career of a man who cannot be denied a position among the most prominent figures of Indian history whatever the verdict passed upon his personal character. This was Sher Shah, jágírdár of Saserám, in Bihár; a man in whom Bábar's quick discernment had early observed the promise of future greatness. By audacity and talent, he had made himself master of the situation in Bengal; he had set aside the several pretenders of the house of Lodí and, by discreet influences or force of arms, had brought about the necessary degree of union among his divided countrymen, to enable him to place himself at the head of a powerful confederacy unanimous in revolt against Humáyún. Startled from his visionary security, Humáyún took the field. He possessed himself of the small but important fortress of Chunár, but his van was repulsed at Garhí by a son of Sher Shah. In obedience to his father's orders, the victor withdrew to Rhoțás, a fort in south Bihar which Sher Shah had previously obtained by strategy and in which he had secured the treasures of Gaur, the capital of Bengal. Regardless of this weighty reverse, Humáyún lapsed again into his former apathy, and encamping at Gaur shut himself during three months from the outer world and gave audience to none. This interval was employed by the Afghán leader, in acquiring Bihár, Jaunpúr and parts of Bengal and Audh: at the same time, the Emperor's brothers, Kámrán and Hindál, fomented disturbances in Agrah. At length Humáyún, for the preservation of his throne, moved westwards with troops deteriorated and diminished by the pestilential climate of Gaur. Harassed and checked in his march by Sher Shah, he entrenched himself near Chausá. Here the Afghán lulled him with promises

until the morning of 27th June, 1539, when he fell upon his force and so utterly routed Çafar, 946 H. it that Humáyún escaped with difficulty and, leaving one of his wives, Hájí Begum and some 4,000 Mughul women in the hands of the conqueror, fled to Agrah where he strove but in vain, to move his brothers to combined resistance.

In the following year, the Emperor again turned towards the east; he crossed the Ganges at Kanauj and encamped over against Sher Sháh whose army meantime had been greatly strengthened. On 17th May, 1540, floods compelled him to change

10th Muharram, 946 H. the position of his camp; while this operation was in progress, Sher Sháh fell upon his troops who, dispirited by discontent and scarcity, fled after brief resistance, a small part only escaping across the river. The magnitude of the Mughul loss may be inferred from the fact that Haidar Mírzá, the historian, led some 1000 men into battle in the morning and at night had with him only a bare sixty. Humáyún saved his life but lost the throne of Dihlí. With a handful of followers, he fled to Lahór where a council of war was held but no definite resolution taken. Kámrán and 'Askarí stole off to Kábul and Ghazní, while Humáyún accepted Hindál's advice and turned his steps to Sindh, with the intention of seeking aid from its ruler, a kinsman and former vassal, Husain Arghún, for the accomplishment of a long-cherished project against Kashmír. Wisdom and ambition alike must have warned Sháh Husain that his interests would not be served by taking up a cause which was as good as lost and Humáyún therefore found no hearing for the negociations which he opened from Loharí, near

B., E. A.

4

Bhakkar. His position worsened from day to day and his adherents fell off as they saw his chance of success diminish and when even food began to fail. Humáyún was obliged to move his camp and, actuated by a report that Hindál also was meditating desertion, went to Páter, some twenty miles west of the Indus, where his brother was encamped. It was here, during an entertainment given by Hindál's mother in his honour, that the Emperor first saw Hamída Banú Begum, the beautiful young daughter of his brother's preceptor. To fall in love with her and, in spite of Hindál's opposition, to marry her was the affair of a few days, after which Humáyún carried his bride to Loharí. This brighter interlude in misfortune produced important and fateful consequences: Hindál, in his irritation at the marriage, broke with Humáyún and went off to Qandahár, and Hamída Banú Begum who as Empress was designated Maryam makání, was destined to bear beneath her bosom the future destinies of India.

In order to find employment for his now visibly dwindling forces, Humáyún invested Sehwán, a town which lies half-way between Bhakkar and Tattah, on the west bank of the Indus but, at the expiration of seven months, was obliged to raise the siege because the officer whom he had left before Bhakkar did not send up reinforcements. The inimical attitude assumed by this faithless follower, on Humáyún's return to Loharí, induced the Emperor to avail himself of overtures which the powerful ruler of Jodhpúr, Máldeo, had made to him a year before. Choosing the more convenient route which lies near the Indus and Chenáb to Uch, he arrived full of hope on the frontier of Jodhpúr. It fared here however as unsuccessfully

as it had done with him in his negociations with Husain Arghún. The wily Máldeo schemed to get him into his power and to offer him as an expiatory sacrifice to Sher Sháh, but Humáyún received timely warning of the meditated treachery, marched out hastily and drew off into the desert. The distress and hardships of this aimless march were aggravated by the hostile pursuit of the chiefs of Jodhpúr and Jesalmír ; at length, after terrible fatigues and deadly peril the wearied fugitives reached Amarkót.

SECTION II.-Akbar to the time of his.

independence.

10th Jumáda I., 949 H.

CHAPTER I.

THE EMPEROR HUMÁYÚN, THE FATHER OF AKBAR. WHEN, on 22nd August, 1542, one of those scorching summer days which are known only in the arid regions of hot latitudes, Humáyún, with a few fainting and dusty followers, reached the humble desert fastness of Amarkóṭ, its lord, a petty Rajpút ráná, could not have dreamed of the fame which would one day accrue to it from an incident promising in itself so little. As he hoped to secure Humáyún's help against his hostile neighbours and, in particular, against Sháh Husain Arghún of Tattah, he gave the destitute fugitives shelter and protection of his best. In this new alliance, the Emperor found temporary respite from hardship and here he was able again to gather around him some of those adherents who had been dispersed in the flight through the desert and who, as they came in, bestowed themselves within the narrow fort or in the huts of the forlorn hamlet. The Ráná was however not in a position to maintain any considerable number of guests and therefore proposed to Humáyún a joint expedition against the ruler of Tattah who was his father's murderer and who now sought to filch his own modest patrimony. The allies took the field at the