Describe the struggle between Sher Shah and Humayun. What were the causes of victory of Sher Shah and failure of Humayun?

Ans. 

Introduction:

The Afghans were the strongest enemies of Humayun. Among the Afghans, Mahmud Lodi, Alam Khan Lodi and Sher Khan were prominent. Humayun had defeated Mahmud Lodi in the battle of Daurah. Alam Khan had taken refuge with Bahadur Shah in Gujarat after fleeing. But Sher Khan was Humayun's biggest enemy. There was a struggle between Sher Khan and Humayun. As a result of the struggle, Humayun had to relinquish the throne of Delhi and spend his life in exile. 

The details of the struggles between Humayun and Sher Shah during 1530-40 are as follows:

First siege of Chunar - 

Sher Khan was the son of a jagirdar, but had become a leader of the Afghans. In 1531, he had captured the fort of Chunar. The fort of Chunar was located on a range of the Vindhya mountains. On the other hand, the fort of Rohtas was built on this hill. These hills encircle south-west Bihar and Bengal and block the route coming from the southern bank of the Ganga at Chunar and Sisragali near Bhagalpur. Although the hills are big, they are surrounded by forests. As soon as Humayun started proceeding along the bank of the Ganga and prepared means to carry his artillery etc, besieging Chunar became necessary for him.  

Before the campaign against Bahadur Shah in the south, he thought it appropriate to deal with Sher Khan first. When Humayun had defeated Mahmud Lodi, he sent Hindu Beg to take Chunar. But Sher Khan refused to give it. Thereupon, Humayun started his campaign towards Chunar and laid siege to it. Sher Khan knew that Humayun could not stay here for long, because he had already received information through spies that Bahadur Shah had achieved victory over Mandu and was attempting to gain control over Delhi. Therefore, Sher Khan sent his envoy to Humayun with the plea - "I am your servant ... As you will give this (fort) to someone after conquering it, give it to me and I will send my son Qutub Khan with you for this campaign."  

Compelled (due to the invasion of Bahadur Shah), Humayun accepted his plea and left for Gujarat to subdue Bahadur Shah. According to Dr. Qanungo, Humayun had placed the following conditions in the treaty with Sher Shah:

• 1. Sher Khan should return the fort of Chunar.
• 2. He should be present at the court in Delhi.
• 3. He should also become a Mughal noble. 
• 4. His son should stay in the Mughal court.

But at first Sher Khan rejected this treaty. However, realizing that Humayun has to leave for Gujarat soon, he accepted just two nominal conditions: 

• 1. His son Qutub Khan would stay in the Mughal court.
• 2. He would remain a ruler subordinate to the Mughals.

Humayun happily accepted both conditions and returned to Agra. But this was a grave mistake by Humayun. He should have crushed Sher Khan's power then and there. The result of this mistake he had to suffer soon.

Second siege of Chunar - 

When Humayun was in Gujarat, Sher Khan took advantage of the situation. After preparing a huge army, he started clearing his enemies in Bihar. He secretly made a treaty with Bahadur Shah and promised him financial aid. In 1536, Sher Khan attacked Bengal and extracted three lakh rupees as tribute from the ruler there. When Humayun returned from Gujarat, Yusuf Khan told him - "It is not good to neglect Sher Khan, because he is ready for rebellion and will understand all matters of governance."  

But drowned in the intoxication of the might of his army, Humayun paid no heed to this remark by Yusuf Khan. Staying in Agra himself, he appointed Hindu Beg as the governor of Jaunpur and ordered him to gather complete information about Sher Khan and send it to him. According to Abbas Khan Sherwani, "Hindu Beg took bribe from Sher Khan and did not inform Humayun. Sher Khan got coins minted in his name and the khutba read in his name. He also attacked some Mughal territories and besieged Gaur." 

Sher Khan bribed Hindu Beg and won him over to his side. He told Sher Khan's envoy - "As long as I am there, remain fearless. No one will cause you any harm."

Hindu Beg wrote to Humayun that Sher Khan is your devotee. Therefore, Humayun postponed his plan of attacking Sher Khan and Sher Khan conquered Bengal. 

Sher Khan's conquest of Bengal -

In 1537, Humayun proceeded towards Bengal. He halted at Chunar and called a meeting of a military committee. Some people suggested that Humayun should proceed towards Gaur and inflict a crushing defeat on Sher Khan. Humayun took advice from some youths. They suggested that Chunar should be captured first and then advance towards Gaur. Humayun accepted the opinion of the youths. He besieged Chunar and conquered it. In fact this was also a mistake by Humayun. While Humayun was conquering Chunar, by then on 6th April 1538, Sher Khan had captured the forts of Gaur and Rohtas. Expressing happiness on this victory, Sher Khan said: 

"Compared to it (Rohtas), the fort of Chunar was nothing, it slipped out of my control. I was not as happy on conquering Gaur as I am on gaining control over it (the fort of Rohtas)." 

Sher Shah's Control over Banaras and Kanauj-

Humayun got engrossed in celebrations and feasts and meanwhile, Sher Khan started increasing his power. He beheaded 700 Mughals and besieged Chunar. After gaining control over Banaras, he proceeded towards Kanauj. Sher Khan advanced further, plundered Banaras, Sambhal and Jaunpur, ousted the Mughals from there, established his authority and collected land revenue. Meanwhile, Hindal reached Agra, killed Sheikh Bahlol and rebelled against Humayun. Hindal declared himself an independent ruler. Humayun had sent Sheikh Bahlol to defeat Hindal, but he was killed. 

Meanwhile, Sher Khan achieved many victories. Bihar, Kanauj, Manikpur, Chunar, Banaras came under the control of Sher Khan. At this time, the condition of Humayun was very pathetic. He was trapped from all sides. Leaving Jahangir Quli Beg with 5,000 soldiers, he returned from Gaur. 

Battle of Chausa (26 June 1539) -

Humayun divided his army in two parts and against the advice of his officers, he crossed the southern bank of the Ganga and took the Band-Trunk road for Agra. According to Dr. Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava, this was a dreadful mistake by Humayun. Due to this mistake only, open confrontation with Sher Khan became inevitable. Near the Karmanasa river at a place called Chausa, he received the news that Sher Khan had also arrived. Sher Khan got time. By not listening to his officers a second time, Humayun made a mistake. Humayun did not get any help from his brothers either. There was struggle between Kamran and Hindal for the throne. Kamran had declared himself emperor. Meanwhile, Humayun attempted peace talks, but Sher Khan had the bitter experience of Humayun violating treaties. So he was not ready for any treaty. As soon as the rainy season started, the Afghan chieftains started clearing their hands. 

Unfortunately, Humayun had camped his army at a low lying place. Due to the rains, his artillery became useless. His army also fell prey to fever. Taking advantage of the situation, on 25 June 1539, Sher Khan announced attack on Bhattarath Chauro, but they attacked the Mughals on 26 June 1539 amidst the twinkling of stars. Humayun had no preparation at all. There was such chaos in the army that saving their own lives became difficult for them. Many Mughals were killed. Zahur has written an eyewitness description of this battle:

"An archer seated on an elephant threw an arrow, which caused injury to the emperor's arm and the enemies started surrounding from all sides. Then the emperor rallied his soldiers and ordered to advance and attack the enemy. But no one obeyed the order. The Afghans had created terror everywhere. Therefore, a companion of the emperor reached near him and catching hold of the horse's reins said - "Now it is not appropriate to waste time, when your own friends have deserted you, fleeing is the only recourse." 

To save his life, Humayun jumped into the Ganga along with his horse, with the ambition to reach Agra. His life was saved with the help of a water carrier named Nizam. It is said that in gratitude, Humayun made him emperor for two days, during which he minted leather coins in his name. 

In this battle, Humayun was defeated. Out of 84,000 soldiers, only 500 had returned to Delhi. 400 Mughal women fell into the hands of the Afghans. Sher Khan assumed royal insignia and donning the title of Sher Shah, declared himself an independent ruler. This coronation took place in September 1539 in Gaur. 

Battle of Kanauj (May 15, 1540) - 

On reaching Agra, Hindal sought forgiveness from Humayun. Negotiations went on for 6 months. Meanwhile, Kamran fell ill and it was suspected that he was poisoned. So he returned to Lahore with his entire army. Meanwhile, Sher Shah had sent his son to Chandawar, but he was defeated and killed.  

Chasing the trail of the fleeing Humayun, Sher Khan advanced further, plundering Kalpi and Kanauj, and reached near Bilgram. There he surrounded Humayun's army once again. For one month, both armies stood face to face. 

Humayun gathered a huge army, but Kamran did not provide timely help. Kamran went to Kabul with his army. There were forty thousand warriors in Humayun's army. Mirza Haider was the commander of this army. Mirza Haider wrote that the rebel soldiers of Humayun joined hands with Sher Shah. As Humayun's soldiers had to remain idle, they started shouting - let us go home and rest. Thus, Humayun had to be defeated in the battle of Kanauj.