His achievements notwithstanding,
he is not a household name in India. His name does not ring any bells in the
collective memory of indians. I am not even sure if any physical memorial of
this indian Hero exists. Anecdotally, Prithvi Raj Chauhan is considered as the
last Indian ruler of Delhi. It is incorrect to think that indians made no
efforts to liberate Delhi in medieval India. Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya made
one such effort that succeeded – albeit for a brief interlude. As I read
more about his life and his journey to the throne of Delhi, I was absolutely
amazed by this great warrior-hero who succeeded in liberating India from
foreign invaders – the Mughals, but fate has something for him and India in its
basket. I don’t want to just narrate his life story – I want to put it in the
general historical context of his times. As you will see below, his life
(1501-1556) was an extremely tumultuous period in the history of India. Events
that happened during this time-frame defined the course of Indian History for
the next two and a half centuries. That is why I feel that it’s important for Indians
to know more about Samrat Hem Chandra and his courageous
efforts. He is one man who did the indians proud and many
writers refer to him as the Napoleon of India for his qualities of generalship.
But personally I felt nepoleon has hemu of the west
EarlyChildhood
Not much is known about his childhood and early life. In fact, historians disagree about both his birth name and birth place. K.K. Bhardwaj claims that perhaps his original name was Basant Rai, Hem Rai, Hem Raj or Hem Chandra Bhargava. R.C. Majumdar writes that “he was born in a poor family of Dhansar section, living in a town in the southern part of Alwar”. Muslim historian Badayuni has described him as a resident of a small town called Rewari in the taluk of Mewat, and began his life as a green vendor. Others believe that he was a hawker in the town of Mewat . Historians mention that brought up in a religious environment, he was educated in Sanskrit, Hindi, Persian, Arabic and Arithmatic. He was also trained in Horse riding and was fond of wrestling (Kushti) . His rise to fame did not begin until late 1530s when he came in contact with the officers of Sher Shah Suri. But events that happened in north India during his youth were not as dull!
Not much is known about his childhood and early life. In fact, historians disagree about both his birth name and birth place. K.K. Bhardwaj claims that perhaps his original name was Basant Rai, Hem Rai, Hem Raj or Hem Chandra Bhargava. R.C. Majumdar writes that “he was born in a poor family of Dhansar section, living in a town in the southern part of Alwar”. Muslim historian Badayuni has described him as a resident of a small town called Rewari in the taluk of Mewat, and began his life as a green vendor. Others believe that he was a hawker in the town of Mewat . Historians mention that brought up in a religious environment, he was educated in Sanskrit, Hindi, Persian, Arabic and Arithmatic. He was also trained in Horse riding and was fond of wrestling (Kushti) . His rise to fame did not begin until late 1530s when he came in contact with the officers of Sher Shah Suri. But events that happened in north India during his youth were not as dull!
HemChandra’sYouth
In the early 1500s, huge portions India were under afghan occupation. South India(vijayanagara’s), Rajputana, Orissa and Assam were the only parts of India that remained free. In Delhi, Lodi dynasty was ruling large parts of north India. Independent sultanates ruled Gujarat and Central India. Under the afgan occupation, Indians was already burdened by the crushing Jizya tax. At such point in 1526, a Central Asian tribal warrior named Babur attacked India. His armies marched from Kabul to Delhi via Punjab. In the first battle of Panipat (April 21, 1526) Babur defeated the joint armies of Ibrahim Lodi and Raja Vikramjit – king of Gwalior – and captured the throne of Delhi. Now Rajputs under the leadership of Rana Sangramsingh of Chittor challenged Babur. They were also supported by Hasan Khan Moe. But unfortunately their joint forces too were defeated by Babur in the battle of Khanwa. With this victory Babur now controlled north-western India as well as parts of Gangetic Plains.
In the early 1500s, huge portions India were under afghan occupation. South India(vijayanagara’s), Rajputana, Orissa and Assam were the only parts of India that remained free. In Delhi, Lodi dynasty was ruling large parts of north India. Independent sultanates ruled Gujarat and Central India. Under the afgan occupation, Indians was already burdened by the crushing Jizya tax. At such point in 1526, a Central Asian tribal warrior named Babur attacked India. His armies marched from Kabul to Delhi via Punjab. In the first battle of Panipat (April 21, 1526) Babur defeated the joint armies of Ibrahim Lodi and Raja Vikramjit – king of Gwalior – and captured the throne of Delhi. Now Rajputs under the leadership of Rana Sangramsingh of Chittor challenged Babur. They were also supported by Hasan Khan Moe. But unfortunately their joint forces too were defeated by Babur in the battle of Khanwa. With this victory Babur now controlled north-western India as well as parts of Gangetic Plains.
Babur’s March to Delhi from Samarkand in
present day Uzbekistan
After
more than 450 years, it’s difficult to imagine how different those times were.
For starters, Indian children of school going age did not learn to memorize
‘Babur the Brave’, ‘Akbar the Great’, ‘Aurangzeb the Cruel’! Indians then had
rather simple criteria. They considered anyone who was not from India and had
not a single drop of Indian blood in his body (Babar, Humayun and Akbar) but
still wanted to rule India as a foreign aggressor. And indeed that’s how the
perception of Indians regarding the Mughal period should be. Today, the geopolitics
of South Asian subcontinent has changed so drastically, that it is easy to
forget that the Kabul-Kandahar region – known as Gandhara in early days was considered very much a part of
Indian civilization. With this perception in mind, the Afghans considered
themselves as natives and were considered by Indians as natives of the land. Whereas
Mughals – the Central Asian tribal people attacking India were obviously
foreign aggressors. Now that explains why Raja of Gwalior offered his help to
an Afghan ruler – Ibrahim Lodi or why Hasan Khan Meo chose to fight with Rana
Sangramsingh rather than with Babur.
Babur’s reign was nothing short of
disaster for India in general and Hindus in particular. Guru Nanak, who was a
contemporary of Babur and witnessed cruelties of Babur’s armies on the people,
wrote in detail about the atrocities committed by him and his troops. Guru
Nanak poignantly wrote ‘The Creator has sent Babur the Mughal as Yama
disguised. There was so much slaughter that the people screamed – Didn’t you
feel compassion, Lord?’
Mercifully, Babur died (January 1531)
before he could consolidate his hold on India and was succeeded by a weak son –
Humayun. Sensing an opportunity, Sher Khan Suri – an Afghan commander of the
Lodis – who was stationed in Bihar during Ibrahim Lodi’s rule, attacked
Humayun. He defeated the Mughals in the battles of Chausa and Kanauj and drove
them out of Delhi [9]. He captured Delhi in May 1540, declared himself the
emperor and took the name of Sher Shah Suri. His ascent was miraculous – born
in a peasant family, he rose from the rank of a private and ultimately became
the king of most of the northern India. After capturing Delhi, he pursued
Humayun and chased the Mughal army out of India. Humayun survived only by
fleeing to the refuge of the king of Iran. Sher Shah Suri’s victories, though
ridding India from the foreign occupation for the time being, did not give
respite to the large Indian populace.
Rise of hemu Chandra
Hem Chandra’s rise began at around
this time. He was based in Rewari – 55 miles from Delhi – and started supplying
cereals to Sher Shah’s army. Slowly he started other supplies like saltpeter (for
gunpowder) to Sher Shah’s army and that’s when he came in contact with Ismail
Shah – Sher Shah’s son. After Sher Shah’s death in 1545, Ismail Shah
succeeded him. Recognizing Hem Chandra’s caliber, he initially appointed Hem
Chandra as Shahang-i-Bazar, a Persian word meaning ‘Market
Superintendent,’ who managed the mercantile system throughout the empire. This
post gave Hem Chandra an opportunity to interact with the king frequently in
order to apprise him of the trade and commercial situation of the kingdom. After
proving his abilities as Market Superintendent, he rose to become Daroga-i-Chowki or
Chief of Intelligence. Ismail Shah’s health deteriorated in 1552 and he shifted
his base from Delhi to Gwalior, at which point he promoted Hem Chandra to Governor
of Punjab. Hem Chandra held this position until Ismail Shah’s death in October
1553.
After his death, Ismail Shah’s nephew
Adil Shah killed Ismail Shah’s 12 year old son Firuz and usurped the throne.
But he was not a capable ruler. Soon after becoming king, he appointed Hem
Chandra as his Wazir or Prime Minister and started neglecting
his responsibilities. Unhappy with the murder of Firuz and Adil Shah’s overall
incompetence, various members of the Suri dynasty revolted against him. Soon,
the Suri kingdom got divided into 4 large pieces [10]. Sikandar Suri declared
himself the king of Punjab. Ismail Suri captured Delhi and Agra. Muhammad Suri
declared himself the ruler of Bengal. Only Bihar up to the vicinity of Agra
remained in possession of Adil Shah. In addition to these members of the royal
family, many Afghan governors declared independence and refused to pay taxes to
Adil Shah. During this time as Prime Minister, Hem Chandra proved his
mettle. Commanding Adil Shah’s army, he fought numerous battles defeating each
rebelling governor. He defeated and killed Muhammad Shah Suri – self appointed
ruler of Bengal. He defeated Ibrahim Shah Suri twice. Most importantly, with
these victories, he not only controlled the administration and the treasury,
but also the victorious armies of the empire. In the meantime, Sikandar
Suri too defeated Ibrahim Suri and captured Delhi and Agra.
At this time, sensing the general
anarchy and disintegration of his Afghan enemies, Humayun – thoroughly defeated
by Sher Shah 15 years ago but sustained and supported by Iranian support,
invaded India once again. His commander Bairam Khan easily defeated Sikandar
Suri and reinstated Humayun to the throne of Delhi (July 1555). But Humayun’s
control over his newly conquered kingdom was tenuous at best and he died in
January 1556. Hem Chandra was in Bengal when Humayun died. Humayun’s death gave
Hem Chandra an ideal opportunity to defeat the Mughals. With about 50,000
soldiers, he embarked on a winning march from Bengal through present day Bihar,
Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Many Mughal officers and commanders
evacuated their positions and fled in panic on hearing the news of hemu invasion.
Hem Chandra’s army entered Agra without a fight. He was now poised to liberate
Delhi from the foreign aggressors. With a string of lightening quick victories
over his enemies, he commanded the respect of his forces and trust of his
officers – both Indians and Afghan. At this point, rather than acting on behalf
of an ineffective king, he declared himself as the king with the consent of his
commanders.
Mughal general Bairam Khan, sensing the
gravity of the situation, sent reinforcements to the Governor of Delhi – Tardi
Beg Khan and the Mughal Army battled Hem Chandra’s forces in present day
Tughlaqabad [4]. In this battle, Hem Chandra arranged 300 elephants and
selected cavalry in the center with loosely guarded front and flanks. As the
battle began, Mughal forces overcame the front and even attacked Hem Chandra’s
flanks. At one point it appeared as if Mughals had captured 3000 Afghan men and
400 elephants. Sensing victory, Mughal armies dispersed to plunder the enemy
camp. At that point Hem Chandra charged on Tardi Beg’s camp with his reserved
forces in the center. Seeing a force marching directly towards them and without
any armies to stop them, the Mughal commanders fled from the battle field. The
result was chaos in the Mughal forces and it resulted in their total defeat
Hemu coins
Sir Wolsey
Haig writes, "Hemu was so elated by the capture of Delhi as to
believe that he had already reached the goal of his ambition."
Smith, who names Hemu
the third claimant to the sovereignty of Hindustan at the time (the other two
being the Suris and Akbar), asserts that Hemu after his occupation of
Delhi came to the conclusion that he had a better claim to the throne for
himself rather than on behalf of Adil Shah and ventured to assume the royal state
under the style of Raja Vikramaditya or Vikramaditya,
a title borne by several renowned Indian Kings in ancient times. Hemu assumed
the royal robes and declared himself the Emperor of India under the title of
Vikramaditya.
His Afghan officers
were reconciled to the ascendancy of an infidel by a liberal
distribution of plunder, and probably also by the fact that Hem Chandra
had proved to be a successful general.
Hemu had his formal Indian Rajyabhishek or
coronation at Purana Qila in
Delhi on 7 October 1556in the presence of all the Afghan Sardars and Hindu
Senapatis (military commanders).K. K.Bhardwaj says that thousands of guests
were invited, along with various Rajput chiefs and Afghan governors and
numerous scholars and Pandits. The festivities continued for three or four
days."Essential parts of a Hindu King's coronation are", writes Sir
Jadunath Sarkar, "washing him (abbhishake) and holding the royal
umbrella over his head (Chhatra-Dharam)" and Hemu must have
followed these ancient traditions, accompanied by costly gifts and robes to
priests. He made various appointments on the occasion, appointing his
brother Jujharu Rai, governor of Ajmer and his nephew Rammayya, a general in
his army. He also appointed his various supporters as Chhaudhuris andMuqqudams based
on their merit so that they continued to maintain their respective positions in
the reign of Akbar.
Thus Hemu became the first Indian emperor of North India
in 350 years. According to Abul Fazl, in the Akbarnama, after
winning Delhi Hemu had planned to attack and win Kabul. He made several changes
in his army, including the recruitment of many Indians, but without the
dismissal of any Afghan.
Administration
Because of long association with the Sur administration
since the 1540s, first as a supplier of various items to Sher Shah Suri, then
as Superintendent of Markets, Minister of Internal security and Governor of
Punjab with Islam Shah, Prime Minister-cum-Chief of Army with Adil Shah, Hemu
had great experience of administration and sound knowledge of how system works.
Although he did not have much time to rule, Hemu
revitalised the administration that had flagged after the demise of Sher Shah
Suri. With his knowledge of trade and commerce he gave fresh impetus to
commerce throughout the country. He spared no-one, indulging in
black-marketing, hoarding, overcharging and under-weighing of goods. After
his conquest of Agra and Delhi, he replaced all corrupt officers. He also
introduced coinage bearing his image.
Victorious Hem
Chandra entered Delhi on October 6, 1556 as a sovereign. It’s difficult to
imagine the exact thoughts in his mind. But it was a historical moment for
India. After 350 years of almost unbroken afgan rule, a indian king had entered
Delhi! Hem Chandra must be acutely aware of the significance of this moment.
That is why he assumed the title of Vikramaditya – a title assumed by many
illustriousindian emperors in the history of India! No wonder then that Muslim
historians have described him in the nastiest of words. Badayuni – a bigot and
fundamentalist – writes, ‘through treachery, deceit and fraud great Delhi fell
into the hands of Hindu Hemun’ . He conveniently forgets that numerous great
empires in the history of mankind have been built by great men coming from
humble origins. In his own life,
Hem Chandra had seen Babur and Sher Shah coming from nowhere to become emperors
of northern India. As opposed to Akbar – who didn’t have a drop of Indian blood
in his body and was leading an army of Turkic tribesmen with the support of
Iran, Hem Chandra was a son of soil leading an army of natives – Afghans and
Indians. Indeed he was leading a liberation army against foreign invaders!
Moreover, it was Hem Chandra who was in charge of the administration, the
treasury and the army and had a proven track record as an administrator and
commander compared to Adil Shah Suri. So his behavior was not different than
any able and ambitious victor. Hem Chandra was crowned at Purana
Qila, on October 7, 1556 as ‘Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya’ in
the presence of Afghan Sardars and Hindu Senapatis (military commanders) . He
struck coins bearing his title – one of the oldest ways of asserting sovereign
status. The adjoining picture shows a painting of the occasion of his
coronation, where he is flanked by his Afghan and indian military commanders. His
Afghan officers were reconciled to the ascendancy of a Hindu to the throne
probably for a variety of reasons – Hem Chandra distributed plunder liberally
among his soldiers , he had proved to be a successful general in no less than
22 battles and probably also due to the fact that they were part of a native
army fighting the invaders.
Purana killa were
hemu crowned as emperor of India
Second Battle of Panipat
Hem
Chandra’s victories and coronation caused a lot of consternation among the
Mughals. Many of Akbar’s commanders advised him to retreat to Kabul and wait
for an opportune moment – like his father Humayun. However, Bairam Khan, the
guardian of Akbar and chief strategist for army matters, insisted on fighting
Hem Chandra in an effort to regain control of Delhi. Bairam Khan was well aware
of the consequences of a loss. He and Akbar stayed back eight miles from the
battle ground with preparations to flee as soon as possible to Kabul in case of
a defeat.
On November
5, 1556, the Mughal army met Hem Chandra’s army at the historic battlefield of
Panipat. It was the same battlefield where Akbar’s grandfather had defeated
Ibrahim Lodi 30 years ago. Unsurprisingly, Bairam Khan motivated his army by a
religious speech and ordered them to move for battle. Samrat Hem Chandra himself
led his large army himself and leaving his main generals to stabilize is
kingdom(one of the greatest mistakes that changed fate of india) sitting atop
an elephant and was poised to achieve victory. But alas, destiny had something
else in mind. All of a sudden the Emperor was hit in the eye by a stray arrow.
In spite of that, Hem Chandra pulled the arrow by his hands and exhorted his
forces to charge ahead. Unfortunately, he soon collapsed unconscious in his hauda due to severe bleeding. His
collapse changed everything. Looking at their king collapsed, his armies lost
heart, and no commander came forward to rise to the occasion and to make
coordinated decisions. As a result of this confusion, Hem Chandra’s armies
started losing the battle line – and an easy victory got converted into a
disastrous defeat!
Unconscious,
the almost dead Hem Chandra was captured by Shah Qulin Khan and carried to the
camp of Akbar where he was beheaded by Bairam Khan. His head was sent to Kabul,
where it was hung outside Delhi Darwaza, while his body was placed outside
Purana Quila in Delhi – the same place where he was coroneted earlier. Thus, a
courageous effort to liberate Bharatwarsha from invaders came to an abrupt
end! Akbar and Bairam Khan entered Delhi the next day. Genocide was ordered of
the ‘community of Hemu’ – Indians and his main Afghan supporters. Thousands of
indians were killed and minarets were built of the skulls of the dead. At least
one painting of such minarets is displayed in ‘Panipat Wars Museum’ at Panipat
in Haryana. Such minarets were still in existence about 60 years later as
described by Peter Mundy, a British traveller who visited India
during Jahangir time son of akbar
during Jahangir time son of akbar
Significance
One cannot
but feel disheartened at the tragic loss of Samrat Hem Chandra’s armies in the
second battle of Panipat. Many historians mention this loss as Hem Chandra’s
bad luck – it was in fact India’s bad luck! When it appeared that after 350
years of oppression Indians of North India would finally see the light of
freedom – occupation returned with a greater force and cohesion. The Central
Asian Mughals remained a dominant power in India until 1709 – the death of
Aurangzeb. And it was not until 1737 that a Indian army – the Marathas –
finally reached Delhi.
But Hem Chandra’s defeat does not make his valiant effort
any less significant. First of all, he was born in an ordinary family and rose
by sheer dint of hard work. He was not born in a traditional Kshatriya family, but the caste barriers
– a traditional weakness of Indian society – could not stop him from becoming
an Emperor. Although he was a Hindu under Islamic rule, he did not remain
content to be a mere king-maker – but declared himself a sovereign when an
opportune moment came! And he did so in style – assuming the title of
Vikramaditya was a clear sign of his desire to present his rule as a continuum
of the ancient traditions of India. He was the last Indian who became the ruler
of Delhi and might have been successful in creating a Indian dynasty.
Few questions need to answer by Indians
When I think
of this last Indian Samrat and his accomplishments, two questions come to my
mind to which there are no satisfactory answers. The first obvious question is
– Why did no one take inspiration from him? Why did no one try to be a Samrat after Hem Chandra? Did the
genocides at the hands of Mughals terrorize Indians to such an extent that they
lost heart? Within 15 years of Hem Chandra’s defeat, Indians suffered major
reversals. Mughals soon dominated most of Rajputana and in 1568 defeated the king
of Orissa – Mukundadeva. In 1565, Deccan Sultanates defeated Aliya Rama Raya of
Vijayanagara Empire in the Battle of Talikota . Did these reversals dishearten
Indians so much that they even stopped trying? I guess we will never know…
Many
historians studying the history of 16th century India have been fascinated by
Hem Chandra’s life story. Historian K. K. Bhardwaj even compares him to Napoleon.
There are some obvious similarities between these two men – both came from
humble backgrounds, won battle after battle and rose to become emperors in
their own right, but got defeated at crucial moments and those defeats
completely nullified their hard earned gains. But I must say that the
similarities end here. Napoleon is still considered a hero in France and is a
well known figure even beyond Europe. Hem Chandra is not so lucky. Forget being
a world renowned figure, he is forgotten even by Indians. That brings me to the
second question – Why do very few Indians even know him?
One easy
explanation is that history is written by the victors. So, no wonder that Hem
Chandra’s character was painted in the darkest possible colors by historians. Even to the British rulers, he was naturally inconvenient. Why
would they be interested in informing Indians about a man who challenged
foreign occupation and attempted to liberate the country? But unfortunately,
even after independence, he is neglected by his brothers. In this scheme of
things our government is playing, and there in capabilities there is no place
for a liberator of Indians who stands as a contradiction to such fantasies. So,
history textbooks in India usually neglect him as a mere foot-note in Akbar’s
life.
But neglect by
historians is not the only reason. It has also to do with the unfortunate lack
of collective historical consciousness among Indians. It is so stark that even
a persian historian like Al-Beruni laments at one point that “unfortunately the
Indians do not pay much attention to the historical order of things!” This
attitude of Indians has resulted in a pathetic situation in which Bollywood
makes movies about real or imaginary events in Akbar’s life – in the process
eulogizing a foreign invader; but hardly anyone knows about Hem Chandra’s
efforts. It is said that a society is judged by how it treats its worse-off.
What should one say about the Indian society that neglects even the best among
itself?
We Indians
know everything but we don’t know ourselves someone has to come from outside to
educate us. If anyone among us try to educate we won’t listen to him until
foreigner says yes He is correct then we believe him, but not what our brother
said but the words came from a foreigner mouth. Come on India we have a great
culture and history we have great universities way back 1000bc that’s was 2500
years before any modern universities come in to existing our societies are highly developed on
education, culture ,infrastructure, what
not everything we reached heights of development in human indexing there is no
point to get lessons from so called west . It was our history that makes what
we are today so doesn’t neglect it. Please Know what we are and from where we
came from.
Let’s correct this mistake
So it’s up to
us to rectify this mistake! As the descendants of rich culture and heritage,
it’s our duty to strive towards according Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya the
true place he deserves in Indian history. As mentioned above, there is not much
point in expecting anything from the Indian education system in this regard. It
is up to us – ordinary people like you and me to give him his due place. It’s
not that nothing has been done in this regard. Historians like K.K. Bhardwaj
and R.C. Majumdar have written books detailing his inspiring life story. At the
time of writing, there is a Wikipedia entry and a Facebook community for him.
This article is another feeble step in that direction. But please do not let it
remain a cry in the wilderness. First of all, the efforts to resurrect the
memories of this forgotten hero definitely need to move beyond academia and the
blogosphere. His story should reach general populace and widely circulate –
either in the form of movies, documentaries, plays or short story-books. Other
efforts would be to locate the coins he struck in his name and educate people
about those. But let us not rest until the memories of Hem Chandra’s valiant
efforts are firmly etched in the Indian consciousness!
Statue of last Hindu Emperor of India,Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya, at Panipat, who lost his life in the second battle of panipat
