Stepping through history – Author of ‘Akbar’ leads a walk to places associated with the mughal emperor

Veteran journalist and author of the upcoming novel ‘Akbar’ led a heritage walk to places that tell the tales of the legendary emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar. Organised by the India Habitat Center, the walk began at eight am on Sunday morning, from Old fort (Purana Qila), and halted at two crucial spots, associated with the life of the celebrated emperor. Enthusiastic participants took part in the heritage walk as Shazi Zaman unveiled the mysteries of the stories buried behind the walls of these structures.

The first of the spot was the Sher Mandal, inside the Old Fort(Purana Qila). At this place, Akbar’s father Humayun had fallen down the stairs and died, following which a young Akbar was made the new king of the Mughal Empire. At that time, the news of Humayun’s death was concealed. He was replaced by a look-alike who appeared on the window posing as king, so that people assumed that the emperor was fine . Right after Akbar’s coronation in Punjab, Humayun’s death death became public.

Just across the road from the Old Fort  is the Khairal Manazil mosque or the Madrasa of Maham Anga. Khairal Manazil is the Persian word meaning “Best in all buildings’ .There was a sensational assassination attempt on the emperor’s life from the first floor of this structure in 1564 not completely explained till this day. He was hit by an arrow in the crowded market while he was returning from Nizamuddin Dargah.

We all know Emperor Akbar as the most fascinating king of the Mughal dynasty but there are mesmerizing facts of his life, which are untouched. And Shazi Zaman has revealed some of these untold parts of the legend’s life. Shazi Zaman’s passion for the subject and his 20 years of research that resulted in his book ‘Akbar’ was also reflected in his flawless descriptions, with dates and unknown facts, as people followed him through the trail.

Shazi Zaman says,  “reading primary sources like Akbarnama, Baburnama, Humayunnama is essential. So is the study of Mughal miniatures that capture  critical events in Akbar’s life.  However as somebody researching on Akbar’s life I spent considerable time exploring monuments built by him or monuments linked to him . This was  to get the real feel of that period. Now I can exactly visualise Humayun tumbling down the Sher Mandal and Akbar showing everybody the arrow that could have killed him near the Madrasa of Maham Anga. It is this excitement that I have shared in my novel Akbar and it is this excitement I wanted to personally share through the IHC heritage walk.”

The book ‘Akbar’, written by Shazi Zaman and published in Hindi by Rajkamal Prakashan, is the result of author’s 20 years of research on India’s most favourite non-fictional character and is being presented in the most compulsive way to the lovers of both history and fiction.In two decades, the author closely examined possibly every material available on the celebrated emperor till date, travelled right from the Indian Museum in Kolkata to Victoria & Albert in London, deeply scrutinised every single available painting of him, and studied the Mughal architecture at the time of Akbar and his contemporaries.