Humayun has barely reestablished his authority before…
1556 CE
Humayun has barely reestablished his authority before he dies accidentally on January 24, 1556, in a drunken fall down the stone steps of his palace.
Jalaluddin Muhammad, his thirteen-year-old son, ascends the throne of Delhi on February 15, 1556, and rules under a regency.
Determining to eliminate the threat of the Sur dynasty, he decides to lead an army against the strongest of the three, Sikandar Shah Suri, in the Punjab, leaving Delhi under the regency of Tardi Beg Khan.
Within a few months, his governors lose several important places, including Delhi itself, to Hemu, a low-caste Hindu warrior and minister of Sur-ruled Bengal, who fights on behalf of Adil Shah Suri, one of Sikandar's brothers, but now claims the throne for himself, also seizing Agra, and establishing himself as the Rajah Vikramaditya.
Jalaluddin is advised to withdraw to the relative security of Kabul, but he refuse.
The imperial Mughal army crosses rapidly to the east, engaging Hemu and his army on the historical battlefield of Panipat, which commands the route to Delhi.
A Hindu charge involving some fifteen hundred elephants nearly overwhelms the Mughal army’s left and right wings when Hemu is struck in the eye by a chance arrow.
His army flees; Hemu is captured, unconscious, and beheaded by Bairam Khan on November 5, 1556, after Jalaluddin hesitates or refuses to execute him himself.
Following an old Khanate tradition, one which predates even Genghis Khan, Jalaluddin orders the construction of a "victory pillar" made from the heads of the enemy dead.
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