Sikandar Shah Suri (died 1559) was the sixth ruler of the Sur dynasty, a late medieval

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

dynasty of northern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. He became the

sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it c ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

after overthrowing

Ibrahim Shah Suri Ibrahim Shah Suri was the fifth ruler of the Sur dynasty, a Pashtun (Afghan) dynasty of late medieval northern India. Reign He was the governor of Agra in 1555, when he revolted against the sultan. Adil Shah dispatched his army to crush the re ...

Early life

Sikandar Shah Suri's actual name was Ahmad Khan Suri. He was the brother-in-law of sultan Muhammad Adil Shah. He was the governor of

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

before declaring independence from Delhi in 1555.Majumdar, R.C. (ed.) (2007). ''The Mughul Empire'', Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, , pp.94-6

Reign

After becoming the independent sultan and bringing Punjab under control, he marched towards the territory controlled by sultan Ibrahim Shah Suri. Ibrahim was defeated in a battle at

Farah, India Farah is a town and a nagar panchayat in Mathura district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Education * Sachdeva Institute of Technology * Hindustan College of Science and Technology Demographics As of the 2001 Census of India, Farah h ...

near Agra and Sikandar took possession of both Delhi and Agra. While Sikandar was busy with his struggle against Ibrahim,

Humayun Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad ( fa, ) (; 6 March 1508 – 27 January 1556), better known by his regnal name, Humāyūn; (), was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire, who ruled over territory in what is now Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northe ...

captured Lahore in February 1555. Another detachment of his forces captured

Dipalpur Dipalpur ( pa, ; ur, ), also spelt Depalpur, is a city in the Okara District of Pakistani province of Punjab that served as headquarters of Depalpur Tehsil, the largest Tehsil of Pakistan. It is situated 25 kilometres from the district capit ...

. Next, the Mughal army occupied Jalandhar and their advanced division proceeded towards

Sirhind Sirhind-Fategarh is a town and a municipal council in the Fatehgarh Sahib district in the Indian state of Punjab. Demographics In the 2011 census Sirhind-Fatehgarh had a population of 60852. Males constituted 54% of the population and fema ...

. Sikandar sent a force of 30,000 horses but they were defeated by the Mughal army in a battle at

Machhiwara Sri Machhiwara Sahib is one of the developing cities in the Ludhiana district of the Indian state of Punjab. Machhiwara is famous for Gurudwara Sri Charan Kanwal Sahib associated with Guru Gobind Singh ji and named after the Guru's feet that are ...

and

was occupied by the Mughals. Sikandar, then led an army of 80,000 horses himself and met the Army at Sirhind. On 22 June 1555 he was defeated by the Mughal army and was compelled to retreat to the

Sivalik Hills The Sivalik Hills, also known as the Shivalik Hills and Churia Hills, are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas that stretches over about from the Indus River eastwards close to the Brahmaputra River, spanning the northern parts of the India ...

in northern

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

. The victorious Mughals marched to Delhi and occupied it.

Later days

In late 1556, Sikandar became active again. He defeated Mughal general Khizr Khwaja Khan at Chamiari (presently in

Amritsar district Amritsar district is one of the twenty three districts that make up the Indian state of Punjab. Located in the Majha region of Punjab, the city of Amritsar is the headquarters of this district. As of 2011, it is the second most populous dis ...

) and began to collect taxes with Kalanaur as his headquarters.

Bairam Khan Muhammad Bairam Khan(Persianمحمد بیرام خان) (18 January 150131 January 1561), commonly known as Bairam Khan or Bayram Khan was an important military commander, and later commander-in-chief of the Mughal army, a powerful statesman a ...

sent Khan Alam (Iskandar Khan) to assist Khizr Khwaja Khan and finally on 7 December 1556

Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...

along with Bairam Khan left Delhi to deal with him. Sikandar again retreated to the Sivaliks and took refuge in fort Mau under Nurpur kingdom . After six months of resistance from the besieged fort, Sikandar surrendered the fort on 25 July 1557.Majumdar, R.C. (ed.) (2007). ''The Mughul Empire'', Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, , pp.106-7 His local supporter Raja Bakht Mal was beheaded by

and he was sent to Bihar where he died in 1559.

Notes

Sur Empire Indian people of Pashtun descent 1559 deaths 16th-century Indian Muslims 16th-century Indian monarchs Year of birth missing 1555 in India {{india-hist-stub