Humayun was defeated and dislodged by insurrections
of nobles from the old Lodi regime. In 1540, the Mughal domain came under the
control of one of those nobles, Farid Khan Suri, who assumed the regional name
of Shir Shah Suri. Humayun spend the next 15 years in exile in Sind, Iran, and
then Afghanistan. During this exile his Persian wife, Hamida Begum Banu gave
birth to a son who later became Emperor Akbar.
Akbar was looked after by a number of Daaee
(Nurses), one of whom was Jiji Anga. She breastfed Akbar along with her own son
Mirza Aziz who was also called “Kokah” (Milk-Brother). Akbar was trained to be
a warrior under Bairam Khan and Aziz Kokah was unconcern of such adventures.
When Akbar became the ruler he felt he had to do something to his
“Milk-Brother” who was a few months elder to him.
Akbar conquered Gujarat and made Aziz Kokah the
governor and in no time the Guajarati’s rebelled and besieged Aziz Kokah.
Akbar’s army had to come to relieve him. Then he was made governor of Bihar and ordered
to quell a rebellion in Bengal. However, he did not take action until a
year, when the rebels began to take Bihar as well. Akbar was very lenient
towards Aziz Kokah as he was emotional towards him. Akbar considered him elder
brother as they both shared mothers’ milk.
Akbar once invited Aziz Kokah to his palace to give
a piece of advice. Aziz noticed that Akbar had “Navratnas” (Nine Gems)
comprising of artists, musicians, writers, finance ministers, warriors, and
poets. Aziz felt it was no wonder why
Akbar was an able administrator. The secret according to him were the Nine
Courtiers who brought success to Akbar. Of them all Aziz envied Birbal and
he thought with Birbal by his side he too could be as famous as Akbar.
So the next morning he put forth his desire to take
Birbal with him. Akbar was reluctant but since he considered Aziz his elder
brother for sharing Jiji Anga’s breast milk with him, he agreed to let Birbal
go with him. When Birbal came to know of this development he was aghast and did
not know what to do with an idiotic person like Aziz. He had to obey the orders
of Akbar but yet he tried to look for an excuse.
A bright idea flashed in his
mind he said, “Jahanpanah! It is very nice of you to be so concern of your
elder brother, but I have a suggestion. I feel it would be better if I request
my elder brother to go with your elder brother”. Akbar too felt this
proposition was acceptable as he too was hesitant to let Birbal go.
Next day the entire court was waiting to see the
elder brother of Birbal who had to accompany Aziz Kokah. After a little delay
Birbal entered the court with a rope held in his hand. The other end of the
rope was tied to the ring forged through the nostrils of a water buffalo.
“Jahanpanah! I wish to present to you my elder brother” Birbal said.
Akbar was
extremely angry and could not tolerate this nonsense from Birbal. Before he
could say anything Birbal said, “Jahanpanah! The mother of this buffalo has
provided milk to me when I was young, in fact she was milked only after he had
suckled the teats in her udder. So we both have shared the milk and that makes him my elder brother
whom I wish to send with your elder brother”.
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