Tattva

This is a continuation of the article on Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya from the June/July edition of Tattva.

Coronation:

Figure 2: Painting of Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya’s Coronation [4]

Victorious Hem Chandra entered Delhi on October 6, 1556 as a sovereign [4]. 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 Islamic rule, a Hindu 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 illustrious Hindu 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’ [2]. 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 Hindus. 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) [4]. 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 Hindu military commanders [4]. 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 [4], 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.

Second Battle of Panipat

Hem Chandra’s victories and coronation caused a lot of consternation among the Mughals [4]. 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 [4]. 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 [2, 4].

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 [4]. Samrat Hem Chandra led his large army himself 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 [2]. His collapse changed everything. Armies of those times depended solely on their masters for payment – either in victory or in defeat [2]. 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 leaving the battlefield – 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 [4]. His head was sent to Kabul, where it was hung outside Delhi Darwaza, while his body was placed outside Purana Quila in Delhi [4] – the same place where he was coroneted earlier. Thus, a courageous effort to liberate Bharatwarsha from Islamic yoke came to an abrupt end! Akbar and Bairam Khan entered Delhi the next day. Genocide was ordered of the ‘community of Hemun’ – Hindus and his main Afghan supporters. Thousands of Hindus 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 traveler who visited India during the time of Jahangir – Akbar’s son [4].

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 Hindus 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 Hindu 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 Hindu 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 Hindu who became the ruler of Delhi and might have been successful in creating a Hindu dynasty.

Two Questions to Ponder

When I think of this last Hindu 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 Hindus to such an extent that they lost heart? Within 15 years of Hem Chandra’s defeat, Hindus suffered major reversals. Mughals soon dominated most of Rajputana and in 1568 defeated the king of Orissa – Mukundadeva [11]. In 1565, Deccan Sultanates defeated Aliya Rama Raya of Vijayanagara Empire in the Battle of Talikota [12]. Did these reversals dishearten Hindus 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 [2]. 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 Hindus. 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 Muslim historians. Even to the British rulers, he was naturally inconvenient. Why would they be interested in informing Hindus about a man who challenged foreign occupation and attempted to liberate the country? But unfortunately, even after independence, he is neglected by the powers that be. The new rulers and the elite seem to have convinced themselves that India is a ‘composite culture’ formed by the ‘peaceful’ coexistence of Hindu and Muslim traditions. In this scheme of things, there is no place for a liberator of Hindus 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 Hindus. It is so stark that even a Muslim historian like Al-Beruni [2] laments at one point that “unfortunately the Hindus do not pay much attention to the historical order of things!” This attitude of Hindus 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 Hindu society that neglects even the best among itself?

Let’s correct this mistake

So it’s up to us to rectify this mistake! As the descendants of Hindu culture, it’s our duty to strive towards according Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya the true place he deserves in Hindu 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. Building a samadhi for this hero – either in Panipat or in Delhi would be another worthy effort. But let us not rest until the memories of Hem Chandra’s valiant efforts are firmly etched in the Hindu consciousness!

Shreyas Limaye is a student of Hindu History. He can be reached at shreyaslimaye@gmail.com

This article is the property of Shreyas S. Limaye. Copyright and other intellectual property laws protect this article. Reproduction or retransmission of the materials, in whole or in part, in any manner, without his prior consent is a violation of copyright law.

Reference

1. http://www.hinduyuva.org/tattva-blog/2007/07/dharmaveer-sambhaji-by-shreyas-limaye/

2. Bhardwaj, KK “Hemu: Napoleon of medieval India”, Mittal Publications, New Delhi, 2000.

3. Majumdar, RC. “The History and Cultures of the Indian People”, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (in 12 Vols) , VII ,97

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samrat_Hem_Chandra_Vikramaditya

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jizya#Historical_development

6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babur#The_battle_with_Ibrahim_Lodi

7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Khanwa

8. http://maps.google.co.in

9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sher_Shah_Suri

10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Adil_Shah

11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Orissa

12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijayanagara_Empire

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