l universally efficient being from whom the
human soul is derived and towards which it tends. The ethics of this
religion comprises the high moral requirements of Sufism and Parsism:
complete toleration, equality of rights among all men, purity in
thought, word and deed. The demand of monogamy, too, was added later.
Priests, images and temples,--Akbar would have none of these in his
new religion, but from the Parsees he took the worship of the fire
and of the sun as to him light and its heat seemed the most beautiful
symbol of the divine spirit.[44] He also adopted the holy cord of the
Hindus and wore upon his forehead the colored token customary among
them. In this eclectic manner he accommodated himself in a few
externalities to the different religious communities existing in his
kingdom.

[Footnote 44: M. Elphinstone, 524.]

Doubtless in the foundation of his Din i Ilahi Akbar was not pursuing
merely ideal ends but probably political ones as well, for the
adoption of the new religion signified an increased loyalty to the
Emperor. The novice had to declare himself ready to yield to the
Emperor his property, his life, his honor, and his former faith, and
in reality the adherents of the Din i Ilahi formed a clan of the
truest and most devoted servitors of the Emperor. It may not be
without significance that soon after the establishment of the Din i
Ilahi a new computation of time was introduced which dated from the
accession of Akbar to the throne in 1556.

After the new religion had been in existence perhaps five years the
number of converts began to grow by the thousands but we can say with
certainty that the greater portion of these changed sides not from
conviction but on account of worldly advantage, since they saw that
membership in the new religion was very advantageous to a career in
the service of the state.[45] By far the greatest number of those who
professed the Din i Ilahi observed only the external forms, privately
remaining alien to it.

[Footnote 45: Noer, I, 503.]

[Illustration: MAUSOLEUM OF AKBAR AT SIKANDRA.]

In reality the new religion did not extend outside of Akbar's court
and died out at his death. Hence if failure here can be charged to the
account of the great Emperor, yet this very failure redounds to his
honor. Must it not be counted as a great honor to Akbar that he
considered it possible to win over his people to a spiritual
imageless worship of God? Had he known that the relig