Peshawur he was joined by his son Akbur, and his friend and general, Beiram Khan, with a select body of veterans from Ghuzny and Kandahar. It is worthy of remark, that the emperor, in the previous war, had despatched his son Akbur to his government of Ghuzny; and it was doubtless in this early training in public business, that his strength of character was developed. No opposition to the Moghuls was made by the Patán viceroy of the Punjâb, Tartar Khan. The fort of Rhotas was abandoned, and Hoomayoon entered Lahore without opposition. Here he halted to make some necessary arrangements in the country, sending on Beiram Khan in advance, with the Prince Akbur to check Sikunder Shah's army, which was advancing under Tartar Khan. Beiram Khan however did not hesitate to engage it, and defeated it at Machywara, near Sirhind, with the loss of elephants and baggage; while he sent out detachments which occupied the country nearly as far as Dehly. The resources of Sikunder Shah Soor were not, however, exhausted. On the defeat of Tartar Khan, he advanced in turn at the head of 80,000 men and a large train of artillery. Beiram Khan was too weak to oppose this host, but he wrote urgently to Hoomayoon to join him, and the emperor did not delay. On the morning of June 18, 1555, a memorable date in India, as well as in Europe in after years, as the young prince Akbur was inspecting the outposts, the Afghans under Sikunder Shah drew up and offered battle, and it was not declined. The contest raged for some time very hotly, the emperor, his noble son Akbur, and Beiram Khan being in the thickest of the fight; but the Moghuls, led by their young prince, were irresistible; the Patán army was defeated with immense slaughter, and Sikunder Shah fled to the hills. This victory once more decided the fate of the empire of India, and established a dynasty, which of all those heretofore existent, was to prove the most glorious and enduring. Debly and Agra were successively taken possession of by an advanced force, and in the month of July the Emperor Hoomayoon re-entered Debly after an absence of fifteen years of Hoomayoon much vicissitude of fortune. Some revolts of minor re-enters character were summarily repressed, and the emperor was engaged in the general pacification of the country, when he met his death by a strange and untimely accident. On the evening of January 21, 1556, he was walking on the terrace of the library at Dehly, when, in the act of descending the steps to go to the evening prayer, the muezzin of the mosque announced the hour in the usual manner. Pausing to repeat the creed, the emperor sat down till the invocation to prayer was finished, and to assist himself to rise, made use of a pointed staff he usually carried. This slipped on the marble pavement, and he fell over the parapet into the

Dehly, July

1555.

court below. He was taken up, and put to bed; but the injuries he had received were mortal, and he expired after some days of suffering on January 25, 1556. He was fifty-one years Hoomayoon of age, and had reigned in India and Kabool for twenty- dies, 1556. five years.

With many weaknesses, the character of Hoomayoon was yet noble and interesting. With greater firmness he might have preserved his empire against Shére Shah Soor; but in his youth, though personally very brave, he was a bad general, and his adversary was one of the best India had yet produced. It must be remembered also, that the Moghuls were as yet foreigners in India, and were far from popular. To the Hindoos indeed it might have mattered little whether Moghul or Patán was in the ascendant; but the native Mahomedans were of the latter party, and had attained under it power and wealth; the Moghuls were hereditary enemies of long standing, and it was only a natural consequence that when the first flush of Babur's conquest was past, the local Mahomedan party should have rallied under a vigorous leader, and thus they may have obtained the sympathy and assistance of the Hindoos. If the first reign of Hoomayoon had been one of rest and peace, it is probable India would have prospered greatly under his mild and tolerant government. As it was, the reigns of Shére Shah and Sulim Shah Soor were exceptions to the Patán or Afghan rule, and left little to be desired as to the well-being of the people; but in Mahomed Shah Soor Adily, the worst features of the Patán domination were resumed, civil war among the members of the family was desolating the country, and the well-timed advance of Hoomayoon was productive of general relief and peace. It is impossible not to sympathise with Hoomayoon in his early misfortunes, in his miserable wanderings in the desert, his struggles in Sinde, and his personal sufferings: nor to follow his variations of fortune at Kabool without interest; and the truthful memoirs of his servant Jouhur, exhibit him in all the conditions of his life as a simple, genial, good-humoured man, inferior in capacity to his great father Babur, but with a deep, fond love for his wife and child, so rare among eastern princes. Charitable and munificent, kind and courteous to all around him, and a pleasant companion, Hoomayoon's character is not tainted by crime; and the sorest test he was ever put to, was the blinding of his brother Kamrán, to save him from death. Passionately fond, as he was, of his boy Akbur, yet when he was only ten years old his father at once pushed him into public life at Ghuzny; and before he was twelve, he was fighting with his father and his gallant tutor and general, Beiram Khan, in the fierce battles with the Patáns of Sikunder Shah, which were to decide his future glorious empire of India. To

the memory of his father, so deeply venerated, Akbur afterwards raised a splendid mausoleum of marble, which is still perfect; and it was from this building that the last royal representative of the family was led prisoner after the capture of Dehly, in 1857, and where his two sons were shot in its precincts.

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE REIGN OF THE EMPEROR AKBUR, 1556 to 1558.

THE Emperor Akbur was not at Dehly at the period of his father's death. He was employed with his tutor, Beiram Khan, in the Punjâb; and when the news reached him at Kullanoor, he was at once raised to the throne, on February 15, 1556. Born on October 14, 1542, Akbur was thirteen years and three months old, or, according to Mahomedan reckoning, thirteen years and nine months, when he began his glorious and eventful reign; and in regard to his tender years and early strength of character, has only one competitor in Indian history, Ismail Adil Shah of Beejapoor, who, in his more limited sphere, was equally distinguished. The life and character of Akbur are so remarkable, and his reign so illustrious, that he became the subject of complete biographies and histories, by native authors of high reputation; while the records of the English Embassies, and the residence at Agra of Europeans of different nations, in considerable numbers, give undoubted confirmation on many points, which were entirely wanting in regard to many former monarchs of India.

It will have been seen by the previous narrative, that, as yet, public affairs in Northern and Eastern India were by no means settled. Sikunder Shah Soor, though defeated, was still in the field, at the head of some of the best of the old Patán chivalry. In the eastern provinces, the Patáns still held royal power; and Mahomed Soor Adily, with his followers and clansmen, was a formidable antagonist. The Rajpoots and Hindoos of Central India had as yet made no declaration, either of adherence to the old Mahomedan party, or the recognition of the new; and while many new estates and dignities had been granted by Hoomayoon to those who had served him best, the estates and allowances of the nobles and officers of the Patán court were as yet unconfirmed. It is almost impossible to conceive the existence of elements more profoundly disturbing or difficult to deal with; and to increase the embarrassment, the Moghul force in the country was singularly small, and may not at this period, even with reinforcements from

Afghanistan, have exceeded 30,000 cavalry; whereas, on the other hand, the united Patán clans could bring 100,000 into the field with ease; and Kabool and Kandahar, with Budukshán, ever restless and mutinous, were also to be controlled. Over this seething and unstable mass, a boy barely fourteen years of age, and his counsellors, inexperienced in Indian affairs, were to preside, and out of it to create one of the greatest empires of the world.

Akbur immediately appointed his tutor and general, Beiram Khan Toorkoman, now raised to the dignity of Khan Khanán, or lord of lords, as his prime minister: and committed to him the general regulation of civil and military affairs in detail; but, young as he was, and indeed from the very first, he never seems to have evaded the responsibility or the toil of the authority in chief, to have been drawn out of it into the pleasures of youth, or ever to have lost confidence in himself. He might have estimated, by the letters of congratulation which reached him on his accession, how slight was his hold on the country. They were those of his own officers only; all else held aloof, apparently watching the issue of events; and so long as Sikunder Shah Soor and Mahomed Shah Soor Adily were in the field, it is easily to be understood why they did so. Akbur's first act was to pursue Sikunder Shah, who had collected an army in the northern hills, and presented a formidable appearance; but he was totally routed in a general action near Umballa, and again fled into the mountains. Meanwhile Soliman Mirza, who had been placed in Budukshán as its governor, by Hoomayoon, rebelled, and marched against Kabool, which had so small a garrison, that Akbur was obliged to dispatch some of his own much-needed forces to the assistance of the governor; but they proved insufficient for the purpose. Suffering from want of provisions, the garrison at length capitulated, and Soliman Mirza was declared king, but returned to Budukshán. Akbur meanwhile had subdued the mountain tribes of the Punjâb about Nagrakote, and had received Dhuam Chund, their prince, into favour. Hitherto, therefore, he had made no attempt either to march eastwards to Dehly and Agra, or to strengthen them by reinforcements; and Hémoo, the active Hindoo minister of Mahomed Soor Adily, who had been watching his opportunity, now marched against them with a powerful army of 30,000 men and 2,000 elephants. The officer in charge of Agra had no means of opposing this invasion, and fell back upon Dehly; and an attempt was made by Khan Zemán, another Moghul commander, with 3,000 horse, to oppose the advance of Shady Khan, one of Hémoo's generals; but he was defeated, with the loss of nearly the whole of his force. Agra was taken, after

a short siege, by Hémoo, who now advanced upon Dehly with the whole of his combined forces, and defeated Tardy Beg Khan, its governor, in a general action near Meerut. Dehly now surrendered, and the country was left open. During these events, Akbur was at Jullunder, in the Punjâb, where he was joined by Khan Zemán, and other officers, with the wreck of the Dehly and Agra forces; but he could see no way of retrieving the misfortunes, and in his extremity he submitted the whole question to the decision of Beiram Khan, in whose wisdom and foresight he reposed the utmost confidence. At a council of war, the officers of the army declared that with 20,000 men, which was all that could now be assembled, it would be madness to oppose the Patáns, who had 100,000 at least under Hémoo; and that the most advisable course was to retreat to Kabool. This course, however, was opposed by Beiram Khan, who, almost unsupported, was of opinion that the emperor ought to advance at once to give battle; and Akbur coinciding with his general, the movement was determined upon. It is evident from the sequel, that discipline among the Moghul commanders had been of a very loose description. For the most part semi-independent chieftains themselves, at the head of their clans, they had been used to act very much as they pleased; and though, when assembled together, they fought bravely and faithfully, yet they were not to be relied upon when separated. Beiram Khan, therefore, resolved upon making one serious example; and on the occasion of the emperor's temporary absence from camp, caused Tardy Khan Beg to be beheaded, on the ground of his having abandoned his post at Dehly. On his return, Beiram Khan informed Akbur what he had done, and of his grounds for so severe a measure, which involved the discipline of the army, and the safety of all. Akbur gave a reluctant approval to this act; but the difference in the conduct of the officers was immediately perceptible, displaying a confidence in Beiram Khan which was in the last degree important. The Moghul army had gradually assembled at Nowshehra, and now advanced upon Dehly. Hémoo, who had assumed the title of Raja Vikram Ajeet, was at Dehly, and marched out his army to Paniput, the old battle-field since the age of the Máhábhárut, and took up his position; but he had already lost his advance guard with its guns, which had been captured by Beiram Khan in a skirmish. The action commenced on the morning of November 5, 1556, by Hémoo's advance with his elephants, which he hoped would terrify the Moghul cavalry; but, galled by flights of arrows and javelins, they became furious, and ran back upon their own army, causing vast confusion, of which full advantage was taken. Hémoo himself, mounted upon a huge elephant, and accompanied by 4,000 Patán cavalry, continued the fight in the