Babur died just four years later and Humayun became emperor at the age of twenty-two. He did not have his father's tenacity, nor his acumen in battle, and it was not long before he lost the kingdom, temporarily, to the Afghan chieftain Sher Shah (Sher Khan).

Humayun was forced to flee with his Persian wife Hamida and sought refuge at the court of Tahmasp, the Shah of Persia, in 1544. Here Humayun lived in the style of his ancestors at Samarkand and Herat. The Persian court of that time was considered a great artistic and cultural centre. The arrival of Hamida and Humayun was greeted with a welcome feast given by Tahmasp, and on each of the following days a banquet of five hundred dishes appeared:

Upon his auspicious arrival let him drink fine sherbets of lemon and rosewater, cooled with snow; then serve him preserves of watermelon, grapes and other fruits, with white bread just as I have ordered. For this royal guest prepare each drink with sweet attars and ambergris; and each day prepare a banquet of five hundred rare and delicious and colourful dishes … O my son, on the day of his arrival give feast, tremendous and enticing, of meats and sweetmeats, milks and fruits to the number of three thousand trays.

Shah Tahmasp agreed to back Humayun in his attempt to recapture his kingdom in India, and announced his intention to provide Humayun with 12,000 of his best horsemen. When Humayun returned to reclaim his throne in 1555, the diamond, the Koh-I-Nor, stayed behind. It had started out on its travels – the Shah sent it to the Nizam Shah in the Dexxan in India; in the seventeenth century it was in Shah Jahan's treasury; it was seized by Nadir Shah in 1739; was appropriated by the Sikh ruler of the Punjab, Ranjit Singh, and finally came into British hands when the Punjab was annexed in 1849. Today it is the jewel in the crown in the Tower of London.

Had Humayun not been forced into long exile, we might have been made more aware of his lifestyle and food habits. Of feasts there were many, often given by his aunts to celebrate birthdays or weddings. There was 'profusion and splendour', and we know that as early as 1533 Humayun was following a tradition of Hindu kings in being weighed against gold. Gul-Badan, Humayun's aunt, leaves us a description of the 'House of Feasting" commemorating his accession to the throne.

She describes the large room, with an octagonal tank in the centre and in the middle of the tank platform spread with Persian carpets on which entertainers and musicians sat. In the hall was a jewelled throne sheltered by gold-embroidered hangings and long strings of pearls. In another room sat a gilded bedstead and paan dishes, from which we learn that the Hindu ceremonial custom of paan exchange had been introduced to the Moghul court. There are jewelled drinking vessels and utensils of pure gold and silver and tablecloths of choice gold brocade. It was indeed a grand occasion, but yet more sumptuous banquets and feasts and festivities were to take place as Moghul rule progressed.

Humayun's reign after his return from exile was not destined to be a long one, and he died just six months later in 1556. He turned to answer a call to prayer, tripped and fell down some stairs. Although Humayun's reign was brief, his stay in Persia made a deep impression on both himself and Hamida, and they made the initial contribution to the cultural synthesis which was to be the hallmark of Moghul style in India.

Humayun's tomb in Delhi is a monument raised by his older widow, Haji Begum, who is said to have camped on the site while the building was in progress. It marks the beginning of the development of Indo-Islamic architecture. Persian in style, and incorporating for the first time in India the Persian double dome, with the Indian chatris on the roof, it was the predecessor to many other buildings fusing the two styles – from Akbar's tomb at Sikandra to the perfection of the fusion in Shah Jahan's Taj Mahal at Agra.