Akbar and Birbal Stories

An excellent rendering of the 50 such authentic tales of Akbar and Birbal, full of both enjoyment and life lessons.

Birbal was one of the nine gems of Akbar, the Mogul emperor Birbal was his friend too. He used to solve Akbar’s riddles.

The anecdotes reveal how wit and presence of mind can solve problems and help deal with tricky situations. The problems infact are tests of one’s character.

It is easy to deal with enemies. The difficulty arise when a fellow insider becomes a problem out of jealousy. Birbal dealt with such friendly enemies on several occasions. The cunning of such characters had to bite the dust every time confronted by the wit of Birbal.

Birbal’s quick thinking came to the help of the people more often than not which earned him a great popularity and admiration. These anecdotes entertain, make you laugh or give you a gentle tickle. They teach how to out-smart an enemy in sporting way.

Raja Birbal (1528-1586) (real name: Maheshdas Bhat) was the Grand Vizier (Wazīr-e Azam) of the Mughal court in the administration of the Mughal emperor Akbar and one of his most trusted members along with being a part of Akbar's inner council of nine advisors, known as the navaratna, a Sanskrit word meaning nine jewels. He was the only person other than Akbar who was a Din-i-Ilahi believer.

Birbal's duties in Akbar's court were mostly military and administrative but he was also a very close friend of the emperor, who liked Birbal most for his wit and wisdom, as a result of which they frequently had witty and humorous exchanges between them. These exchanges and stories have become part of a rich tradition of folklore and legend.