History of India and Pakistan (Babar)

Babar's Invasion And Causes Of His Success.

Family Background

Emperor Babur has been known as the founder of Mughal Empire in India. He rose to power by his strong determination, strength of his nerves and desire to lay the foundation of the Mughal Empire for his future generations. He was born on 14th February, 1483 at a town called Andijan (a town in present day Uzbekistan). His father named Umer Sheikh Mirza was ruler of Farghana. Umer Sheikh was a Chughtai Turk and descent of Amir Temur. His mother Qutlagh Nigar Khanum was the daughter of ruler of Kashghar. She was descent of Mangol King Changaiz Khan. So Babur has the blood of famous leaders of central asia. He inherited bravery, power and courage of Mangol and Turks.  He was named Zahiruddin Muhammad and was called Babar affectionately. The word Babar is derived from Persian language which means lion.

Training and Development

Babar’s father took great care of his son’s training, education and development. He was taught Persian, Turkish, and Arabic languages and their knowledge, literature along with poetry too. His mother and grandmother affected a lot on personality development of Babur. Babur wrote in his autobiography, Tuzk-e-Babari, “I learnt from these females that how to maintain self confidence at the time of difficulties with courage”. Babur learnt swordplay, archery, and horse riding at early age of his life very effectively.  

Attributes of Babur’s Personality

The Mughal Emperor Babar is described as a military genius and a skillful warrior. He is known to have built an empire of good fortune and immense stability. Not only was he an able administrator, but also a lover of fine arts and poetry. It is said that he loved nature and built many beautiful gardens and sprawling lawns. He used to organize warm welcome parties at these gardens and any spot of natural beauty. He was a warrior of extraordinary strength and is said to have climbed mountains just for exercise.
Babur was a poetic genius and his creations have been compiled as an autobiography known as “Babar-Nameh”. They were translated into Persian during the rule of Akbar and then translated into English during 1921-22 and the compilation was titled "Memoirs of Babar". One finds valuable information in these works and they define Babar as someone who was very noble and kind hearted. He was a very witty person who had a streak of adventure and a keen eye for natural beauty.
1) Attractive Personality: There was some special attraction in Babur’s personality. He was one of the most attractive and wise persons of the medieval age. Almost all the historians have described his personal quality in a very admirable way. Babur was one of the most attractive persons in the whole history of Asia. “He was handsome and a very healthy person. He was as powerful that he used to run on the walls of the Agra Fort with two men caught under his arms. He was a good hunter, horse-rider and swimmer. Hunting was his favourit pastime. In the coldest winters he went for hunting at far of places. He was so good a rider that he completed his longest journeys on horse-back. Babur was a man of unique courage. During the most critical times, he did not lose his patience and natural happiness. This was the reason that his Turkish Kinsmen gave him the title of “Babur”. He was very kind and liberal. He had great affection for his relatives and friends. He could make sacrifice for them.

2) A Great Commander and Conqueror: Babur was a heaven-born general and courageous soldier. Initial difficulties had made him brave and patient. He never lost his self-confidence even in the face of a defeat. He enjoyed the confidence and devoted services of his soldiers who were always ready to sacrifice their all for him. He knew how to arrange his soldiers in the battle array. He was fully acquainted with the new method of welfare. In short, he possessed all those quality which a brave warrior and successful general should have.

3) Babur as a Scholar: Babur was not only known for his military qualities and character but also for his scholarly pursuits. He was himself a scholar of repute. He respected the learned. He had good knowledge of his mother- tongue Turki and Persion language. He wrote poetry in these languages. His autobiography, “Tuzuki-i-Baburi is a first-rate literary work. We come to know from his autobiography that Babur had a great passion for nature. In this book, he had depicted the true picture of his life in a plain and simple language.

4) Babur as an Administrator and an Empire Builder: Babur was an attractive person, good general and a first-rate scholar. But he was not an able administrator. He did not bother to reform his administration. He distributed most of his conquered provinces in India among his friends and relatives. He handed over the administration of these provinces to them. Every chief or noble ruled according to his own will. They had formulated their own rules and were only nominally under him. The people on the frontiers were not still completely subdued. Therefore, they were still having rebellious feelings against the sovereign. In the province of Bihar and Sind, Babur’s orders were not fully carried out. In the fields of revenue and justice no reforms were introduced. In the matters of economic administration, Babur did not prove himself to be far-sighted and wise. He did not give a proof of his wisdom by squandering the treasure among his friends and nobles. The empty treasury added to the difficulties of his son Humayun. Babur also did not take up any work for the benefit of the general public. He could not win the hearts of the people. He could not, in fact, lay the foundation of his dynasty deep in the soil. Had he done so, his son Humayun would not have to flee from India. He only conquered the Indian provinces and nothing more. He stayed in India for four years and during most of this period he was always busy in fighting battle. He could not find time to see to his administration. Though Babur cannot be said to be the real founder of the Mughal dynasty in India yet he hold a high place in the Indian history. No one can deny the fact that he laid the foundation of the Mughal rule in India through his conquests.

Military Career of Babur

Babar’s practical life can be divided into two eras; His career in central Asia, where he tried to prove his political positions but he was failed to do so. So he moved to subcontinent where his second phase of career started.

First Phase:

There were two political rivals of Babar in Central Asia. i.e. Shebani Khan and Shah of Iran. Shebani Khan was at 10^th of descendent of Chengaiz Khan. He established a great empire in central Asia which was retained between 1500 to 1598. Babar was in fighting with him until Babar was there in Central Asia.

Early Expeditions in Central Asia: Babar attained his first power position at the mere age of 12 In the year 1494, he succeeded his father as the ruler of Fergana, which is located in the present day Uzbekistan. But his uncles were greedy and did everything possible to displace him from his position and rob his territories. Babar had to spend quite some time in exiles and roam around without any shelter. His only well wishers were peasants and friends who gave him food every now and then.

Samarkand was an important place of Amir Temur. This city was among the most important trading zone of that time and was a beautiful city. On the basis of its political, economic and historical significance with Amir Timur, Babur was anxious to conquer this city. So after stabilizing its position in Faraghana, Babur in 1496 he attacked Samarkand but failed. But after one year he tried again and succeeded.  However, he was robbed off Fargana after a rebellion amongst nobles in his kingdom.

But unfortunately after three month he came to know that his brother in law captured Faraghana. But when he leave for Faraghna, on the way he knew that his brother in law recaptured Samarkand too. So he lost both these areas. He did not lost his hopes and tried his level best to regain these areas but in vain. In 1498 he recaptured Farhghana. In those days Shebani Khan acceded Samarkand in his kingdom. In 1500 Babur regained that area from him but Shebani Khan recaptured Samarkand again after eight month. During the absence of Babur, his brother in law recaptured Faraghana.

Second Phase:

Conquer of Afghanistan and India: By the 16th century, Babar was determined to conquer Afghanistan and India. It is said that Babar had no plans of conquering India as such, but after Fargana was robbed off him, conquering India seemed like an attractive option. He conquered Kabul in 1504 located in Afghanistan after waging a fierce battle against the nobles and the rulers. In 1511 with the help of Shah Iran he was enabled to capture Kandhar. So he stabilized his government in Kabul and Kandhar then moved towards Indo Pak subcontinent. Babar crossed the mountains and somehow came to India. After waging fierce battles against the Rajputs and Lodhis, Babar managed to take possession of Delhi and Agra. After that he rapidly started to spread his territory and conquered most of Indian sub-continent and Afghanistan. He was succeeded by his eldest son Humayun who further consolidated the empire in India

Babar’s Invasions

First Invasion: Babar invaded India first time in1505 A.D. Soon he was successful in taking Bajaur and the fort of Bhera. He could not retain these places when he turned back.

Second Invasion: Babar came to invade India second time in 1519 A.D., but had to return back from Peshawar due to revolt at Badakshan.

Third Invasion: In 1520-21 A.D. Babar invaded India for the third time & captured Bajaur, Bhera, & Sialkot. He had to return back due to disorder in Kandhar.

Fourth Invasion: Babar Invaded India for the fourth time in 1524-26 A.D. Daulat Khan Lodhi & Rana Sanga had invited him. Soon he was able to capture Punjab & at last in 1526 he defeated Ibrahim Lodhi & founded Mughal Dynasty in India.  

Causes Of Babar’s Success:

Babar defeated Afghans & Rajputs in the battles due to various reasons:

Political Condition of India: India was divided into small states and lacked any strong central power. These small states were busy fighting each other. There was complete instability in India & had not any powerful ruler who could stand in front of Babar.

Mind Setup of Babar: Babar was attracted towards India, because of her fabulous wealth. India was known as “golden sparrow” at that time. Babar had ambition to achieve this wealth of India. So he was mentally prepared to defeat Indian rulers.

Ibrahim’s unpopularity: Oppressive policies of Ibrahim Lodhi towards everyone. Babar took full advantage of this feeling of unrest among the general masses.

Dissensions & Quarrels among the Rajputs:  Dissensions & Quarrels among the Rajputs had made them powerless & selfish. They could not join hands even to save their motherland.

Babar’s Artillery: Babur’s Artillery not only destructed Indians it also shattered their spirits. Ustad Ali & Mustafa were two such gunners who could play havoc with any big army.

Firing with cannons: Babar was the first person who introduced cannon firing technology in subcontinent. Even elephant of Ibrahim lodhi were afraid after such huge firing and started to crush its won soldiers which led to defeat of Ibrahim lodhi.  

Disciplined Army: Babar’ Army was acquainted with the new methods of warfare. The Indian armies acted like a mob in the battlefield. Babar once said “Indian army know to die but not to fight”

Military Planning: Babur was a great planner of expeditions. Before any expedition he analyzed the environment, its own power and its enemy’s power and performance of his own soldiers. War planning, strategy, active mindedness, and keep eye on enemies strategies was the key of his success. He used to dig holes, huddles and arrange various shapes of rows during war in order to confuse the enemies.

Devotion of Babar’s Soldiers: Babar’s soldiers loved their king & were ready to die for him in battlefield whereas the Indian soldiers came to battlefield for the sake of money.

Babar’s Personality: The most important cause of Babar’s victory was his impressive personality. He never lost his heart or showed signs of weakness in battlefield. He was a great orator & had the capacity to infuse spirit in dead bodies with his lively speeches. He was a born General & fully conversant with the tactics of war.

Battle of Panipat 1526:

The first battle of Panipat took place in Northern India, and marked the beginning of the Mughal Empire. This was one of the earliest battles involving gunpowder firearms and field artillery. In 1526, the forces of Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur, the Timurid ruler of Kabul, defeated the much larger army of Ibrahim Lodi, Sultan of Delhi. The battle was fought on 21 April near the small village of Panipat, in the present day Indian state of Haryana, an area that has been the site of a number of decisive battles for the control of Northern India since the twelfth century.

It is estimated that Babur's forces numbered about 8,000 men and he had between 20 to 24 pieces of field artillery. Lodi had around 130,000 men, though that number included camp followers, while the fighting force was around 100,000 to 110,000 men in total, along with at least 300 war elephants. Hindu Kings - Rajputs were neutral but few Tomar Rajputs of Gwalior fought for Ibrahim Lodi.

Causes: There were many causes responsible for the First Battle of Panipat. The chief among

them are the following:

1) When Babur failed to conquer Samarkand, he concentrated on the conquest of Hindustan.

2) The fabulous wealth of India was a source of great attraction for him.

3) At the time there was political instability in India. There was no strong and well organized central power.

4) Daulat Khan, The Governor of Punjab, Alam khan an uncle of Ibrahim and Rana Sanga, a Rajput ruler, extended their invitations to Babur to invade India.

5) Ibrahim Lodhi was thoroughly unpopular with his chiefs, relatives and his subjects because of his atrocities. Under such circumstances an ambitious person like Babur could not miss the opportunity.

Events: The first battle of Panipat was fought between Babur and Ibrahim Lodhi on April 21, 1526 A. D. Babur had 12,000 troops and many cannon. Ibrahim on the other hands, had 1 00,000 soldiers and 100 elephants. Babur’s division of the army was fine. He posted his 700 carts in the middle. In between the gaps there were posted hundreds of horsemen. Behind the carts heavy guns were kept under the leadership of Mustafa and Ustad Ali. The right wing of the army was protected by the town of Panipat and the left by ditches. On the extreme right and left sides there were stationed horsemen. The battle started on April 21, 1526 A. D. The army of Ibrahim was not conversant with the scientific method of warfare. They advanced towards Babur like a mob. When they faced cannon and guns of Babur they ran back along with their elephant. Many soldiers were either killed in the stampede or were trampled down by the elephant. Babur’s cavalrymen encircled Ibrahim’s soldiers in the Battle of Panipat.

Result and Significance: Though this battle lasted for a day only yet its results were very significant:

1) End of the Lodhi Rule: The battle was very decisive. Ibrahim Lodhi was defeated and killed along with his 15,000 soldiers. With his death, the Lodhi rule in India came to an end.

2) Foundation of a New Dynasty: In the Battle of Panipat, Babur was absolutely successful. As a result of this battle, the Mughal Empire was established in India which continued for more than two centuries.

3) Fatal Blow to the Afghan Rule: The battle of Panipat became a tomb for the Afghans of Delhi. Their state was destroyed and their strength was absolutely crippled. This battlefield became a horrible place and no one dared pass that way after the sunset.

4) Spread of Indian Culture and Civilization: The Mughals who established their rule over Delhi were not fanatics like the Afghans. They kept politics away from religion. As a result of their religious toleration, and peace and order which they granted to the country, there was an all round evelopment in art and literature.

5) End of Babur’s Bad Days. Ruskbrook Williams: After being successful in the battle, the bad days of Babur came to an end. Now; He need not bother about his personal safety or his throne.

War of Kanwah 1527

In order to attack on subcontinent Rana Sanga (Ruler of Meewar, Rajistan) also invited Babur. But he thought Babur also left after looting and grabbing the subcontinent and in the situation of chaos, anarchy and civil war he would be able to establish his own Rajput dynasty. But after stabilizing Babur in subcontinent his dream was unable to fulfill. So he decided to war with Babur. At the place of Kanwah, near Agra, with the army of one lakh Rana Sanga came to fight with Babar. This huge army afraid the babar’s army. On the other hand on the prediction of syntactic that Babar’s army would loss this war and stars are not in the favor of Babur further add insult to injury. But Babar delivered a motivational speech in front of his army. He said

“do you know that our own country and this land had months of distance. If we lost (our Allah Almighty protect us from this time and insult) then what would be outcome? Where would we be? Where would be our land and city? We must combat with these foreigners and aliens. Everyone must keep in mind that everyone must die in this world. One who starts his life must face death. Great death is better than live with disrespect and denigration. So it is better for all of us that we must have two alternatives in front of us. One is that he must fight for the sake of God and succeed and declared as Ghazi. Otherwise die while fighting and got the level of Shahadat. These two things are the cause of our survival.”

After this speech whole soldiers took oath on Quran and decided to fight fearlessly. They motivated a lot and prepared for war. Babur planned like war of Panipat and started to fire from his cannon. This created havoc in the army of Rana Sanga and he fled from war place but captured and later on was murdered.    

Battle of Chanderi

In Chanderi a general of Rana Sanga was fought bravely but lost the war in the hands of Babur. Afghani started their political rebellion activities in Bihar and Bengal. Brother of Ibrahim Lodhi announced his kingship there. Babar defeated him at Ghakra.

Political Condition of India on the Eve of Babur’s Invasion of India:

As the time of Babur’s invasion, the Sultanate of Delhi had almost disintegrated. As a result, the whole of the country was divided into small states. These states always measured swords with one another. There was no supreme power in the country which could give a fight to the enemy.

1) Delhi: - Delhi lost its splendor which it enjoyed in the days of the Khilji and Tughlak Sultans. At the time of Babur’s invasion, Ibrahim Lodhi ruled over Delhi. It was divided into small provinces and Jagirs. The officials there had more words to say than the Sultan. Ibrahim had become unpopular because of his policy. He had started insulting those Amirs and wazirs who had put in their soul in the welfare of the state. Such chiefs were so much angry with their Sultan that they extended their invitation to Babur to invade India.

2) Punjab: - In the Punjab, Daoulat Khan Lodhi had revolted against the authority of

Ibrahim and had become an independent ruler of the Punjab. He could not tolerate the insult of his son at the hands of the Sultan. He turned against the Sultan so much so that he joined hands with Alam Khan, an uncle of Ibrahim and invited Babur to invade India. Besides that, the rulers of Sindh and Multan were also hostile to the Sultan of Delhi. So on this invitation Babur attacked Lahore and after defeating army of Ibrahim Lodhi Babur  captured Lahore in 1524. Daulat Khan thought that Babar would leave after defeating Ibrahim Lodhi but Babur appointed his governor at Lahore and gave Jalandhar to Daulat khan only. After leaving Babur to Kabul, Daulat khan again recaptured all of Punjab. When Babur came to know about this and ordered his governor to took actions but at that time all the leaders joined Daulat Lodhi. At that time Babur decided to attack himself on subcontinent. But due to personal qualities, popularity of Babur, the whole Umrah of Ibrahim Lodhi changed their loyalties and invited Babur to attack on Subcontinent.

3) Bengal: - During the reign of Mohammad Tughlak, Bengal had become independent under Mubarak Shah. The ruler of Delhi never tried to bring that province under their authority when Babur invaded India in 1526 A. D. Nusrat Shah, an Afghan, ruled over Bengal independently.

4) Jaunpur: - Jalal Khan Lodhi, a younger brother of Ibrahim Lodhi ruled over Jaunpur. The Sultan was not happy with him. Therefore, he attacked him and killed him. The Amor-ul-Umra were so much annoyed with Ibrahim’s unbecoming attitude that they recognized Nasir Khan Lodhi as the ruler of Jaunpur, Oudh and Bihar.

5) Gujarat: - In1297 A. D. Gujarat was conquered by Alauddin Khilji. But in 1401 A. D. it becomes independent under Jafer Khan. At the time of Babur’s invasion, the Muslim rulers ruled over this province. In1526 A. D. a very ambitious and brave ruler Bahadur Shah ruled over there.

6) Malwa: - During the reign of Firuz Tughlak, a Jagirdar named Dilawar Khan founded an independent state in Malwa. But in1525 A. D. the Rajputs snatched Malwa from his successor, Mahmud. At the time of Babur’s invasion, Medini Rao, a Rajput ruled over Malwa.

7) Rajputana: - There were many small states in Rajputana. At the time of Babur’s invasion, the famous Rana Sanga ruled over Mewar. He was having strained relations with his Muslim neighbors.

8) Kashmir: - In the fourteenth century, Kashmir had become independent under Shah Mirza. There was chaos in Kashmir at the time of Babur’s invasion. At last, Kashmir was won over by the Mughals in the times of Humayun.

9) Khandesh: - Taking advantage of Timur’s invasion, Malik Farruqi, who was appointed as the Governor of this province, became an independent ruler. The rulers of Gujarat had a long-drawn struggle with the rulers of Khandesh. From the last decade of the 15^th century till the time of Babur’s invasion, there was chaos in Khandesh. It was annexed in the Mughal Empire during the times of Akbar.

10) Deccan: - During the reign of Mohammad Tughlak, the Deccan also became independent. Two strong kingdoms of Bahmani and Vijayanagar were set-up there. During the reign of Babur, the Bahamni Kingdom was divided into five states-Bajapur, Golconda, Bihar, Ahmadnagar and Berar. In its south lay the Vijayanagar Empire. She was struggling constantly with her neighbours in the north.

It is clear from the above account that both north and south India were divided into small principalities where different Hindu and Muslim rulers were ruling. Under these circumstances, it was not difficult task for anyone to conquer India. Thus Babur’s “Invasion was well timed.”

Important  Terms:

JIHAD:  Jihad is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād is a noun meaning "struggle." Jihad appears frequently in the Qur'an and common usage as the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of Allah (al-jihad fi sabil Allah) A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid, the plural is mujahideen.

Some Sunni scholars refer to this duty as the sixth pillar of Islam.

The Muslim rulers encouraged their soldiers to fight the kafirs in the name of religion. The religious war was known as Jihad. Babar too had declared his battle against Rana Sanga a jihad.  

Jauhar: jauhar, a rajput custom where women burnt themselves alive as a group to save their chastity, in the face of sure defeat.      

Masnavi: masnavi is the name of Babars famous book.

Gaddi: Gaddi means throne.

Dak Chowki: During Sher Shah Suri’s reign inns, served as Dak Chowkiis. The royal post reached its destination through these Dak Chowkis.

Jaziya: Jaziya was a religious tax levied on the Non-Muslims.

Bāburnāma ( Tuzk-e Babri) is the name given to the memoirs of Bābur (1483-1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great-great-grandson of Timur. It is an autobiographical work, originally written in the Chagatai language, known to Babur as "Turki" .Because of Babur's cultural origin, his prose is highly Persianized in its sentence structure, morphology, and vocabulary, and also contains many phrases and smaller poems in Persian. During Emperor Akbar's reign, the work was completely translated to Persian by a Mughal courtier, Abdul Rahīm, (1589-90). Bābur was an educated Central Asian Muslim and his observations and comments in his memoirs reflect an interest in nature, society, politics and economics. His vivid account of events covers not just his life, but the history and geography of the areas he lived in, and their flora and fauna, as well as the people with whom he came into contact. The Bāburnāma begins with these plain words:

“In the province of Fergana, in the year 1494, when I was twelve years old, I became king”

After some background, Bābur describes his fluctuating fortunes as a minor ruler in Central Asia - in which he took and lost Samarkand twice -and his move to Kabul in 1504. There is a break in the manuscript between 1508 and 1519. By the latter date Bābur is established in Kabul, Afghanistan, and from there campaigned an invasion into northwestern India. The final section of the Bāburnāma covers the years 1525 to 1529 and the establishment of the Mughal Empire in India, which Bābur's descendants would rule for an entire three centuries.

Babar was died at the in 1530.