ABSTRACT
Control of the military tribesmen had been an endemic source of instability for earlier Muslim dynasties. The Moguls in India instituted military, landholding, tax and administrative systems that were similar to those of the Ottomans and Safavids. Akbar Khan enforced religious tolerance, observed Hindu religious feasts and customs, appointed Hindus to high office, used them in the military, and encouraged the building of both Hindu and Muslim schools. Akbar's portrait in India depicted him contemplating a rose, from which the Mogul dynasty received its name, the Rose Dynasty, signifying its artistic sensitivity, spiritual depth, transcendent composure and aesthetic inner peace. What survived of Akbar's attempt at a Hindi–Muslim synthesis was the new language he and his scholars created from Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Hindi. Ottoman conquests balanced the Muslim loss of Andalusia. Many of the boys ascended up the administrative hierarchy to become provincial governors, ministerial viziers and grand viziers, in which capacity they often led Ottoman armies to battle.
