AKBAR, EMPEROR OF INDIA. 11
lands, and accomplished this task with such good fortune
that in the fortieth year of his reign the empire of India
covered more territory than ever before; that is to say, not
only the whole of Hindustan including the peninsula Gu-
jerat, the lands of the Indus and Kashmir but also Af-
ghanistan and a larger part of the Dekkhan than had ever
been subject to any former Padishah of Delhi. At this time
while the' Emperor had his residence at Lahore the phrase
was current in India, "As lucky as Akban"8
It was apparent often enough in the military expedi-
tions that Akbar far surpassed his contemporaries in gen-
eralship. 9 But it was not the love of war and conquest
which drove him each time anew to battle; a sincere desire
inspired by a mystical spirit impelled him to bring to an
end the ceaseless strife between the small states of India
by joining them to his realm, and thus to found a great
united empire.9
More worthy of admiration than the subjugation of
such large territories in which of course many others have
also been successful, is the fact that. Akbar succeeded in
establishing order, peace, and prosperity in the regained
and newly subjugated provinces. This he brought about
by the introduction of a model administration, an excellent
police, a regulated post service, and especially a just divi-
sion of taxes.10 Up to Akbar's time corruption had been
a matter of course in the entire official service and enormous
sums in the treasury were lost by peculation on the part of
tax collectors.
Akbar first divided the whole realm into twelve and
later into fifteen viceregencies, and these into provinces,
administrative districts and lesser subdivisions, and gov-
erned the revenues of the empire on the basis of a uni-
8J.T. Wheeler, IV, I, 180.
8 Noer, II, 8, 390, 423.
10 For the following compare Noer I, 391 ff.; M. Elphinstone, 529 ff.; G.
B. Malleson, 172 ff., 185 ff.