The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c14.100

v4.c14.100

The empire which Humāyūn bequeathed to his young son consisted, in fact, of little more than the ground occupied by Bairam Khān’s small army. Delhi and Āgra had indeed been occupied but events were soon to show how precarious was the tenure of these provinces. Certain districts in the Punjab and in the trans-Gangetic province of Katehr were held, but the army’s loyalty was not wholly above suspicion, and three members of the Sūr clan still claimed the sovereignty of the whole of north-western India. One had been defeated, but not crushed, another was ready to take his place should he be defeated by Akbar’s troops, and the third, with his capital at Chunār, had not yet been attacked. The economic condition of the land was even worse than the political. Its most fertile and populous provinces were devastated by a famine caused by failure of the rains combined with two years’ destructive internecine warfare. “The capital was devastated and nothing remained but a few houses. An epidemic plague ensued and spread through most of the cities of Hindūstān. Multitudes died, and men were driven to feed on human flesh, parties being formed to seize and eat solitary victims.”