local rulers who resented Mughal control took advantage of
Humayan’s death and Akbar’s youth to rebel.x The nominal leader of this rebellion was Sultan Adil Shah Suri, but
the driving force behind its success was the sultan’s prime minister,
a Hindu named Hemu. Under his leadership, Delhi itself was
captured, and the young Akbar was reduced to a refugee.x Akbar’s advisors counseled retreating to the traditional stronghold
of Kabul and conceding the loss of India, but in this crisis, Akbar
revealed himself to be a youth in the mold of the young Babur.
Supported by Bairam Khan, an experienced Mughal general, Akbar
decided to march south immediately and challenge Hemu for
control over Delhi.The Second Battle of Panipat (1556)
x Hemu decided to face Akbar at Panipat and dispatched his advance
guard and artillery well ahead of his main army. This decision turned
out to be a major mistake, because Akbar’s own advance forces
detected the inadequately guarded cannons, and the commander of
Akbar’s advance force immediately launched an attack.
x This sudden strike caught Hemu’s men by surprise, and they ran,
abandoning the guns. The result was that Akbar captured Hemu’s
entire artillery park intact and used it to augment his own cannons.
Thus, in the coming battle, Hemu had no cannons, while Akbar
had many.x Despite this setback, Hemu moved with his main army to Panipat,
and on November 5, 1556, the battle was fought. The true strength
of Hemu’s army was around 30,000 skilled Rajput and Afghan
horsemen and 500 to 1,000 war elephants, many of which were
encased in heavy plate armor.x The smaller Mughal army had around 10,000 to 15,000 excellent
horse archers, supplemented by some infantry and the matchlock
men and artillerymen. The true commander on the Mughal side was