Humayun or Homayun [key], 1507–56, second Mughal emperor of India (1530–56), son and successor of Babur. In 1535, pressed by enemy incursions into Rajasthan, Humayun defeated the formidable Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. However military opposition, particularly that of Sher Khan in Bihar, grew in strength. Sher Khan overran Bengal in 1537, and Humayun was routed at Chausa in 1539 and crushingly defeated at Kanauj in 1540. Humayun fled to Sind and finally obtained shelter from Shah Tahmasp of Persia in 1544. After the death of Sher Khan's son, Humayun, with Persian support, invaded (1555) India and reestablished Mughal authority. He died soon after, and his son Akbar became emperor.
See his memoirs, The Tezkereh al Vakiāt (tr. 1970); I. Prasad, Life and Times of Humayun (1955); study by R. S. Avasthy (1967).
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