HUMAYUN INVADES INDIA. HIS DEATH
Sher Khan Sur, who had defeated Humayun at Kanauj in 1540, had used
his victory to possess himself of the territories which Babar had
conquered, and to add somewhat to them. He was an able man, but
neither did he, more than the prince whom he supplanted, possess the
genius of consolidation and union. He governed on the system of
detached camps, each province and district being separately
administered. He died in 1545 from injuries received at the siege of
Kalinjar, just as that strong fort surrendered to his arms.
His second son, Salim Shah Sur, known also as Sultan Islam, succeeded
him, and reigned for between seven and eight years. He must have been
dimly conscious of the weakness of the system he had inherited, for
the greater part of his reign was spent in combating the intrigues of
the noblemen who held the several provinces under him. On his death,
leaving a child of tender years to succeed him, the nobles took the
upper hand. The immediate result was the murder of the young prince,
after a nominal rule of three days, and the seizure of the throne by
{61} his maternal uncle, who proclaimed himself as Sultan under the
title of Muhammad Shah Adel. He was ignorant, cruel, unprincipled,
and a sensualist of a very pronounced type. He had, however, the good
fortune to attach to his throne a Hindu, named Hemu, who, originally
a shopkeeper of Rewari, a town of Mewat, showed talents so
considerable, that he was eventually allowed to concentrate in his
own hands all the power of the State. The abilities of Hemu did not,
however, prevent the break-up of the territories which Sher Shah had
bequeathed to his son. Ibrahim Khan revolted at Biana, and occupying
Agra and Delhi, proclaimed himself Sultan. Ahmad Khan, Governor of
the country north-west of the Sutlej, seized the Punjab, and
proclaimed himself king under the title of Sikandar Shah. Shuja Khan
seized the kingdom of Malwa, whilst two rival claimants disputed the
eastern provinces. In the contests which followed Sikandar Shah for
the moment obtained the upper hand. He defeated Ibrahim Khan at
Farah, twenty miles from Agra, then marched on and occupied Delhi. He
was preparing to head an expedition to recover Jaunpur and Behar,
when he heard of danger threatening him from Kabul.
The events that followed were important only in their results.
Humayun marched from Kabul for the Indus in November, 1554, at the
head of a small army, which, however, gathered strength as he
advanced. Akbar accompanied him. Crossing the Indus the 2nd of
January, 1555, Humayun made for {62} Rawal Pindi, then pushed on for
Kalanaur, on the further side of the Ravi. There he divided his
forces, sending his best general, Bairam Khan, into Jalandhar, whilst
he marched on Lahore, and despatched thence his special favourite,
Abul Ma'ali, to occupy Dipalpur, then an important centre, commanding
the country between the capital and Multan.
Events developed themselves very rapidly. Bairam Khan defeated the
generals of Sikandar Shah at Machhiwara on the Sutlej, and then
marched on the town of Sirhind. Sikandar, hoping to crush him there,
hurried to that place with a vastly superior force. Bairam intrenched
himself, and wrote to Humayun for aid. Humayun despatched the young
Akbar, and followed a few days later. Before they could come,
Sikandar had arrived but had hesitated to attack. The hesitation lost
him. As soon as Humayun arrived, he precipitated a general
engagement. The victory was decisive. Sikandar Shah fled to the
Siwaliks, and Humayun, with his victorious army, marched on Delhi.
Occupying it the 23rd of July, he despatched one division of it to
overrun Rohilkhand, another to occupy Agra. He had previously sent
Abul Ma'ali to secure the Punjab.
But his troubles were not yet over. Hemu, the general and chief
minister of Muhammad Shah Adel, had defeated the pretender to the
throne of Bengal, who had invaded the North-west Provinces, near
Kalpi on the Jumna, and that capable leader was preparing to march on
Delhi. Sikandar Shah, too, who had {63} been defeated at Sirhind, was
beginning to show signs of life in the Punjab. In the face of these
difficulties Humayun decided to remain at Delhi himself, whilst he
despatched Akbar with Bairam Khan as his 'Atalik,' or adviser, to
settle matters in the Punjab.
We must first follow Akbar. That prince reached Sirhind early in
January, 1556. Joined there by many of the nobles whom Abul Ma'ali,
the favourite of his father, had disgusted by his haughtiness, he
crossed the Sutlej at Phillaur, marched on Sultanpur in the Kangra
district, and thence, in pursuit of Sikandar Shah, to Hariana. The
morning of his arrival there, information reached him of a serious
accident which had happened to Humayun. He at once suspended the
forward movement, and marched on Kalanaur, there to await further
intelligence. As he approached that place, a despatch was placed in
his hands, drafted by order of Humayun, giving hopes of speedy
recovery. But, a little later, another courier arrived, bearing the
news of the Emperor's death. Akbar was at once proclaimed.
The situation was a trying one for a boy who had lived but thirteen
years and four months. He occupied, indeed, the Punjab. His servants
held Sirhind, Delhi, and possibly Agra. But he was aware that Hemu,
flushed with two victories, for he had obtained a second over another
pretender, was marching towards the last-named city with an army of
fifty thousand men and five hundred elephants, with the avowed
intention of restoring the rule of Muhammad {64} Shah Adel. To add to
his difficulties he heard a few days later that the viceroy placed by
his father at Kabul had revolted.
Humayun had met his death by a fall from the top of the staircase
leading to the terraced roof of his library in the palace of Delhi.
He lingered four days, the greater part of the time in a state of
insensibility, and expired the evening of the 24th of January, in the
forty-eighth year of his age. Tardi Beg Khan, the most eminent of all
the nobles at the capital, and actually Governor of the city, assumed
on the spot the general direction of affairs. His first care was to
conceal the incident from the public until he could arrange to make
the succession secure for the young Akbar, to whom he sent expresses
conveying details. By an ingenious stratagem he managed to conceal
the death of the Emperor for seventeen days. Then, on the 10th of
February, he repaired with the nobles to the great Mosque, and caused
the prayer for the Emperor to be recited in the name of Akbar. His
next act was to despatch the insignia of the empire with the Crown
jewels, accompanied by the officers of the household, the Imperial
Guards, and a possible rival to the throne in the person of a son of
Humayun's brother, Kamran, to the head-quarters of the new Emperor in
the Punjab. He then proceeded to take measures to secure the capital
against the threatened attack of Hemu.
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