As Nehru noted, Babur died within four years of his coming to India and much of his time was spent in fighting and laying out a splendid capital in Agra. Hanking for Central Asia, Humanyun lost the whole empire in India. Humayun encountered Sher Shah Suri, a well-prepared Afghan contender for sovereignty and, in the ensuing tussle in 1540 near Kunauj, he barely escaped with his life, but the Mughaltroops were decimated. Humayun became a fugitive. The enthroned sher Shah Suri had a short reign, installing energetic administrative reforms with excellent roads, horse-backed postal system and stylized monuments. His remarkable reign came to an end in 1545 with his death.
By 1555, Humayun reclaimed Delhi, but stumbled to his death next year. His son Akbar, barely 13, came out of the seraglio where he was under protection of uncle Bayram Khan, as regent, and reigned from 1556-1605. drawing from Abul-Fazal's imperial memoir Akbar-Nama, we see scenes of market prices beign controlled (with Akbar intervening incognito). The young king proceeds to marry jodhabai, the Rajput princess of Amber, and abolishes the discriminating Jaziya tax on the Hindus. As Nehru observes, Akbar surrounds himself with a group of brilliant men devoted to him and his ideals among whom are famous brothers Abul-Fazal and Fyzee, humorist birbal, the trusted Rajput Raja Man Singh and the valiant general Abdul Rahim Khankhana.
But the quarrel continues with the orthodox Ulemma, to whom the Sufi saint Sheikh Mubarak is hauled up. Whilw most Rajput chiefs are amalgamated in the imperial system of broad-based Omrah (nobility), Rana Udai Singh of Mrwar, and his valorous son Pratap Singh, prove recalcitrant, notwithstanding Man Singh honest persuasions. Akbar lays a punitive siege of Chittor, but despite the defeat at Haldighat, and flight of Udai Singh and Pratap Singh to sancutuary in the hills Chittor is never re-occupied.
As Nehru states, his royal court became a meeting place, almost an lbadatkhana (
