Ekber Shah

Devlet Adamı

Ölüm
Diğer İsimler
Ebülfeth Celaleddin Mu­hammad

Statesman (B. 1542, Ömerkut / Sind [Pakistan] – D. 1605, Agra). His real name is Ebülfeth Celaleddin Mu­hammad. He is the third and greatest ruler of Indian-Turkish Empire. He is the grandchild of Babur, the founder of the dynasty and son of Nasiruddin Hümayun. After being appointed commander by his father he defeated İskender Shah in Serhent (1555) having his first great victory. Upon this he was assigned to Prefecture of Punjab. When his father died one year later, he came up to the throne at the age of fourteen. Therefore, the state was ruled by Vizier Bayram Khan in the first years of his rule. He remained under influence of palace women in his youth. At the age of twenty, twenty-five he started to rule the state on his own and with a great intelligence and skill. One of the Jesuit priests Bartoli in his book in Latin language titled Baba Ridolfo Akuaviva’nın Büyük Moğol Yanındaki Görevi” wrote that Ekber Shah organized a large reunion and invited religious scholars and commanders. He declared his intention to found a new religion and to be its leader. Ekber Shah attempted to be an emperor sui generis with his idea to unite the Indian country, which had different religions under the same religious roof. 

When his father Hümayun died, Delhi and Agrâ was captured by enemies. Therefore, the young ruler constantly fought battles during the first seven years of his reign. He recaptured Delhi and Agrâ. He dismantled malicious groups in certain places of his country. Then he captured two important castles of Rajputs such as Chittor and Ejmir (1567). Later he captured Gujarat, and Bengal and Ganges valley from Afghans (1570-72). This united almost the whole India under his rule. Ekber Shah who continued his conquests annexed Orissa (1578), Kashmir and Kabul (1581), Sind (1582), Dekkan flatland and Berar (1592), Kandahar and whole Afghanistan (1594). After extending the state borders as a good fighter, he started to restructure the state’s administrative, financial and military organizations as a good ruler.  Within this context, he changed all feuds (territory assigned for a military duty) into state territories connected to the ruler. He connected officers to ranks and grades and granted officers of all ranks and grades the right to benefit from state incomes and territory.

Ekber Shah starting from the period of his grandfather Babur adopted India as his homeland which started to be conquered and sought for ways to be permanent in this country to where he came as a conqueror. He thought that it was impossible to maintain unity in this country where various religious members lived such as Hindu, Muslim, Zoroaster, Buddhist, Sikh, Jainist and Christian, without exercising spiritual control over his people. His teacher Mir Abdullatif had an influence on Ekber Shah about his adoption of “universal peace” idea which meant the coexistence of different religions, sects and races together in friendship and peace in a tolerant way.

Ekber Shah reformed the state rule with a declaration he published in Fatehpur Sikri (1583). He renewed numerous institutions, did not remain attached to traditions and found the most correct solutions for these. He established numerous new towns and villages, brought the country to a prosperous state. While he was busy with these reorganizations, different religious streams within the empire started to cause an important problem. Hindu-Muslims relations gradually got tensed up. Although he could not find time to read books because of fighting, he was an intelligent and skilled person. He learnt many things from scholars around him and his consultants. He made effort to avoid conflicts because of superstitions and religious disagreements.

It is believed that Ekber Shah’s new religion’s archpriest Ebülfazl and his son Selim (later Cihangir) poisoned and annihilated him. The fabricated religion claimed to be established by Ek­ber Shah was forgotten after his death. However the avoidance of burning Indian women whose husbands were dead and tradition of marrying off children at early ages was the only positive contribution of this religion to the Indian society.

Ekber Shah’s son who would later come up to the throne with the name Cihangir executed in 1602 Ebu-l Fadl whom he regarded as the cause of all these negativities, dealing a major blow to his father. All Babur shahs after Ekber Shah tried to recover the harm of their grandfathers to Muslims. The major reaction against the Hindu pressure, which appeared as a result of Ekber Shah’s efforts to unite Islam and Hinduism, came from Naqshbandis and this order in following periods played a great role in religious and political developments of India.

Ekber Shah’s vizier Ebülfadıl wrote a chronology titled “Ekbername” for him. Ekber Shah himself wrote a book titled “Âyine-i Ekberî” on the geography and statistics of India. He ruled with a great power during approximately fifty years.

He always looked down on the Ottoman Empire as a Timurid heir and did not establish any official relations with the Ottoman Empire during his rule. He supported the Safavids during the Ottoman-Safavid conflict at that time.

When he died, he was buried according to Islamic rules. He was inhumed around the Behtişabad Mosque in Sekendere, which is about 5 km distant from his palace, near to Agra. A magnificent tomb was built by his son on his grave. 

   KAYNAKÇA: İbrahim Alaeddin Gövsa / Türk Meşhurları (1946), TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi (c. 10, s. 542, 1994), İhsan Işık / “Gülbeden Begüm” / Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006, gen. 2. bas. 2007) - İhsan Işık / Ünlü Devlet Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 1, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013). 

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