RAS question
Akbar won the Second Battle of Panipat (1556) against:
Correct answer: (A) Hemu (Himu).
Akbar won the Second Battle of Panipat on 5 November 1556 against Hemu.
Explanation
Akbar's victory at the Second Battle of Panipat was against Hemu, the powerful ruler who had already taken Agra, Tughlaqabad and Delhi before meeting the Mughal army at Panipat. Akbar was only thirteen, but he had the support of his guardian and general Bairam Khan. On 5 November 1556, Hemu led from the front on an elephant and initially held firm against Mughal archers. The turning point came when an arrow struck him through the eye-slit of his armour; once his followers saw their leader fall, they broke and fled. The result restored Mughal control after Humayun's earlier setbacks.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Ibrahim Lodi belongs to the First Battle of Panipat in 1526, where Babur defeated the Delhi Sultanate, not to Akbar's 1556 battle.
- (C) Sher Shah Suri had defeated Humayun earlier and died in 1545, so he was not Akbar's opponent at Panipat in 1556.
- (D) Rana Sanga is linked to Babur's victory at Khanwa in 1527, not to Akbar's Second Battle of Panipat.
Concept
This tests the core chronology of early Mughal consolidation: Babur at Panipat in 1526, Akbar against Hemu in 1556, and later political shifts around Panipat. RAS repeats such battle-opponent pairings because they anchor medieval Indian political transitions.