Akbar, Birbal, and Fake News

23-11-2020 Akbar and Birbal in Modern Times

   Akbar the Great was the third emperor of the Mughal dynasty. He had a strong personality and was respected throughout the kingdom for his statesmanship, religious tolerance, and patronage of art and culture. Birbal was one of his 9 advisers, the Navaratnas of his court. Birbal greatly admired Akbar and was one of his close and faithful friends.

   The advent of technology into the Mughal Empire had brought in a lot of positive changes. Akbar could reach the far-flung regions of his kingdom online and manage their affairs, than being physically present at all the locations. Birbal was one of his clever ministers, who helped with computers and was happy about the way Akbar had adapted to computers. But there was one habit which Akbar had adopted which greatly troubled Birbal. Akbar tended to believe all the fake news that made its way into social media. Whether it was a comet that would destroy half of the Earth, or people predicting the end of the World, or even news that one of the kings in the South had renounced his kingdom and become a hermit in the Himalayas, he believed them all. He even forwarded some of these messages on Whatsapp. Birbal had repeatedly advised caution, but Akbar would dismiss his concerns.

   Birbal knew he had to act before the situation worsened and had disastrous consequences. Common people generally believed everything that was printed on the internet, but if they saw that the news had been forwarded by the King, then it would be considered as absolute truth. Hence, Birbal hit upon a plan to ensure that the King would think twice before forwarding or believing news that was not true.

   Every morning, Akbar rode his horse around the city surrounding the palace. One such morning, as he went around, he noticed his subjects act very strangely. It was as if they were looking at him pitifully. Being a King with untold wealth and privilege, pity was an emotion Akbar had never been on the receiving end of. He was a little shocked by the way people seemed to be avoiding his eyes or whispering between themselves as he passed. He wanted to stop and ask them what was wrong, but his bodyguards would not allow him for security reasons and so he went back to the palace. Matters of state kept him busy and he soon forgot about the incident. 

   The next day was even stranger. He could see bent heads and tears in the eyes of some people as he passed. He was most distressed when he came upon a group of Rudaali, who started crying loudly when they saw him. The Rudaali were women who were paid to cry when someone rich passed away. Akbar could only assume that someone in his kingdom had passed away, though he had not heard any such news. He put forth his concerns to Birbal, who brushed them aside and told him to ignore it.

The third day was the strangest of the three. Suddenly, people on the streets seemed to be extremely happy. As opposed to the previous two days, there seemed to be an air of excitement today and people clapped and bowed and hailed him as Akbar the Great as he passed. Akbar was completely bewildered by the happenings. He called Birbal as soon as he reached the palace and demanded that he get to the bottom of the issue behind the people’s strange behaviour.

Birbal just smiled as he told Akbar that he, Birbal was the cause for all that Akbar had witnessed. On the first day, he had anonymously circulated a message on social media and Whatsapp, that King Akbar was suffering from an incurable disease, which made him look good on the outside but destroyed him from within. Hence Akbar had received pitying looks from people. Akbar was enraged with the liberties Birbal had taken but had to wait till Birbal finished explaining. On the second day, Birbal had circulated the message that the Royal Physicians had given up hope and death was imminent for Akbar. This explained the tears in the eyes of the people. Now, Akbar was really curious to know what was the reason for the joyous atmosphere on the third day. Birbal showed him the third message. In officious language, it was written that the generous King Akbar before his death wanted to show his love to his subjects by distributing half of his wealth to all of them and the date and time for this would be intimated soon.

Akbar sat back appalled at the gullibility of the people. He realised that many times he had also believed fake news such as this and not heeded Birbal’s continuous warnings before passing it on. Akbar thanked Birbal for his brilliance in making him understand and also wondered how they would extricate themselves from the confusion this news had created. Birbal asked him to be truthful to his subjects and tell them what had occurred, and tell them that this was an example to not believe all news that came on Whatsapp or social media. News from the Royal Palace would be shared on the official Palace website and only that version would have to be considered as original and truthful. Akbar agreed and did as Birbal suggested.

Once again, Birbal had saved the day and rightfully earned his place as one of the Navaratnas of Akbar’s court.