01From Rewari to command
Hemu came from a trading family of Rewari. Under Sher Shah’s son Islam Shah he served as a superintendent of markets and supplies, and under Adil Shah he became chief minister and commander of the army. Abul Fazl, who wrote for his enemies, admits that he won many battles against the Afghan rivals of Adil Shah in the east. When Humayun died in January 1556 and the boy Akbar was in Punjab, Hemu marched west, took Agra, and on 7 October 1556 defeated the Mughal governor Tardi Beg Khan at Tughlaqabad outside Delhi.
02Vikramaditya and Panipat
In Delhi Hemu took the royal title Vikramaditya, the name of the ancient king of Ujjain, and struck coins. On 5 November 1556 his army met Akbar’s under Bairam Khan at Panipat. Hemu fought from the back of his elephant and the battle was going his way when an arrow struck him in the eye. His troops, seeing the howdah empty, broke. He was brought unconscious to the Mughal camp and beheaded. Badauni and Abul Fazl both record the end. His was the last time for more than two centuries that a Hindu sat as master in Delhi.
