The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c14.91

v4.c14.91

The news of this defeat aroused Sikandar Shāh, who was in Delhi, to action, and he assembled an army of 30,000 horse and despatched it towards Sirhind, which city Humāyūn's advance guard had reached. Humāyūn's officers, assembled at Jullundur, decided, despite their numerical inferiority to the Afghān army, to give battle and crossed the Sutlej. The Afghāns pressed forward to oppose their passage of the river but did not reach the neighbourhood of the bank until the invaders had already crossed it. The armies met at sunset, and as the darkness fell the village before which the Afghān army was drawn up caught fire, so that the Mughul archers clearly saw their enemy by the blaze of the thatched roofs, and rained showers of arrows on them until they broke and fled, leaving their camp and baggage in the hands of the victors. Bairam Khān, who commanded the Mughul forces, then advanced to Sirhind and occupied and fortified the town, and the news of his victory was received with much joy in Humāyūn's court at Lahore.