Second battle of Panipat

Topic: The Mughal Empire: Babur to Aurangzeb · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 2 "Reshaping India's Political Map"

Meaning

The Second Battle of Panipat was fought on 5 November 1556 at Panipat (in present-day Haryana). In it, the Mughal forces of the young Akbar defeated the Sur army led by Hemu, who was hit in the eye by an arrow, captured and beheaded. [3]

It mattered because it won back Delhi and Agra for the Mughals and restored Mughal rule in north India. This let Akbar's long reign begin. [3]

Explanation

Background: how the Mughals lost north India and won it back

Humayun could not hold Babur's new empire together.
The Afghan nobles of Bihar and Bengal never accepted Mughal rule.
Babur had left no settled system of revenue or army pay.
Humayun's brothers, especially Kamran, held Kabul and Punjab and did not help him.
Sher Shah Suri, an Afghan leader, took advantage of this weakness.
Battle of Chausa: he defeated Humayun on 26 June 1539. [2]
Battle of Kannauj: he defeated Humayun again in May 1540. Humayun fled India, and Sher Shah set up the Sur dynasty. [2]
Humayun spent years in exile, mostly at the Safavid court of Persia.
In 1555 he recovered Lahore, Agra and Delhi. [2]
He died in January 1556, after only a few months back in Delhi. He left behind a boy king, Akbar, and an empire that was not yet secure. [2]

Hemu's rise: the immediate cause

Hemu (Himu) was the wazir (chief minister) and main general of one of the last Sur rulers.
He did not come from a warrior family. He started out in trade and army supply, and he rose through his own skill.
After Humayun's death, Hemu captured Delhi and ruled for a short time under the royal name Hemchandra Vikramaditya.
This put the Mughal hold on north India at risk once again. The Mughals had to fight Hemu to get it back.

The battle, 5 November 1556

Place: Panipat, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Delhi. [3]
Sides: Akbar's Mughal army against the Sur army under Hemu. Akbar was only about 13 years old, so his guardian and regent Bairam Khan led the Mughal side.
Hemu's strength: about 500 war elephants. [3]
Mughal tactics:
The Mughals did not attack the elephants from the front.
Instead, the Mughal cavalry rode round the flanks and the rear of Hemu's army.
They attacked the elephants' legs and their drivers. [3]
The turning point: Hemu was struck in the eye by an arrow. His army lost heart. His soldiers either ran away or surrendered. [3]
End of Hemu: The wounded Hemu was captured and brought to Akbar. He was beheaded on Akbar's orders.

Results

Akbar took back Delhi and Agra from the Sur dynasty. [3]
Mughal rule in north India was restored, and this time it lasted. [3]
The Sur challenge was effectively over. Akbar went on to build on Sher Shah's reforms: the rupiya coin, the roads and sarais, and the measurement of land for revenue.

Time, place and evidence

Period: Mughal period, at the very start of Akbar's reign. The battle came less than a year after Humayun died in January 1556. [2]
Dynasties: the Mughals (Akbar, grandson of Babur) against the Sur dynasty (founded by Sher Shah Suri). [3]
Place: Panipat, in present-day Haryana, about 80 km north of Delhi. [3]
Key people:
Akbar: the boy emperor.
Bairam Khan: Akbar's guardian, who commanded the Mughal side.
Hemu: Sur wazir and general, who took the title Hemchandra Vikramaditya.
How we know:
NCERT Class 8, Ch 2 "Reshaping India's Political Map" covers the battle.
Britannica's entry on the Second Battle of Panipat gives the date, place, the 500 elephants, the Mughal cavalry tactics and the arrow in Hemu's eye. [3]
Mughal court histories of Akbar's reign, such as Abul Fazl's Akbar Nama, also describe these events. Keep in mind that they tell the story from the winning side.

Don't confuse with

First Battle of Panipat (1526): Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi and founded Mughal rule. The Second Battle (1556) restored Mughal rule, with Akbar defeating Hemu.
Third Battle of Panipat (1761): the Marathas fought Ahmad Shah Abdali. The Mughals were not one of the main fighting sides.
Battles of Chausa (1539) and Kannauj (1540): in these battles Humayun lost to Sher Shah. Panipat II is where the Mughals won back what they had lost to the Surs. [2]
Hemu vs Sher Shah: both served the Sur state. Sher Shah founded the dynasty and made the reforms. Hemu was a later wazir who briefly held Delhi as Hemchandra Vikramaditya and lost at Panipat.

Prelims Hooks

Second Battle of Panipat: 5 November 1556. Akbar's Mughal forces defeated Hemu of the Sur army. [3]
Panipat is in Haryana, about 80 km north of Delhi. [3]
Hemu had about 500 war elephants. The Mughal cavalry attacked their legs and drivers from the flanks and the rear. [3]
Hemu was hit in the eye by an arrow, captured and beheaded. Trap: he was not killed in the fighting itself. [3]
Hemu's royal title: Hemchandra Vikramaditya. He was wazir under a late Sur ruler.
Chronological order: Chausa (1539) → Kannauj (1540) → Humayun recovers Delhi (1555) → Humayun dies (Jan 1556) → Panipat II (Nov 1556). [2][3]

Mains Points

1556 as the real founding date of the Mughal empire.
Babur won in 1526, but his empire did not hold. Humayun lost it and then won it back within his own lifetime.
Panipat II settled who would rule north India, and Akbar's long reign could then begin. This is useful for "turning point vs continuity" answers.
Tactics and morale decided the battle, not numbers.
The Mughal cavalry got round Hemu's elephants instead of meeting them head-on.
Once Hemu fell, his army had no one else to follow and broke up. This shows how armies of the period depended on a single leader.
Hemu and the question of who could rule.
Hemu was neither Afghan nor Turk. He rose from trade to wazir and then to king.
This shows that in the Sur state, ability could count for more than birth.
His quick fall also shows how weak such a rise was without a strong group of nobles behind him.

Related concepts

Humayun, the Surs and Hemu

Sources

1Class 8, Ch 2 "Reshaping India's Political Map" (primary)
2Humayun / Battle of Chausa / Sur dynasty — Britannicabritannica.com · tier 3
3Second Battle of Panipat (1556) — Britannicabritannica.com · tier 3