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History
History of Islam in India
The Mighty Mughals
Neria Harish Hebbar, MD
A Tireless Tiger from Kabul – Babur (1484-1530)
Zahir-ud-din Muhammad
otherwise known as Babur or ‘the tiger’, was eying the events in Delhi
and Agra under Sikandar Lodi with great interest. Lodi was building a
new city in Agra. Building of a great fort was well underway, when a
devastating earthquake hit Agra, toppling buildings and leaving the
foundations of the fort in ruins. Sikandar Lodi was also having trouble
in another front with Raja Mansingh, who was resisting within his
well-fortified city of Gwalior. To add to this there seemed to be
internal strife among the Lodi clan. Babur, who was of Mongolian descent
in the line of the great Genghis Khan (form his mother’s side) and
fifth-generation descendent of Timur (from his father’s side), was the
ruler in Kabul, Afghanistan. He started his series of invasion into
Panjab in the year of the earthquake in 1505 and continued to do so for
the next twenty years, further weakening the Lodis. Five incursions
later he finally took Delhi and Agra by defeating Ibrahim Lodi in the
battle of Panipat in 1526. An uncle of the sultan and the governor of
Lahore, Daulat Khan, aided the Mughal in overthrowing Ibrahim Lodi.
A vigorous warrior and trooper, Babur was the epitome of fitness. He was
comfortable on the saddle as a warrior or as a connoisseur of great
pieces of literature and poetry. A romantic with nostalgia and a
softhearted love for his central Asian homelands, Babur was a tireless
soldier. He soon saw the ill effects of inebriants on the performance of
a cavalry and promoted prohibition. He was a contemporary of Henry the
VIII in England, who was disabled by his obesity but admired the nimble
Babur. Though Mongolian blood ran in his veins, Babur’s allegiance was
to his place of birth, the erstwhile kingdom of Timur more than a
century earlier, in the Turkic controlled central Asia (current day
Tashkent). He grew up speaking Turki and he considered India only as a
stepping-stone towards ultimate control of Samarkand, Timur’s capital.
As a teenager he had attacked and occupied Samarkand three times and
then driven away after a short period. With Kabul as his capital now he
found himself waging war in India.
After his first raid after the earthquake, it took him another fifteen
years to try again and finally in 1526 he succeeded in toppling the weak
regime in Delhi. With a small but very mobile force he crossed the River
Indus, and helped by a new gunpowder technology, was able to overpower
the larger Lodi army. He took a keen interest in the newly emerging
firearms and cannons. Man and beasts of war were frightened off their
wits with the booming and deafening sounds of exploding cannons. Another
matter that helped Babur in his quest was the internal strife of the
Lodi brothers. They had divided the sultanate into two factions and then
later, Ibrahim had his brother assassinated. The unsettled rivalry
between Ibrahim and his governors and secret deals with the Rajput chief
of Mewar, one Rana Sangha, also helped Babur win the battle of Panipat.
A panicked foe of 100,000 soldiers and 1000 elephants was conquered even
with a smaller army of Babur. He marched on to Delhi while his son
Humayun hastened to the capital Agra to secure the treasury. Raja
Mansingh’s successor raja Vikramaditya, who was a feudatory of Lodis
since 1519, was also in Agra. After he was slain his family made a deal
with Humayun.
Babur-nama, a memoir-cum-diary of Babur mentions that the family gave
Humayun countless jewels including one unique diamond weighing 186
carats. Babur writes that this diamond originally belonged to Ala-ud-din
Khilji, perhaps obtained from Golconda (Andhra Pradesh) during his
expedition to Deccan. How the raja of Gwalior came to possess it is not
known. This diamond later was known as the Koh-I-Nur, the mountain of
light. Humayun offered it to Babur but Babur wisely refused it as there
is a legend that ill luck would befall whoever owns such a stone.
History, however calls it Babur’s diamond. To commemorate the victory at
Panipat, Babur built a mosque there. Another mosque he built later
called Babri Masjid was mired in controversy as Hindus claimed it was
built in the birthplace of Rama of Ayodhya. Fanatic Hindus razed it to
the ground using pickaxes in 1992.
With the help of Humayun, Babur extended his kingdom. However, he had to
thwart some of the dissent among his ranks, when the nostalgic Mughals
wanted to return to Kabul (reminiscent of Alexander’s Macedonians). They
had had enough of hot and muggy Indian summers. Even at the risk of
facing poverty back in Kabul, the rank and file senior members wanted to
return. Nothing short of a pep talk by Babur himself could stop them
from their determination. Finally the persuasion by their leader worked
as well as the relief from Indian summer came in the form of cooler
monsoon rains.
The Rajput from Mewar, Rana Sangha had aspirations of his own. Though he
had assisted Babur in deposing the Lodis, he was hoping a quick
withdrawal by the Mughals leaving him to reap the benefits. When this
did not become a reality, Rana Sangha began his campaign against Babur.
The morale of Babur’s troops ebbed, again to be rallied by their
tireless leader. Stressing that the adversaries were idolaters and
infidels Babur was able to designate the war a holy war (jihad).
Cowardice would only prevent martyrdom and is punishable, according to
Koranic teachings. He worked his troops into a religious frenzy and made
his men swear off alcohol, another taboo as per the holy book. Rana
Sangha was thoroughly defeated in the battle at Khanua (Khanwar).
Following this Babur cherished any challenge. Firmly ensconced in the
throne, he looked forward to skirmishes where he could personally lead
his army to victory. The Afghan nobles loyal to Lodis were defeated in
Ghagra. Babur conquered more and more territories that his successors
found difficult to hold together. His empire extended from Kabul to
Bihar and from the foothills of Himalayas to Gwalior.
His dream of returning to central Asia looked more and more
unattainable. However, he sent his favorite son, the eldest Humayun to
Samarkand for a campaign. Humayun was not successful in his bid and had
to return to India due to his father’s ill health. In a dramatic change
of events, Humayun fell gravely ill and the distraught father was seen
praying at his bedside. He asked God to trade places with his son and
forfeit his life for Humayun’s life. The twenty-two year old son
recovered and the forty-seven years old father faded. He was interned in
1530 in a garden in Agra, which according to his wishes was later
removed to Kabul, amongst his favorite melons and vineyards. It took
only four busy years (1526-1530) for Babur to establish one of the
greatest empires of the world.
June 12, 2002
Image of Babur Reading under license with Gettyimages.com
Next : The Fugitive King : Humayun
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