Humayun, the Surs and Hemu

Detail

Humayun's struggle to hold the empire

• Humayun became emperor in 1526–30 succession, taking the throne after Babur's death. He struggled to hold the empire together.
• The problem was not one enemy but many at once:
• Afghan nobles in the east (Bihar, Bengal) had never accepted Mughal rule.
• Babur had left a very new empire with no settled system of revenue or army pay.

• Mughal custom gave brothers a share of power. Humayun's own brothers, especially Kamran, held Kabul and Punjab and did not help him.

• Sher Shah Suri, a powerful Afghan leader, used this weakness. He built his strength in Bihar and Bengal first, then struck at Humayun.

• Battle of Chausa — Humayun was beaten by Sher Shah on 26 June 1539. [3]
• Battle of Kannauj — a second defeat in May 1540. Humayun fled India. Sher Shah, who already held Bengal, Bihar and north India, set up the Sur dynasty. [3]
• Humayun spent years in exile, much of it in Persia (Safavid court), before returning.

The Sur Empire and Sher Shah's lasting reforms

• Sher Shah ruled only about five years — he died on 22 May 1545. [3] The empire was short-lived, but the reforms outlasted it. Akbar later built on them.
• Coins — the rupiya. Sher Shah (ruled 1540–1545) created the tri-metallic coin system (three metals used together): [2]
• Silver rupiya, weight 178 grains — the direct ancestor of today's rupee, and its design stayed almost unchanged into the early 20th century. [2]
• Gold mohur, weight 169 grains. [2]
• Copper dam. [2]

• RBI notes the tri-metallic system was "largely the creation, not of the Mughals but of Sher Shah Suri". [2]

• Roads. He rebuilt the old imperial highway, the Grand Trunk Road, running from Bengal (Calcutta side) to Peshawar. He also built a road from Agra to Jodhpur and Chittor (linking to the Gujarat ports) and a third from Lahore to Multan. [4]

• Sarais. He built many sarais (roadside rest houses where travellers and traders could sleep, eat and change horses) along these roads. [4] They did double duty — trade stops and postal relay points.
• Kos minars — tall round brick pillars set up to mark a distance of 1 kos (about 3 km), so travellers knew how far they had come. [4]
• Post. He organised a regular postal service using horse riders along the same roads. [4]
• Administration and land revenue. He reorganised the administration. Land was measured, and the peasant's share was fixed, so the farmer knew in advance what he owed. Akbar's revenue system grew out of this base. [4]
• Tomb. Sher Shah's tomb stands at Sasaram (Bihar) and is a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India. [5]

Humayun's return

• Humayun reconquered the lost ground: he recovered Lahore, Agra and Delhi in 1555. [3]
• He held Delhi only a few months. He died in January 1556, leaving a boy king, Akbar, and an unsettled empire. [3]

Himu (Hemu) — Hemchandra Vikramaditya

• Himu (Hemu) was a skilled military commander and the wazir (chief minister) under one of the last Suri rulers.
• He was not from a warrior background — he rose by ability, starting in trade and supply work, and became the key general of the Sur state.
• Using the gap left by Humayun's death, he captured Delhi and ruled briefly under the royal name Hemchandra Vikramaditya.

Second Battle of Panipat, 5 November 1556

• Fought at Panipat, in present-day Haryana, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Delhi, on 5 November 1556. [6]
• Sides: the Mughal forces of Akbar (Babur's grandson) against the Sur army led by Hemu. [6]
• Hemu had about 500 war elephants. The Mughals refused to meet them head-on. Instead the Mughal cavalry swung round the flanks and the rear, and attacked the elephants' legs and their drivers. [6]
• Hemu was struck in the eye by an arrow. His army lost heart and either fled or surrendered. [6]
• Injured, Hemu was captured, brought to Akbar, and beheaded on his orders.
• Result: Akbar reclaimed Delhi and Agra from the Sur dynasty, and Mughal rule in north India was restored. [6]

Prelims Hooks

• Battle of Chausa: Humayun vs Sher Shah, 26 June 1539. [3]
• Battle of Kannauj: Humayun defeated, May 1540; Sur dynasty established. [3]
• Sher Shah Suri ruled 1540–1545; died 22 May 1545. [2][3]
• Silver rupiya weighed 178 grains; gold mohur 169 grains; copper coin was the dam. [2]
• Tri-metallic coinage was Sher Shah's creation, not the Mughals' — per RBI. [2]
• Kos minar marked 1 kos ≈ 3 km. [4]
• Grand Trunk Road was restored by Sher Shah, running up to Peshawar. [4]
• Sher Shah's tomb is at Sasaram, Bihar (ASI-protected). [5]
• Humayun recovered Lahore, Agra and Delhi in 1555; died January 1556. [3]
• Second Battle of Panipat: 5 November 1556, Akbar vs Hemu; Hemu had ~500 war elephants; he was hit in the eye by an arrow. [6]
• Hemu's royal title: Hemchandra Vikramaditya; he was wazir under a late Suri ruler.

Mains Points

• The Sur interlude was not a break in Indian administration — it was its foundation. Sher Shah's revenue measurement, standard coin and road-and-sarai network gave Akbar a ready-made state machine. The Mughal empire that "recovered" in 1556 was in practice a Mughal crown sitting on an Afghan administrative frame.
• Why Humayun lost and Sher Shah won: institutions beat inheritance. Humayun held a conquest state with divided family claims and no fixed revenue base; Sher Shah had a tight regional base in Bihar–Bengal and then built fiscal and communication systems. Useful for any question on "why empires fail in the second generation".
• 1556 as the real founding date of the Mughal empire. Babur won in 1526 but nothing lasted; Humayun lost and regained it within a lifetime. Panipat II settled the north Indian question and let Akbar's long reign begin — a good line for "continuity vs turning point" answers.
• Hemu and the question of who could rule. A non-Afghan, non-Turk commander rising to wazir and then to king (Hemchandra Vikramaditya) shows that in this period ability could outrank birth in the Sur state — and also shows how fragile such a rise was without a supporting nobility.