Abu’l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar Akbar was born on October 15,1542.He was popularly known as Akbar The Great.

Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expand and consolidate Mughal domains in India. Bairam Khan taught him the ruling and war techniques which made him a strong personality and a successful general. Akbar gradually enlarged the Mughal Empire to include much of the Indian subcontinent. His power and influence, however, extended over the entire subcontinent because of Mughal military, political, cultural, and economic dominance. To unify the vast Mughal state, Akbar established a centralised system of administration throughout his empire and adopted a policy of conciliating conquered rulers through marriage and diplomacy. To preserve peace and order in a religiously and culturally diverse empire, he adopted policies that won him the support of his non-Muslim subjects. Mughal India developed a strong and stable economy, leading to commercial expansion and greater patronage of culture. Akbar himself was a patron of art and culture. Although he could not read and write, he was fond of literature, and created a library of over 24,000 volumes in several languages. Akbar dedicated the first decade of his rule towards expanding his empire. Under the regency of Bairam Khan, Ajmer, Malwa and Garhkatanga were annexed into the Mughal territories. After consolidating the empire, Akbar concentrated on establishing a stable and subject-friendly administration at the center to govern his vast empire. The principles of Akbar’s administration were based on moral as well as material welfare of his subjects. He brought about several changes in existing policies to establish an environment of uniform opportunities to people irrespective of religion.
The Emperor himself was the supreme governor of the empire. He retained ultimate judicial, legislative and administrative power above anyone else. After consolidating the empire, Akbar concentrated on establishing a stable and subject-friendly administration at the center to govern his vast empire. The principles of Akbar’s administration were based on moral as well as material welfare of his subjects. He brought about several changes in existing policies to establish an environment of uniform opportunities to people irrespective of religion.
The Emperor himself was the supreme governor of the empire. He retained ultimate judicial, legislative and administrative power above anyone else. Akbar introduced reforms in judicial system as well and for the first time, Hindu customs and laws were referred to in case of Hindu subjects. The Emperor was the highest authority in Law and the power to give capital punishment rested solely with him. The major social reform introduced by Akbar was the abolition of the Pilgrimage Tax for Hindus in 1563 as well as the Jazia tax imposed on the Hindu subjects. He discouraged child marriage and encouraged widow remarriage. Akbar was probably the first Islamic ruler in India who sought stable political alliances through matrimony. He married several Hindu Princess including Jodha Bai. Akbar’s rule was marked by wide religious tolerance and liberal outlook. Akbar was profoundly religious himself, yet he never sought to enforce his own religious views on anyone; be it prisoners of war, or Hindu wives or the common people in his kingdom. He gave great importance to choice and abolished discriminatory taxes based on religion. He encouraged building of temples and even churches his empire. Out of reverence for the Hindu members of the Royal Family he banned the cooking of beef in the kitchens. He took several steps to unite the Muslim and Hindu society. For his contribution he was fondly called as Akbar by the people.

In 1605, at the age of 63, Akbar fell ill with a serious case of dysentery. He never recovered from it and after three weeks of suffering, he passed away on October 27, 1605 at Fatehpur Sikri. He was buried at Sikandra, Agra.

Brihadeeshwara Temple is originally known as Peruvudaiyar Kovil locally known as Thanjai Periya Kovil. It is located in Thanjavur. It is one of the largest Hindu temples and an exemplary example of a fully realized Tamil architecture.

It was built by Raja Raja Chola I in 1010 AD, Brihadeshwara Temple is an ancient temple . The deity of the temple is Lord Shiva,in his dancing pose who is called the Nataraj. The temple is also known as Rajeswara Temple, Rajarajeswaram and Periya Kovil. The temple was built, like a fortress on the shores of a river, by the king to grace the Chola Empire. This thousand-year-old temple is now part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site adding to its exceptional historical and cultural value. The truth is that the secret of the construction of the great temple is still unknown. The large temple construction system is designed in the form of light bonding. During the construction of this temple, when each stone was bound, a threaded gap was left behind. The reason is the way the temple was built and the pure granite stones used for it. While everyone thinks that granite was introduced in the 20th century, it is surprising that over 130,000 tons of granite was used in this temple about 1000 years ago. The temple is a magnificent architectural construct that will never stop surprising anyone visiting the temple. The major attraction of the temple is the 216-feet-tall tower that is built above the Sanctum of the temple. This flamboyant tower can be seen by anyone entering the city from afar. Another breathtaking thing that will sure stupefy the visitor is the magnificent Nandi statue built at the temple; it is about two meters in height, six meters in length and two-and-half meters in width, and weighs around a whopping 20 tons for a statue built from a single stone. Various postures of the famous classical dance, Bharathanatyam, are sculpted finely on the exterior walls of the upper storey of the temple. The temple is a myriad of surprises , by its architectural features. The topmost structure of the temple, called Vimana, weighs around 80 tons, and it is a mystery how the builders got it up there. There are several musical pillars, which make different sounds when taped, at the temple. The architecture of the temple is done so cleverly that the temple casts no shadow on the ground when the sun is at its peak. This is a phenomenon that attracts thousands of tourists and architectural enthusiasts from across the world to unravel the architectural mystery of the temple. Brihadeshwara Temple is also the first all-granite temple in the world, and the fact that granites are not available within the 100-mile radius of the temple only makes it all the more astonishing. Granite is as heavy a stone to carry as it is to carve, but none of that seemed to have shied the king from realizing the temple the way he envisaged.

It took only 7 years to built the temple. The Thanjavur Great Temple is a majestic work of art built over a thousand years ago in a time when science was not developed and there were no technical tools.Foreign researchers researching the Great Temple, with the help of today’s state-of-the-art techniques and science, are still scratching their heads over the mystery of its construction, despite standing upside down and researching the anchor. Yet they themselves come to an assumption and come to the conclusion that they would have built like this, or built like that.The majesty of the temple carries it’s pride to many centuries.

Zeus was the king of the Greek gods who lived on Mount Olympus.

Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born. He is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Eileithyia, Hebe, and Hephaestus.

He was respected as an all father who was chief of the gods.

Brothers and Sisters:

Zeus had several brothers and sisters who were also powerful gods and goddesses. He was the youngest, but the most powerful of three brothers. His oldest brother was Hades who ruled the Underworld. His other brother was Poseidon, god of the sea. He had three sisters including Hestia, Demeter, and Hera (who he married).

Zeus had a number of children. Some of his children were Olympic gods such as Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Aphrodite, Hermes and Dionysus. He also had some children who were half human and were heroes such as Hercules and Perseus. Other famous children include the Muses, the Graces, and Helen of Troy.

STORY OF KING OF GODS:

Zeus was the sixth child of the Titan gods Cronus and Rhea.

Zeus’ father Cronus was worried that his children would become too powerful, so he ate his first five children. They didn’t die, but they couldn’t get out of his stomach either.

When Rhea had Zeus, she hid him from Cronus and Zeus was raised in the forest by Nymphs. When Zeus grew older he wanted to rescue his brothers and sisters. He got a special potion and disguised himself so that Cronus would not recognize him. When Cronus drank the potion, he coughed up his five children. They were Hades, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia.

Cronus and the Titans were angry. They battled Zeus and his brothers and sisters for years. Zeus set the giants and Cyclopes of Earth free to help him fight.

They gave the Olympians weapons to fight the Titans. Zeus got thunder and lightning, Poseidon got a powerful trident, and Hades a helm that made him invisible.

The Titans surrendered and Zeus had them locked deep underground. Mother Earth then became angry with Zeus for locking the Titans underground.

She sent the world’s most fearsome monster called the Typhon to fight the Olympians.

The other Olympians ran and hid, but not Zeus. Zeus fought the Typhon and trapped him under Mount Etna.

This is the legend of how Mount Etna became a volcano. Now Zeus was the most powerful of all the gods.

He and his fellow gods went to live on Mount Olympus. There Zeus married Hera and ruled over the gods and humans.

Zeus is king in heaven is a saying common to all men”. Zeus’ symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak.

Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of three poses: standing, striding forward with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty.

THUNDERBOLTS:

The God of Thunder, had the power to wield thunderbolts.

He did this by concentrating vast amounts of energy in his hands, then aiming and hurling thunderbolts at his targets.

His bolts could shear mountains, vaporize islands, incinerate entire cities and even boil the seas.

His bolt were also capable of destroying the bodies of mortals, and even gods.

CONTROL OVER THE ELEMENTS:

Since Zeus was the God of the sky, he had absolute control over elements such as winds, thunderstorms, rain, moisture, clouds, lightning and weather.

He also had the ability to control the movement of stars, govern the functioning of day and night, controlling the effects of time and decide the lifespan of mortals.

ABILITY TO GRANT POWERS:

It is believed that Zeus controlled the abilities of all his children and sisters, and could take their powers and grant them new ones at will.

Apart from this, he was also extremely strong physically, enough to lift mountains.

His strength exceeded that of every Olympian, except that of Hercules, who was his son.

SHAPE-SHIFT:

Another great ability of Zeus was that he was able to shape-shift or transform himself into other forms at will.

Accounts of this ability are mainly witnessed in the tales of his sexual escapades.

His disguises included that of an eagle, a satyr, a flame of fire, a phoenix, a shower of gold, a bull, an ant, an eagle, a shower, a lapwing, a swan, a star, a bear, a shepherd, a goose, a serpent and a vulture.

Leda and the Swan-Zeus took the form of a swan to have intercourse with Leda.

HELEN OF TROY is a character in Homer’s classic epic poem, the “Iliad”,written in the 8th century about the the Trojan War, imagined by the Greeks to have occurred about 500 years earlier.

She was the most beautiful woman in the ancient Greek world, the daughter of the king of the Greek gods,Zeus, and the cause of the 10-year Trojan War between Troy and Sparta.

Her story is one of the most dramatic love stories of all time and is said to be one of the main reasons for a 10-year war between the Greeks and Trojans, known as the Trojan War.
In the “Iliad,” Helen’s name is a battle cry, but her story is not told in detail: the “Iliad” is chiefly a man’s story of the conflicting passions and struggles of men on opposing sides of a great battle. The Trojan War was central to the early history of ancient Greece. Details of Helen’s story are provided in a group of poems known as the “epic cycle” or the “Trojan War Cycle,” written in the centuries after Homer.
The legendary beauty of Helen attracted men from afar and also those close to home who saw her as a means to the Spartan throne. The first likely mate of Helen was Theseus, the hero of Athens who kidnapped Helen when she was still young.
Later Menelaus, brother of the Mycenaean King Agamemnon, married Helen. Agamemnon and Menelaus were sons of King Atreus of Mycenae and were therefore referred to as Atrides. Agamemnon married the sister of Helen, Clytemnestra, and became king of Mycenae after expelling his uncle.
The most famous mate of Helen was Paris of Troy. Paris (also known as Alexander or Alexandros) was the son of King Priam of Troy and his queen, Hecuba, but he was rejected at birth and raised as a shepherd on Mount Ida.
While Paris was living the life of a shepherd,the three goddesses , Hera , Aphrodite , and Athena , appeared and asked him to award the “fairest” of them the golden apple that Discord had promised one of them. Each goddess offered Paris a bribe.
Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty had offered Paris the most beautiful woman on earth for his bride. That woman was Helen. Unfortunately, Helen was taken. She was the bride of the Spartan king Menelaus.
The love between Menelaus and Helen is unclear. In the end, they may have been reconciled, but meanwhile, when Paris came to the court of Menelaus as a guest, he may have aroused unaccustomed desire in Helen, since in the “Iliad,” Helen takes some responsibility for her abduction.
Menelaus received and extended hospitality to Paris. Then, when Menelaus discovered that Paris had taken off for Troy with Helen and other prized possessions Helen may have considered part of her dowry, he was enraged at this violation of the laws of hospitality. Paris offered to return the stolen possessions, even though he was unwilling to return Helen, but Menelaus wanted Helen, too.
But he wasn’t the last one. After Paris was killed , his brother Deiphobus married Helen. After Deiphobus , the son of Peleus, Achilles , married Helen.And perhaps Helen married five more other.
According to Laurie Macgurie , writing in “Helen of Troy From Homer to Hollywood”,Helen had 11 men as a husbands in the ancient literature.
But he wasn’t the last one. After Paris was killed , his brother Deiphobus married Helen. After Deiphobus , the son of Peleus, Achilles , married Helen.And perhaps Helen married five more other.
According to Laurie Macgurie , writing in “Helen of Troy From Homer to Hollywood”,Helen had 11 men as a husbands in the ancient literature.