Remarkable as it seems to us today, Amir Khusrau’s patriotism was yet passive, amounting to a sincere, but largely uncritical admiration of the country and its culture. Two hundred and fifty years later under the great Akbar (reigned 1556-1605), conqueror and empire-builder, there took place what can only be called a Renaissance, based on a proclamation of the supremacy of Reason, a flowering of art, and a policy of tolerance, under the principle of Sulh-i-Kul, ‘Absolute Peace’, unique for its time in the world. An appeal to Indian patriotism was an inalienable part of this court-directed movement. Akbar’s minister Abu’l Fazl’s Ain-i-Akbari contains in its last portion, after a description of Mughal administration and of the provinces of the Empire, a very detailed ‘Account of Hindustan’, covering Indian culture, sciences, religion and society. Here he declares his patriotic bias by showering fulsome praise on the good qualities of the Indian people. What marked Akbar’s reign was not, however, only such display of simple patriotism, but in addition a constructive effort not only to explore but also to reform. There was a major effort to translate Sanskrit texts into Persian, so as to gain access to Brahminical philosophy and scientific knowledge. The critical element is evidenced in Akbar’s attitude to sati. He saw the sati not as a woman’s great act of sacrifice out of love, as Amir Khusrau did, but as the husband’s selfish imposition on his wife; and so he forbade it. He also thought ill of child-marriage, which too he attempted to outlaw. He was equally not satisfied with the daughter’s share in inheritance allowed to her in Muslim law.