ceeded him in India, but had to- make over Kabul and the
Western Punjab to his brother and rival, Kámrán. Humáyún
was thus left to govern the new conquest of India, and at the
same time was deprived of Afghanistan and the Punjab frontier
from which his father had drawn his armies. The descendants
of the early Afghan invaders, long settled in India, hated the
new Muhammadan or Mughal hordes of Babar even more than
they hated the Hindus. After ten years of fighting, Humayun
was driven out of India by these Afghans under Sher Shah, the
Governor of Bengal. While Humayun was flying through the
desert of Sind to Persia, his son Akbar was born in the petty fort
of Umarkot (1542). Sher Shah, the Afghan governor of Bengal,
set up as emperor of Delhi, but was killed while storming the
fortress of Kalinjar (1545). His son succeeded. But, under
Sher Shah's grandson, the Indian Provinces (including Malwa, the
Punjab, and Bengal) revolted against the Afghan dynasty from
Bengal. Humayun returned to India, and Akbar, then only in
his fourteenth year, defeated the Afghan army of Sher Shah's
dynasty after a desperate battle at Panfpat (1556). India now
passed finally from the Afghans to the Mughals. Sher Sh&h's
line disappears from Northern India and the Delhi throne,
although it lingered on for a time in Lower Bengal. Humayun,
having recovered his Kabul dominions, reigned again for a few
months at Delhi, but died in 1556.
The Reign of Akbar, 1556-1605.
Chronological Summary.
1542. Born at Umarkot in Sind.
1556. Regains the Delhi throne for his father, Humayun, by the victory
over the Afghans at Panipat (Bairam Khan in actual command).
Succeeds his father a few months after, under the regency of Bairam Khan.
1560. Assumes the direct management of the kingdom. Revolt of Bairam
Khan, who is defeated and pardoned.
1566. Invasion of the Punjab by Akbar's rival brother, Hakim, who is
defeated.
1561-1568. Akbar subjugates the Rajput kingdoms to the Mughal Empire.
1572-1573. Campaign in Gujarat, and its re-annexation to the Delhi Empire.
1576. Akbar's conquest of Bengal ; its final annexation to the Mughal Empire.
1581-1593. Insurrection in Gujarat. The Province finally subjugated in
1593 to the Mughal Empire.