A Dodged Arrow: The Death Of Hemu

This happened somewhere around January-February, 1556 in Lahore, Punjab region of Hindustan. After the humiliating defeat at the hands of Hemchandra Vikramaditya, the surviving Mughal Governors of Sambhal and Delhi, i.e. Ali Quli Khan and Tardi Beg Khan had reached Lahore to update the situation at Delhi. Hemchandra had a consolidated rule across the Gangetic Plains and his control was stretching from Sutlej to Bengal, including parts of present day Madhya Pradesh.

The Mughals, who hailed from Uzbekistan had Lahore as their only base in India. Kabul was their stable base and also a place to strategize the movement of their expeditions. Hence, after Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar was crowned as the Mughal Emperor on 14 February 1556, he was ruling only a small region of India, and that too with the help of Bairam Khan who was actually taking the decisions.

In discussion with Tardi Beg Khan and Ali Quli Khan, Bairam Khan came to know about the strengths and weaknesses of Hemu. However, the fear of Hemu had already been instilled in the Mughals due to his undefeated streak of 22 battles. So, Tardi Beg Khan advised Bairam Khan to retreat to Kabul and then attack at a suitable time. But, Bairam Khan beheaded Tardi Beg the very next moment and asked Akbar to prepare for a battle with Hemu.

Miles away in Delhi, Hemu had similar intentions. When the news of Mughal attack reached Hemu, he immediately began the preparations for war. But Hemu received signals from the nature that his streak was going to end.

He had a dream on his way to Punjab in which his elephant Hawai, on which he had commanded his army to victories, drowned in a river. Also, he saw his own corpse being chained down by the Mughal soldiers. The purohits told him that these signals mean an upcoming defeat and death. Surprisingly, the next day his elephant died of a lightning strike. When the purohits saw this, they tried to persuade Hemu from fighting but Hemu said:

My dear Hawai, which had been a constant companion to me over all these years has sacrificed himself for my cause. How would I live with a feeling that I couldn't honour his sacrifice with a victory? I'll face the Mughals and drive them out of India forever.

Hemu had an artillery strength of 50, which he sent in advance to increase the speed of troops movement. However, the small force guarding the artillery was taken over by the Mughals in no time. Even then, Hemu remained positive about the war and moved on with 30000 cavalry and 500 elephants. The armies soon met each other in the same village of Panipat, where Babur had emerged victorious 30 years ago to claim the throne of Delhi. This time, Panipat was again to witness the next ruler of Delhi. The Mughals had a strength of 20000 soldiers, under the command of Bairam Khan who had fought alongside Babur.

Hemu, on the other hand was the biggest inspiration for his soldiers. He was leading the charge from the centre while his sister's son, Ramya was commanding the Left Wing of his army. The Right Wing was being commanded by the Afghan general, Shadi Khan Kakkar. When the battle started, Hemu's left wing and right wing attacked the Mughal army, which had three wings and a vanguard. The vanguard, led by Muhammad Qasim charged at Hemu's army but were soon killed. However, the injured soldiers escaped out of the way and attacked again from sideways with the support of cavalry.

After a fierce fighting, Hemu saw Shadi Khan Kakkar and Bhagwan Das being killed and ordered an organised retreat from the battlefield. The left and right wings now started retreating and the Mughals were advancing towards Hemu's camp, believing they're just close to victory. By this time, all the wings of the Mughal armies had been isolated and Hemu launched a concentrated attack on the Central Wing of the Mughal army, which was in control of Ali Quli Khan. He had already anticipated this move of Hemu and had a ditch dug in between to prevent Hemu's advance.

But then, Hemu was not a newbie. He was riding on elephants and no ditch was wide enough for them. Hemu's core army now created a havoc in the Mughal army and there was only chaos that followed. The Mughals began to retreat, for they knew they had been defeated. Amidst this chaos, a Mughal soldier attempted to shoot down the Mahaut of Hemu's elephant but the Mahaut dodged. Little did he knew that his dodging would let that arrow strike right in the left eye of Hemu.

However, Hemu instructed him to keep calm and he continued fighting. But the huge blood flow from the eyes made him unconscious and he fell back in the Howdah of his elephant. Seeing this, the Mahaut took the elephant to the side of the battlefield where he was spotted by a retreating Ali Quli Khan.

An unconscious Hemu was captured and taken to Akbar and Bairam Khan, who were preparing to retreat to Kabul after watching the defeat of Mughals from some 2 miles away from Panipat. In the battlefield, the Mughal said they had killed Hemu and Hemu's army lost the morale as they couldn't see him or his elephant. An arrow had proved out to be extremely lucky for the Mughals and bitterly unfortunate for Hemchandra Vikramaditya.

Later that day, Bairam Khan beheaded Hemu and sent his head to be put at the gates of Kabul, while his torso was hung at Delhi for the public to instill fear in them. Hemu's family members were slaughtered mercilessly, including his father who refused to accept Islam. However, his wife escaped Delhi and wasn't heard of after then.

This is a follow up to Hemchandra Vikramaditya: A Forgotten Emperor Of India. Please read that post to connect the events.

Thumbnail Courtesy: Indian Contents