Babur: the Fergana prince who founded a new empire in India

In the late 15th century, the Fergana Valley in Central Asia, in present-day Uzbekistan, was divided into small states. Their rulers were relatives as well as rivals. Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur was born here. He took the throne as a child, lost it again and again, and finally founded the Mughal Empire in India in 1526. It lasted more than three centuries.

Early life and family

Babur was born on 14 February 1483 in Andijan, a city of Fergana. His father, Umar Shaikh Mirza, was the ruler of Fergana. On his father’s side, Babur’s line went back to Timur. On his mother’s side, through Qutlugh Nigar Khanum, he descended from Genghis Khan. “Babur” was in fact a title. It is generally linked to the Persian word “babr”, meaning tiger or leopard.

After his father’s sudden death in 1494, Babur became ruler of Fergana at the age of 11. From the start he faced opposition from his uncles and some nobles. In those difficult times his maternal grandmother, Aisan Daulat Begum, stood by him.

The dream of Samarkand and years of exile

The greatest dream of Babur’s youth was to win Samarkand, the capital of his forefather Timur. In 1497, after a siege of seven months, he took the city, but he could hold it for only 100 days. Meanwhile a rebellion broke out in Fergana, and he lost both territories. Between 1500 and 1501 he took Samarkand again, but the Uzbek chief Muhammad Shaibani Khan drove him out of it as well.

The period that followed was the hardest of Babur’s life. He wandered in the mountains with a few companions and took refuge with his maternal uncle in Tashkent.

Kabul: a new beginning

In 1504 Babur crossed the snow-covered Hindu Kush and seized Kabul, which was then ruled by chiefs of the Arghun dynasty. The city remained his base for the next 22 years. In 1510 the Safavid ruler Shah Ismail I defeated Shaibani Khan. Babur then joined the Safavids and took Samarkand for the third time in 1511, but the Uzbeks seized the city again the following year.

After this last failure at Samarkand, Babur’s attention turned permanently to the south. While in Kabul he organised his army. He adopted from the Ottoman Turks the use of cannon and matchlock guns on the battlefield.

Towards India: Panipat

At that time northern India was ruled by the Sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi. According to historians, however, his empire was suffering from internal disputes. Daulat Khan Lodi, the governor of Punjab, and the Sultan’s uncle, Alauddin, contacted Babur. In November 1525 Babur set out on his fifth expedition.

According to the Babur-nama, the total strength of his force, including traders and servants, was recorded as 12,000. Ibrahim Lodi’s army was estimated at 100,000. On 21 April 1526 the two armies faced each other on the field of Panipat. Babur tied about 700 carts together with ropes of raw hide to form a wall. Behind them he placed cannon and musketeers, and he encircled the enemy with cavalry on both flanks. The battle was decided within a few hours, and Ibrahim Lodi was killed on the field. Babur then occupied Delhi and Agra.

Khanwa and the consolidation of the empire

After Panipat, the biggest challenge was the Rajput ruler of Mewar, Rana Sanga, who was joined by several Rajput and Afghan chiefs. According to Lane-Poole, the two armies clashed at Khanwa on 16 March 1527. Babur used the same arrangement of carts and cannon there and won.

In 1528 he took Chanderi, the fort in Malwa. In May 1529 he defeated the combined army of the Afghan chiefs and Bengal on the banks of the River Ghaghra. His rule thus extended from Kabul to Punjab and the Gangetic plains, with Agra as its capital.

The Babur-nama, poetry and gardens

Babur’s most lasting memorial is his autobiography, the “Babur-nama”, which he wrote in his mother tongue, Chagatai Turkish. In it he writes frankly about his mistakes and failures as well as his successes. He also describes the people, customs, animals, fruits and plants of the regions he passed through. In the reign of his grandson Akbar, Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan translated it into Persian in 1589. Lane-Poole, citing Henry Beveridge, counts it among the great autobiographies of the world.

Babur wrote poetry in Persian as well as Turkish. His contemporary, the historian Mirza Haidar, ranked him second in Turkish poetry after Amir Ali Sher Navai. He wrote a treatise on prosody and also devised a special script known as “Khat-i-Baburi”.

Babur had a special love of gardens. Soon after reaching Agra he had wells dug on the banks of the River Jamuna and laid out a “Char Bagh”, a garden divided into four parts, with water channels and flower beds. According to Lane-Poole, the local people, who had never seen such a garden, began to call the area “Kabul”. The Char Bagh later became a hallmark of Mughal architecture.

Final days

In 1530 his eldest son, Humayun, fell seriously ill. According to his daughter Gulbadan Begum, Babur walked around his son’s bed and prayed that the illness be transferred to him. Humayun recovered and Babur’s health began to fail. He died in Agra on 26 December 1530 at the age of 47, and Humayun succeeded him. He was first buried in Agra, but in keeping with his will his body was later taken to Kabul, where he still lies in the “Bagh-e-Babur”.

Legacy

Babur ruled in India for only four years. The artillery-based war strategy, the Timurid and Persian culture and the tradition of gardening that he brought with him were carried forward under his successors. In Lane-Poole’s words, Babur had hardly grasped the full splendour of the empire he had won when he left it as a precious legacy to his grandson Akbar.

Babur fought through his youth for Samarkand but could never hold it permanently. Yet that journey ended with a new dynasty ruling in India, and his autobiography remains a basic source for understanding the age.