Who was Babur
Babur was the founder of the Mughal Empire, he defeated Ibrahim Lodi in the year 1526 and established the Mughal Empire in India.
Biography of Babur
| Name | Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur |
| Born | 1483 in Andijan, Uzbekistan |
| Father | Usman Sheikh Mirza |
| Mother | Qutlugh Nigar Khanum |
| Predecessor | Ibrahim Lodhi |
| Reign | 1526 to 1530 |
| Ethnicity | Mongol |
| Successor | Humayun |
| Died | 1530 (aged 47) |
| Buried | First Agra then shifted to Kabul |
Early Life
Babur was born in 1483 in the Fergana Valley which is now part of Uzbekistan. His father’s name was Umar Sheikh Mirza who was a ruler of Fergana Valley and was the descendant of Timur Lang. His mother’s name was Qutlugh Nigar Khanum and she was the descendant of Genghis Khan.
It’s said that the origin of Babur was traced to Genghis Khan.
Babur’s clan had Persian and Turkic influence and his family was nomadic who converted to Islam and started living in Turkistan. Babur used to speak the Chagtai language since childhood but he also knew Persian because Persian was in vogue there at that time. His autobiography “Baburnama” is written in the Chagatai language.
Baba was a Mongol whose translation is done in Persian, despite that he was also influenced by Turks and Persians. Many different types of people lived in his clan, such as the Persian Turks and the Blars.
According to historians, Babur had paid a lot of attention to his health since childhood, due to which he was very strong. Sometimes Babur used to make people sit on top of him and run on a steep hill. And it’s also said that he used to swim across all the rivers that came in his way, which includes the Ganges.
Rising to Power
His father was a ruler of the Fergana Valley and even before his death, he had declared Babur as his successor. He died in the year 1494 and at that time Babur was only 12 years old. And the people close to him took advantage of this, they did not allow Babur to rule, after which Babur had to live like a nomad.
In the year 1494 at the age of about 15, he attacked and conquered Samarkand. Fergana was captured by a soldier named Farkhna, when Babur came to know about this, he went to conquer Farkana. But during this journey, his army had left him in the middle, due to which both Samarkand and Farghana were left out of Babur’s hands.
After the loss of Samarkand, he wanted to re-conquer it and at that time Uzbek Khan Mohammad Shivani was ruling there. In the year 1501, he attacked and conquered Samarkand. However, after some time he had to lose Samarkand again. Now Babur had understood that to maintain rule in any area, it is necessary to have a strong army. That’s why he gathered some loyal soldiers and formed a strong army, which took him about 3 years. (Bhagat Singh)
He captured Kabul in the year 1504 on the strength of his own army. And within a few days, he made a plan to kill Mohammad Sherwani in collaboration with Hussain Bakre. But Hussein died in the year 1504. and after that, he took possession of Herat.
He called Herat a city of intellectuals But after conquering Herat he had to leave the city. In that city, there was a poet named Mir Ali Shah Nawai who used to wrote in the Chagatai language. Hence it’s said that Babur wrote the Baburnama in the Chagatai language.
When he was the ruler of Kabul, a rebellion broke out against him due to which he had to leave Kabul. However, within a few days, he again established his empire in Kabul.
Invasion to Northern India
All the dynasties like the Khilji dynasty, slave dynasty, and Tughlaq dynasty had ended in Delhi Sultanate. After which Timur Lang also attacked India, who was the ancestor of Babur, and established the Sayyid dynasty. And after ending that dynasty, the Lodhi dynasty established its own empire.
First Battle of Panipat
The first battle of Panipat was fought on 21st April in the year 15026. Before this war, Babur believed that Delhi should be ruled by the descendants of Timur instead of the Delhi Sultanate. Because Babur was a descendant of Timur from his father’s side and he was a descendant of Genghis Khan from his mother’s side. And Taimur had also established the Syed dynasty in India.
At the time when Babur had made up his mind to conquer Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi, the last ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, was ruling Delhi. Although Babur had tried to make Ibrahim feel his presence before the war, unfortunately, Ibrahim Lodi did not respond.
When he saw that Ibrahim Lodi was not responding, he occupied a place called Kandahar. On the other hand, a king named Shah Smail had bowed down to the Turks. Due to which he and Babur decided to include many modern weapons in their army, it included gunpowder. And after making his army strong, he attacked Ibrahim Lodi, the last Sultan of Delhi.
It’s written in Babur’s autobiography “Baburnama” that this war was fought on 26 April 1526. Babur’s army was very small in this war, his army consisted of about 20000 soldiers. On the other hand, Ibrahim Lodi’s army consisted of 1,00000 soldiers, which was a very large army. But Ibrahim Lodhi’s army was not as modern as Babur’s army, nor did they ever practice together nor did they fight many wars.
Ibrahim Lodi was defeated in this battle because Babur used the Tulugama method. All the soldiers of Ibrahim Lodi who died in this war were cut off their heads and made a small mountain, including the head of Ibrahim Lodi.
Babur vs Rajput
The Rajputs under the leadership of Rana Sanga had liberated a large area and they had become quite powerful. After which the Rajputs wanted to capture Delhi as well and the army of Rajputs was also double that Babur’s army. That is why in the year 1527, on March 17, this battle was fought between Rajputs and Babur.
The victory of Rajputs in this war was almost certain, but Rana Sanga was badly injured by Babur’s army, due to which he had to be out of the war. This was the reason why the victory was snatched from the Rajputs. And then after this Rana Sanga also died on 30 January 1528, so Rajputs could not attack Babur again.
Battle of Khanwa
There was a king named khanzada Hassan who was supporting Rana Sanga, khanzada Hassan was the ruler of Mewat, Apart from this, Ibrahim Lodi’s brother Mahmud Lodi also supported Rana Sanga. In the battle of Khanwa, Rana Sanga was supported by the rulers of states like Gwalior, Ajmer, Amber, Amarwada, Basin Chanderi.
When Babur saw that many people were going against him, he started inciting anger and enthusiasm among his soldiers to strengthen his army. For this, he had banned alcohol and swore together with his soldiers that you can drink alcohol only after winning. Babur’s army consisted of about 200,000 soldiers. And during this war, a general on behalf of Rana Sanga betrayed Rana Sanga and joined hands with Babur. The battle of Babur and Rana Sanga took place at Bayana and Khanwa.
Babur also used tactics in the battle of Khanwan, which he used to defeat Ibrahim Lodhi in the first battle of Panipat. Due to which Rana Sanga had to face defeat and after this Babur had made up his mind to rule India. After both these wars, he assumed the title of Ghazi which means “one who struggles”.
Battle of Chanderi
After conquering Mewar in the Battle of Khanwa, he wanted to suppress the rebellion in the East. At that time the ruler of Bengal was Nusrat Shah who had driven out the Mughals from his territory and welcomed the Afghans. That is why he decided to attack Chanderi with his army.
The ruler of Chanderi was named Medini Rai and supported the Rajputs in the battle of Khanwa. According to Babur, he was more threatened by Medini Rai than the Afghans. Babur was a tremendous military commander, he understood that the Afghans could be defeated at any time but it was necessary to defeat the Rajputs first. He could enter Rajputana kingdoms like Malwa through Chanderi
At first, this Babur had ordered his soldiers to attack Chanderi but the Rajputs defeated him. After this, he himself had planned to attack Chanderi on 21st January, 28th May. Because he felt that Chanderi should not become the power center of Rajputs.
At first, Babar asked Medini Rai to hand over Chanderi to Babur with respect and take Shamshabad as a gift in return. But Medini Rai did not agree and decided to fight Babur.
After this, there was a fierce battle between Rajputs and Mughals in which Babur won the war with the help of his cannons within 1 hour. Married Rajput women committed suicide after the Rajputs lost the war. After winning Chanderi, he gave it to Ahmed Shah and asked him to pay 20 lakhs per annum.
Battle of Ghaghra
The Afghans, along with Ibrahim Lodhi’s brother Mahmud Lodi, had established a rule over Bihar. Therefore the war of Ghaghra was fought between the Mughals and the Afghans because many times the Afghans had thrown out the Mughals from their princely states. In the year 1529, the Afghans accepted the suzerainty of Babur.
But the chief Afghan, whose name was Nusrat Shah, did not accept Babur’s subjugation. That’s why Babur fought the battle of Ghaghra against Nusrat Shah, this was the first war that was fought both on land and water.
However, soon a treaty was signed between Nusrat Shah and Babur in which Nusrat Shah had promised not to give refuge to the Afghans. Because many Afghans had accepted Babur’s suzerainty, but he still felt that Afghans could go against him. However, The ruler of Bihar, Afghan Jalal also accepted Babur’s submission and then made Sher Khan his minister.
Death
Babur had a son named Humayun, once he fell ill, then Babur had prayed to God for his good health. And it’s believed that Babur had prayed to God that the disease from which his son is suffering, that disease should be passed on to Babur but his son gets cured.
And within a few days, Babur’s health started deteriorating and he died in the year 1530. Babur was only 48 years old at the time of his death. His mausoleum was built in Agra but Babur wanted him to be buried in Kabul, so after 9 years Humayun buried his father in Kabul.
What if Babur had not come to India?
If Zahiruddin Mohammad Babar had not come to India in the year 1526 AD, then the culture of India would have been different and the art would have been something else. There would not have been a wonder (Taj Mahal) in India, and there would have been no Red Fort in Delhi and there is no mention of Akbar the Great in the history of India.
Was Babur Mongol?
According to historians, his mother had connections with Genghis Khan, who was a great ruler of history. But on the other hand, his father was related to Timur Lang and he was also a great ruler of the world. Historians believe that Babur was the 14th descendant of Genghis Khan. like the Mongols, he used to cut off the heads of his enemies and make a small mountain. Mongol is called Mughal in the Persian language.
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