1 Huiméydin succeeds,
2 His taste for astro-
3 nomy.
4 Kamran Mirza ap-
5 pointed governor of
6 the Panjab.
7 Opcrations in Hin-
8 dostiin.
9 Treason of his
10 brothers,
11 No is discomfited
12 by Sher Khan Sur,
13 His retreat to
14 LAhore, 1540.
15 Horrors of his
16 march through the
17 desert,
18 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary
19 126 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB,
20 NASIR-UD-DIN HUMAYUN.
21 HIS FIRST REIGN.
22 Humaytin, who succeeded his father, Baber, to the throne of India, was
23 an amiable and accomplished prince. He was remarkable for his affability,
24 tender disposition, and love of social intercourse. He made the science of
25 astronomy his favourite object of study, wrote works on the nature of the
26 elements, and fitted up seven halls of audience, named after the planets, and
27 transacted business in each of these once a week. The audience was given
28 according to the planet of the day; military chiefs being received in the
29 hall of Mars, judges and ministers in that of Mercury, ambassadors, poets
30 and travellers in the palace of the Moon, and civil officers in that of Venus.
31 Each hall was painted and decorated so as to exhibit some symbol peculiar
32 to the planet, and the attendants were similarly attired. ;
33 Humiyin had hardly occupied his seat on the throne when his brother
34 Kamran Mirza, governor of Kabul and Kandahar, formed the design of making
35 himself master of the Panjdb. With that view he marched from Kabul,
36 giving out that his object in proceeding to Hindostdn was to offer his con-
37 gratulations to his brother on his assuming the sovereignty of that country.
38 Hdmdyun, however, perceiving his designs, sent him delegates and appointed
39 him viceroy of the Panjab, Peshdwar and Laghmén, and the prince was thus
40 appeased.
41 Pe rainy tin waged wars on the Hindu Rajds of Bundelkhand, reduced
42 Chendr, marched against Bahadur Shah, sovereign of Gujrdét and the
43 countries of Mdlwé as far south as Ahmadnagar, defeated him and fought
44 bloody engagements with Sher Khan Pathan, who had established an inde-
45 pendent monarchy in Bengal and Behar. After recovering various lost
46 provinces and suppressing rebellions, Himayun might have expected to
47 reign in peace, but his brothers, Kamran and Hindal Mirza, gave him fresh
48 trouble, and in 1589 the former marched from Léhore, at the head of 10,000
49 horse, to seize on Delhi, while the emperor was engaged in a war with Sher
50 Khan at Rohtas. He was, however, foiled in his attempt by Fakhar-ud-din
51 Se commandant at Delhi, and, after a faint attempt on Agra, returned
52 to Lahore.
53 The following year the emperor was discomfited by Sher Khan and
54 obliged to abandon his capital. He retreated to Lahore, and was, in July,
55 1540, joined in the Panjéb by many of his Moghal officers, who had been
56 dispersed in previous battles. Sher Khan still continued his pursuit, and,
57 having crossed the Bids near Sultdnptir, compelled the emperor, in Novem- ,
58 ber, to cross the Raévf and retreat to Tatta and Bhakkar. In his marches
59 across the western desert, Himayin endured the severest calamities which
60 ever fell to the lot of an Eastern monarch. His wanderings in the burning
61 sands of the deserts, almost destitute of water or the shade of a tree,
62 were marked by extreme misery and privations, and most of his followers
63 perished from exhaustion and thirst. The emperor had his harem with
64 him and the Sultana was far advanced in pregnancy. Such wells as
65 there were in the wilderness were fortified and guarded with the utmost
66 jealousy by hereditary freebooters and marauders, They were so deep that
67 the man driving the bullocks which pulled the bucket of water fastened
68 with a rope, had to be informed of the reaching of the bucket at the top by
69 a beat of drum., One of these wells was reached by the party after four
70 eo a a wandering. When the bucket was drawn up, the thirsty
71 Tushed to it so impatiently that the rope broke and the bucket fell
72 NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com