that later he forbade the slaughtering of cattle and eating their
flesh.[19] But Akbar did not go so far in his connivance with the
Hindus that he considered all their customs good or took them under
his protection. For instance he forbade child marriages among the
Hindus, that is to say the marriage of boys under sixteen and of girls
under fourteen years, and he permitted the remarriage of widows. The
barbaric customs of Brahmanism were repugnant to his very soul. He
therefore most strictly forbade the slaughtering of animals for
purposes of sacrifice, the use of ordeals for the execution of
justice, and the burning of widows against their will, which indeed
was not established according to Brahman law but was constantly
practiced according to traditional custom.[20] To be sure neither
Akbar nor his successor Jehângir were permanently successful in their
efforts to put an end to the burning of widows. Not until the year
1829 was the horrible custom practically done away with through the
efforts of the English.

[Footnote 18: Noer, II, 317, 318.]

[Footnote 19: _Ibid._ 376, 317.]

[Footnote 20: J.T. Wheeler, IV, I, 173; M. Elphinstone, 526; G.B.
Malleson, 170.]

Throughout his entire life Akbar was a tirelessly industrious,
restlessly active man. By means of ceaseless activity he struggled
successfully against his natural tendency to melancholy and in this
way kept his mind wholesome, which is most deserving of admiration in
an Oriental monarch who was brought in contact day by day with
immoderate flattery and idolatrous veneration. Well did Akbar know