Jonnalagadda, AkhilKing, Abigail2021-08-242021-08-242020Jonnalagadda, Akhil. King, Abigail (illustrator). "Translating Theology: A Textual Examination of Akbar’s Religiosity." <i>Rice Historical Review,</i> V, no. Spring (2020) Rice University: 30-49. https://doi.org/10.25611/NH41-M186.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/111327Written for HIST 494: Ruling Hindustan -- Dr. Lisa BalabanlilarThis paper examines the translation movement of Hindu epics from Sanskrit to Persian spearheaded by the sixteenth century Mughal emperor Akbar. Many historians understand this phenomenon as a cultural accommodation by the emperor to attain legitimacy amongst a heterogeneous populace. This paper, in contrast, seeks to locate this effort within a broader theological project by Akbar to unite Hindu and Sufi thought in order to imbue a corporeal divinity within himself. To do so, this paper explores the religious milieu in which the texts were translated through courtly histories and through recorded commentary by the emperor’s contemporaries. Despite the indisputable political expedience of the translations, one can argue that an experimental impulse to reconfigure Mughal theology was the foundational term of the initiative. This argument would thus dismantle a popular perception of a rigid, strictly defined empire and instead offer one of a notably porous and assimilatory Mughal identity.20 ppengJournal articleTranslatingTheologyhttps://doi.org/10.25611/NH41-M186