Abū l-Fatḥ Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Akbar (949-1014/1542-1605, r. 963-1014/1556-1605) was the third Tīmūrid ruler in South Asia and the effective founder of the Tīmūrid empire. Although Akbar's grandfather Bābur (r. 888-99/1483-94) brought Tīmūrid sovereignty south of the Hindu Kush, neither he nor Akbar's father, Humāyūn (r. 937-47/1530-40 and 962-3/1555-6), had the opportunity to establish a lasting polity there. Akbar's conquests established clear Tīmūrid dominance throughout the Indo-Gangetic Plain and