THE TAKING OF DELHI 209 victory. When Humayun brought his father the glori- ous diamond, one of the famous historical jewels, valued at " half the daily expenses of the world," which is perhaps, to be identified with the renowned Koh-i-nur, and which the family of the late Raja Vikramajit had given him in gratitude for his chivalrous protection, Babar returned it to the young prince. He had no love for wealth or precious stones, except to give away, and his prodigal generosity in distributing the immense spoil of the Delhi kings gained him the nickname of " the Kalandari "the mendicant friar. He was con- tent with fame. Babar was now King of Delhi, but not yet sovereign of Hindustan, much less of India. Even of the domin- ions of Delhi, which then stretched from the Indus to Bihar, and from Gwalior almost to the Himalayas, he was only nominally master. The Lodi dynasty, indeed, was dethroned, and its king slain, but that king left a brother to claim the crown, and the land remained unsubdued east and south of Agra. The people were hostile to the strangers of uncouth tongue, and each town and petty ruler prepared for obstinate resistance. The strongholds of the Doab and Rajputana were all fortifying against attack, unanimous in rejecting the newcomers. In spite of the surfeit of treasure, Babar 's troops were likely to starve. " When I came to Agra," he says, " it was the hot season. All the inhabitants fled from terror, so that we could find neither grain for ourselves nor fodder for our beasts. The villages, out of mere hatred and spite to us, had taken to anar-
