Malleson's Akbar and The Rise of The Mughal Empire is a colorful biography of a forward - thinking and multi - facetedeader, skillfully sketched from the accounts of historians of Akbar's era. It paints a fascinating picture of the ruler'sife and the tumultuous times heived in. It also provides an insight into the powerful ideals by which he governed and with which he shaped one of the greatest empires in Indian history.