section_path: Legacy
section_name: Legacy
paragraph_text: Legacy
  
  Akbar firmly entrenched the authority of the Mughal Empire in India and beyond, after it had been threatened by the Afghans during his father's reign, establishing its military and diplomatic superiority. During his reign, he created a secular and liberal government with an emphasis on cultural integration. He also introduced several reforms, including prohibiting sati, legalising widow remarriage, and raising the age of marriage.
  
  Folk tales revolving around him and Birbal, one of his navratnas, are popular in India. He and his Hindu wife, Mariam-uz-Zamani are widely popular, as the latter is believed to have been the prime inspiration and driving force for Akbar's promotion of secularism and universal benevolence.
  
  Bhavishya Purana is a minor Purana that depicts the various Hindu holy days and includes a section devoted to the various dynasties that ruled India, dating its oldest portion to 500 CE and its newest to the 18th century. It contains a story about Akbar in which he is compared to the other Mughal rulers. The section, titled "Akbar Bahshaha Varnan", is written in Sanskrit and describes his birth as a " reincarnation " of a sage who immolated himself on seeing the first Mughal ruler Babur, who is described as the "cruel king of Mlecchas (Muslims)". Akbar is described as "a miraculous child", and the text notes that he would not follow the previous "violent ways" of the Mughals.
  
  Citing Akbar's melding of the disparate "fiefdoms" of India into the Mughal Empire, as well as the lasting legacy of "pluralism and tolerance" that "underlies the values of the modern republic of India", Time included him in its list of top 25 world leaders.
  
  Akbar's legacy is largely negative in Pakistan. Historian Mubarak Ali, in a study of the image of Akbar in Pakistani textbooks, has observed that Akbar "is conveniently ignored and not mentioned in any school textbook from class one to matriculation", as opposed to the omnipresence of emperor Aurangzeb. He quotes historian Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, who said that, due to his religious tolerance, "Akbar had so weakened Islam through his policies that it could not be restored to its dominant position in the affairs". A common thread among Pakistani historians is criticism of Akbar's Rajput policy. Ali has stated that "Akbar is criticized for bringing Muslims and Hindus together as one nation and putting the separate identity of the Muslims in danger. This policy of Akbar contradicts the theory of Two-Nation and therefore makes him an unpopular figure in Pakistan."