Daily Mains Question - GS 1 - 8th September 2025
- TPP
- Sep 8, 2025
- 5 min read
Welcome to your Daily UPSC Mains Answer Writing Practice – GS Paper 1 (Indian Culture & Medieval History).
Today’s question focuses on Akbar’s syncretic project, particularly his doctrines of Sulh-i Kul (peace with all) and Tauhid-i Ilahi (unity of God). These initiatives emerged in a 16th-century context marked by sharp religious divisions, Brahmanical orthodoxy, caste oppression, and occasional sectarian conflicts under both Hindu and Muslim establishments. Against this backdrop, Akbar sought to transcend rigid doctrinal boundaries by promoting tolerance, interfaith dialogue, and universal ethics as the foundation of empire.
The roots of this syncretism lay in earlier Bhakti and Sufi traditions, which had long critiqued ritualism and hierarchy. Akbar’s measures included abolition of discriminatory taxes, interfaith debates at the Ibadat Khana, the Mahzar asserting his authority over clerics, and wide patronage of diverse faiths—from Jains and Jesuits to Sufis and Hindu traditions. While Tauhid-i Ilahi represented a limited, court-centred spiritual fraternity, Sulh-i Kul became a principle of governance, embedding pluralism and justice into Mughal statecraft.
The issue remains significant for UPSC preparation, as it raises debates around religious tolerance, statecraft, cultural pluralism, and the making of India’s composite Indo-Islamic civilization (Ganga–Jamuni Tehzeeb). It also directly links to themes of secularism, syncretism, and inclusive governance—core ideas in both Indian history and contemporary constitutional values.
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QUESTION
Examine the main aspects of Akbar's religious syncretism.
Answer: Syncretism is the blending of religious ideas and practices by moving beyond rigid doctrine and absorbing local beliefs. In India, the 14th–16th centuries saw anti-establishment currents—Bhakti and Sufi critiques of hierarchy, caste and ritualism—set against a backdrop of Brahmanical patriarchy, sectarian conflicts, and episodes of temple desecration or coercive taxation. Akbar (r. 1556–1605) channelled these currents into statecraft, fashioning a framework that prized universal peace (Sulh-i Kul) and, briefly, an elite spiritual fraternity (Tauhid-i Ilahi).
Context: Why syncretism found fertile ground
Social churn: Marginalized castes and women bore the brunt of patriarchal/caste strictures; saints denounced exclusion across Hindu and Muslim practices.
Political calculus: A vast, diverse empire required legitimacy beyond sectarian sanction; reducing clerical vetoes curbed potential centres of rebellion.
Intellectual climate: Bhakti–Sufi mystical idioms, and cross-civilizational exchanges (Jain, Christian, Persianate) encouraged ethical universalism.
Major measures and initiatives
Tax reforms: Pilgrimage tax abolished (1563); jizya abolished (1564; reaffirmed non-levy in 1579).
Rajput policy: Matrimonial alliances; wide induction of Hindu/Rajput mansabdars; patronage and land grants to temples—e.g., Vrindavan (Madan Mohan, Govind Dev).
Ibadat Khana (1575): Inter-faith debates bringing Muslims, Hindus, Jains, Parsis, Christians, Jews into a single forum.
Mahzar (1579): Declared the emperor supreme arbiter in religious disputes (assertion of ijtihad), limiting the ulama’s coercive authority.
Patronage across faiths:
Jains (Hiravijaya Suri): bans on animal slaughter during Jain festivals; pilgrim protections.
Jesuits: permissions for churches in Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Lahore; theological exchanges; Christian themes entering Mughal art.
Hindus: Sanskrit–Persian translation bureau (Maktab Khana)—Razmnama (Mahabharata), Ramayana; bans on cow slaughter.
Sufis: Imperial devotion at Ajmer Sharif; reverence for Shaikh Salim Chishti.
Sulh-i Kul: A governing principle of “peace with all”—neutral state, equal protection, justice as highest devotion.
(Tauhid-i Ilahi, 1582): A spiritual order signifying Akbar’s break with orthodoxy and experiment in universal faith.
Tauhid-i Ilahi—what it was (and wasn’t)
Not a new ‘religion’: No scripture, priesthood, or public ritual beyond initiation; Sundays saw a disciple bow, Akbar restored the turban and gave a shast (badge)—blending Islamic submission with Indic guru–chela symbolism.
Ethical fraternity & political oath: Members pledged life, honour, property—and religion—to the emperor; greetings of “Allāh-o-Akbar”/“Jalla Jallāluhu” fused spiritual devotion with political identity.
Inclusivity but elitist reach: Sanyasis, jogis, qalandars, Sufis, hakims, soldiers, traders joined; core followers were few—Abul Fazl, Faizi, Shaikh Mubarak, Birbal—signalling limited, court-centric appeal.
Philosophy: Blended Islamic monotheism, Bhakti devotion, Jain ahimsa, Christian ethics—syncretism in practice.
Legacy: Collapsed post-1605; nonetheless emblematic of Akbar’s universalist experiment and assertion of central authority.
Sulh-i Kul—from tolerance to governance
Neutral state: Equal protection for all sects; freedom to build temples, mosques, churches, fire-temples.
Cultural pluralism: Translation movement; court music/painting drawing from Sufi qawwali, Bhakti bhajan, and Persianate idioms.
Humanitarian ethics: Ban on cow slaughter; animal-killing restrictions during Jain festivals; seasonal fishing bans (e.g., Indus).
Inclusive nobility: High share of Rajputs, Hindus and Shias in the mansabdari system reduced sectarian cleavages.
Towards Muhabbat-i Kul: Abul Fazl notes an evolution from “peace with all” to “love for all,” deepening the moral core of governance.
Features of Akbar’s syncretism (how the pieces fit)
Fusion of beliefs: Emperor as khalifa and spiritual guide (pir/guru).
Contextual adaptation: Rajput alliances, Vrindavan grants, Sanskrit–Persian translations.
Flexible doctrine: Mahzar enabled reinterpretation; Sulh-i Kul eased rigid shar‘ī enforcement.
Shared sacred spaces: Dargahs (Ajmer, Nizamuddin), Hindu tirthas (Vrindavan, Gokul), Jain sites (Shatrunjaya), and Christian churches coexisted.
Universal ethics: Equality before the state (e.g., jizya repeal), compassion for all life.
Cultural exchange: Jesuit paintings of Christ/Mary in Mughal ateliers; Razmnama; composite court culture—Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb.
Pragmatic coexistence: Political stability via Rajput partnership; administrative peace in a multi-religious empire.
Spiritual humanism: Emphasis on reason and inner conviction; influenced by wahdat-al-wujūd (unity of being).
Continuity & transformation: Islamic legitimacy (khutba, coinage) reimagined toward universality.
Impact and significance
Statecraft: Delegitimised clerical vetoes; unified a heterogeneous nobility; reduced inter-sect tensions (Sunni–Shia, Hindu–Muslim, Jain).
Society & culture: Normalised pluralism; seeded a composite Indo-Islamic aesthetic in art, literature, music; protected pilgrimages across faiths.
Long-term legacy: Sulh-i Kul became a Mughal cornerstone and later informed Indian ideas of secularism and unity-in-diversity.
Criticisms & limitations (a critical view)
Orthodox backlash: Ulama saw betrayal; Badauni accused Akbar of “adopting the Cross”; Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi condemned the innovations as bid‘at.
Elitism & superficiality: Tauhid-i Ilahi had very few adherents; leading Rajput and Muslim grandees (e.g., Man Singh, Todar Mal, Bhagwan Das) abstained; little mass resonance.
Pragmatic, not spiritual? Many read the project as political—curbing ulama, consolidating rule, wooing Rajputs—rather than devotional.
Instability risks: By sidelining orthodoxy, Akbar faced the 1580–81 rebellions (widespread protests recorded across Kabul–Bengal).
Inconsistencies: Early rhetoric like the Fathnama of Chittor (1568) invoked jihad; policy oscillated between severity and liberalism.
Estrangement of sections of Muslims: Reports of avoiding namaz (c. 1595–1601) and Jesuit claims he had ceased to be Muslim alienated constituencies.
Unsustainability: Lacked scripture/institutional frame; withered after 1605—suggesting a personalist experiment more than a mass creed.
Akbar’s syncretic endeavour married the moral vocabulary of Bhakti–Sufi humanism with the necessities of imperial governance. Tauhid-i Ilahi—short-lived and elite—symbolised his experiment in universal spirituality; Sulh-i Kul operationalised it into a durable grammar of plural governance. Despite orthodox resistance, limited outreach, and post-Akbar decline of the fraternity, the project reduced sectarian conflict, broadened the nobility, and birthed a composite culture whose echoes inform modern Indian secularism. In essence, Akbar emerges as a statesman who recognised that for a diverse subcontinent, peace, justice and inclusion were not mere ideals but the strongest foundations of empire.
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