gth, instead of allowing it to become a
strength outside his own. He would make those who would in the first
instance be inclined to resist him feel that conquest by him, or
submission to him, would in no way impair their dignity, but,
ultimately, would increase it. We shall note the working of this
principle more clearly when we come to describe his dealings with the
several chiefs of Rajputana.

A tragic event came to cloud the spring of the eighth year of the
reign of Akbar. I have referred already to the regard and affection
he entertained for the lady who had been his nurse in his infancy,
and who had watched his tender years. It was to a great extent upon
her advice that he had acted in dealing with Bairam. She had a
splendid provision in the {96} palace, and Akbar had provided
handsomely for her sons. The eldest of these, however, fired with
jealousy at the elevation of men whose equal or superior he
considered himself to be, and goaded probably by men of a like nature
to his own, assassinated the Prime Minister as he was sitting in his
public office; then, trusting to the favour which Akbar had always
displayed towards his family and himself, went and stood at the door
of the harem. But for such a man, and for such an act, Akbar had no
mercy. The assassin was cut to pieces, and his dead body was hurled
over the parapet into the moat below. Those who had incited him,
dreading lest their complicity should be discovered, fled across the
Jumna, but they were caught, sent back to Agra, and were ultimately
pardoned. The mother of the chief culprit died forty days later from
grief at her son's conduct.

For some time previously the condition of a portion of the Punjab had
been the cause of some anxiety to Akbar. The Gakkhars, a tribe always
turbulent, and the chiefs of which had never heartily accepted the
Mughal sovereigns, had set at defiance the orders issued for the
disposal of their country by Akbar. They had refused, that is, to
acknowledge the governor he had nominated. The Gakkhars inhabited, as
their descendants inhabit now, that part of the Punjab which may be
described as forming the north-eastern part of the existing district
of Rawal Pindi. To enforce his orders Akbar sent thither an army, and
this army, after some sharp fighting, succeeded in restoring order.

{97} The chief of the Gakkhars was taken prisoner, and died whilst
still under surveillance. Akbar caused to be repressed likewise
disturbances