210. Akbar the Great: Revolutionising Religious Tolerance

Empire

Jack Davenport

History

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2024

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Raja Birbal is a man of such exceptional wisdom and wit that he will become the stuff of legends. Birbal is just one of the Nine Gems Akbar surrounds himself with, remarkable people who will help the emperor enact a series of wide reaching and radical reforms. The ruler takes it upon himself to absorb the teachings of all religions he has access to, which includes the Portuguese Jesuits who are making Goa their home. In rejecting tradition in the pursuit of reason, how will Akbar foster open minded religious debate? And how, amidst all this peaceful dialogue, does he still manage to wage war and expand his kingdom? Listen as William and Anita discuss how Akbar revolutionised his governance and promoted religious tolerance in his realm. Twitter: @Empirepoduk Email: [email protected] Goalhangerpodcasts.com Assistant Producers: Anouska Lewis & Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Exec Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you want access to bonus episodes reading lists for every series of Empire, a chat community.
0:06.7	Discounts for all the books mentioned in the week's podcast, add free listening and a weekly newsletter,
0:12.5	sign up to Empire Club at www.mparpoduk.com.
0:19.4	Darren could get an offer from a random car dealer
0:22.6	or sell direct to we buy any car
0:26.6	The dealer could come to his home kick his tyres then decide not to buy it
0:31.6	Or he could get a guaranteed sale leaving more time to take his other half on a romantic getaway.
0:38.3	Oh no!
0:39.3	Or, oh la la.
0:42.3	To get a quote in 30 seconds, enter your reg number now at we buy any car.com. Hello and welcome to Empire with me Anita Arnhann and me William Durham.
1:04.3	Did we just talk to you just a second ago? Are you a member of the club? Did you just
1:07.3	listen to Akbar 1 and then you couldn't wait for Akbar two, so you joined the club?
1:11.7	Well done you.
1:17.0	And if it is a week on for you, you're probably, well, I hope, sort of chumping at the bit about this story,
1:20.9	which we think is a fabulous story about Akbar, the Mughal Emperor.
1:26.0	I wanted to talk about the story that we as sort of Asian children all know,
1:28.7	and your children grew up with, which is the story of Akbar and his wise man of the court, Beirbel, the fabulous stories. I mean, your kids grew up with
1:35.1	these as well, don't they? My kids grew up on those Amachitra comics. Amachitra Katha Comics. So, I mean,
1:40.9	I should say that these are largely deemed to be folklore tales.
1:45.7	There is a lot of doubt from his stories about whether any of these stories actually
1:49.5	happen because they're just so good and they do sound very Esauph's fables.
1:53.6	First of all, he was a real man.
	...

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