Question

What were some of Akbar's policies that resulted in a stronger government in Mughal India?

Answer 1

During the reign of Akbar, the Mughal empire included a majority of Hindus and a minority of Muslims . The two religious beliefs were separated by profound differences; Muslims could eat cow, something forbidden to Hindus who consider it a sacred animal. The same thing happened with alcoholic beverages or pork but in reverse. The Muslims were strictly monotheistic, the Hindus, polytheists. The majority of the plain people were Hindu while the rulers were Muslims. Akbar enhanced tolerance between religions. He tried to reconcile the differences by creating a new syncretic religion, which he called Din-i-Ilahi, which incorporated both notions of Islam and Hinduism, but which never left the Court and disappeared with his death. He suppressed the old yizia taxthat applied to non-Muslims.  In his court he received representatives of Christianity, both from the native churches of India, as well as non-Indians, as many recently arrived European Jesuits participated in the meetings organized by Akbar among representatives of the various religions, which the emperor summoned to debate In its presence. In this way Akbar began a series of discussions in which Muslim scholars discussed religious issues with representatives of Hinduism, Jainism, Tantrism as well as Sufis and Christians such as the Catholic Jesuits he had brought from Goa, especially the Catalan Antonio de Montserrat and the Italian Rodolfo Acquaviva . He treated these priests with great consideration without distinction of faith. In addition to providing land and money for the mosques, he gave alms to a large number of temples of different religions inaugurating.