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Babur: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Babur
Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, known to history as Babur, was born on the 14th of February 1483 in the city of Andijan within the Fergana Valley, a region that is now part of Uzbekistan. His name, meaning Defender of the Faith, was bestowed upon him by the Sufi saint Khwaja Ahrar, yet the moniker Babur, meaning tiger or panther in Persian, became the name by which he was known to his Turco-Mongol army and the world. He was the eldest son of Umar Shaikh Mirza II, the governor of Fergana, and Qutlugh Nigar Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan. At the age of twelve, he ascended the throne of Fergana in its capital of Akhsikath following his father's death, which occurred in a bizarre accident when a poorly constructed dovecote collapsed into a ravine while Umar Shaikh was tending to his pigeons. This early tragedy set the stage for a life defined by instability, as Babur immediately faced rebellion from his uncles and nobles who sought to place his younger brother Jahangir on the throne. His early years were a relentless struggle for survival against relatives who were also descendants of Timur, the great conqueror, and Genghis Khan, creating a web of conflict that would consume his youth.
The Obsession With Samarkand
For three years, Babur fought a desperate war to reclaim the city of Samarkand, a prize that became his lifelong obsession and the defining failure of his early career. In 1497, the fifteen-year-old prince besieged the city for seven months and finally captured it, holding it for only one hundred days before being forced to flee due to a rebellion back home in Fergana. He lost the city to his formidable rival, Muhammad Shaybani, the Khan of the Uzbeks, and was compelled to give his sister Khanzada in marriage to Shaybani as part of a peace settlement to ensure his safe departure. This defeat haunted him for the rest of his life, and he considered it his greatest loss, obsessing over the city even after he had conquered India. He attempted to recapture Samarkand two more times, in 1500 and 1513, only to lose it to the Uzbeks each time. By 1502, he had resigned all hopes of recovering Fergana and was left with nothing but a small band of followers, wandering the mountains of Central Asia and enduring poverty and humiliation in Tashkent, where he wrote that no country or hope of one remained for him.
The Refuge of Kabul
After years of exile and defeat, Babur found a foothold in Kabul in October 1504, crossing the snowy Hindu Kush mountains to capture the city from the Arghun chieftains. This move allowed him to re-establish his fortunes and rule Kabul until 1526, transforming it into a base for his future ambitions. He was disgusted by the vices and luxuries of Herat, a cultural capital he visited in 1505, yet he marveled at the intellectual abundance there, which was filled with learned men. It was in Herat that he became acquainted with the work of the Chagatai poet Mir Ali Shir Nava'i, whose proficiency with the language influenced Babur's decision to write his memoirs in Chagatai Turkic. After the death of the Uzbek leader Shaybani in 1510, Babur and the remaining Timurids formed a partnership with the Safavid emperor Ismail I to reconquer their ancestral territories. They managed to take Samarkand for the third time in 1513 and Bukhara, but lost both again to the Uzbeks. Babur returned to Kabul in 1514, where he spent the next eleven years dealing with rebellions and consolidating his power before turning his eyes toward India.
Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, known as Babur, was born on the 14th of February 1483 in the city of Andijan within the Fergana Valley. This region is now part of Uzbekistan and was the capital of his father Umar Shaikh Mirza II.
What was the significance of the First Battle of Panipat for Babur?
The First Battle of Panipat on the 21st of April 1526 marked the end of the Lodi dynasty and the foundation of the Mughal Empire. Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi's army of 100,000 soldiers and 1,000 elephants using matchlock guns and cast cannons to secure his rule.
How did Babur lose the city of Samarkand?
Babur captured Samarkand in 1497 but held it for only one hundred days before being forced to flee due to a rebellion in Fergana. He lost the city to Muhammad Shaybani, the Khan of the Uzbeks, and was compelled to give his sister Khanzada in marriage to Shaybani as part of a peace settlement.
What military technology did Babur use to conquer India?
Babur adopted Ottoman military technology including matchlock guns and cast cannons to defeat numerically superior armies of the Delhi Sultanate. He employed Ottoman instructors like Mustafa Rumi to train his men to use these weapons in the field.
When did Babur die and where was he buried?
Babur died in Agra on the 26th of December 1530 and was initially buried in Chauburji. His remains were later moved to Kabul and reburied in Bagh-e Babur, the Gardens of Babur, between 1539 and 1544.
Babur's conquest of India was made possible by his adoption of Ottoman military technology, specifically the matchlock gun and cast cannons, which gave him a decisive advantage over the numerically superior armies of the Delhi Sultanate. He employed the matchlock commander Mustafa Rumi and other Ottoman instructors to train his men to use these new battlefield inventions, a tactic that was revolutionary for the region. In the First Battle of Panipat on the 21st of April 1526, Babur faced Ibrahim Lodi's army of about 100,000 soldiers and 1,000 elephants. He utilized the Tulugma tactic, encircling the enemy and forcing them to face artillery fire directly, while also frightening the war elephants with the noise of the cannons. Ibrahim Lodi died during the battle, ending the Lodi dynasty and laying the foundation for the Mughal Empire. Babur's use of gunpowder warfare was one of the first in India to feature cannons and muskets in the field, marking a watershed event in the history of the subcontinent.
The Battle of Khanwa
The Battle of Khanwa, fought on the 16th of March 1527, was the most decisive conflict of Babur's reign, pitting him against Rana Sanga, the Rajput ruler of Mewar, who had formed a grand coalition of Rajput and Afghan warlords to overthrow the foreign invader. Rana Sanga sought to extend Rajput territories by annexing Delhi and Agra, and his forces were supported by former Lodi loyalists and local warlords. Babur won the battle through superior generalship and the strategic use of modern tactics, including the deployment of field artillery and coordinated cavalry maneuvers. The victory was so complete that it is considered one of the most decisive events in Indian history, securing Babur's control over North India. During the battle, the Hindu chief Silhadi committed treachery by joining Babur's army with a garrison of 6,000 soldiers, which contributed to the collapse of Rana Sanga's forces. This victory ensured that the Mughal Empire would not be a fleeting incursion but a permanent fixture in the Indian political landscape.
The Writer and The Drinker
Babur was a complex figure who combined the ruthlessness of a conqueror with the sensibilities of a poet and a man of deep intellectual curiosity. He authored the Baburnama, a memoir written in Chagatai Turkic that is considered one of the greatest works of literature in the Turkic language, and he also composed lyrical works and treatises on jurisprudence, poetics, and music. Unlike his father, he had ascetic tendencies and did not have a great interest in women initially, yet he acquired several wives and concubines to ensure the continuity of his line. In Kabul, he first tasted alcohol at the age of thirty and began to drink regularly, hosting wine parties and consuming opium preparations, though he quit drinking for health reasons before the Battle of Khanwa. He was a man who could quote poetry about being drunk and then swear an oath of abstinence, only to regret the oath later. His library was one of his most beloved possessions, and he searched for books in every new land he conquered, leaving behind a rich literary and scientific heritage.
The Final Campaigns
In the final years of his life, Babur turned his attention to consolidating control over the eastern Gangetic plain, engaging in the Battle of Chanderi in 1528 and the Battle of Ghaghra in 1529. At Chanderi, he defeated Medini Rai, a staunch ally of Rana Sanga, and the fortress fell within an hour of the final assault. Medini Rai organized a jauhar, a mass suicide of women and children within the fortress, which did not seem to impress Babur, who expressed no admiration for the enemy in his autobiography. The Battle of Ghaghra was the final major conflict fought by Babur, where his forces defeated the Afghan-Bengal coalition, effectively ending organized Afghan resistance to his rule. By 1529, most of the major oppositions in Hindustan had been defeated or forced into submission, and Babur turned his attention to the eastern Gangetic plain to eliminate the remaining Lodi loyalists and pursue the traitors Biban and Bayezid.
The Legacy of the Tiger
Babur died in Agra on the 26th of December 1530 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Humayun. He was first buried in Chauburji, Agra, but as per his wishes, his mortal remains were moved to Kabul and reburied in Bagh-e Babur, the Gardens of Babur, sometime between 1539 and 1544. He is considered a national hero in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, and many of his poems have become popular folk songs in these regions. His empire gave rise to the expansion of the Persianate ethos in the Indian subcontinent, and he emerged as a Timurid Renaissance inheritor, leaving signs of Islamic, artistic, literary, and social aspects in India. The Baburnama, his autobiography, remains a primary source for the history of his life and times, and his descendants, including the emperor Akbar, translated his works into Persian. Babur's legacy is one of a man who conquered India with a small army, wrote a masterpiece of literature, and left behind a dynasty that would rule the subcontinent for centuries.