THE SCHOLARY HUMAYUN

In 1530, after Babur's death, Humayun, at the age of twenty-two, became the empperor of the Mughal Empire.

He supported arts and did a lot painting himself.

He was impressed by the progress of arts in Persia, especially miniature painting.

He introduced the miniature style of Mughal painting in India

He learnt turkish, Arabic and Persian. He was good at astrology and mathematics.

Humayun was a good human being and soldier, but he didn't have the qualities of an efficient emperor. He was more of a scholar than a ruler.

He is said to have been absent-minded and indecisive; he found it difficult to decide on a course of action.

Although he fought bravely, he began to be known as a loser because he lost his provinces one by one.

His three brothers Kamran, Askari and Hindal always troubled him. They were mean and nasty, but Humayun was a good man so he always forgave them.

The ten years of Humayun's rule were fill of difficulties and troubles.

The Raj puts troubled him, and the Afghans kept fighting with him.

So as an emperor, Humayun had a difficult time in holding on to the reins of his empire.

A THREAD OF BOND

Humayun once received a letter from QUEEN Karmavati of chittor.

When Humayun heard if it, he said, "A message from a Raj put Queen to a Mughal Emperor! How strange! Let me know what it says."

Queen Karmavati had sent the letter to tell humayun that she was facing the danger of an attack from the Gujarat sultan, Bahadur shah. He had already killed her husband and was now going to attack her.

She begged humayun to come and help her like a brother would help a sister.

She sent a rakhi (the thread of bond between a brother and a sister in Hindu culture) to Humayun to be tied in his wrist so that he would come and help her.

Humayun said, "She is a Hindu and she has called me, a Muslim, her brother. There will come a day when the Hindus and the Muslims will live as brothers and sisters in India. I am very happy today."

He got his army together and went to help her. But on the way he heard the distressing news of queen Karmavati's death. She had thrown herself in fire and committed Jauhar.

Jauhar refers to the voluntary death committed by the Rajput women to avoid being captured and dishonored at the hands of their enemies after being defeated by them.

She committed Jauhar because the Gujarat Sultan had reached her city. Humayun was very upset that he couldn't save a woman who had considered him her brother.

He vowed that he would kill Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. But this vow couldn't be fulfilled because when Bahadur shah of Gujarat heard that Humayun and his army were approaching, he ran away.