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Saturday, September 20, 2014

REAL Date of Birth of Akbar & Akbar's Horoscope | Was Akbar a Title ?



Hi everyone...


In this post, i am writing about 2 'myths' associated with Mughal Emperor Akbar, viz. , about His DOB and His name which is often confused as his Title.

I. About his Date of Birth

Akbar's DOB has been deliberately kept under shades. Akbar was born in the Fort of Umerkot (now in Pakistan), in the Palace of The Rajput King, Raja Veersal, amidst the sands of Rajputana, while his parents were in exile, after defeat from the Suri ruler, Sher Shah who hunted them out of their empire.

In the Akbarnama of Abu'l Fazl, Vol.-1, Page-70(Beveridge, Sr-910, ASB, Calcutta,1907):

 Akbar's DOB is stated as, 5 Raj-'ab 949, that is, 15 October 1542. The day is said to be Sunday. And, name as Jalal-ud-din.

But, in the private records of Humayun, Tez-kirah-al-Waqiat of Jauhar, Vol.1, Page-45/46 (M.C. Stewarts, EIC, MRAS, 1832):

Akbar's DOB is stated as 14 Sha'ban 949, that is, 23 November 1542. The day is said to be Thursday. And, name as Badr-ud-din.


Young Akbar with Humayun and Hamida Bano Begum..Portrait from Akbarnama


So, why this discrepancy.?. The answers are as follows: 

"
Akbar was born on 23 November 1542. That was a full moon day. Hence, he was named as Badruddin, that time . Badr means Full Moon. And, Din means Faith. But, after capturing Kabul when Humayun was settled, in 1546, on the advice of some astrologers of the court, Humayun 'changed' Akbar's DOB to 15 October 1542, to ward off 'evil spirits' cast by the enemies on Akbar. Since, the DOB was 'changed' . Hence, the name also required a change, as the earlier name, was given due to the fact that Akbar was born at the time of Full Moon(Badr). 

Now his name was changed to Jalal-ud-din. Jalal means 'Sublimity/Splendour' , and Din means Faith. An explanation provided is that, in 1540, before the birth of Akbar, when Humayun was wandering after losing his kingdom to Sher Shah Suri, that time, in his dream an Old man appeared, who said that a son would be born to him soon, whom he should name as Jalal-ud-din. So, after regaining his kingdom, in 1546, this name was FINALLY given to Akbar. The day chosen for this re-naming was Sunday on astrological grounds, and the date was 15 October/5 Raj-'ab because it was the day of the conception of the Prophet.
"

And now, we know Akbar's DOB as 15 October, and not the actual 23 November. And, the horoscopes given in Akbarnama is also according to this 'new' DOB.

The following horoscope was made by Maulana Chand, the same person who prepared beautiful verses on the birth of Hasan and Husain (19 October 1564), the twin sons of Akbar and Mariam-Uz-Zamani Begum.







II. About the 'Title' of Akbar


After describing the issue of Akbar's DOB, here is another disclosure.
Akbar was not a 'title' given to Jalal-ud-din Mohammed. It was a part of his ACTUAL name since birth. The name of Hamida Bano Begum's father was Mir Ali 'Akbar' . Humayun had suffixed the word 'Akbar' at the end of Jalal's name, as a gesture of respect to his father-in-law, who was a Shia. 


3 year old Akbar united with Hamida Bano Begum and Humayun in Kabul

Related Post:
How Akbar was Born | The Incredibly Romantic Story of the Birth of Mughal Emperor Akbar as a Refugee in a Rajput Citadel of Amarkot | With Akbarnama portraits depicting celebrations on Akbar's birth 


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The article has been posted under the Mughals(Akbar) section of this history BLOG.





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25 comments:

  1. Thanks a lot.
    Akbar means great. And he performed so many great works in his lifetime, probably that is why people know him as Akbar, a perfect justice to his name. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Welcome Tamy..His name matches his actions. :)

      Delete
  2. This is really interesting. So people in those days also thought nothing of changing horoscopes and DOB. LOL Nowadays, there are cases of people changing the DOB of their children for school admissions, marriage etc.

    Jalaluddin Muhammed Akbar Padashah Ghazi (to quote his full name :) )was one of India's greatest rulers. He had to deal with the complex issues of Muslim interactions with a largely non-Muslim society. And to his credit, this complex, enigmatic, gifted and energetic emperor showed extreme sincerity, zeal, passion, common sense, and commitment in dealing with a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society.

    He was a "universal" man. He belonged to every religion and still he was much bigger than what any one particular group thought of him. Perhaps it helped that his father was Sunni while his mother was a Shi'a.

    I read that Humayun was so poor when Akbar was born that he didn't have any gifts to give his entourage. So he dabbed every member of his entourage with rose perfume, proclaiming that the fame of the newborn would spread like the sweet scent of the rose in that perfume. History would prove him right.

    Humayun was in exile when Akbar was born and his misfortunes affected the early childhood of Akbar. He did not receive formal education but was a prodigious child who absorbed wisdom and courage from all those he came in contact with. He truly lived up to his name.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nicely summed up Radhika.. :)

      Yes Humayun was in exile when Akbar was born..And, he did not have the resources, to celebrate the birth of Akbar lavishly. Hence, after having broken a pod of musk, which was in their possession, he proclaimed the same as you mentioned..

      Humayun tried his best to educate him, but Akbar was of a different temper..And, rest we all know is history..

      Delete
  3. I had no idea that his DOB was changed. Thanks for the info.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Welcome Cleo.
      Humayun was quite superstitious and worried about the evil sorcerers, hence he changed Akbar's name as well as DOB.

      Delete
  4. Interesting read...change in DOB to ward off evil...
    These days parents change DOB of their children for school admissions etc ;)
    Looks like even emperor was not spared from DOB change, although for different reasons altogether ;)

    About the name/title "Akbar" was he always called as Akbar? or it was something he preferred to be called? for e.g Salim preferred name Jahangir while ruling

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rasika,

      Akbar was named so right from birth. He was named thus after his maternal grandfather.

      Delete

    2. Thanks for answering Radhika..

      @Rasika..I wish your query is clear now. Akbar was suffixed right since birth, to his name, in reverence to Hamida Bano Begum's father, as they belonged to a family of Sufis..

      Delete
  5. Thanks for furnishing these details Abhay..... :)

    Let me tell another interesting reason behind Jalal being drawn towards Jodha........Ok 'drawn' might be an inappropriate word, for their eternal relation, but what I am saying is just another interesting discovery......

    According to numerology(I am a firm believer of it......not because it's an interesting stuff but I had found almost everything in my life, resembling the qualities stated by Numerology, like my behaviour, attitude by means of my DOB and Sunsigns....Cool, isn't it?? This is not superstition...Simply a matter of fact ... :) which I discovered...) Jalal's real DOB or Jodha's real DOB :-? (this applies to both the FAKE ones too :) ) they are tend to get drawn to each other.....

    Jalal's DOB = 23 Nov= 2+3=5

    Jodha's Destiny number sums up to 1

    You see that the attraction between the numbers 1 &4 and 1 &5 is evident.....

    Interesting isn't it??

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Lasya...This was quite interesting. I did not know it before. :)

    @Sonia...Welcome..

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi abhay, finally managed to get here, thanks to radhika for giving this link.iam not a member in india forum but found your friends and your blog thru there. Thank you for your hardwork and also your team!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Sankaran,
    Welcome to the Blog. Thank you very much for this kind appreciation. Hope you enjoy reading here. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Welcome :)


    Pls do explore this blog at your leisure, as it has a lot of rare information that is completely authenticated from multiple sources. You are also free to share your views, any historical information related to Mughals and Rajputs, and suggest new topics. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lasya,


    Those born under 5 are highly charismatic; they are quite confident and extroverts and draw people towards them.


    Those born under 1 are highly successful.


    Akbar has a double 1 in his month of birth and his destiny number (adding all the digits of his DOB) is also 1.


    If you simply look at 23 (date of birth), 2 stands for moderation and 3 stands for intelligence. Akbar was known for both. 2 also occurs in the year of his birth, which only emphasizes moderation.


    4 in the year of birth indicates that he would be quite rich.


    I had a passing fancy for numerology in school. Now forgotten most of it, though I had a book by Cheiro. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi radhika, my heartfelt thanks to u for putting the link. I really love your articles in india forum. Hope to meet a lot of the forum ppl here. Tks again!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Tks Abhay.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Belated Happy 472nd Birthday Jalaluddin Muhammed Akbar. His name suits his personality perfectly.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank you Abhay, for sharing yet another fascinating piece of information about Jalalluddin Mohammad Akbar, or should I say Badr-ud-din.
    Hats off to your research work. These facts are completely new to me.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi

    Read more about the family that sheltered Humayun and Hamida Bano while they were in exile and in whose palace Akbar was born. :)

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Tying-the-knot-couple-to-show-borders-are-a-naught/articleshow/46305689.cms?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=timesofindia

    ReplyDelete
  16. one painting of young Akbar Copyright with the original uploader

    ReplyDelete
  17. Young Child Akbar copyright with the original uploader

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks Radhika I read the news

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for sharing Sunram. :)

    ReplyDelete