Babur was an Uzbek warrior who laid the foundation of the Mughal dynasty in the Indian subcontinent and became the first Mughal emperor. A direct descendant of the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur, he was eldest son of Umar Sheikh Mirza, the ruler of the Fergana Valley. After the death of his father in a freak accident when Babur was just 11, the young boy ascended to the throne and faced rebellion from his own relatives.
Who were Mughals and Who was Babur?
Mughals belonged to a branch of the Turks called Chagatai, which is named after the second son of Genghis Khan, the famous Mongol Leader.
The Foundation of the Mughal Empire in India was laid by Babur, who was a Chagatai Turk.
Bābur, a descendant of the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan and also of the Turkic conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), was a military adventurer, a soldier of distinction, and a poet and diarist of genius, as well as a statesman.
Early Life
Zahir-ud-din Muhammad, nicknamed “Babur” or “Lion,” was born into the Timurid royal family in Andijan, now in Uzbekistan, on February 14, 1483. His father Umar Sheikh Mirza was the Emir of Ferghana; his mother Qutlaq Nigar Khanum was the daughter of Moghuli King Yunus Khan.
By the time of Babur’s birth, the remaining Mongol descendants in western Central Asia had intermarried with Turkic and Persian peoples and assimilated into the local culture. They were strongly influenced by Persia (using Farsi as their official court language), and they had converted to Islam. Most favored the mystic Sufism-infused style of Sunni Islam.
He hailed from the Barlas tribe, which was of Mongol origin and had embraced Turkic and Persian culture. He was fluent in the Chaghatai language, Persian, and the lingua franca of the Timurid elite. Hence, Bābur, though called a Mughal, drew most of his support from Turks, and the empire he founded was Turkish in character. His family had become members of the Chagatai clan, by which name they are known.
He was fifth in male succession from Timur and 13th through the female line from Genghis Khan. Bābur’s father, ʿUmar Shaykh Mīrzā, ruled the small principality of Fergana to the north of the Hindu Kush mountain range. Because there was no fixed law of succession among the Turks, every prince of the Timurids—the dynasty founded by Timur—considered it his right to rule the whole of Timur’s dominions. Those territories were vast, and, hence, the princes’ claims led to unending wars.
The Timurid princes, moreover, considered themselves kings by profession, their business being to rule others without observing too precisely whether any particular region had actually formed a part of Timur’s empire. Bābur’s father, true to that tradition, spent his life trying to recover Timur’s old capital of Samarkand (now in Uzbekistan), and Bābur followed in his footsteps.
The qualities needed to succeed in that dynastic warfare were the abilities to inspire loyalty and devotion, to manage the turbulent factions often caused by family feuds, and to draw revenue from the trading and agricultural classes. Bābur eventually mastered them all, but he was also a commander of genius.
Taking the Throne
In 1494, the Emir of Ferghana died suddenly and 11-year-old Babur ascended his father’s throne. Because of his young age, two of his uncles from the neighboring kingdoms threatened his succession to the throne. Amidst the relentless attempts by his uncles to snatch away his throne, young Babur received great help from his maternal grandmother, Aisan Daulat Begum in his quest to retain his kingdom.
Evidently aware that a good offense is the best defense, the young emir set out to expand his holdings. By 1497, he had conquered the famous Silk Road oasis city of Samarkand. While he was thus engaged, however, his uncles and other nobles rose in rebellion back in Andijan. When Babur turned to defend his base, he once again lost control of Samarkand.
The determined young emir had regained both cities by 1501, but the Uzbek ruler Shaibani Khan challenged him over Samarkand and dealt Babur’s forces a crushing defeat. This marked the end of Babur’s rule in what is now Uzbekistan.
He spent the next few years building a strong army and in 1504, he marched into the snow-bound Hindu Kush mountains into Afghanistan. He successfully besieged and conquered Kabul—his first major victory. This helped him to establish a base for his new kingdom.
By 1505 he had set his eyes upon conquering territories in India. However, it would take him several more years before he was able to build a formidable army and finally launch an attack on the Delhi Sultanate.
Invitation to Replace Lodi
In 1521, a perfect opportunity for southern expansion presented itself to Babur. The sultan of the Delhi Sultanate, Ibrahim Lodi, was hated and reviled by his citizens. He had shaken up the military and court ranks by installing his own followers in place of the old guard and ruled the lower classes with an arbitrary and tyrannical style. After just four years of Lodi’s rule, the Afghan nobility was so fed up with him that they invited the Timurid Babur to come to the Delhi Sultanate and depose him.
Naturally, Babur was quite happy to comply. He gathered an army and launched a siege on Kandahar. The Kandahar Citadel held out for much longer than Babur had anticipated. As the siege dragged on, however, important nobles and military men from the Delhi Sultanate such as Ibrahim Lodi’s uncle, Alam Khan, and the governor of Punjab allied themselves with Babur.
First Battle of Panipat
Five years after his initial invitation to the subcontinent, Babur finally launched an all-out assault on the Delhi Sultanate and Ibrahim Lodi in April 1526. On the plains of Punjab, Babur’s army of 24,000—mostly cavalry—rode out against Sultan Ibrahim, who had 100,000 men and 1,000 war elephants. Although Babur appeared to be terribly outmatched, he had something that Lodi did not—guns.
The battle that followed, now known as the First Battle of Panipat, marked the fall of the Delhi Sultanate. With superior tactics and firepower, Babur crushed Lodi’s army, killing the sultan and 20,000 of his men. Lodi’s fall signaled the beginning of the Mughal Empire (also known as the Timurid Empire) in India.
He marched into Delhi via Sirhind in early 1526 and reached Panipat in April the same year. There he was confronted by Ibrahim Lodi’s army of about 100,000 soldiers and 100 elephants which outnumbered his own. A shrewd and skilled warrior, Babur utilized the tactic of “Tulugma”, encircling Ibrahim Lodi’s army and forcing it to face artillery fire directly.
Babur’s army utilized gunpowder firearms and field artillery in the fierce battle and Lodi’s army which lacked these means of warfare found itself in a vulnerable position. Ibrahim Lodi displayed great courage in the battle and died while fighting, bringing an end to the Lodi dynasty. The decisive victory in the First Battle of Panipat helped Babur in laying the foundation for the Mughal Empire. Following the battle he occupied Delhi and Agra, and set about consolidating his empire.
The Rajput ruler Rana Sanga considered Babur to be a foreigner and challenged his rule in India. This led to the Battle of Khanwa which was fought between Babur and Rana Sanga in March 1527. Rana Sanga was supported by Afghan chiefs in his opposition and fought bravely, but Babur went on to win the battle because of his superior generalship and use of modern warfare.
Rajput Wars
Babur had overcome his fellow Muslims in the Delhi Sultanate (and of course, most were happy to acknowledge his rule), but the mainly-Hindu Rajput princes were not so easily conquered. Unlike his ancestor Timur, Babur was dedicated to the idea of building a permanent empire in India—he was no mere raider. He decided to build his capital at Agra. The Rajputs, however, put up a spirited defense against this new Muslim and would-be overlord from the north.
Knowing that the Mughal army had been weakened at the Battle of Panipat, the princes of Rajputana gathered an army even larger than Lodi’s and went to war behind Rana Sangam of Mewar. In March 1527 at the Battle of Khanwa, Babur’s army managed to deal the Rajputs a huge defeat. The Rajputs were undaunted, however, and battles and skirmishes continued all over the northern and eastern sections of Babur’s empire for the next several years.
Death
In the autumn of 1530, Babur fell ill. His brother-in-law conspired with some of the Mughal court nobles to seize the throne after Babur’s death, bypassing Humayun, Babur’s eldest son and appointed heir. Humayun hurried to Agra to defend his claim to the throne but soon fell gravely ill himself. According to legend, Babur cried out to God to spare Humayun’s life, offering his own in return.
On December 26, 1530, Babur died at the age of 47. Humayun, 22 years old, inherited a rickety empire, beset by internal and external enemies. Like his father, Humayun would lose power and be forced into exile, only to return and stake his claim to India. By the end of his life, he had consolidated and expanded the empire, which would reach its height under his son Akbar the Great.
Personal Life & Legacy
Babur married several times. His first wife was Aisha Sultan Begum, his cousin, the daughter of Sultan Ahmad Mirza. He also married many other women and some of his well-known wives were Zaynab Sultan Begum, Maham Begum, Gulrukh Begum and Dildar Begum. He fathered numerous children through his wives and concubines.
He had deep interests in literature, art, music and gardening, and pursued them at times of relative peace.
Babur is considered a national hero in Uzbekistan, and many of his poems have become popular Uzbek folk songs. In October 2005, Pakistan developed the Babur Cruise Missile, named in his honor.
Babur lived a difficult life, always battling to make a place for himself. In the end, however, he planted the seed for one of the world’s great empires. Babur was a devotee of poetry and gardens, and his descendants would raise all kinds of arts to their apogee during their long reign. The Mughal Empire lasted until 1868, at which point it finally fell to the colonial British Raj.
