Echoes of Empire: Literary Insights into the select verses in the Akbarnāma of Abu’l Fazl

Author(s): Dr. Muralikrishnan TR

Abstract:

Abu’l Fazl’s Akbarnāma and Ā’īn-i-Akbarī are considered as significant documents of the Mughal regime, particularly during the tenure of King Akbar. Commissioned in 1590, Abu’l Fazl’s Akbarnāma and Ā’īn-i-Akbarī serve as didactic treatises articulating Akbar’s kingship through akhlaqī (ethical) frameworks. They are treatises considered as “lesson books” for moral and administrative guidance, projecting Akbar as a warrior and as a divine patriarch of his empire. The present study examines the literary significance of the poetic compositions interwoven within these narratives, quite importantly in the initial chapters, exploring how they enhance the aesthetic and ideological dimensions of Akbar’s imperial representation. The poem functions as a panegyric that elevates the divine origin of speech and knowledge while locating their earthly embodiment in the monarch Akbar. Within this opposition, the sovereign emerges as a ruler whose power exceeds temporal governance, extending into the cosmic order and influencing the celestial and the human destiny alike. The tone intertwines mystical reverence with imperial grandeur and the king is presented as an axis of divine order whose presence brings illumination and guidance. Discursively, the text constructs a hierarchy where divine truth grounds all knowledge and power, acknowledging human limitations yet inspiring awe before the exalted status of the sovereignty. It reaffirms the interconnection between spirituality, kingship, and cosmic harmony central to the medieval South Asian traditions.

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Pages: 48-51     |    3 View     |    0 Download