Akbar remembered on birth anniversary in Agra

AGRA - Umang, a group of journalism students, Saturday celebrated Mughal emperor Akbar’s 468th birth anniversary by cutting a cake at the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society hall here - the land that was once called Akbarabad.

“Shah Jahan at the time of his accession to the throne named Agra as Akbarabad, but after a while it was back again to Agra. It is a great pity that despite such magnificent buildings like Sikandra, Fatehpur Sikri and the Agra Fort, Akbar is not so popular in the area compared to Shah Jahan,” said eminent historian Ramesh Chandra Sharma, adding that Akbar’s seminal concepts of Din-e-Ilahi and Sulah Kul are still relevant in the present context of terrorism.

Another historian, Tarun Sharma, said: “Akbar’s experiments in governance, his ideas relating to co-existence and mutual tolerance of each other’s faith, recognition of talents as nine jewels and composite culture have to be seen as part of a rich legacy he left behind.”

Umang president Rekha Pachauri pointed out that Akbar’s tomb in Sikandra and the Agra Fort needed urgent conservational efforts. “The city must have a Mughal museum and some special arrangements for the tourists to taste Mughalai cuisine,” she said.

Central Hindi Institute’s registrar Chandra Kant Tripathi said: “Akbar’s life provides fascinating glimpses of how tactfully and diplomatically politics had to be pursued, uniting all segments of the society towards a higher goal.”

The Mughal emperor’s birth anniversary was Friday.