Humayun
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Humayun همایون | |||||||||
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Heir-apparent Al-aman Mirza | | ||||||||
Second reign | 22 June 1555 – 27 January 1556 | ||||||||
Predecessor | Adil Shah Suri (Sur Empire) | ||||||||
Successor | Akbar I | ||||||||
Born | Nasir al-Din Muhammad[1] 6 March 1508 Kabul (present-day Afghanistan) | ||||||||
Died | 27 January 1556 Delhi, Mughal Empire (present-day India) | (aged 47)||||||||
Burial | , India | ||||||||
Consort | |||||||||
Wives | |||||||||
Issue |
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House | House of Babur | ||||||||
Dynasty | Timurid dynasty | ||||||||
Father | Babur | ||||||||
Mother | Maham Begum | ||||||||
Religion | Shia Islam[5] |
Nasir al-Din Muhammad (
In December 1530, Humayun succeeded his father Babur to the throne of Delhi as ruler of the Mughal territories in the Indian subcontinent. Humayun was an inexperienced ruler when he came to power at the age of 22. His half-brother Kamran Mirza inherited Kabul and Kandahar, the northernmost parts of their father's empire; the two half-brothers became bitter rivals.
Early in his reign, Humayun lost his entire state to
Background
Humayun was born as Nasir al-Din Muhammad to Babur's favorite wife Māham Begum on Tuesday 6 March 1508. According to Abul Fazl, Māham was related to the noble family of Sultan Husayn Bayqara, the Timurid ruler of Herat. She was also related to Sheikh Ahmad-e Jami.[6][7]
The decision of Babur to divide the territories of his empire between two of his sons was unusual in India, although it had been a common Central Asian practice since the time of
After Timur's death, his territories were divided among Pir Muhammad, Miran Shah, Khalil Sultan and Shah Rukh, which resulted in inter-family warfare.[10] Upon Babur's death, Humayun's territories were the least secure. He had ruled only four years, and not all umarah (nobles) viewed Humayun as the rightful ruler. Indeed, earlier, when Babur had become ill, some of the nobles had tried to install his Brother-in-law, Mahdi Khwaja, as ruler. Although this attempt failed, it was a sign of problems to come.[11][full citation needed][non-primary source needed]
Early reign
When Humayun came to the throne of the Mughal Empire, several of his brothers revolted against him after he split the empire among them . Another brother Khalil Mirza (1509–1530) supported Humayun but was assassinated. The Emperor commenced construction of a tomb for his brother in 1538, but this was not yet finished when he was forced to flee to Persia. Sher Shah destroyed the structure and no further work was done on it after Humayun's restoration.[citation needed]
Humayun had two major rivals for his lands:
During the first five years of Humayun's reign, Bahadur and Sher Khan extended their rule, although Sultan Bahadur faced pressure in the east from sporadic conflicts with the Portuguese. While the Mughals had obtained firearms via the Ottoman Empire, Bahadur's Gujarat had acquired them through a series of contracts drawn up with the Portuguese, allowing the Portuguese to establish a strategic foothold in northwestern India.[13]
In 1535 Humayun was made aware that the Sultan of Gujarat was planning an assault on the Mughal territories in Bayana with Portuguese aid. Humayun gathered an army and marched on Bahadur. Within a month he had captured the forts of Mandu and Champaner. However, instead of pressing his attack, Humayun ceased the campaign and consolidated his newly conquered territory. Sultan Bahadur, meanwhile escaped and took up refuge with the Portuguese.[14] Like his father, Humayun was a frequent user of opium.[15] In a popular revolt Bahadur Shah recaptured all of Gujarat in 1536 and began an attack on Malwa.[16]
Sher Shah Suri
Shortly after Humayun had marched on Gujarat, Sher Shah Suri saw an opportunity to wrest control of Agra from the Mughals. He began to gather his army together hoping for a rapid and decisive siege of the Mughal capital. Upon hearing this alarming news, Humayun quickly marched his troops back to Agra allowing Bahadur to easily regain control of the territories Humayun had recently taken. In February 1537, however, Bahadur was killed when a botched plan to kidnap the Portuguese viceroy ended in a fire-fight that the Sultan lost. Bahadur's passing caused a power vacuum in Gujarat, which ultimately paved the way for the Mughals to become the region's dominant force.[citation needed]
While Humayun succeeded in protecting Agra from Sher Shah, the second city of the Empire,
Sher Shah withdrew to the east, but Humayun did not follow: instead he "shut himself up for a considerable time in his Harem, and indulged himself in every kind of luxury".[17][full citation needed][non-primary source needed] Hindal, Humayun's 19-year-old brother, had agreed to aid him in this battle and protect the rear from attack, but he abandoned his position and withdrew to Agra, where he decreed himself acting emperor. When Humayun sent the grand Mufti, Sheikh Buhlul, to reason with him; the Sheikh was killed. Further provoking the rebellion, Hindal ordered that the Khutba, or sermon, in the main mosque be surrounded.[18]
Humayun's other brother, Kamran Mirza, marched from his territories in the Punjab, ostensibly to aid Humayun. However, his return home had treacherous motives as he intended to stake a claim for Humayun's apparently collapsing empire. He brokered a deal with Hindal providing that his brother would cease all acts of disloyalty[18] in return for a share in the new empire, which Kamran would create once Humayun was deposed.[citation needed]
In June 1539 Sher Shah met Humayun in the Battle of Chausa on the banks of the Ganges, near Buxar. This was to become an entrenched battle in which both sides spent a lot of time digging themselves into positions. The major part of the Mughal army, the artillery, was now immobile, and Humayun decided to engage in some diplomacy using Muhammad Aziz as ambassador. Humayun agreed to allow Sher Shah to rule over Bengal and Bihar, but only as provinces granted to him by his Emperor, Humayun, falling short of outright sovereignty. The two rulers also struck a bargain in order to save face: Humayun's troops would charge those of Sher Shah whose forces then retreat in feigned fear. Thus honour would, supposedly, be satisfied.[21][non-primary source needed]
Once the Army of Humayun had made its charge and Sher Shah's troops made their agreed-upon retreat, the Mughal troops relaxed their defensive preparations and returned to their entrenchments without posting a proper guard. Observing the Mughals' vulnerability, Sher Shah reneged on his earlier agreement. That very night, his army approached the Mughal camp and finding the Mughal troops unprepared with a majority asleep, they advanced and killed most of them. The Emperor survived by swimming across the Ganges using an air-filled "water skin", and quietly returned to Agra.[13][page needed][22] Humayun was assisted across the Ganges by Shams al-Din Muhammad.[23]
In Agra
When Humayun returned to Agra, he found that all three of his brothers were present. Humayun once again not only pardoned his brothers for plotting against him, but even forgave Hindal for his outright betrayal. With his armies travelling at a leisurely pace, Sher Shah was gradually drawing closer and closer to Agra. This was a serious threat to the entire family, but Humayun and Kamran squabbled over how to proceed. Kamran withdrew after Humayun refused to make a quick attack on the approaching enemy, instead opting to build a larger army under his own name.[citation needed]
When Kamran returned to Lahore, Humayun, with his other brothers Askari and Hindal, marched to meet Sher Shah 200 kilometres (120 mi) east of Agra at the battle of
In Lahore
The four brothers were united in
Meeting with the Sikh Guru – Guru Angad Sahib
Humayun visited Guru Angad at around 1540 after Humayun lost the Battle of Kannauj, and thereby the Mughal throne to Sher Shah Suri.[26] According to Sikh hagiographies, when Humayun arrived in Gurdwara Mal Akhara Sahib at Khadur Sahib, Guru Angad was sitting and teaching children.[27] The failure to greet the Emperor immediately angered Humayun. Humayun lashed out but the Guru reminded him that the time when you needed to fight when you lost your throne you ran away and did not fight and now you want to attack a person engaged in prayer.[28] In the Sikh texts written more than a century after the event, Guru Angad is said to have blessed the emperor, and reassured him that someday he will regain the throne.[26]
Withdrawing further
Humayun decided it would be wise to withdraw still further. He and his army rode out through and across the
Rana Prasad Rao of Amarkot duly welcomed Humayun into his home and sheltered the refugees for several months. Here, in the household of a Hindu Rajput nobleman, Humayun's wife Hamida Bano, daughter of a Sindhi family, gave birth to the future Emperor Akbar on 15 October 1542. The date of birth is well established because Humayun consulted his astronomer to utilise the astrolabe and check the location of the planets. The infant was the long-awaited heir-apparent to the 34-year-old Humayun and the answer of many prayers. Shortly after the birth, Humayun and his party left Amarkot for Sindh, leaving Akbar behind, who was not ready for the grueling journey ahead in his infancy. He was later adopted by Askari Mirza.
For a change, Humayun was not deceived in the character of the man on whom he has pinned his hopes. Emir Hussein Umrani, ruler of Sindh, welcomed Humayun's presence and was loyal to him, just as he had been loyal to Babur against the renegade Arghuns. While in Sindh, Humayun alongside Hussein Umrani, gathered horses and weapons and formed new alliances that helped regain lost territories. Until finally Humayun had gathered hundreds of Sindhi and Baloch tribesmen alongside his Mughals and then marched towards Kandahar and later Kabul, thousands more gathered by his side as Humayun continually declared himself the rightful Timurid heir of the first Mughal Emperor, Babur.
Retreat to Kabul
After Humayun set out from his expedition in
In Kamran Mirza's territory, Hindal Mirza had been placed under
Once again Humayun turned toward Kandahar where his brother Kamran Mirza was in power, but he received no help and had to seek refuge with the Shah of Persia[32]
Refuge in Persia
Humayun fled to the refuge of the
The Mughal monarch was introduced to the work of the Persian miniaturists, and
Tahmasp urged that Humayun convert from
Kandahar and onward
With this Persian Safavid aid Humayun took Kandahar from Askari Mirza after a two-week siege. He noted how the nobles who had served Askari Mirza quickly flocked to serve him, "in very truth the greater part of the inhabitants of the world are like a flock of sheep, wherever one goes the others immediately follow". Kandahar was, as agreed, given to the Shah of Persia who sent his infant son, Murad, as the viceroy. However, the baby soon died and Humayun thought himself strong enough to assume power.[citation needed]
Humayun now prepared to take Kabul, ruled by his brother Kamran Mirza. In the end, there was no actual siege. Kamran Mirza was detested as a leader and as Humayun's Persian army approached the city hundreds of the former's troops changed sides, flocking to join Humayun and swelling his ranks. Kamran Mirza absconded and began building an army outside the city. In November 1545, Hamida and Humayun were reunited with their son Akbar, and held a huge feast. They also held another feast in the child's honour when he was circumcised.[citation needed]
However, while Humayun had a larger army than Kamran Mirza and had the upper hand, on two occasions his poor military judgement allowed the latter to retake Kabul and Kandahar, forcing Humayun to mount further campaigns for their recapture. He might have been aided in this by his reputation for leniency towards the troops who had defended the cities against him, as opposed to Kamran Mirza, whose brief periods of possession were marked by atrocities against the inhabitants who, he supposed, had helped his brother.[citation needed]
His youngest brother, Hindal Mirza, formerly the most disloyal of his siblings, died fighting on his behalf. His brother Askari Mirza was shackled in chains at the behest of his nobles and aides. He was allowed go on Hajj, and died en route in the desert outside Damascus.[citation needed]
Humayun's other brother, Kamran Mirza, had repeatedly sought to have him killed. In 1552 Kamran Mirza attempted to make a pact with
Restoration of the Mughal Empire
In 1535, When Humayun was Governor of Gujarat, he encamped near Cambay (Khambhat). Humayun and his army was robbed and plundered by Kolis of Gujarat.[37][38][39][40]
Sher Shah Suri had died in 1545; his son and successor Islam Shah died in 1554. These two deaths left the dynasty reeling and disintegrating. Three rivals for the throne all marched on Delhi, while in many cities leaders tried to stake a claim for independence. This was a perfect opportunity for the Mughals to march back to India.[citation needed]
The Mughal Emperor Humayun gathered a vast army and attempted the challenging task of retaking the throne in Delhi. Due to the Safavid role in Humayun's army, the vast majority of the army of the Shi'a faith, as one Shaikh Ahmad described to Humayun, "My king, I see the whole of your army are Rafizi...Everywhere the names of your soldiers are of this kind. I find they are all Yar Ali or Kashfi Ali or Haider Ali and I have, not found a single man bearing the names of the other Companions."[41] Humayun placed the army under the leadership of Bairam Khan, a wise move given Humayun's record of military ineptitude, and it turned out to be prescient as Bairam proved himself a great tactician.
Bairam Khan led the army through the Punjab virtually unopposed. The only major battle faced by Humayun's armies was against
After Sirhind, most towns and villages chose to welcome the invading army as it made its way to the capital. On 23 July 1555, Humayun once again sat on Babur's throne in Delhi.[44]
Marriage relations with the Khanzadas
The Gazetteer of Ulwur states:
Soon after Babur's death, his successor, Humayun, was in AD 1540 supplanted by the Pathan Sher Shah, who, in AD 1545, was followed by Islam Shah. During the reign of the latter a battle was fought and lost by the Emperor's troops at Firozpur Jhirka, in Mewat, on which, however, Islam Shah did not loose his hold. Adil Shah, the third of the Pathan interlopers, who succeeded in AD 1552, had to contend for the Empire with the returned Humayun. In these struggles for the restoration of Babar's dynasty Khanzadas apparently do not figure at all. Humayun seems to have conciliated them by marrying the elder daughter of Jamal Khan, nephew of Babar's opponent, Hasan Khan and, by causing his great minister, Bairam Khan, to marry a younger daughter of the same Mewatti.[45]
Ruling Kashmir
With all of Humayun's brothers now dead, there was no fear of another usurping his throne during his military campaigns. He was also now an established leader and could trust his generals. With this new-found strength Humayun embarked on a series of military campaigns aimed at extending his reign over areas in the east and west of the subcontinent. His sojourn in exile seems to have reduced his reliance, and his military leadership came to imitate the more effective methods that he had observed in Persia.[46]
Character
Edward S. Holden writes; "He was uniformly kind and considerate to his dependents, devotedly attached to his son Akbar, to his friends, and to his turbulent brothers. The misfortunes of his reign arose in great part, from his failure to treat them with rigor." He further writes: "The very defects of his character, which render him less admirable as a successful ruler of nations, make us more fond of him as a man. His renown has suffered in that his reign came between the brilliant conquests of Babur and the beneficent statesmanship of Akbar; but he was not unworthy to be the son of the one and the father of the other."[47]
Stanley Lane-Poole writes in his book Medieval India: "His name meant the winner (Lucky/Conqueror), there is no king in the history to be named as wrong as Humayun", he was of a forgiving nature. He further writes, "He was in fact unfortunate ... Scarcely had he enjoyed his throne for six months in Delhi when he slipped down from the polished steps of his palace and died in his forty-ninth year (Jan. 24, 1556). If there was a possibility of falling, Humayun was not the man to miss it. He tumbled through his life and tumbled out of it."[48]
Humayun ordered the crushing by elephant of an imam he mistakenly believed to be critical of his reign.[49]
Death and legacy
On 24 January 1556, Humayun, with his arms full of books, was descending the staircase from his library
Akbar later asked his paternal aunt, Gulbadan Begum, to write a biography of his father Humayun, the Humayun nameh (or Humayun-nama), and what she remembered of Babur.
The full title is Ahwal Humayun Padshah Jamah Kardom Gulbadan Begum bint Babur Padshah amma Akbar Padshah.[57] She was only eight when Babur died, and was married at 17, and her work is in simple Persian style.
Unlike other Mughal royal biographies (the Zafarnama of Timur, Baburnama, and his own Akbarnama) no richly illustrated copy has survived, and the work is only known from a single battered and slightly incomplete manuscript, now in the British Library, that emerged in the 1860s. Annette Beveridge published an English translation in 1901,[58] and editions in English and Bengali have been published since 2000.[59]
See also
Footnotes
- ^ OCLC 221798951.
- ^ Begum, Gulbadan (1902). The History of Humāyūn (Humāyūn-nāmah). Royal Asiatic Society. p. 260.
- ISBN 978-0-7069-1076-6.
- ^ Mukhia 2004, p. 124.
- ^ Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 1, Part II: Papers and Summaries (June 1935), pp. 46–61 (16 pages) https://www.jstor.org/stable/44202304
- ^ Prasad, Ishwari (1955). The Life and Times of Humayun. Orient Longmans. p. 1-Footnotes.
- ^ Fazl, Abul (1907). The Akbarnama of Abu'l Fazl. Vol. I. Translated by Henry Beveridge. The Asiatic Society. p. 285.
- ^ Sharaf Al-Din: "Zafar-nama".
- ISBN 978-0-521-65704-4.
- ^ William Bayne Fisher, Peter Jackson, Peter Avery, Lawrence Lockhart, John Andrew Boyle, Ilya Gershevitch, Richard Nelson Frye, Charles Melville, Gavin Hambly, The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume VI (1986), pp. 99–101
- ^ Tabakāt Akbarī, a translation from Volume V of The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians, 1867
- ISBN 0002557177.
- ^ a b c Rama Shankar Avasthy: "The Mughal Emperor Humayun".
- ^ Banerji 1938
- doi:10.18297/etd/628. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
- ISBN 9788121903646.
- ^ a b Jauhar: "Tadhkirat al-Waqiat".
- ^ a b Gascoigne 1971, p. 50: "Hindal ... had been stationed ... for the purpose of securing Humayun's rear, but he had deserted his post ... another brother, Kamran, ... was also converging on Delhi from his territories in the Punjap – ostensibly to help Humayun but in reality ... to stake his own claim to his brother's crumbling empire. [Kamran] dissuaded Hindal from further open disloyalty, but ... the two brothers now disregarded Humayun's urgent appeals for help on his dangerous journey back through the territory which had been relinquished by Hindal to Sher Khan."
- ^ The Life and Times of Humāyūn by Ishwari Prasad, Published by Orient Longmans, 1956, p. 36
- OCLC 622473045.
Babar established good relations with them [the Ghakhars] and hereafter they always sided with the Mughals. Sher Shah Suri therefore determined to crush the Ghakhars and built a fort at Rohtas;
- ^ Badauni: "Muntakhab al-Tawarikh".
- ^ Gascoigne 1971, pp. 50–51: "Humayun's brief advance brought his army out of its prepared defensive position, and Sher Shah, having withdrawn a few miles, returned at night to find the Mogul camp asleep and unprepared. The emperor himself escaped only because one of his water-bearers inflated his water-skin with air for Humayun to hold in his arms and float [across the Ganges] ... Humayun crept back to Agra."
- ISBN 978-0-521-85022-3.
- ISBN 978-93-80607-34-4.
Kamran withdrew from Agra to Lahore. ... In the Battle of Kanauj (17 May 1540) ... Humayun was defeated. His two younger brothers, Askari and Hindal, also ... Humayun fled to Agra but was pursued by the Afghans, who drove him first to Delhi and then to Lahore. ... Finally ... he took shelter at the court of the Iranian king, Shah Tahmasp. Thus began a weary exile which lasted for nearly 15 years.
- Abul-Fazel: "Akbar-nama".
- ^ ISBN 9780191004124.
- ISBN 81-7601-685-3.
- ISBN 9788171829460.
- ISBN 978-9693518047.
- ^ Humayun, Mirza Nasir al-Din Muhammad. "Humayun". britannica.
- OCLC 1008395679.
- ^ Ikram, S. M. (1964). "X. The Establishment of the Mughal Empire". Muslim Civilization in India. New York: Columbia University Press.
He ... turned toward Qandahar where his brother Kamran was in power, but he received no help and had to seek refuge with the Shah of Persia.
- ISBN 978-0-14-100143-2.
- ^ Rapson, Edward James; Haig, Sir Wolseley; Burn, Sir Richard (1968). The Cambridge History of India. Vol. 5. Cambridge University Press Archive.
The tomb was built by Humayun's widow, Haji Begum, who shared his long exile at the court of the Safavids.
- ^ Richards 1993, p. 11: "At the Safavid court, Humayun, under extreme duress, accepted the Shia faith in order to keep himself and several hundred followers alive. After this initial test, Tahmasp grew more friendly and eventually agreed to underwrite Humayun's attempt to regain power."
- ISBN 0-19-563905-7.
- ^ Shah, Ghanshyam (1975). Caste Association and Political Process in Gujarat: A Study of Gujarat Kshatriya Sabha. New Delhi, India, Asia: Popular Prakashan. pp. 11: 1The Gazetteers and the Census describe Kolis as a tribe which entered Gujarat in the early 16th century. They came in groups and often looted villages and towns. In 1535, the camp of Mughal Emperor Humayun at Cambay was plundered by them. They attacked Mehmadabad, a town in Kheda district.
- ISBN 978-0-19-565732-6.
- ISBN 978-1-108-04620-6.
- ISBN 978-81-7075-035-2.
- JSTOR 44141140.
- ^ Sankaran, Sahaj. "22 June, 1555: Humayun Wins the Battle of Sirhind | Today in Indian History from Honesty Is Best". honestyisbest.com. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
- ^ "Battles for India at Sirhind". Times of India Blog. 18 March 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ Toler, Pamela D. (February 2011). "An Untimely Death". Calliope. 21 (5): 3 – via EBSCOhost.
- ^ Powlett, P. W. (1878). Gazetteer of Ulwur. London: Trübner & Co. pp. 7–8.
- ^ Prasad, Ishwari (1976). The Life and Times of Humayun. Central Book Depot.
- ISBN 978-81-206-1883-1.
- ^ Lane-Poole, Stanley (1903). Medieval India under Mohammedan Rule (712–1764). New York, US: G. P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 230–237.
- ISBN 0-7538-1758-6, p. 45.
- S. Chand & Co.pp. 21–22.
- ^ Kamiya, Takeo. "Humayun's Tomb in Delhi". UNESCO. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
- ^ Banerji 1938, pp. 97, 232
- OCLC 243709755.
The mausoleum which Haji Begum built at Delhi to shelter her late husband's mortal remains ... Another pleasing feature is the laying out of a large garden round the building.
- ISBN 978-0-14-310262-5.
- ISBN 978-0-313-30513-9.
After Mughal emperor Humayan's death in 1556, his wife, Hajji Begum, assembled a team of architects and builders to create a grand tomb in Delhi. She placed the tomb in a grid with a garden. This setting became a signature of Mughal architecture and is most perfectly realized in the Taj Mahal.
- ^ "Mausoleum that Humayun never built". The Hindu. 28 April 2003. Archived from the original on 8 July 2003. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
- ^ The Humayun Namah, by Gulbadan Begam, a study site by Deanna Ramsay
- ^ Begam, Gulbaden (1902). Beveridge, Annette Susannah (ed.). The history of Humāyūn (Humāyūn-nāma). London: Royal Asiatic Society. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
- ISBN 81-85696-66-7
References
- Avasthy, Rama Shanker (1967). The Mughal Emperor Humayun. History Dept., University of Allahabad. OCLC 469320065.
- Banerji, S. K. (1938). Humayun Badshah. Oxford University Press.
- ISBN 978-006-011467-1.
- ISBN 978-0-631-18555-0.
- ISBN 978-0-521-25119-8.
Bibliography
- Begum, Gulbadan (1902). The History of Humāyūn (Humāyūn-nāmah) (English translation and Persian text). Translated by Annette S. Beveridge. Royal Asiatic Society.; English translation only, as text
- Begam Gulbadam; Annette S. Beveridge (1972). The History of Humāyūn (Humāyūn-nāmah). Begam Gulbadam. pp. 249–.
- Jawhar (fl. 1554) (1832). The Tezkereh Al Vakiāt: Or, Private Memoirs of the Moghul Emperor Humayun. Translated by Charles Stewart. Oriental Translation Fund.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - Cambridge History of India, Vol. III & IV, "Turks and Afghan" and "The Mughal Period". (Cambridge) 1928
- William Irvine The Army of the Indian Moghuls. (London) 1902. (Last revised 1985)
- Jos Gommans Mughal Warfare (London) 2002
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 872.