AKBAR AND ALEXANDER

The lavish film Jodha Akbar had stirred considerable interest in the historic Akbar but it unfortunately mostly showed his softer romantic side and rather little of his tougher character as a ferocious and sometimes brutal warrior. But we find the same paradox with Alexander and there are many other astonishing parallels between their characters as soldiers as rulers and as human beings.

Both Akbar and Alexander shared the ability to grab opportunities by taking immediate action even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. In 1573 AD Akbar faced revolt from the Mughal governor of Ahmedabad. Without a moments hesitation he set forth from Fatehpur Sikri in the heat of August with 3,000 soldiers on female camels, which could travel long distances through the Rajasthan desert without water, and reached Ahmedabad in an amazing eleven days. 1,908 years earlier, in 335 BC, Alexander similarly reacted to the rebellion of the Greek city of Thebes and marched a punitive strike force on foot for 500 kilometres over mountains and big rivers to get to Thebes in twelve days.

Both Emperors also led from the front and sometimes almost recklessly risked their lives in personal combat seeming to believe in the maxim…`attack, attack, always attack’. It was a policy of sudden, immediate and unrelenting attack to energise their own followers and to confuse and demoralize their enemies. When Akbar’s small force hesitated before the 20,000 hastily mustered defenders of Ahmedabad, Akbar charged in `like a tiger’. After crossing the river before the town his soldiers groaned when his horse went down but cheered lustily when he mounted another steed to continue the determined charge.  It was a moment that decides a battle and the defenders turned and ran.

Akbar celebrated his victory with the gory Mongol custom of making a pyramid of 2,000 enemy skulls. Equally drastic was Alexander’s burning the proud city of Thebes to the ground. Brutal measures were often necessary in brutal times and such dramatic exploits fostered the myth of their invincibility and served notice of a terrible retribution awaiting any who dared to defy them.

Alexander’s first battle against Darius III was at Grancius in present day Turkey. Despite a fast flowing river with steep banks between his army and a much larger Persian force he did not hesitate to immediately plunge in. He was furiously attacked by two seasoned Persian soldiers. One got a spear into a joint in his breastplate while the other hit his helmet with an axe. Luckily one of Alexander’s companions speared one just in the nick of time enabling Alexander to dispatch the other.  Both examples show how bold and charismatic leaders can motivate their soldiers, raise the morale of their followers and demoralize their enemies who also began to believe in their invincibility.

Both the rulers were however surprisingly compassionate and accommodating to their vanquished enemies. They usually reinstated their defeated opponents on their former thrones as honored vassals in honorable treaties that often involved matrimonial alliances. They also encouraged their soldiers to openly and proudly take local wives even if this sometimes upset the orthodox Mongols and Macedonians. Rajput princes were held in high honor in Mughal courts while Persian nobles held high office under Alexander.

Both emperors were proud and impatient and the worst side of their natures came out in the protracted sieges that took a huge toll on the attacking soldiers and weakened their morale. Akbar faced staunch resistance from the brave defenders of the impregnable fortress of Chittor in 1567 despite the fact that the reigning ruler Udai Singh fled leaving the defense to the brave Jaimall Rathor. It eventually fell after many months with the death of many hundred attackers including many in a huge mine explosion. The furious Akbar had the entire Chittor garrison massacred even though he honoured the valiant Jaimall by having a statue of him and a young prince Patta installed in Delhi. Alexander had been similarly furious at the terrible seven month siege of the impregnable island fortress of Tyre and vented his wrath after the hard victory by crucifying 2,000 defenders to make an example to any who dared to resist him.

They were both of medium height and were compact bundles of dynamic energy. Though commanding with men they were both equally masterful with animals. Alexander’s was able to almost immediately tame the fiery and untrainable horse Bucephalas that remained his constant companion in every battle until it died in the battle against Porus on the Jhelum. Akbar not only had a similar relationship with a horse called Hairan but also a way with elephants. He terrified his friends by being able to easily mount an angry elephant that had just killed its mahout and savaged others. Then when riding it to fight another beast he leapt from one beast to other when its mahout lost control. 

A strong spiritual streak was another common trait. Akbar would sometimes go alone into the wilderness to seek divine guidance and his deep respect for Salim Chisti, an ascetic living among the rocks near Agra, was to lead to his founding Fatehpur Sikri. Alexander took time off from his campaign through Palestine to visit the oracle of Ammon at Siwah in Egypt. He also built many temples for the goddess Athena. Both believed in their divine destinies and refused to submit to the demands of the priests who tried to control them.

Both were also proud builders. If Fatehpur Sikri was a magnificent tribute to Akbar’s self aggrandizement, the numerous Alexandria’s founded in Egypt, Caucasus, Sogdania and western India were nothing less. But in the end they both died sick and broken. Akbar saddened by his rebellious son Salim and Alexander after the revolt of his Macedonians and the agonising retreat from India.

Both emperors were given power as young teenagers but they enthusiastically seized the opportunities to become the children of destiny. There were several differences but in so many ways they were twins separated by centuries.