Hindustan

Sultan Bahadur Shah, ruler of Gujarat

Tartar Khan, member of the previous ruling dynasty, the Lodi, defeated by Humayun’s father Babur, and a claimant to the throne of Hindustan

Sher Shah, an ambitious ruler of humble origins in Bengal

Islam Shah, Sher Shah’s son

Mirza Husain, Sultan of Sind

Raja Maldeo, ruler of Marwar

Tariq Khan, ruler of Ferozepur and vassal of Sher Shah

Adil Shah, Islam Shah’s brother-in-law and a claimant to the throne of Hindustan

Sekunder Shah, cousin of Islam Shah and claimant to the throne of Hindustan

Persians

Shah Tahmasp

Rustum Beg, elderly general and cousin of Shah Tahmasp

Bairam Khan, nobleman, military commander and later Humayun’s khan-i-khanan, commander-in-chief

Humayun’s ancestors

Genghis Khan

Timur, known in the west as Tamburlaine from a corruption of Timur-i-Lang (Timur the Lame)

Ulugh Beg, Timur’s grandson and a famous astronomer

Chapter 1

Riding the Tiger

The wind was chill. If Humayun closed his eyes he could almost imagine himself back among the pastures and mountains of the Kabul of his boyhood, rather than here on the battlements of Agra. But the short winter was ending. In a few weeks the plains of Hindustan would burn with heat and dust.