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Second Battle Of Panipat | |||||||
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The defeat of Hemu, a c. 1590s painting by Kankar of the Second Battle of Panipat taken from the Akbarnama. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Mughal Empire | Sur Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
10,000 cavalry 200 war elephants[1] |
30,000 cavalry 500 war elephants[1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown | 5,000 | ||||||
The Second Battle of Panipat was fought on 5 November 1556, between Akbar and the king of Delhi, Hemu. Hemu had conquered Delhi and Agra a few weeks earlier by defeating Mughal forces under Tardi Beg Khan in the battle of Delhi and crowned himself Raja Vikramaditya at Purana Quila in Delhi.
On learning of the loss, Akbar and his guardian Bairam Khan marched to reclaim those territories. The two armies clashed at Panipat, not far from the site of the First battle of Panipat of 1526.
During the battle, Hemu was wounded by an arrow and fell unconscious. Seeing their leader going down, his army panicked and dispersed. Unconscious and almost dead, Hemu was captured and subsequently beheaded by Bairam Khan after Akbar refused to behead him to assume the title of Ghazi.