section_path: Military campaigns/Struggle for North India
section_name: Struggle for North India
paragraph_text: Struggle for North India
  
  Akbar's father Humayun had regained control of the Punjab, Delhi, and Agra with Safavid support, but Mughal rule was still precarious when Akbar took the throne. When the Surs reconquered Agra and Delhi following the death of Humayun, Akbar's young age and the lack of military assistance from the Mughal stronghold of Kabul — which was in the midst of an invasion by the ruler of Badakhshan, Prince Mirza Suleiman — aggravated the situation. When his regent, Bairam Khan, called a council of war to marshall the Mughal forces, none of Akbar's chieftains approved. Bairam Khan was ultimately able to prevail over the nobles and it was decided that the Mughals would march against the strongest of the Sur rulers, Sikandar Shah Suri, in Punjab. Delhi was left under the regency of Tardi Baig Khan. Sikandar Shah Suri, his army weakened by earlier lost battles, withdrew to avoid combat as the Mughal army approached.
  
  Akbar also faced Hemu, a minister and general of one of the Sur rulers, who had proclaimed himself Hindu emperor and expelled the Mughals from the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Urged by Bairam Khan, who re-marshalled the Mughal army before Hemu could consolidate his position, Akbar marched on Delhi to reclaim it. His army, led by Bairam Khan, defeated Hemu and the Sur army on 5 November 1556 at the Second Battle of Panipat, 50 miles (80 km) north of Delhi. Soon after the battle, Mughal forces occupied Delhi and then Agra. Akbar made a triumphant entry into Delhi, where he stayed for a month. Then, he and Bairam Khan returned to Punjab to deal with Sikandar Shah Suri, who had become active again. In the next six months, the Mughals won another major battle against Sikander, who fled east to Bengal. Akbar and his forces occupied Lahore and then seized Multan in the Punjab. In 1558, Akbar took possession of Ajmer, the aperture to Rajputana, after the defeat and flight of its Muslim ruler. The Mughals also besieged and defeated the Sur forces in control of Gwalior Fort, a stronghold north of the Narmada river.
  
  Royal begums (ladies), along with the families of Mughal amirs, were brought from Kabul to India at the time, "so that men might become settled and be restrained in some measure from departing to a country to which they were accustomed", according to Fazl. Akbar made clear that he would stay in India, reintroducing the historical legacy of the Timurid Renaissance, in contrast to his grandfather and father, who reigned as transient rulers.