Daulat Khan Lodi

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Daulat Khan Lodi governed Lahore at one of the most volatile moments in the history of northern India. He was a man caught between loyalty and survival, and the choice he made in 1523 would set in motion a chain of events that ended a dynasty and gave birth to an empire. How does a loyal governor become the instrument of his own sovereign's destruction? And what becomes of a man who opens the gates to a conqueror, only to find the conqueror has no use for him?

• 2. A Governor's Inheritance

  ›

  Tatar Khan, Daulat's father, had previously held the position of Nizam of Lahore, and had at one point asserted independence from the Lodi dynasty under Bahlul Khan Lodi. Daulat Khan's own career began more modestly, as governor of the Jalandhar Doab, before he was promoted to the governorship of Lahore sometime between 1500 and 1504. He held that position through the reigns of both Sikandar Khan and Ibrahim Lodi, the last two rulers of the Lodi dynasty.

  For much of that tenure, Daulat Khan was considered loyal to the dynasty. His eventual break with Ibrahim Lodi did not stem from long-standing ambition or ideological opposition. By the accounts preserved in the source, it grew from something more personal: Ibrahim's own character. Ibrahim Lodi was described as rigid, proud, and suspicious, and those qualities proved corrosive to the relationships that held his empire together.

• 3. The Decision to Invite Babur

  ›

  By 1523, Ibrahim Lodi's rule had fractured into open conflict with his own family and ministers. His uncle Alam Khan, also known as Ala-ud-din, had taken refuge under Sultan Muzaffar II of Gujarat. Rebellion was spreading across the empire.

  Daulat Khan sent his son Ghazi Khan Lodi to Delhi to read the political situation firsthand. Ghazi returned with an alarming report: Ibrahim was planning to strip his father of the governorship. Faced with that threat, Daulat Khan made his move. He dispatched messengers to Babur in Kabul, offering his allegiance in exchange for armed assistance against the emperor. Babur agreed to the arrangement.

  Babur's army moved swiftly. Lahore and Dipalpur fell in quick succession. Daulat Khan, along with his sons Ghazi and Dilawar Khan Lodi, traveled to meet Babur at Dipalpur. What happened next shattered whatever alliance Daulat had imagined.

• 4. Betrayal at Dipalpur

  ›

  Babur did not offer Lahore back to Daulat Khan. Instead, he presented him with Jalandhar and Sultanpur, territories that carried far less prestige than the governorship Daulat had held for two decades. Daulat Khan refused. He and his son Ghazi went into hiding rather than accept the assignment.

  His other son, Dilawar Khan, made a different calculation. Dilawar accepted Sultanpur and received the honorific title of Khan Khanan, effectively siding with Babur against his own father. The family had split, and Daulat Khan now had no territory, no title, and no safe patron.

  The situation shifted again when Babur departed India to fight the Uzbeks at Balkh, leaving forces in Lahore to help Alam Khan press a siege on Delhi. Daulat Khan saw a possible path back. He offered his support to Alam Khan, hoping that a successful assault on Delhi might restore his position in Lahore.

• 5. Siege, Surrender, and Death

  ›

  Alam Khan declined Daulat Khan's offer of assistance. Daulat was left in charge of Punjab alongside his son Ghazi, while Dilawar and another son named Hajji joined Alam Khan's march on Delhi. That attack collapsed, undone by treachery on multiple sides.

  Babur learned of Alam Khan's failure at Sialkot as he was making his way back toward India. Daulat Khan and Ghazi, hearing of Babur's return, fled north of Lahore to the fortress of Milwat. Babur laid siege to Milwat. Daulat Khan surrendered.

  He never reached the prison that awaited him. He died on the road to Bhera, where he had been sent to be held. The fortress, the flight, the surrender, the road to Bhera: that was the end of a man who had once governed the most important city in the northwest of the subcontinent. The battle of Panipat in 1526, where Ibrahim Lodi died and Babur became ruler of India, was the final consequence of the invitation Daulat Khan had extended three years earlier.

• 6. Daulat Khan and Guru Nanak

  ›

  One of Daulat Khan's officials, a man named Jai Ram, was married to Nanaki, the sister of Guru Nanak. Through that connection, Jai Ram secured Guru Nanak a position at Daulat Khan's store and granaries, where Nanak worked as a keeper.

  Complaints reached Daulat Khan more than once that Nanak was giving away the stores. Two separate audits were conducted, and both found the accounts fully correct and the stocks undepleted. Accusations also reached the Nawab about Nanak's religious teachings. A Qazi summoned Nanak to court on those charges. At that hearing, it was Daulat Khan himself who defended Nanak.

  In Sikh tradition, this episode is preserved as an early marker of Guru Nanak's character: the stores that appeared depleted were always whole, and the governor who might have punished him instead spoke in his favor.