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Role of Babur in the establishment of Mughal Rule in India

Student ID: 201904326  

B.A (Honours) Islamic Studies – Semester 4  

JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA, NEW DELHI  

Under supervision of:  

Dr Mohd. Umar Farooque 

Babur is highly regarded for his “building” one of the great empires of the human history, based on his  bold and courageous character. Born in Fergana to Umar Shaykh Mirza on 14 February 1483, he had got  a little state in inheritance, but when he died, he left a great empire behind him, that spread from the  Jaxartes to the Narmada River. He was a descendant of Taimūr on his father’s side and of Genghis Khan,  on that of his mother. His father Umar Shaykh Mirza was the son of Abu Sa’īd Mirza, who was a  grandson of Miran Shah, the son of Taimūr.  

As I.H Qureshi points out that,  

“A Timurid prince, 'Umar Shaykh Mirza, ruler of Fergana, died in 1494, leaving little more than a title to  his principality for his son Babur, then eleven years old. Babur had to fight not only to defend Fergana  but also to fulfill his ambition of possessing Samarqand because of its prestige as the main city of Central Asia.”1 

Despite ruling, rather being a founder of such a great empire, his life was regarded an epitome of  generosity, mercy and humanness.2 Stephen Frederic Dale mentions in his “BABUR: Timurid Prince and  Mughal Emperor” that “Babur was never at any point in his life a barbarous, pastoral nomadic  tribesman. He matured in a civilized urban environment.”3 

Delhi before the Mughal Empire  

Prior to the establishment of Mughal Empire, there existed the Delhi Sultanate that had been  established long ago in 1206. The Delhi Sultanate was ruled subsequently by five dynasties viz. Mamluk  dynasty, Khilji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Sayyid dynasty and the Lodi dynasty. The Sultanate consisted  parts of modern day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and partial parts of Nepal. The Lodi dynasty lost the  Sultanate to Babur, in the Battle of Panipat, which was fought between Ibrāhīm Lodi and Babur in  Panipat, in April 1526, leaving Ibrahim Lodi killed in the field, and the Sultanate being replaced by the  Mughal Empire.  

Babur’s early works  

Going towards the biographical accounts of Babur, we find his father, Umar Shaykh Mirza, a just ruler of  Fergana. Farishta records that Mirza died on 4 Ramadan 899 AH, when he was in his dovecote, which  collapsed, and he died a freak accident; leaving behind twelve-year Babur to rule the Fergana valley.4  

Dale explores that “Not only was the Fergana valley historically, during Babur’s lifetime, a region of  sedentary agricultural and urban settlement, but it was in direct and constant contact with the great  urban civilizations to the west and east, and it served for nearly two millennia as one of the principal  routes for Silk Road commerce.”5 

As Babur inherited the governorship of the Fergana valley, his Timurid and Chagatai Mongol relatives did  not approve his authority, but they mobilised troops and marched on Andijan with an intention to seize  Fergana province and either capture Babur or kill him. Dale writes, and it is evident from Farishta’s  Tārīkh that,  

“His uncle and father-in-law, Ahmad Mirza, invaded the valley from the southwest, seizing several  towns. At roughly the same time, his maternal uncle, Mahmud Khan of Tashkent, entered the valley  from the northwest and besieged Akshi, while his distant Mongol kinsman Abu Bakr Dughlat invaded  Fergana by crossing the mountains from Xinjiang and occupying Uzgend. The young Babur was able to  retain control of the central valley, although he lost a number of small towns in the west.”6 

It is related that Babur joined Baisunghar Mirza’s two contending brothers to besiege Samarqand in the  fall of 1496 and again, after a winter’s pause, in the spring and summer of 1497, finally entering the  beleaguered city in November 1497.7 Farishta records, Babur sat on the throne of Samarqand in Rabi’ al Awwal 903 AH, and granted royal gifts to his old friends.8 

I.H Qureshi recalls that Babur did succeed in occupying Samarqand, but only to lose it again. He later  occupied Kabul in 1504, which became his headquarters. He lost everything else, including the Fergana  valley in struggle.9 Qureshi says,  

“The rise of the Ozbegs and the Safavids affected Babur’s career deeply. The Ozbegs were able to  extinguish the power of Timurids because they proved incapable of serious and joint effort. The Safavids  came into conflict and defeated them. Babur was restored to the kingdom of Samarqand as a vassal of  Shah Isma’īl I after the defeat and death of Shaybāni Khan Ozbeg. The Safavids were defeated in the  battle of Ghujduwān, and Babur lost all hope of ruling Samarqand, and returned to Kabul in 1512.”10 

Towards Founding the Mughal Empire  

Indian historian Zafar Dasnawi mentions,  

“Ibrahim Lodi became the sultān of Delhi after his father Sikander Lodi, however firstly he started to  fight his brother for Jaunpur, and he successfully got it, and later he conquered to Fort of Gwalior. In  such conditions, a number of amīrs were accused of plotting against him, and he got them punished.  Nonetheless, his governor of Lahore, Dawlat Khān, invited Babur to invade Delhi.11 We know that, Babur   had lost everything in his struggle, and was then ruling over Kabul. In such a condition, after Babur felt   secure, he turned his mind towards India.  

Battle of Panipat 

This battle has the historical significance as it laid the foundation of India’s finest and major empire,  overthrowing the Lodi dynasty. The battle was fought in Panipat, but it is worth noting that Babur did  occupy the Punjab, prior to moving here. IH Qureshi recalls,  

“Dawlat Khan, the governor of Lahore, sent messengers to Kabul offering allegiance in return for help.  Ibrahim's uncle, 'Alam Khan, also went to Kabul seeking assistance to capture the throne of Delhi. Babur,  who had made some incursions into the Punjab before, now marched, ostensibly to help Dawlat Khan,  and captured Lahore, Dawlat Khan, finding that Babur had no intention of handing over Lahore to him,  turned hostile.”12 

Babur controlled Lahore and marched towards Delhi; and Ibrahim Lodi on the next side wasn’t unaware  either. He marched towards Panipat alongside a huge army. Babur reached the spot, and the battle  dated April 1526.13 Ibrāhīm had a large army, however they were not well equipped and trained as well,  and Babur’s army was well-equipped and well-trained, alongside they possessed artillery, and Ibrahim’s  army was completely ignorant of it. Babur had a little army of 25,000 whilst Ibrahim’s army numbered  100,000 along with the possession of 1000 elephants.14 With the artillery, Babur managed to disperse  Ibrahim’s army scattered, and then attacked them, until the army stopped responding. The Lodi army  was defeated and Babur entered Delhi, as a conqueror.15 Farishta writing about the Battle of Panipat  mentions,  

Babur, after having personally given orders to his generals, and marshaled the troops, took post in the  centre of the first line. Ibrahim Lodi drew up his forces in one solid mass, and, according to the practice  of the Indians, ordered his cavalry to charge. This attack the Mogul army received so steadily, that the  

Indians began to slacken their pace long before they reached the enemy's line. Those divisions which  advanced were repulsed; but when they attempted to retreat, they found themselves surrounded; for  the two corps in reserve in rear of the Mogul line being ordered to wheel round their flanks, met in the centre, and fell upon the rear of those who had advanced, by which means the Afghans were almost all  cut to pieces: 5000 men fell around the person of Ibrahim, who was found among the slain.16 

Farishta however records five attacks of Babur on India, in advance of this major battle. The first  campaign, he launched in 925 AH, and this campaign proved helpful for him. According to Farishta, on  that occasion he marched his army as far as the Indus, to where it is called the Neelab; he overran with  his troops all the countries on his route, and crossing the river, advanced to Berah in Punjab. In this  province he levied a contribution of 400,000 sharookhies on the inhabitants, instead of permitting his  troops to plunder.17 The second campaign dates 926 AH, during which Babur intended to invade Lahore.  Farishta records that Babur marched a third time towards India in 926 AH, attacking the Afghans on his    

route. On reaching Sialkot the inhabitants submitted, and thus saved their property from plunder: not so  the people of Syedpoor, who making a vigorous defense, the garrison was put to the sword, and their  families carried into captivity.18 Farishta again records that in the year 930, Babur having augmented his  army, advanced through the territory of the Gukkurs, to within six coss of Lahore, where he was  opposed by Behar Khan Lodi, Mubarak Khan Lodi, and Bhikun Khan Lohany, Indian officers stationed in  the Punjab; but they being defeated with great slaughter, Babur entered Lahore in triumph, when he set  fire to the market, a superstitious practice common among the Mongols.19 According to Farishta, Babur marched the fifth time towards India in 932 AH. All this set background to his major battle, the Battle of  Panipat, which replaced the Delhi Sultanate by a mighty new empire, named the Mughal Empire. As  stated elsewhere, Babur entered Delhi and his eldest son, Humayun, was sent to Agra. Babur's name was  read in the khutba as the emperor of Hindustan. Thus was established the Mughal empire.  

Other Problems?  

Once Babur was successful in setting up the empire, he faced few other issues, subsequently. In 1527,  he defeated Rāna Sānga of Chitor in the Battle of Khanwa, who saw in the debacle of the Lodis the  opportunity of gaining vast territories. The Rajputs were defeated, and Babur’s victory played a great  role in consolidating the Mughal rule in India. Meanwhile, the remnant of the Afghan nobles, elected  Ibrāhim’s brother Mahmūd, as the sultān, and as Babur became free from cleaning off the Rajput  problem, he turned to Mahmūd, and both met in the decisive battle of Ghagra, in May 1529. Mahmūd  was supported by Nusrat Shah of the Sultanate of Bengal. Babur was victorious in this major battle  again, and continued consolidating his empire until his death in the year following the Battle of Ghagra.  Babur also managed to sign a peace treaty with Nusrat Shah, the king of the Bengal.20 

Humayūn’s succession  

Babur fell ill in Rajab 936 AH, and died in the next year 937 AH, coinciding 26 December 1530.  He appointed Humayun as his successor to the newly established Mughal Empire. His body was  departed to Kabul, and re-buried there only in Bagh-e-Babur, first being buried in Agra.  According to what history relates, Babur was buried first in Agra, where he remained until 1539,  but his remains were later transferred to Kabul as per his wish, where he was buried by 1544.21   


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1.       Dasnawi, Sayyid Abu Zafar. Mukḥtasar Tārīkh-e-Hind. (in Urdu) (1948 ed.).  Azamgarh: Matba Ma’ārif.

2.       Muḥammad Saīd al-Haqq. Muḥammad ibn Qāsim se Aurangzeb Tak (in Urdu)  (2019 ed.). New Delhi: Areeb Publications.

3.       Farishta, Muḥammad Qāsim. Tārikh-e-Farishta. (in Urdu). 1. Translated by  Abdul Hai Khwajah. Deoband: Maktaba Millat.

4.       Farishta, M. (2013). BABUR PADSHAH. In J. Briggs (Trans.), History of the Rise of  the Mahomedan Power in India, till the Year AD 1612 (Cambridge Library  Collection - Perspectives from the Royal Asiatic Society, pp. 1-69). Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139506663.002

5.       Dale, S. (2018). Babur: Timurid Prince and Mughal Emperor, 1483–1530.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316227558

6.       Qureshi, I. (1977). INDIA UNDER THE MUGHALS. In P. Holt, A. Lambton, & B.  Lewis (Eds.), The Cambridge History of Islam (The Cambridge History of Islam,  pp. 35-63). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521219488.004

Foot Notes

1: India under the Mughals, p. 35 

2: Muḥammad ibn Qāsim se Aurangzeb tak, p. 238 

3: Babur: A Timurid Prince and Mughal Emperor, p. 27 

4: Tārīkh-e-Farishta, v. 1, p. 562-563

5: A Timurid Prince and Mughal Emperor, p. 29 

6: Ibid, p. 33 

7: Ibid, p. 37 

8: Tārīkh-e-Farishta, v. 1, p. 566 

9: India under the Mughals, p. 35 

10: ibid 

11: Mukḥtasar Tārīkh-e-Hind, p. 75

12: India under the Mughals, p. 35 

13: Mukḥtasar Tārīkh-e-Hind, p. 75 

14: India under the Mughals, p. 35-36 

15: Mukḥtasar Tārīkh-e-Hind, p. 75 

16:Tārīkh-e-Farishta, v. 1 , p. 594-595 

17: Ibid, p. 586

18: Ibid, p. 587 

19: Ibid, p. 588 

20: India under the Mughals, p. 36 

21: Necipoğlu, Gülru (1997), Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World, BRILL,  p. 135, ISBN 90-04-10872-6

 

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