Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/148

 114

JIISTOItV OF INDIA.

[Book I.

JSiiber.

Siege of Cliviiiiir.

A D 1530. death was governor of Cabool and Kandahar, not only retained )f>memi(>n ol' them, l)iit iriade good a chiim to tlie Punjab. The two youngest sons were at

nonmavoon first Contented to hold governments in India under Hoomayoon, who, an eldest son, and by Babers special appointment, mounted tlie tlirone of Delhi. He soon found it anything but a bed of roses. The cession of the Punjab to Kamran, without any effort t<j preserve it, was a kind of premium offered to aggression, which was accordingly attempted in varioas quarters. The first contest was with Bahadur Shah, King of Gujerat, who had rendered liimself formidable by the annexation of Malwah, and the establishment of his supremacy over several adjoining teiritories. The ostensible cause of f|uarrel was the ])rotection given by Bahadur Shah to Mahomed Zuman Mirza, who had taken refuge with him after a rebellion against his brother-in-law, Hoomayoon, had failed During a series of struggle.s, with various alternations of success, Bahadur first lost, and then recovered his kinfjdom.

The next formidable opponent who appeared was Sheer Klian Sur, who had made himself master both of Behar and Bengal. Hoomayoon advanced

The Chunar-ohcr, from the South-west. — From Hodge's Views in ludia.

against liim from Agra, and amved with a powerful army before the fort of Chunar, near Benares, in the beginning of 1538. Sheer Khan had been taken somewhat by surprise, and as his object, therefore, was to gain time, he left Chunar strongly garrisoned, and retired farther into the interior. Hoomayoon did not venture to advance while the enemy possessed such a place in his rear, and resolved to lay siege to it. He was thus detained for several months, and only succeeded at last because the provisions of the garrison were exhausted. This siege derives importance from the regular manner in which it was con- ducted, and the great use made of gunpowder and artillery, both by besiegers and besieged. Hoomayoon Hoomayoon now advanced along the Ganges, but Sheer Khan continued to pursue his tactics of not risking a general engagement, and only offering such