The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c14.95

v4.c14.95

This was the last of Humāyūn’s earthly troubles, for on 24 January, 1556, he “stumbled out of life as he had stumbled through it”. He was sitting on the roof of the palace library at Delhi at the time of evening prayer, conversing with astrologers and others, and rose to descend the steep stairs in order to attend the service of prayer. On hearing the *mu‘azzin’s* cry, he knelt in reverence, but his staff slipped and he tripped on the skirt of his robe, falling down the stairs and fracturing the base of his skull. He was carried within the palace and, on recovering consciousness, learned from the court physicians that his condition was serious and despatched a message to his son Akbar, now with Bairam Khān at Kalānaur,¹ informing him that he was likely to die and finally designating him as his heir. On 26 January he breathed his last, and the true report of his death was sent to Akbar and Bairam Khān. Owing to the condition of the country it was concealed from the general public, a man being dressed up to represent him on the occasions on which he had been in the habit of appearing in public, and the Turkish admiral Sīdī ‘Alī Ra’īs, who was leaving the court for Lahore, being instructed to bear the news that the emperor yet lived.² The news of his death reached Akbar on or before 14 February, and on 14 February³ Humāyūn’s death was made known and Akbar was proclaimed in Delhi.