floor and commanded the terrified servants to bind him with fetters
and throw him head over heels from the terrace of the palace to the
courtyard below. The horrible deed was done but the wretch was not
dead. Then the Emperor commanded the shattered body of the dying man
to be dragged up the stairs again by the hair and to be flung once
more to the ground.[7]

[Footnote 7: J.T. Wheeler, IV, I, 139, 140; Noer, I, 143, 144.]

I have related this horrible incident in order to give Akbar's picture
with the utmost possible faithfulness and without idealization. Akbar
was a rough, strong-nerved man, who was seldom angry but whose wrath
when once aroused was fearful. It is a blemish on his character that
in some cases he permitted himself to be carried away to such cruel
death sentences, but we must not forget that he was then dealing with
the punishment of particularly desperate criminals, and that such
severe judgments had always been considered in the Orient to be
righteous and sensible. Not only in the Orient unfortunately,--even in
Europe 200 years after Akbar's time tortures and the rack were applied
at the behest of courts of law.

Mahum Anâga came too late to save her son. Akbar sought with tender
care to console her for his dreadful end but the heart-broken woman
survived the fearful blow of fate only about forty days. The Emperor
caused her body to be buried with that of her son in one common grave
at Delhi, and he himself accompanied the funeral procession. At his
command a stately monument was erected above this grave which still
stands to-day. His generosity and clemency were also shown in the fact
that he extended complete pardon to the accomplices in the murder of
the grand vizier and even permitted them to retain their offices and