Director: Shyam Benegal; Writer: Vasant Dev, Ashok Mishra, Sandeep Pendse, Sunil Shanbag, Shama Zaidi, Jawaharlal Nehru; Producer: Prasar Bharti; Cinematographer: V.K. Murthy; Editor: Sutanu Gupta, Deepak Segal; Cast: Roshan Seth, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Virendra Sexena, Harish Patel, Rajesh Vivek, Pankaj Berry, Irrfan Khan, Puneet Issar, S.P. Dubey, Surendar Pal, Arun Bakshi, Ayub Khan
Duration: 00:59:04; Aspect Ratio: 1.321:1; Hue: 350.594; Saturation: 0.032; Lightness: 0.244; Volume: 0.213; Cuts per Minute: 2.387; Words per Minute: 59.956
Summary: Based on Jawaharlal Nehru's Discovery of India
Episode 32 (Akbar, Part I)
With Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Akbar, Virendra Sexena as Birbal, Harish Patel as Todar Mai, Rajesh Vivek as Sheikh Mubarak, Pankaj Berry as Abul Fazai, Irfan Khan as Badayuni, Puneet Issar as Rana Pratap, S.P. Dubey as Abdul-Nabi, Surendar Pal as Man Singh, Arun Bakshi as Atga Khan, and Ayub Khan as Munim Khan.
As Nehru noted, Babur died within four years of his coming to India and much of his time was spent in fighting and laying out a splendid capital in Agra. Hankering for Central Asia, Babur had won an empire in India; scorning Central Asia, Humayun lost the whole empire in India. Humayun encountered Sher Shah Suri, a well-prepared Afghan contender for sovereignty and, in the ensuing tussle in 1540 near Kanauj, he barely escaped with his life, but the Mughal troops were decimated. Humayun became a fugitive. The enthroned Sher Shah Suri had a short reign, installing energetic administrative reforms with excellent roads, horse-backed postal systems and stylised monuments. His remarkable reign came to an end in 1545 with his death.
By 1555, Humayun reclaimed Delhi, but stumbled to his death next year. His son Akbar, barely 13, came out of the seraglio where he was under protection of uncle Bayram Khan, as regent, and reigned from 1556-1605. Drawing from Abul-Fazl's imperial memoir Akbar-Nama, we see scenes of market prices being controlled (with Akbar intervening incognito). The young king proceeds to marry Jodhabai, the Rajput princess of Amber, and abolishes the discriminating Jaziya tax on the Hindus. As Nehru observes, Akbar surrounds himself with a group of brilliant men devoted to him and his ideals among whom are famous brothers Abul-Fazl and Fyzee, humorist Birbal, the trusted Rajput Raja Man Singh and the valiant general Abdul Rahim Khankhana.
But the quarrel continues with the orthodox Ulemma, to whom the Sufi saint Sheikh Mubarak is hauled up. While most Rajput chiefs are amalgamated in the imperial system of broad-based Omrah (nobility), Rana Udai Singh of Mewar, and his valorous son Pratap Singh, prove recalcitrant, notwithstanding Man Singh's honest persuasions. Akbar lays a punitive siege of Chittor, but despite the defeat at Haldighat, and flight of Udai Singh and Pratap Sigh to sanctuary in the hills Chittor is never re-occupied.
As Nehru states, his royal court became a meeting place, almost an Ibadatkhana (prayer-hall), every Friday, for men of all faiths and those who had new ideas or inventions. His tolerance of views and his encouragement of all kinds of beliefs and opinions, including Sufism, angered some of the more orthodox Muslims like the Sayyads. Included in Akbar's theological forays are, as we find, Portuguese priests. In 1580, the padres hastened from Goa confident of the most sensational conversion of all times! In the event, they are disappointed as were all other disputants.
Akbar's quest for spiritual enlightenment was to seek a faith that would satisfy the needs of his realm as well as his conscience. As a result, he came up with a new religious order Din-E-Ilahi. The cultural amalgamation of Hindu and Muslim in north India took a giant step forward, with Akbar as popular with the Hindus as with the Muslims.
(Prasar Bharti Archives)
Akbar was a devout follower of the saints of the Chisti order. The revered Salim Chisti resided in a cave on a ridge in Fatehpur Sikri. It is Salim Chisti who is said to have blessed Akbar and Jodha with their firstborn. - named Salim after the saint himself. It is said that Akbar's mad love for Salim Chisti made him relocate the capital of the Mughal Empire to Fatehpur Sikri.
His tolerance of views and his encouragement of all kinds of beliefs and opinions, including Sufism, angered some of the more orthodox Muslims like the Sayyads.
Akbar's quest for spiritual enlightenment was to seek a faith that would satisfy the needs of his realm as well as his conscience. As a result, he came up with a new religious order Din-E-Ilahi. The cultural amalgamation of Hinduism and Islam in north India took a giant step forward.
Bharat Ek Khoj was a 53-episode Indian historical drama based on the book "The Discovery of India" (1946) by Jawaharlal Nehru, written by Sunil Shanbag, Shama Zaidi and others and directed by Shyam Benegal. It was telecast in 1988-1988 on State-owned Doordarshan National Network.
Salim Chisti
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