Cite
MLA
“Battle of Chausa.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-chausa-1539/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Battle of Chausa. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-chausa-1539/
Sher Khan surprised the Mughal camp at dawn and destroyed Humayun’s army; Humayun barely escaped across the Ganga.
01Bengal and back
Sher Khan Sur, an Afghan of Sasaram, had made himself master of Bihar and overrun Bengal. Humayun marched east, entered Gaur in 1538 and stayed there for months while Sher Khan cut the roads behind him. When Humayun turned back towards Agra in 1539, he found the Afghans across his path at Chausa, where the Karmanasa meets the Ganga. For weeks the two armies faced each other, and the rains flooded the Mughal camp.
02The water-carrier’s skin
Before dawn on 26 June Sher Khan, who had made a show of marching away, fell on the camp from three sides. The Mughals were caught unarmed and in their tents. Humayun rode his horse into the Ganga and was nearly drowned; a water-carrier named Nizam got him across on his inflated skin, and Humayun later let him sit on the throne for half a day. Sher Khan crowned himself Sher Shah. A year later he finished Humayun at Kannauj.
Chausa turned the Afghan recovery into an empire: Sher Shah became sultan and the Mughals were driven from India within a year.
