ries, inhabited by races
of different origin, who were only bound together by the sovereignty
of Babar over all. He bequeathed to his son, Humayun, then, a
congeries of territories uncemented by any bond of union or of common
interest, except that which had been concentrated in his life. In a
word, when he died, the Mughal dynasty, like the Muhammadan dynasties
which had preceded it, had shot down no roots into the soil of
Hindustan.

{50}

CHAPTER VI
HUMAYUN AND THE EARLY DAYS OF AKBAR

Brave, genial, witty, a charming companion, highly educated,
generous, and merciful, Humayun was even less qualified than his
father to found a dynasty on principles which should endure. Allied
to his many virtues were many compromising defects. He was volatile,
thoughtless, and unsteady. He was swayed by no strong sense of duty.
His generosity was apt to degenerate into prodigality; his
attachments into weakness. He was unable to concentrate his energies
for a time in any serious direction, whilst for comprehensive
legislation he had neither the genius nor the inclination. He was
thus eminently unfitted to consolidate the conquest his father had
bequeathed to him.

It is unnecessary to relate in detail a history of the eight years
which followed his accession. So unskilful was his management, and so
little did he acquire the confidence and esteem of the races under
his sway, that when, in April, 1540, he was defeated at Kanauj, by
Sher Khan Sur, a nobleman who had submitted to Babar, but who had
risen against his son--whom he succeeded under the title of Sher
Shah--the {51} entire edifice crumbled in his hand. After some
adventures, Humayun found himself, January, 1541, a fugitive with a
mere handful of followers, at Rohri opposite the island of Bukkur on
the Indus, in Sind. He had lost the inheritance bequeathed him by his
father.

Humayun spent altogether two and a half years in Sind, engaged in a
vain attempt to establish himself in that province. The most
memorable event of his sojourn there was the birth, on the 15th of
October, 1542, of a son, called by him Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar. I
propose to relate now the incidents which led to a result so
important in the history of India.

In 1541, Humayun, whose troops were engaged in besieging Bukkur,
distrusting the designs of his brother Hindal, whom he had
commissioned to attack and occupy the rich province of Sehwan,
appointed a meeting with the latter at the town