Akbar the Great (1542–1605) and Christianity. Between religion and politics

Abstract

Akbar the Great (1542-1605) and Christianity. Between religion and politics The second half of the 16 th century, during the reign of India's third, and widely regarded as the greatest, ruler of the Mughal dynasty, Jalāl ud-Dīn Muḥammad Akbar, was also the time when the Europeans were becoming increasingly present on the Indian Subcontinent. Especially active among them were the Portuguese-both in the political and economic sense as well as in the cultural and the religious dimension. After reaching India with the expedition of Vasco da Gama in 1498, the Portuguese very quickly-already in 1505-started their expansion on the Western cost of the Subcontinent and throughout the next thirty years conquered the territories of Goa (where they established a powerful trading post and which also became the seat of the viceroy and council appointed by the Portuguese king in Lisbon), and Diu. From 1558 the Portuguese forces occupied also Daman, which was an important port on the Cambay Gulf, and thus created a great problem for the Mughals, especially after the annexation of the rich and prosperous province of Gujarat into the Mughal Empire in 1572. The Portuguese naval dominance over the Arabian Sea caused that no Indian ship could sail without the so-called cartaz or special pass for safe conducts. For Indian Muslims this situation was especially oppressive since the ports of the Western coast were the point of embarkation for pilgrims going to Mecca. 1 The conflicts (also the armed ones) between the Mughal authorities of the province and the Portuguese happened during the whole of the Akbar's reign.