Upon his arrival at the imperial camp
before Delhi, a most surprising sight met his eyes. Men were running
in every direction, fleeing wildly before a raging elephant who
wrought destruction to everything that came within his reach. Upon the
neck of this enraged brute sat a young man in perfect calmness
belaboring the animal's head with the iron prong which is used
universally in India for guiding elephants. The Rajputs sprang from
their horses and came up perfectly unconcerned to observe the
interesting spectacle, and broke out in loud applause when the
conquered elephant knelt down in exhaustion. The young man sprang from
its back and cordially greeted the Rajput princes (who now for the
first time recognized Akbar in the elephant-tamer) bidding them
welcome to his red imperial tent. From this occurrence dates the
friendship of the two men. In later years Bihari Mai's son and
grandson occupied high places in the imperial service, and Akbar
married a daughter of the Rajput chief who became the mother of his
son and successor Selim, afterwards the Emperor Jehangir. Later on
Akbar received a number of other Rajput women in his harem.
Not all of Akbar's relations to the Rajputs however were of such a
friendly kind.
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