Second Battle of Panipat (1556)

 On November 5, 1556, the army of Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya, popularly known as Hemu, the Hindu king of north India from Delhi, and Akbar's army battled the Second Battle of Panipat. Khan Zaman I and Bairam Khan, Akbar's generals, won a convincing victory.

Humayun, the Mughal emperor, died in Delhi on January 24, 1556, and was succeeded by his uncle, Akbar. Akbar was just thirteen at the time. Akbar was crowned on February 14, 1556, in Kalanaur, Punjab. Mughal rule was limited to Kabul, Kandahar, parts of the Delhi district, and Punjab at the time. Akbar had been campaigning with his guardian, Bairam Khan, in Kabul.

After defeating Akbar's army in the Battle of Delhi in 1556, Hemu became the emperor of North India. Previously, Hemu served as Prime Minister-in-Chief of Afghanistan's Army under Afghan dictator Adil Shah. He was a Hindu from Rewari, which is now in Haryana. Hemu had won 22 wars as Prime Minister-cum-Chief of the Army from Punjab to Bengal between 1553 and 1556.Hemu had just put down a revolt in Bengal, killing the Bengal king Muhammad Shah in the process, when Humayun died in January 1556. As he learned of Humayun's assassination, he told his commanders that he intended to take the Delhi throne for himself. He then waged a full-fledged insurgency, winning battles across northern India.As he launched his assault on Agra, the commander of Akbar's forces there fled without a contest. Hemu seized possession of the provinces of Etawah, Kalpi, and Agra, which included modern-day Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Hemu bolstered his army at Gwalior by recruiting more Hindus.

On October 6, Hemu defeated the Mughal army in the Battle of Delhi. Approximately 3,000 Mughals were slaughtered, and Mughal commander Tardi Beg fled with the survivors, leaving Delhi to Hemu. The next day, Hemu was crowned at Purana Qila fortress, restoring Hindu rule in north India after 350 years of Muslim rule.Hemu was preparing for an assault on Kabul, according to Abul Fazl in Akbarnama, and had made some changes to his army.

The fall of Delhi and Agra to Hemu, as well as the defeat of Mughal commander Tardi Beg Khan, caused consternation among the Mughals at Kalanaur. Many Mughal generals urged Akbar to withdraw to Kabul instead of confronting Hemu's greater armies. However, Bairam Khan wanted to go to battle. The army of Akbar marched into Delhi.On November 5, the armies met at Panipat, the ancient battleground where Akbar's grandfather, Babur, had defeated Ibrahim Lodi in the First Battle of Panipat thirty years before.

The Mughal Army had 10,000 cavalry under the command of Shah Ali Quli Khan at its core. The light cavalry was led by Lal Khan of Badakshan to assault Hemu's positions. The vanguard of the Mughal Army was commanded by Muhammad Qasim (Mughal), whose brigade included mounted archers and the standard cavalry of Abdulla Khan (Mughal) and Iskander Khan.

Shah Ali Quli Khan isolated the elephant and captured Hemu after a Mughal archer fired an arrow that entered his eye, leaving him unconscious and in pain. Hemu was placed before the young Mughal Emperor Akbar, who executed him with his own sword and assumed the title "Ghazi" from then on.

Despite Hemu's superior numbers, Akbar's army won the campaign. Hemu was apprehended and beheaded. His skull was sent to Kabul and shown outside the 'Delhi Darwaza.' His torso was transported to Delhi and hung outside Purana Quila on a "gibbet" in order to harass the Hindu people.Hemu's wife fled from Purana Qila with the fortress's jewels and went unnoticed. Bairam Khan ordered mass Hindu killings, which lasted for several years. Many of Hemu's family and close Afghan allies were apprehended and beheaded.Minarets were built out of their skulls in various locations. After six months, Hemu's 82-year-old father, who had fled to Alwar, was apprehended and beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam.