of his usurpation … prayed for his downfall". Other historians describe Hemu's claim to be an attempt to set himself up as an independent ruler, throwing off the yoke of Adil Shah's authority. Abraham Eraly quotes Ahmad Yadgar who states in his history of the Afghans that Hemu "raised the imperial canopy over him, and ordered coin to be struck in his name". This was done in connivance with the Afghans to whom he had liberally distributed the spoils. But Eraly notes that Hemu continued to humour Adil Shah with professions of fealty. Whether he had set himself up as an independent king or not, Hemu Vikramaditya's reign was to be short-lived as he would again clash with the Mughals only a month later. This time the battlefield would be at Panipat, not far from the site where Akbar's grandfather, Babur, had been victorious against the Lodis 30 years earlier. Second Battle of Panipat On hearing the disastrous news from Tughlaqabad, Akbar immediately set off for Delhi. Ali Quli Khan Shaibani who had been sent ahead with 10,000-strong cavalry force chanced upon Hemu's artillery which was being transported under a weak guard. He was easily able to capture the entire train of artillery. This would prove to be a costly loss for Hemu. On 5 November 1556, the Mughal army met Hemu's army at the historic battlefield of Panipat. Akbar and Bairam Khan stayed in the rear, eight miles from the battleground. The Mughal army was led by Ali Quli Khan Shaibani in the centre with Sikandar Khan Uzbak on the right and Abdulla Khan Uzbak towards the left and the vanguard led by Husain Quli Beg and Shah Quli Mahram. Hemu led his army himself into battle, atop an elephant named Hawai. His left was led by his sister's son, Ramya, and the right by Shadi Khan Kakkar. It was a desperately contested battle but the advantage tilted in favour of Hemu. Both the wings of the Mughal army had been driven back and Hemu moved his contingent of war elephants and cavalry forward to crush their centre. Hemu was on the cusp of victory when he was wounded in the eye by a Mughal arrow and collapsed unconscious. This triggered a panic in his army which broke formation and fled. The battle was lost; 5000 dead lay on the field of battle and many more were killed while