Page:History of India Vol 3.djvu/286

228 THE EMPEROR HUMAYUN insincerely, Humayun was fain to let him alone. On the east were the Afghans in Bihar, with a brother of the late Lodi, Sultan of Delhi, at their head. On the south was Bahadur Shah, the King of Gujarat and Malwa, actively pressing his triumphs over the Rajputs and rapidly approaching within striking distance of Agra. He too had a pretender to put forward in the person of the cousin already named, Mohammad Za- man. Of the two chief perils the King of Guja- rat was the more im- posing, but the Afghan confederacy the more danger- ous adversary. Humayun was perpetually hesitating between the two. First he marched to Bihar and easily disposed of Mahmud the Lodi in a decisive victory near Lucknow in 1531. Instead of following up his success by crushing the routed Afghans with his utmost strength, he abandoned the siege of Chunar, Sher Khan's