- Also called:
- Nāṣir al-Dīn Muḥammad
- Born:
- March 6, 1508, Kabul [Afghanistan]
- Died:
- January 1556, Delhi [India] (aged 47)
- House / Dynasty:
- Mughal dynasty
Humayun
Who was Humayun?
What is significant about Humayun’s Tomb?
How did Humayun die?
Humayun (born March 6, 1508, Kabul [Afghanistan]—died January 1556, Delhi [India]) was the second Mughal ruler of India, who was more an adventurer than a consolidator of his empire. The son and successor of Babur, who had founded the Mughal dynasty, Humayun ruled from 1530 to 1540 and again from 1555 to 1556.
Reign of Humayun
Humayun inherited the hope rather than the fact of empire, because the Afghans and Rajputs were merely restrained but not reconciled to Mughal supremacy by the Mughal victories at Panipat (1526), Khanua (1527), and the Ghaghara (1529). Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, encouraged by Afghan and Mughal émigrés, challenged the Mughals in Rajasthan, and, although Humayun occupied Gujarat in 1535, the danger there ended only with Bahadur’s death in 1537. Meanwhile, an Afghan soldier of fortune, Sher Shah of Sur, had consolidated his power in Bihar and Bengal. He defeated Humayun at Chausa in 1539 and at Kannauj in 1540, expelling him from India.
Humayun became a homeless wanderer, seeking support first in Sindh, then in Marwar, and then in Sindh again; his son, Akbar, was born there in 1542. Reaching Iran in 1544, Humayun was granted military aid by Shah Ṭahmāsp and went on to conquer (in what is now Afghanistan) Kandahār (1545) and to seize Kabul three times from his own disloyal brother, Kamran, the final time being in 1550. Taking advantage of civil wars among the descendants of Sher Shah, Humayun captured Lahore (now in Pakistan) in February 1555, and, after defeating Sikandar Sur, the rebel Afghan governor of the Punjab, at Sirhind, he recovered Delhi and Agra that July.
Death
In 1556, Humayun was fatally injured by falling down the staircase of his library. The library was situated in the premises of what is now called Purana Qila (“Old Fort”) in Delhi. In Abul-Fazl’s Akbarnama (“History of Akbar”) the day of Humayun’s fatal accident is described as routine, with messengers arriving at his court in Delhi and delivering news from all around.
In the evening Humayun stepped out onto the roof of his newly refurbished library. From there he acknowledged the crowd assembled at the chief mosque below. The ruler had summoned the court astrologers to help him observe the rising Venus. He intended to hold a grand assembly and announce promotions when the planet ascended and the hour turned auspicious. As dusk settled, he began to climb down the stairs. He had reached only the second step when a muqri (a reciter of the Qurʾān) gave the call to prayer. The emperor paused to sit in prayer where he stood. The steps were steep, and the stone was slick. As he lowered himself, his foot caught in his robe, and he dropped his staff. He lost his balance and fell headlong. His right temple struck the stone with such force that blood trickled from his ear, and a few days later he passed away.
Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi, built several years after his death, is the first of the great Mughal architectural masterpieces; it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1993.
