Synopsis "Akbar a Novel of History"
DescriptionConventional historical accounts tend to paper over seemingly minor events relatedto Akbar's life, to the detriment of a comprehensive appreciation of one of the mostimportant figures of Indian history. Shazi Zaman fills the gap with this remarkablenovel rooted in history.Akbar's writ ran from the Hindukush in the west to the Bay of Bengal in the east, an empire his father Humayun and grandfather Babur had only dreamed of. Andhis religious policy, boldly unorthodox, was as fierce a contest with the clergy, particularly Islamic, as were his military campaigns with his political opponents. Mosthistories give us Akbar the commander who never lost on the battlefield, and thefearlessly iconoclastic ruler. But we rarely come across the restless, questing soul whowished to reconcile a sensitive and compassionate heart to the sometimes ruthlessobligations of statecraft; and the man who, in his struggle for sulh-i-kul, peace withall, could dare to treat as equal not only all faiths-Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Zoroastrianism and others-but all life as well-human or animal.With a scholar's rigour and a storyteller's insight, Shazi Zaman, in this transcreationof his acclaimed Hindi novel, sifts through fact and many an anecdote to painta complex yet enchanting portrait of one of the world's great monarchs. Thereisn't another book, as vast in scope and as layered, to help us fully understand thephenomenon that was Akbar: the unsparing pragmatist and benevolent ruler; theaustere leader and indulgent friend; the unlettered prince and philosopher-mystic.
