page_title: Akbar
section_title: Attempt to murder Akbar
hierarchical_section_title: Akbar / Military campaigns / Expansion into Central India / Attempt to murder Akbar
caption_attribution_description: This illustration depicts an attempt on the life of the Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556–1605) at Delhi in 1564. Akbar is shown in white on horseback clutching an arrow. His retainers pursue the would-be assassins and kill one of them. By Jagan with Bhawani the Elder and faces by Madhav,
context_page_description: Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, popularly known as Akbar the Great, and also as Akbar I, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expand and consolidate Mughal domains in India.
  A strong personality and a successful general, Akbar gradually enlarged the Mughal Empire to include much of the Indian subcontinent. His power and influence, however, extended over the entire subcontinent because of Mughal military, political, cultural, and economic dominance. To unify the vast Mughal state, Akbar established a centralised system of administration throughout his empire and adopted a policy of conciliating conquered rulers through marriage and diplomacy. To preserve peace and order in a religiously and culturally diverse empire, he adopted policies that won him the support of his non-Muslim subjects. Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic state identity, Akbar strove to unite far-flung lands of his realm through loyalty, expressed through an Indo-Persian culture, to himself as an emperor.
context_section_description: Around 1564 is also when there was an assassination attempt on Akbar documented in a painting. 
   The attempt was made when Akbar was returning from a visit to the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin near Delhi, by an assassin shooting an arrow.  The arrow pierced his right shoulder.  The assassin was apprehended and ordered beheaded by the Emperor.  The culprit was a slave of Mirza Sharfuddin, a noble in Akbar’s court whose rebellion had recently been curbed.
caption: 1564-An Attempt on Akbar's Life-Akbarnama
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