Author Ira Mukhtoy Releases Akbar: The Great Mughal

The third Mughal emperor-Akbar is widely regarded as one of the greatest rulers in India’s history. During his reign, the Mughal Empire was one of the wealthiest in the world and covered much of the Indian subcontinent.

Although there are dozens of books on the empire, there are surprisingly few full-length accounts of its most remarkable emperor, with the last major study having been published over two decades ago. In Akbar: The Great Mughal, this sovereign finally gets his due and the reader gets the full measure of his extraordinary life.

In this book, acclaimed writer Ira Mukhoty covers Akbar’s life and times in lavish, illuminating detail. The product of years of reading, research and study, the biography looks in great detail at every aspect of this exceptional ruler—his ambitions, mistakes, bravery, military genius, empathy for his subjects and path-breaking efforts to reform the governance of his empire.

It delves deep into his open-mindedness, his reverence towards all religions, his efforts towards the emancipation of women, his abolishing of slavery and the religious tax—jiziya—and other acts that showed his statesmanship and humanity. The biography uses recent work by art historians to examine Akbar’s life.  

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Ira Mukhtoy is the author of Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire and Heroines: Powerful Indian Women in Myth and History. She developed an interest in the evolution of mythology and history, the erasure of women from these histories and the continuing relevance this has on the status of women in India. She writes rigorously researched narrative histories that are accessible to the lay reader.

Her book Heroines: Powerful Indian Women of Myth and History tells the tales of mythical heroines including Draupadi and Radha and "six real women who played extraordinary roles but who weren’t written into textbooks as were their male counterparts", including Jahanara Begum, Rani Laxmibai and Hazrat Mahal.