and commanded the terrified servants to bind him with fetters and
throw him head over heels from the terrace of the palace to the
courtyard below. The horrible deed was done but the wretch
was not dead. Then the Emperor commanded the shattered body of the
dying man to be dragged up the stairs again by the hair and to be
flung once more to the ground.[7]
[Footnote 7: J.T. Wheeler, IV, I, 139, 140; Noer, I, 143, 144.] I have
related this horrible incident in order to give Akbar's picture with
the utmost
possible faithfulness and
without idealization. Akbar was a rough, strong-nerved
man, who was seldom angry but
whose wrath when once aroused was fearful. It is a blemish
on his character that in some cases he permitted
himself to be carried away to such cruel death sentences, but we must
not forget that he was then dealing with the punishment of
particularly
desperate criminals, and that such severe judgments
had always been considered in the Orient to be righteous and sensible.
Not only in the Orient unfortunately,--even in Europe 200 years after
Akbar's time tortures and the rack were
applied at the behest of courts of law. Mahum Anaga came too late to
save her son. Akbar sought with tender care to console her for his
dreadful end but the heart-broken woman survived the fearful blow of
fate only about forty days.
The Emperor caused her body to be buried with that of her son in one
common grave at Delhi, and he himself accompanied the funeral
procession. At his command a stately monument was
erected above this grave which
still stands to-day. His generosity and clemency were also shown in
the fact that
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