215 / 822
LURE - THRU THE AGES
Eternal India
encyclopedia
Overview
*
Babur, the founder of the Mughal empire
in India, was the descendent on his fa-
ther's side in the fifth generation from
Timur and through his mother in the fif-
teenth degree from Chingiz Khan. Al-
though popularly known as
'Mughals'
or
the descendents of Mongols, they pre-
ferred
to
call
themselves
the
Chaghatayids,
originating from Ch-
ingizi's second son. Chaghatai, who ruled
Transoxiana.
In the 16th and 17th century the Mughal
emperors unified practically the whole of
North India and much of the Deccan, and
built up an empire.
*
The Mughal period was one of great
splendour, which has left, its mark on
India in the form of many lovely build-
ings, wherein Islamic and Hindu motifs
often blended in a perfect unity. The Taj
Mahal at Agra is the most famous
memorial of the times.
*
Akbar the Great (1556-1605) followed a
policy of complete toleration, abolished
all religious tests and disabilities, includ-
ing the hated poll-tax on unbelievers,
appointed Rajput princes and other Hin-
dus to high offices of state without con-
version to Islam and inter-communal
marriages were encouraged by the ex-
ample of the emperor himself.
*
Aurangzeb (1658-1707) reversed the pol-
icy of toleration. Restrictions were placed
on the free practice of Hindu rites, tax on
non-Muslims was reimposed. He carried
out a systematic demolition of Hindu
temples. He alienated the Sikhs by exe-
cuting their Guru Tegh Bahadur.
*
Some of the Mughal sovereigns, like
Babur and Jehangir wrote their own
memoirs, which shed abundant light on
their personal lives besides providing
important details of the events of their
reigns.
Advent
*
The Delhi Sultanate existed only in name.
It was tom apart by the ambitions, disaf-
fections and rivalries of the nobles. Two
of them, Daulat Khan, the most power-
ful noble of the Punjab, who was discon-
tented with Ibrahim Lodi because of the
cruel treatment he had meted out to his
son, Dilawar Khan; and Alam Khan, an
uncle of Ibrahim Lodi, went so far as to
invite Babur to invade India.
*
Babur had also been cherishing the am-
bition of invading India like his great an-
cestor Timur.
*
The battle of Kanwah in which Babur de-
feated the Rajputs under Rana Sanga de-
stroyed the powerful Rajput confederacy.
This made possible the foundation of the
Mughal rule in India.
*
Babur's use of heavy artillery confounded
his enemies and ensured his victory.
Chronology
*
Zahiru-d-Din Muhammad Babur (1526-
30)
*
Humayun (son of Babur) (1530-40)
(1555-56)
*
Akbar (son of Humayun) (1556-1605)
*
Jehangir (son of Akbar) (1605-27)
*
Shahjehan (son of Jehangir) (1627-58)
*
Aurangzeb (son of Shahjehan) (1658-
1707)
Wars
1526
First battle of Panipat. Babur defeated
Ibrahim Lodi to found Mughal empire.
1527
Battle of Kanwah between Babur and
Rajputs under Rana Sanga. Babur vic-
torious.
1539
Battle of Chausa. Sher Shah defeated
Humayun.
1540
Battle of Kanauj. Sher Shah defeated
Humayun.
1556 Second battle of Panipat. Himu de-
feated by Akbar and Bairam Khan.
1568 Battle of Chitor. Rajputs defeated by
Akbar, Chitor taken over by Akbar.
1576 Battle of Haldighat. Rana Pratap of
Mewar defeated by Akbar.
1660 Shivaji defeated Mughal General
Shayista Khan.
Impact
*
The first battle of Panipat and the battle
of Kanwah secured the way for the foun-
dation of the Mughal empire in India.
*
The battle of Chausa in 1539 forced Hu-
mayun to flee India enabling the Afghan
overlord Sher Shah to found an empire in
India albeit only for a short duration
(1539-45). After Sher Shah's death
Humayun came back to India and re-
established the Mughal empire.
*
In the second battle of Panipat the Afghan
pretensions to the sovereignty of India
were ended once and for all. It enabled
Akbar to secure firmly his empire in In-
dia and set it on the path of expansion.
Babur
(b.l483-dl530; reigned 1526-30)
Babur, a Chaghatai Turk, was descended
on his father's side from Timur, and was con-
nected on his mother's side with Chingiz
Khan. In 1494 he inherited from his father,
at the age of eleven, the small principality of
Farghana, now a province of Uzbekistan.
In his early life he suffered severe hard-
ships which strengthened him to face the fu-
ture vicissitudes of fortune. His two attempts
to take possession of the city of Samarkhand
in 1497 and 1503 ended in failure. He also
lost his father's kingdom Farghana and had to
spend his days as a homeless wanderer for
about a year. He dreamt of conquering Hin-
dustan like his great ancestor Timur. He oc-
cupied Kabul in 1504 A.D. In 1519 he
mounted his first invasion of India, seizing
Bajaur by storm imposing a ransom on its
people. Next he sent an envoy to Ibrahim
Lodi, asking him to surrender the west Punjab
region previously conquered by Timur. In
1523 he was invited by the Punjab governor
Daulat Khan to overthrow Ibrahim Lodi.
Ibrahim Lodi who got an inkling of the
conspiracy, sent an army against Lahore.
Babur who had left Kabul on his fourth In-
dian expedition defeated Ibrahim's army at
Lahore; appointing a governor at Lahore,
Babur left for Kabul to organise reinforce-
ments.
Babur left Kabul in Oct. 1525 to conquer
India. The governor of Punjab surrendered to.
Babur. Ibrahim Lodi left Delhi to meet Babur
with an army of 100,000 cavalry and 1,000
elephants. Babur's army comprised about
10,000 troopers. The opposing armies met on
the historic plains* of Panipat on 21 April
1526.
Babur's army had cannons mounted on
wagons. Ibrahim’s army depended on ele-
phants and consisted of mercenaries.
Ibrahim's army could not face Babur's artil-
lery and was totally routed. Between 16,000
to 40,000 Lodi soldiers were killed. Herd
upon herd of the elephants was captured
besides an immense quantity of booty. Delhi
and Agra fell into Babur’s hands. At Agra, the
Gwalior ruling family presented the famous
Kohi-noor
diamond to Babur's son Hu-
mayun.
Babur treated those Afghan leaders who
submitted to him magnanimously. He
assigned to his Mughal begs the revenue of