Thread by @tashadrinkstea

Belated #Mughal101 thread! It's time for my least fave Mughal: Humayun. But his rule has it all: soap operatic sibling rivalry! a cunning rival! a Trojan Harem! & gut-wrenching deaths

Hello everyone, welcome to Desi Game of Thrones.

Last time we looked at Babur's invasion of India and his indulgence in the time-honoured family tradition of building severed head towers. But sorry folks, Babur is dead now, and he's indulged in another dangerous family tradition: dividing his Empire among his sons.

He leaves India largely to his fave son Humayun, the eccentric, soft-hearted academic of the family. (This is a bad move.) Before he dies he tells Humayun: "Do nothing against your brothers, though they may deserve it." (This is EXTREMELY bad move.)

Remember this quote from Black Panther? It kind of applies to Humayun if you replace 'good man' with 'opium addict who likes board games'. Meanwhile, his brothers Kamran, Hindal and Askari are just WAITING to seize power from him.

But treacherous brothers are not Humayun's only problem. There's also a cunning, clever Afghan chieftain Sher Shah Suri (no relation of mine!) waiting in the wings, ready to take the reins of power.

Sher Shah ALMOST takes Bengal. So begins the serious clash between Sher Shah and Humayun for Hindustan. But to cut a long story short... Eraly calls Sher Shah a 'Machiavellian tactician' to Humayun's 'babe in the woods' and honestly - FACTS.

To give you a sense of what a bad boss Sher Shah is, he *needs* to protect his harem in a specific fort (Rohtas). But he doesn't have the wherewithal to fight the raja of Rohtas AND Humayun. So what does he do?

Sher Shah: Hey Raja of Rohtas I rly want to protect my women and jewels, but I can't, sob sob, could you look after them?? I guess you could keep them or whatever.
Raja: Yeah sure gimme the free swag.
Everyone: Sher Shah what are you doing?!
Sher Shah:

Palanquins of harem women - Sher Shah's wives and relatives and concubines - enter the fort. The palanquin curtains are drawn back and... nope, instead of women, the palanquins contain armed soldiers.

SURPRISE, TROJAN HAREM.

So Sher Shah has Rohtas. His women are safe.

Humayun, in another eyebrow-raising Timurid tradition, does not hide his harem safely away. He brings his harem - his wives, his slaves and servants, and his children - to war with him.

If you're assuming the worst, you should.

Humayun has a number of wives, but his Empress is Bega Begum. She has only one living child, a girl, Aqiqa. In a battle that kills scores of Humayun's men, Bega Begum is captured. Later, her daughter is lost in battle - presumably drowned.

Aqiqa is eight years old.

Sher Shah treats Bega Begum 'with respect', but it's not clear when exactly she's returned to her husband.

I'll add that I was PLEASANTLY SURPRISED re: 'respect' but mostly because I hold historical warlords to super low standards. 🤷🏿‍♀️

Meanwhile, Humayun's brothers are helpfully, cheerfully writing him soppy letters (which they seem to truly mean!) while stabbing him in the back (which they also mean). The Mughals are tbh like the Kardashians with weapons, which obviously I live for.

At one point Hindal - most beloved of the imperial women - declares himself Emperor, attempting to usurp Humayun. His mother is having NONE of his shit, and in a peak desi mum move, hangs around pointedly dressed in mourning because he's 'arranged his own destruction'.

They fail to support Humayun at critical points when their help could have ensured Humayun's success over Sher Shah. And Humayun loves them too much to act against them. This love and hunger is a blight upon the majority of their adult lives.

Eventually, Humayun loses India to Sher Shah. His battles with his brother mean he and his wife Hamida (who deserves a thread of her own) have to abandon their infant son Akbar with Kamran and flee to Persia. An empire is lost.

Let's put exile in Persia aside for now. It's a story all of its own. Let's talk about Humayun's return to India, and the fate of his brothers, when their war flares up one final time. Kamran turns against him and Hindal - now allied with Humayun, now loyal - dies in battle.

Hindal's death - by some accounts, an accident - sends Kamran into paroxysms of grief. Beloved of the harem women, his death turned the imperial household into a 'house of mourning'.

Their sister Gulbadan writes with raw grief, that she wishes she, or her husband, or her son (!!!) had died in his place. She only has venom for Kamran: 'that slayer of a brother, that stranger's friend, the monster'.

Kamran receives a punishment other Mughal princes will receive in the future, instead of death: his eyes are sewn shut, blinding him. A blind scion, apparently, cannot rule.

Askari (did you forget him? yeah me too) goes on hajj, aka 'you're exiled, good luck not dying lol'.

Humayun's brothers are all dead, his wife was captured by his great enemy, his little daughter (& also a bunch of ladies I didn't mention whoop) drowned horribly, his young wife was ripped away from her small son, but Humayun has India now again so... yay?

Of course in typical Humayun fashion he promptly falls down a staircase and dies, the end.

NEXT TIME on #Mughal101: Exile in Persia, probably! Also the really awkward embarrassing courtship of Hamida Banu Begum and Humayun. So awks. So embarrass. Much cringe.

If you want to know more about this, DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN by Ira Mukhoty is a wonderful book about Mughal women I've been reading lately. amazon.com/Daughters-Sun-…

Also, brief self-promo, I have an epic fantasy book coming out in November! amazon.com/Empire-Sand-Bo…