be a faithful Moslem. Now after the fall of
the Ulemas he came forward openly with his conviction, declared the
Koran to be a human compilation and its commands folly, disputed the
miracles of Mohammed and also the value of his prophecies, and denied
the doctrine of recompense after death. He professed the Brahman and
Sufistic doctrine that the soul migrates through countless existences
and finally attains divinity after complete purification.

The assertion of the Ulemas that every person came into the world
predisposed towards Islam and that the natural language of mankind was
Arabic (the Jews made the same claim for Hebrew and the Brahmans for
Sanskrit), Akbar refuted by a drastic experiment which does not
correspond with his usual benevolence, but still is characteristic of
the tendency of his mind. In this case a convincing demonstration
appeared to him so necessary that some individuals would have to
suffer for it. Accordingly in the year 1579 he caused twenty infants
to be taken from their parents in return for a compensation and
brought up under the care of silent nurses in a remote spot in which
no word should be spoken. After four years it was proved that as many
of these unhappy children as were still alive were entirely dumb and
possessed no trace of a predisposition for Islam.[35] Later the
children are said to have learned to speak with extraordinary
difficulty as was to be expected.

[Footnote 35: J.T. Wheeler, IV, I, 174; Noer, I, 511, 512. A familiar
classical parallel to this incident is the experiment recorded by
Herodotus (II, 2) which the Egyptian king Psammetich is said to have
performed with two infants. It is related that after being shut up in
a goat's stable for two years separated from all human intercourse
these children repeatedly cried out the alleged Phrygian word [Greek:
bekhos], "bread," which in reality was probably simply an imitation of
the bleating of the goats. Compare Edward B. Tyler, _Researches into
the Early History of Mankind_. 2nd edition, (London, 1870), page 81:
"It is a very trite remark that there is nothing absolutely incredible
in the story and that _Bek, bek_ is a good imitative word for bleating
as in [Greek: blechhaomai, mekhaomai], _bloeken, meckern_, etc."
Farther on we find the account of a similar attempt made by James IV
of Scotland as well as the literature with regard to other historical
and legendary precedents of this sort in bo