The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c13.46

Language: English

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Humāyūn’s first experiences in Sind illustrate his lack of skill in the conduct of a difficult campaign, against an opponent so able as Shāh Husain, the ruler of the country. Making his toilsome journey down the Indus he reached Rohrī on the left bank not far from the island fortress of Bhakkar. Shāh Husain had strengthened the garrison and bidden the governor lay waste the country round so that the Mughul forces would be unable to obtain supplies. This was easily effected as population was scanty and cultivation sparse and only possible where land could be irrigated from the river. To relieve the pressure of want Humāyūn divided his troops, himself remaining in fairly comfortable quarters to prosecute the siege, while Hindāl and Yādgār advanced towards Sehwān where they hoped to obtain better supplies. In reply to the emperor’s summons to surrender the fortress the governor replied that he was subordinate to Shāh Husain and could obey only him, though he sent a small supply of grain to relieve the immediate wants of Humāyūn’s camp. Envoys were then despatched to Shāh Husain, who detained them for months by holding out promises he had no intention of fulfilling. He thus reduced the Mughul forces to such extreme want that many of the soldiers killed their horses and camels for food.

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When the emperor at last made up his mind to recall the envoys Shāh Husain sent with them an ambassador with the cunning suggestion that Humāyūn should occupy a tract described as rich which lay east of Sind and would prove a convenient place from which Gujarāt could be conquered. Though Humāyūn was easily dazzled by this prospect, his followers realised that it wanted in substance, as the inhabitants of the area named had never been subdued by Shāh Husain and were not likely to allow the Mughuls to occupy their country. Humāyūn's delay at Bhakkar and the indulgence of hopes which were patently empty in the eyes of all his advisers disgusted Hindāl, who had long been demanding permission to attack Sehwān, a richer portion of Sind lying south of Bhakkar, and had some intentions of deserting his brother and capturing Qandahār. When finally Hindāl was allowed to move against Sehwān Shāh Husain had strengthened its garrison and repeated his scheme of destroying the villages and cultivation in its neighbourhood. To ensure his brother's good faith Humāyūn marched to join him and while in his camp nearly caused an irrevocable breach by insisting on marrying (in 1541) Hamīda Begam, the daughter of Hindāl's spiritual guide, who afterwards became the mother of the emperor Akbar. The girl was probably in love with somebody else and herself displayed the strongest objection to the match.

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Sickness breaking out in the camp, Humāyūn left it to return to Bhakkar, and Hindāl in disgust abandoned his task and left for Qandahār, sending messages to Yādgār Mīrzā to invite him to follow. Once more Humāyūn's vacillation had brought him into serious trouble and to secure Yādgār Mīrzā's adherence he made promises of considerable grants to be conferred when he regained power. Realising too late that Shāh Husain had been merely playing with him, he decided to attack Shāh Husain's capital city Tatta near the mouth of the Indus, and set out on this enterprise. But on the way he was again persuaded to turn aside and besiege Sehwān, a hopeless task in view of the defensive plans which had been carried out. As he entered on this futile operation Shāh Husain, judging that the time had arrived for a more active policy, collected a fleet of boats and advanced up the river. Humāyūn's unwieldy force, swollen by fugitives of his own race who had fled from the Afghān supremacy in Hindūstān, was driven to great extremities by the lack of food. An appeal made to Hindāl for assistance was disregarded. Yādgār Mīrzā, who was also directed to attack Shāh Husain, had already been seduced by that astute monarch, and had received favourably a suggestion that he should himself become emperor by conquering Gujarāt with help from Sind and might have the reversion of Sind itself by marrying Shāh Husain's daughter.

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Thus deprived of any hope of assistance and alarmed by the proximity of Shāh Husain, Humāyūn gave up his siege operations so suddenly that his retreat towards Bhakkar was almost a rout, and much loss was experienced on the march. With the connivance of Yādgār Mīrzā all the boats on the river near Bhakkar had been seized or sunk by Sind officers and on his arrival at the bank Humāyūn was forced to kill cattle and prepare skin floats for rafts to make the crossing. He now perceived that Yādgār Mīrzā was no longer faithful and his followers, already reduced in number, began to desert either to Yādgār Mīrzā or to more distant supporters. When finally Yādgār Mīrzā proposed to attack Humāyūn openly, and was only dissuaded after he had actually left his camp, the emperor's despair almost impelled him to resign all hope and withdraw to a religious exile in Mecca. As a last resource he accepted an invitation from Rājā Māldeo of Mārwār, who promised him assistance, and made his way to Rājputāna, suffering great privations on the march.