Humayun The Moghal Empire

Humayun

(1530-40; 1555-56)

Campaigns

1530 – Kalinjar: The Raja offered nominal submission.

1532 – Muhamud Lodi defeated at Dauhrua.

1533 – Siege of Chunar, Sher Khan (later Sher Shah) offered nominal submission by sending son Qutb Khan to Humayun’s Court.

Humayun then built Dinpanah at Delhi as his second capital.

Second siege of Chunar and then the march to Gaur which was stopped at Teliagarhi pass by Jalal Khan (Sher Shah’s son) in 1538. Occupied Gaur where Sher Shah left wine, women and opium to delay Humayun who renamed it Jannatabad (paradise). Hindal meanwhile assumed the crown at Agra.

1539: Battle of Chausa Buxar. Humayun was saved by Nizam, the water carrier (saqqa). 1540 Humayun was again defeated by Sher Shah at Kanauj.

• He faced formidable opponent in the Afghan, Sher Khan (Shah) who in the successive battles of Chausa and Kannauj defeated Humayun and forced him to flee India.
• Humayun saw the death of Sher Shah as an opportunity to regain the throne. Humayun had conquered Qandahar and re-established his control over Kabul with the help of Safavid King of Persia. He could now use Kabul as his base for campaigns into India.
• His sister, Gulbadan Begum, wrote his biography Humayunama.
• Humayun died while climbing down the stairs of his library in 1556.