Note 72 — Chapter X

Abu ’l Fazil, the wise minister of Akbar, is generally known by his work entitled Ayín Akbarí, “the Institutes of the Emperor Akbar,” translated from the original Persian, by Francis Gladwin, in two volumes. This work contains the best statistical account hitherto given respecting India of those times. Abu ’l Fazil was the first Muhammedan who bestowed attention upon the history and religion of the Hindus, and drew his information regarding them from their own books. It was by him, or under his eyes, that the Mahabharat was translated from Sanskrit into Persian. The tolerance and liberality of the Emperor Akbar towards all religions, and his attempt to establish a new creed, are generally ascribed to the influence of his enlightened minister, who paid it with his life: for Jehangir, Akbar’s fanatic son, hired assassins who murdered the excellent man, near Orcha, in the district of Narwar, on his return from the Dekan, during the life of Akbar, who, except his utmost indignation, had no punishment to inflict upon the heir-apparent of his empire.