1 SHER SHAH SUR. 127
2 into the well, and, with it, several unfortunate beings who had struggled with
3 one another for the first drink. At one place the king’s horse dropped -
4 dead from exhaustion, and ‘the asylum of the world’ could not find another
5 until a trooper caused his own aged mother to dismount from her horse,
6 which the king rode. In the midst of these miseries the Sultana, Hamida
7 Bano Begam, gave birth to a son, the Prince Akbar, destined to be one of Birth of his son
8 the greatest sovereigns of the East. The hostile rdjds were still in pursuit js.” >
9 of Humayun, who, leaving his family under the care of the Rana of Amar-
10 kote, fled to Sistan, but the treacherous chief delivered over the infant
11 child to Kémrdn, the king’s brother and mortal enemy, who carried him to
12 Kandahar. Hvtimayun for the preseut gave up all idea of re-establishing the sonimiiviin retreats
13 Moghal empire in Hindostdn. ;
14 CHAPTER XI.
15 THE SUR DYNASTY.
16 SHER SHAH SUR.
17 a SHAH, whose original name was Farid, was the son of Hassan, himself _ The origin of Shor
18 the son of Ibrahim Khan, of the tribe of Sur, a native of Roh in “™™S™
19 Peshdwar, who came to Delhi, in the time of Behlol Lodi, in search of
20 military employment. In consequence of Hassan having little regard for
21 his wife, Farid quitted his protection and entered the service of Jamal
22 Khan, governor of Jaunpur, as a common soldier, under whose patronage
23 he applied himself diligently to the study of history and poetry and
24 became a profound scholar. He subsequently joined Bahadur Khan, son of
25 Daria Khan Lohani, who having subdued Behar, had assumed royal titles
26 under the name of Muhammad Shah. On one occasion, when that monarch — How he rose to
27 was on a hunting expedition, Farid slew a tiger with a single blow of his Rensr*n* macpe™
28 sabre. The king .was so much pleased with this act of skill and bravery
29 that he conferred on him, on the spot, the title of Sher Khan, or the lion-
30 knight, by which name he was ever after distinguished. On the death of
31 Muhammad Shah- Lohani, his wife Sultana Lado acted as regent for his minor
32 son and appointed Sher Khan her minister; but, she, too, dying soon
33 after, Sher Khan succeeded to the administration. By his subsequent
34 marriage to Lado Malika, the beautiful widow of Taj Khan, late governor
35 of Chunar, he secured to himself that impregnable fort and its depen-
36 dencies. While the Emperor Himayun was engaged in Gujrdt, Sher Khan
37 reduced the whole of Behar aud Bengal, and, after the defeat of the
38 Moghals at Gour, in Bengal, formally assumed the sceptre of royalty and
39 was crowned king of Bengal in 1539, with the title of Sher Shah. The a
40 next year he marched against the Emperor Humaytin, who was advancing ~
41 on Agra at the head of 100,000 troops. The battle which ensued, and in
42 which Humaytin was defeated, decided the fate of the empire of Hin-
43 dostdu for the time, and Huméayin was pursued by Sher Shah in person to
44 the Panjéb. The flight of Himayin to Sindh, and the disasters which
45 he encountered have been described in the preceding chapter. Sher Shah, _ Khawis Khan ap-
46 having appointed his trusted and able general, Khaw4s Khan, to the govern- Thetufin
47 ment of the Panjéb, returned to Agra.
48 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh J i eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com