Mughal Empire Akbar was one of the greatest emperors of the Mughal dynasty. It was during the reign of Akbar that the rule of the Mughals truly began, for both Babur and Humayun had ruled for extremely short and interrupted periods. Akbar was a minor at the time of his father's death, and was under the guardianship of Bairam Khan. Soon after succeeding to the throne Akbar had to firmly establish Mughal authority and regain the territories it had lost. His enemies challenged his rule and another historic battle was fought at Panipat, one in which Akbar emerged victorious and firmly establish ... read more

Birbal Shortens Road Once the Emperor Akbar was traveling to a distant place along with some of his courtiers. It was a hot day and the Emperor was tired of his journey. He asked querulously - "Can't any shorten this road for me?" Birbal said - "Yes, I can." The other courtiers looked at one another perplexed. All of then knew that there was no other path through the hilly terrain. The road on which they were traveling, was the only one that could take them to destination. So they were surprised to hear Birbal that he could shorten the road. The Emperor said - "You can shorten the road? ... read more

Back to Square One As usual a lot of people were present in Akbar's durbar. A famous astrologer had come from a far away country. He was talking about the Solar System and the Earth's shape. At one point Akbar said, "If the earth is round, and if one travel strait towards one direction, he will come back to the same spot from where he has started the journey." "Theoretically it is correct", said the astrologer. "Why not in real life?", asked the king. "One has to cross oceans, mountains and forests to keep the path straight." the astrologer said. "Sail through the oceans, make tunne ... read more

Birbal Identifies Thief It so happened that once a rich merchant's house was robbed. The merchant suspected that the thief was one of his servants. So he went to Birbal and mentioned the incident. Birbal went to his house and assembled all of his servants and asked that who stole the merchant's things. Everybody denied. Birbal thought for a moment, then gave a stick of equal length to all the servants of the merchant and said to them that the stick of the real thief will be longer by two inches tomorrow. All the servants should be present here again tomorrow with their sticks. All the ... read more

The Cock and the Hen Since Birbal always outwitted Akbar, Akbar thought of a plan to make Birbal look like a fool. He gave one egg to each of his ministers before Birbal reached the court one morning. So when Birbal arrived, the king narrated a dream he had had the previous night saying that he would be able to judge the honesty of his ministers if they were able to bring back an egg from the royal garden pond. So, Akbar asked all his courtiers to go to the pond, one at a time and return with an egg. So, one by one, all his ministers went to the pond and returned with the egg which he ... read more