The history books for Indian school children talk of 'Akbar the great'. A falsified account of Akbar is presented with a view to foster ' secularism'. I am afraid this has not worked and the Hindu Muslim divide remains. The Madrasa's ( Muslim Schools) have no such compulsion and bring out, that Muslims are superior to Hindus.
Akbar was a powerful emperor, who in repeated battles defeated the Hindus. The greatest Hindu warrior of that age, Rana Pratap was decisively defeated at Haldighat and for next 21 years he was on the run. He died a defeated man.
The second battle of Panipat in 1556, launched Akbar. He and his general Bairam Khan would probably have been defeated by Samrat Hemu, but by an act of providence a stray arrow struck Hemu in the eye and he was rendered unconscious. Akbar won the battle and an unconscious Hemu was brought before him. Akbar, beheaded Hemu and his skull was taken to Kabul and displayed to the harem of Humayun. His body was strung in Delhi as a warning to all Hindus. Some historians as an afterthought say that it was not Akbar, but Bairam Khan who did the deed, but this is unlikely as the tile of 'Ghazi' as slayer of infidels was conferred on Akbar after he slew Hemu. It is worth noting that son of Akbar, Jehangir born of a Hindu mother beheaded a Hindu to earn the title Ghazi.
After the battle 15000 Hindu soldiers were captured and systematically beheaded and a pyramid made of their skulls. Peter Munde who traveled later mentions that making pyramids of Hindu skulls was an ongoing practice in India by Muslim rulers. It is worth noting that no Hindu general even after victory carried out mass killings of surrendred warriors. Even after Ghori was defeated in the first battle of Tarain, not a single Muslim soldier who had surrendered was killed. The killings and making of skull pyramids is mentioned in Akbarnama.
Akbar now consolidated his power and mounted an invasion of Chittor. This was a stronghold of the Rajputs and they gave fierce resistance. The Moghul force had a tough time and this infuriated Akbar. After the fall of Chittor, it is officially recorded thar 30,000 Hindus were massacred on orders of Akbar. A few Hindu artisens were only spared. This massacre has never been explained by Muslim historians and Indian text books do not mention this at all. The cruelty of Akbar contrasts with the conduct of Allauddin Khilji who also stormed the Chittor fort, but did not carry such a mass scale saughter. It will interest readers that Moghuls never allowed the Chittor fort to be rebuilt as long as they ruled, as a reminder as to what happens to Hjndus who oppose Mughals.
Its about time the true facts of Akbar are debated and these deeds be also related along with some good he did.