for a payment of 50,000 rupees. Since then the country has enjoyed unbroken peace and a stable government. AJURUOCA, a town of Brazil, in the province of Minas Geraes, 117 miles N. of Rio de Janeiro. It is situated on the Ajuruoca river, which is here crossed by a bridge. Gold was once found in the vicinity, but the soil has been long exhausted of the precious metals ; and the people are chiefly engaged in agriculture, and in rearing animals for the markets of Rio. The land is fertile, and produces millet, mandioca, coffee, sugar-cane, and tobacco. The population of the town and district is 12,000. AKABAH, THE GULP OF, the Sinus Elanites of anti quity, is the eastmost of the two divisions into which the Red Sea bifurcates near its northern extremity. It pene trates into Arabia Petr3a in a N.N.E. direction, from 28 to 29 32 N. lat., a distance of 100 miles, and its breadth varies from 12 to 17 miles. The entrance is contracted by Tiran and other islands, so that the passage ia rendered somewhat difficult; and its navigation is danger ous on account of the numerous coral reefs, and the sudden squalls which sweep down from the adjacent mountains, many of which rise perpendicularly to a height of 2000 feet. The only well-sheltered harbour is that called the Golden Port, situated on its western shore about 33 miles from the entrance, and 29 miles E. of Mount Sinai. About 2 miles from the head of the gulf is the village of AKABAH, with a fortified castle, garrisoned by a few soldiers for the protection of the Moslem pilgrims on their way to Mecca. In the vicinity of the village there are extensive date groves; and there is abundance of good water, fruit, and vegetables. Akabah, though now of small importance, is not devoid of historical interest. It is supposed to occupy the site of the Elath of Scripture, which in remote ages carried on an extensive commerce; and some ruins in the sea a short distance southward are surmised to be the remains of Ezicmgeber, AKBAR, AKHBAR, or AKBER, JELLALADIN MOHAM MED, one of the greatest and wisest of the Moghul emperors, was born at Amerkote in Sindh on the 14th October 1542, his father, Humayun, having been driven from the throne a short time before by the usurper Sher Khan. After more than twelve years exile, Humayun regained his sovereignty, which, however, he had held only for a few months when he died. Akbar succeeded his father in 1556 under the regency of Bahrain Khan, a Turkoman noble, whose energy in repelling pretenders to the throne, and severity in main taining the discipline of the army, tended greatly to the consolidation of the newly-recovered empire. Bahrain, however, was naturally despotic and cruel; and when order was somewhat restored, Akbar found it necessary to take the reins of government into his own hands, which he did by a proclamation issued in March 1560. The discarded regent lived for some time in rebellion, endeavouring to establish an independent principality in Malwah, but at last he was forced to cast himself on Akbar s mercy. The emperor not only freely pardoned him, but magnanimously offered him the choice of a high place in the army or a suitable escort for a pilgrimage to Mecca, and Bahrain preferred the latter alternative. When Akbar ascended the throne, only a small portion of what had formerly been comprised within the Moghul empire owned his authority, and he devoted himself with great determination and mar vellous success to the recovery of the revolted provinces. Over each of these, as it was restored, he placed a governor, whom he superintended with great vigilance and wisdom. He tried by every means to develop and encourage com merce; he had the land accurately measured for the purpose of rightly adjusting taxation; he gave the strictest instruc tions to prevent extortion on the part of the tax-gatherers, and in many other respects displayed an enlightened and equitable policy. Thus it happened that, in the fortieth year of Akbar s reign the empire had more than regained all that it had lost, the recovered provinces being reduced, not to subjection only as before, but to a great degree of peace, order, and contentment. Akbar s method of dealing with what must always be the chief difficulty of one who has to rule widely diverse races, affords perhaps the crown ing evidence of his wisdom and moderation. In religion he was at first a Mussulman, but the intolerant exclu- siveness of that creed was quite foreign to his character. Scepticism as to the divine origin of the Koran led him to seek the true religion in an eclectic system. He accord ingly set himself to obtain information about other religions, sent to Goa, requesting that the Portuguese missionaries there would visit him, and listened to them with intelligent attention when they came. As the result of these inquiries, he adopted the creed of pure deism and a ritual based upon the system of Zoroaster. The religion thus founded,